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<Your Game Name Here>

<Your Company Logo Here>

Revision: 0.0.1

GDD Template Written by: Benjamin “HeadClot” Stanley

Special thanks to Alec Markarian

Otherwise this would not have happened

Reformatted by: Brandon Fedie

License

If you use this in any of your games. Give credit in the GDD (this document) to Alec Markarian, Benjamin Stanley, and Brandon Fedie. We did work so you don’t have to.  

Feel free to Modify, redistribute but not sell this document.

Overview

Theme / Setting / Genre

Core Gameplay Mechanics Brief

Targeted platforms

Monetization model (Brief/Document)

Project Scope

Influences (Brief)

The Elevator Pitch

Project Description (Brief)

Project Description (Detailed)

What sets this project apart?

Core Gameplay Mechanics (Detailed)

Story and Gameplay

Story (Brief)

Story (Detailed)

Gameplay (Brief)

Gameplay (Detailed)

Assets Needed

2D

3D

Sound

Code

Animation

Schedule

<Object #1>

<Object #2>

<Object #3>

<Object #4>

Overview

• Theme / Setting / Genre

• <Insert Theme here>

• Core Gameplay Mechanics Brief

• <Gameplay Mechanic #1>
• <Gameplay Mechanic #2>
• <Gameplay Mechanic #3>
• <Gameplay Mechanic #4>

• Targeted platforms

• <Example Platform #1>
• <Example Platform #2>
• <Example Platform #3>

• Monetization model (Brief/Document)

• <Monetization Type> /Premium, Paid Alpha/Beta/Final, Ad Driven, Micro-transactions, Subscription, etc./
• <Link to Monetization Document>
• /How do you plan to monetize the game?/

• Project Scope

• <Game Time Scale>

• <Cost?> /How much will it cost?/
• <Time Scale> /How long will it take to make this game?/

• <Team Size>

• <Core Team>

• <Team Member Name>

• /What does he/she do?/
• <Cost to employ them full time or part time>
• <etc.>

• /List as many core team members as you need to/

• <Marketing Team>

• <Team Member Name>

• /What does he/she do?/
• <Cost to employ them full time or part time>
• <etc.>

• /List as many marketing team members as you need to/

• <Licenses / Hardware / Other Costs>
• <Total Costs with breakdown>

• Influences (Brief)

• <Influence #1>

• <Medium> (Television, Games, Literature, Movies, etc.)
• <Explain why this is an influence in one paragraph or less>

• <Influence #2>

• <Medium> (Television, Games, Literature, Movies, etc.)
• <Explain why this is an influence in one paragraph or less>

• <Influence #3>

• <Medium> (Television, Games, Literature, Movies, etc.)
• <Explain why this is an influence in one paragraph or less>

• <Influence #4>

• <Medium> (Television, Games, Literature, Movies, etc.)
• <Explain why this is an influence in one paragraph or less>

• The Elevator Pitch

<A one sentence pitch for your game>

/Pretend that you are pitching your game to an executive in an elevator.  You have less than 60 seconds./

• Project Description (Brief)

<Two-Three paragraph description>

• Project Description (Detailed)

<Four-Six paragraph project description>

What sets this project apart?

• <Reason #1>
• <Reason #2>
• <Reason #3>
• <Reason #4>
• <etc.>

• Core Gameplay Mechanics (Detailed)

• <Core Game Mechanic #1>

• <Details> /Describe in 2 Paragraphs or less/
• <How it works> /Describe in 2 Paragraphs or less/

• <Core Game Mechanic #2>

• <Details> /Describe in 2 Paragraphs or less/
• <How it works> /Describe in 2 Paragraphs or less/

• <Core Game Mechanic #3>

• <Details> /Describe in 2 Paragraphs or less/
• <How it works> /Describe in 2 Paragraphs or less/

• <Core Game Mechanic #4>

• <Details> /Describe in 2 Paragraphs or less/
• <How it works> /Describe in 2 Paragraphs or less/

Story and Gameplay

• Story (Brief)

• <The Summary or TL;DR version of below>

• Story (Detailed)

• /Go into as much detail as needs be/
• /Spare no detail/
• /Use Mind Mapping software to get your point across/

• Gameplay (Brief)

• <The Summary version of below>

• Gameplay (Detailed)

• /Go into as much detail as needs be/
• /Spare no detail/
• /Combine this with the game mechanics section above/

Assets Needed

• 2D

• Textures

• Environment Textures

• Heightmap data (if applicable)

• /List required data -  Example: DEM data of the entire UK./

• <etc.>

• 3D

• Character List

• Character #1
• Character #2
• Character #3
• etc.

• Environmental Art Lists

• Example #1
• Example #2
• Example #3
• etc.

• Sound

• Sound List (Ambient)

• Outside

• Level 1
• Level 2
• Level 3
• etc.

• Inside

• Level 1
• Level 2
• Level 3
• etc.

• Sound List (Player)

• Character Movement Sound List

• Example 1
• Example 2
• etc.

• Character Hit / Collision Sound list

• Example 1
• Example 2
• etc.

• Character on Injured / Death sound list

• Example 1
• Example 2
• etc.

• Code

• Character Scripts (Player Pawn/Player Controller)
• Ambient Scripts (Runs in the background)

• Example

• NPC Scripts

• Example
• etc.

• Animation

• Environment Animations

• Example
• etc.

• Character Animations

• Player

• Example
• etc.

• NPC

• Example
• etc.

Schedule

• <Object #1>

• Time Scale

• Milestone 1
• Milestone 2
• Etc.

• <Object #2>

• Time Scale

• Milestone 1
• Milestone 2
• Etc.

• <Object #3>

• Time Scale

• Milestone 1
• Milestone 2
• Etc.

• <Object #4>

• Time Scale

• Milestone 1
• Milestone 2
• Etc.