Thoughts on Game Design Documents

        There comes a time when you're producing a game, you look for a feature, only to find that there's a lot of ambiguous information regarding its function and overall use/implementation. Often an issue in any design document, its a concern , after all having all the answers so your team can do what they need to do, maintaining the core of your product, is the most essential element of any game design document. However, when is to much, simply to much? Executive summaries, financial plans, marketing directives, prose for the first parts of your game, etc. Is all of this necessary? Who's going to actually read it? 

 

        The basic building blocks of any document should involve 3 major things, the way I see it: Core Statement, written for your team who read it, and lastly, no ambiguity (though that doesn't mean there is no elasticity in what can/cannot transpire with regard to mechanics and what not, there shouldn't be any direct questions regarding whats suppose to happen, or how things are suppose to work with any given feature or scenario). Clearly, I'm not alone in that sentiment, as others like Brenda Brathwaite with her take on ambiguity and core statements, or Tom Sloper with his belief indetail and even Black isle studiosleaked Van Buren documents present a clear standard.

        Over time, however, it's become apparent that game design documents have become biblical – only in the sense of their immense size. It's not uncommon for publishers and other departments to have a say in the overall GDD, and often end up including a wide array of things that simply aren't necessary or beneficial to development – clearly I'm of similar opinion with Mr. Tadhg Kelly. There comes a point where everything that your document is about becomes veiled by clutter – elements that no one but executive would ever look at, if they weren't already busy listening to you and watching your presentations instead. No one in the design team is going to care, and they're the very people these documents are really meant for.

         Of course, there are other developers who have their own opinion even on that – these documents are worthless in their eyes, something they feel is a waste of time to write, according to Joe Danger's Sean Murray. I admit, there's a certain appeal to game design as a form of purely elastic, reiterative prototyping, rather than design documents backed with concept artwork galore. Raph Koster has a great article regarding less design documents, art, and more prototyping, like in the image to the right – as well as learning to make products cheaper. It's certainly insightful, and definitely relevant in a world where games can cost as much as fifty million and higher – in the hundreds of millions, as it did with Star Wars: The Old Republic. 

        Ultimately, there's always going to be room for design documents. They're truly beneficial, though only if they continue to focus on the design, remain elastic, and revolve around prototyping (even if that prototyping is some flash cards and paper cut-outs). There's a point where we seem to get focused on the 'idea' of what we like, rather than on the implementation and functionality of 'fun' with those ideas. While it's clearly not everyone's cup of tea, a good foundation, and a good place to finalize information that you're actually using as you prototype and iterate your designs.

Video Game Agents & Consultants...Yes? Maybe?...

        With the increase in the range and penetration of the gaming industry, it was inevitable that eventually, agencies and consultants would make their way into the field. Business, and the dynamics of corporate work not only set the stage for these players, but create a space where they have the ability to thrive. Curiously then, one wonders, is it a viable investment in the age of gaming corporatism, to yolk yourself with an agency, or to hire in a consultant? As time moves forward, it's become more of a rhetoric than a direct question, though I think it has its own answer imprinted in it: “No.”

         If you're wondering why “no,” - for the simple reason that we live in an age of information. Everything you need or want, is by and all accounts, at your fingertips. Whether it's related to branding, marketing, or potentially, publishing & distributing your work – the world wide web and associated internet-technologies allow us – the consumer – to also be the producer. We simply have no real need of them. While an agency can provide a great stepping stone between your company and publishers/distributors – while also taking a great deal of the time and effort to both go through the motions of it all, as well as acquiring the skills and mindset needed to go about such hefty business – today it's often easy enough to manage it yourself. The reality is, most consultants and agencies simply don't have the background. It's common for them to rationalize games as just another venue for media consumption. In part, this trend has helped develop the casual market in recent years. Certainly there's a place for that – yet that market in and of itself is a different beast to the gaming industry that makes over $67 billion a year. Statistics show even now, the core gamer – those who make up almost all of that number – are still, “...reluctant to embrace social games.” Mobile gaming certainly has a place, but as long as it, and other venues of social gaming remain a casual affair, they're likely to not be taken seriously. Consultants and agencies need to take that into account, to focus on elements that are viable in the gaming industry direction, or focus specifically on casual/social and mobile gaming elements.

         Of particular note, securing publishing deals for companies can be a burden, and a costly one at that. Certainly a benefit of agencies and consultants. However, with the rise of cloud-based distribution, and elements like Steam – with their indie-friendly appeal and “Greenlight” community, make these options far more lucrative. For those who prefer to go it solo, take Mojang founder, Markus Persson who managed to create one of the most authentic, and impressive games of the last generation – and likely, ever made. After all, since Minecraft's official release, it has sold over 20 million copies. Primarily, all of it with a focus on their own method of distribution, and marketing – without the use of agencies and consultants, or all those fees.

         Of course, there are those points with which many make claim of their benefit to the industry. For those not in the know – a quick search can show you just how many developers actually jumped on the agency & consultant train(s) – in 2010, one of the leading Video Game Agencies, Digital Development Management, had over 700 signed, across 15 studios, in addition to working with 20 different publishers. Not only that, the infamous “fired” Infinity Ward duo, Vince Zampella and Jason West, shacked up with Creative Artist Agency in 2010 as well. They're certainly not the only ones.

         While the model itself may be pretty similar in the industry today – with a focus that's very focused on franchising and “studio renting” to publishers – the role of Agencies and consultants today, has the ability to make the divide much smaller. It's fair to say they are in a position now, to even embolden developers against the constraints of this ancient model. Two major ways to go about this is to either A: focus on marketing/branding factors of a studio and its developers – or its products if they prefer, and B: focus creating an atmosphere that allows a dynamic change in financing models for game developers and publisher relations. That is exactly what many agencies are doing in the game industry. Seamus Blackley created a new dynamic by way of “B” - focusing on bringing the artists and creatives to the forefront of negotiations, while changing the core of how financing could be done for games by working around the ideal of bond/debt financing – something of a norm in film/TV – to games that rely on iteration.There's a lot less guessing and fishing with these kinds of methods, and you certainly don't need a crystal ball.

     

     Other companies, who may follow the “B” and also certainly the aforementioned “A” model, such as Video Game Agency, the Game Agency, Intergi, or Embassy MultiMedia, happen to provide services that you don't generally associate with games, but you certainly enjoy seeing them all the time. What do you do, if you're studio is new, and lacks a firm hand, a financial lead, or a producer with business sense? If anyone still remembers the ill-fated Ion Storm company and it's epic failure, Daikatana, you'll know that by and large, had they'd secured a consultant and/or agency to help in the realm of branding/marketing and especially finance with a producer, things may have turned out a lot different. By right of branding and marketing, think of the extraordinary commercial for Halo 3, which you can view, here – brought to you by the famous McCann Erickson. EyeBallNYC created the well-known Bioshock commercial for Xbox.

         If anything, it's fair to say that there's certainly some contention, but agencies penetration into the industry is only going to become stronger. It's for the best – as they continue to improve the quality of marketing and branding directives, that actually listen to developers, while opening up the dynamic from a franchise model and studio renting, to one that showcases the developers and the artistic merit of its products, the quality of their worth becomes apparent. As more and more sign on, in order to improve their ability for their products to get funding, development resources, or expanding their distribution and marketing, they're creating more options. Any option that allows an artist to be an artist and do what they do, while helping to alleviate constraint and stringency is certainly an option worth considering, if not outright investing in.