Design Document References

Different documents serve different readers. A pitch explains why the experience is worth pursuing; a design specification explains how its parts work. Length alone does not establish quality.

One-page designs

Stone Librande’s One-Page Designs (GDC 2010) discusses concise visual explanations and the tradeoffs of long documents, wikis and individual design sheets. Consult the original slides, GDC Vault or archived talk.

A useful takeaway from the earlier research is to divide material by the question a reader needs answered, with links to details. This is guidance, not a mandatory one-page limit.

Published examples

gamedocs.org collects published and leaked design documents. Among them:

• The Doom Bible (Tom Hall, id Software)
• Race'n'Chase — the original Grand Theft Auto design document
• Diablo 1 pitch
• Deus Ex design document
• Planescape: Torment vision statement
• BioShock pitch document
• Metal Gear Solid 2 "Grand Game Plan"
• Grim Fandango puzzle document
• Monaco design document
• Prince of Persia and Karateka development journals

These are examples of different document purposes, not a required format or a representative benchmark for document length.