Write your game design document as a map of linked pages.

The pitch, the pillars and every system, character and level become documents on one map, each area grouped around its own hub and joined by links that say why. When someone changes the tide calendar, everyone who read it before sees what changed on their next visit, and so do your AI agents.

Start free Open the design documents

Saltmarrow is a sample project: its studio, team and game are fictional.

Each part of the design is its own document

A combat spec, a biome, a boss: each gets a page that holds what that part of the design needs. Beside headings, lists and tables, a document takes sheets with formulas, Mermaid diagrams, boards, moodboards, colour palettes, branching dialogue and Fountain screenplays. Type [[ to link a passage to another document, and that document lists everything that mentions it.

Start from the GDD Overview template: pitch, pillars, audience and platforms, scope
Or from Mechanic Spec, Level Design, Character Bio, Quest Design, or a template of your own
Link two documents with a reason, such as inspired by, blocks or depends on
Open a reference beside the page you are writing

What it does not do There is no .docx or Google Docs file import. Pasted text from Docs or Word keeps its headings, lists and tables, but its pictures do not come with it: drop them in as files. A folder or .zip of Markdown files imports whole.

The Saltmarrow game pitch open in Nodary’s editor: the outline, status, owner, due date and project properties in the left rail, the key art and the pitch text in the page, and the document’s AI assistant on the right.

A living document says what changed, and what still holds

When you reopen a document that others saved since your last visit, a note at the top says what changed and who changed it. The history compares any saved version with today, removed words struck and new ones marked, and puts back a single paragraph without rolling back the rest. Each document can be marked canon, exploration, obsolete or superseded by a newer one, so nobody builds on a spec that was replaced.

See what changed since your last visit, and by whom
Compare any saved version with now, word by word
Restore one block from an older version and keep everything else
Superseded documents fade on the map and point to their replacement

What it does not do A document keeps its last 50 saved versions; older ones are removed.

Changed since your last visit (September 30): 1 changed, by Sanna Lindqvist.

Version history

Compared with now

ChangedParagraph
Spring tides are generous and rare: three days in fourteen. Neap tides are short and stormy, which is exactly when the deepest crystals wash into the entrance halls. The calendar is the same for every crew, so players plan together across ~~sessions.~~sessions and across time zones.

Comments, mentions and reviews stay on the document

Select a passage and comment on it, reply in the thread, resolve it when it is settled. An @mention reaches a teammate in the app and by email. When a spec is ready, ask for a review: an owner or admin approves it or asks for changes with a note, and you hear back. The workspace activity feed shows who commented, decided, reviewed and edited, newest first.

Comment on a passage, a sheet cell, a board element or a point of a picture
Mention a teammate with @, and mute a thread, a document or a project
Ask for a review: approved, or changes requested with a note
Follow a teammate from document to document as they read

What it does not do Only workspace owners and admins decide a review. You cannot yet name a specific reviewer or chain several approvals.

The Saltmarrow studio’s activity feed on Nodary’s home: teammates commenting, deciding pictures, requesting and approving reviews, changing statuses and editing documents, newest first.

The design reads and edits on a phone

On a phone, a document opens with its details folded into one line, so the text comes first. Comments, history and sharing open as sheets above the tab bar. From that bar you capture an idea or a photo into a project, search the workspace, and share a link through the phone’s own share menu.

Read and edit any document in the phone’s browser
Capture a note or a photo into a project from the tab bar
Share a read-only link that needs no account, with an expiry if you want one

What it does not do Nodary runs in the phone’s browser and has no offline mode. A capture keeps its text on the device until it is saved.

The Saltmarrow game pitch on a phone in Nodary: the key art, the title and the pitch text, readable and editable.

Your agents read the design before they write it

Connected over MCP, Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor read a project’s outline, its canon and what changed this week, then write where you ask: a new section, a document from a template, a link with its reason. They are warned when a document is superseded, record contradictions as two passages side by side, and act with the permissions of the person who connected them. MCP is included in every plan.

Connect an agent

You askCheck the new Tide clock and storms spec against Saltmarrow’s canon. Record any contradiction you find, then add a Storm damage section and link it to the Harvest economy document.

Tools it calls

get_tree
search_documents
get_document
get_canon
recent_changes
report_contradiction
edit_document
link_stars
create_from_template

Questions

What is a game design document?

A game design document, or GDD, describes the game a team is making: its pitch, pillars, systems, characters, levels and the rules behind them. Design, art, code, audio and production all read it, so it has to stay current while the game changes. In Nodary it is a set of linked documents rather than one long file.

Is there a GDD template?

Yes. The GDD Overview template starts with a working title, a one-line pitch, pillars, target audience and platforms, and scope. Mechanic Spec, Level Design, Character Bio, Quest Design, Lore Entry and Game Pitch Deck templates cover the pages around it, and the map’s starter set seeds five linked documents for an RPG, a roguelike or a narrative game. Any document can also become your team’s own template.

How do you keep a game design document up to date?

Give each part of the design its own document, so a change stays small and easy to find. Nodary then tells each reader what changed since their last visit, keeps a history you can compare word by word, and lets you mark a document canon, obsolete or superseded by another. AI agents connected over MCP get the same warning before they quote an old spec.

Can I import my existing GDD?

You can import a folder or a .zip of Markdown files, an Obsidian vault for example, with its hierarchy and the links between files, up to 200 documents at a time. From Google Docs or Word, paste: headings, lists and tables keep their structure. Pictures do not come with the paste; Nodary says how many were left out, and you drop them in as files. There is no direct .docx import.

Can I export the game design document?

Each document exports to Markdown, prints to PDF from a page preview, and downloads as an editable PowerPoint file. A whole project downloads as a .zip with its documents in Markdown, its media, and editable sources such as diagrams and sheets as CSV.

Can several people write the GDD at the same time?

Yes. Documents are edited together in real time, and you see who is in a document and which part they are reading. You can follow a teammate from one document to the next, and the history records who typed what.

Write the next spec where the rest of the design lives.

Start free with two members, one project and ten documents, no card needed. Or open the live demo first.