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Game design document template

Nine linked documents that cover a game from its pitch to its decision log, each with guidance on what to write and a short example. Download them as Markdown files: they open in any editor, show their diagrams on GitHub and in Obsidian, and import into Nodary as a map.

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9 Markdown files in a .zip, 12 kB

Free, no account, no email. Use it, change it, share it.

Game design documentGameplaySystems and economyProduction planTechnical designInterface and accessibilityArt and audio directionWorld, story and charactersLevels and content

Read every page before you download

The overview fits on one screen and links to eight parts, one per discipline, so each part has an owner and a change stays small. Italic lines say what to write; the examples come from Saltmarrow, the sample game this site uses everywhere.

Documents

File Game design document template/Game design document.md

Game design document

How to use this template: italic lines are guidance. Replace them with your own words, then delete them. Values in square brackets are yours to fill in. Keep this page to about one screen: it is the page everyone reads first, and every other part of the design is one link away.

At a glance

FieldYour game
Working title[Title]
Logline[One sentence a stranger could repeat]
Genre[Genre and subgenre]
Players[Single player, co-op for 2 to 4, competitive]
Platforms[PC, consoles, mobile]
Session length[A typical session, in minutes]
Engine[Engine and version]
Team[Size today and at its largest]
Business model[Price, free to play, subscription]
Next milestone[Name and date]

Pitch

Two or three sentences: who the player is, what they do, and what makes the game different. Write it so it would still work on a store page.

Example (Saltmarrow, a sample game): Rake salt, dive for memories, beat the tide home. A co-op exploration and crafting game for up to four players, set on tidal salt flats where a drowned archive city surfaces twice a day.

[Your pitch]

Design pillars

Three to five rules every feature must serve. A pillar that could describe any game, such as “fun combat”, is not a pillar. A feature that serves no pillar is cut; a feature that breaks one is redesigned.

  1. [Pillar one]: [what it means, in one sentence]
  2. [Pillar two]: [what it means, in one sentence]
  3. [Pillar three]: [what it means, in one sentence]

Example (Saltmarrow, a sample game): The tide is the clock. Time is the only resource that never grows: every system reads the tide, and nothing pauses it.

Audience

Who the game is for, what they play today and when they stop playing. Name real games and real habits, not only an age bracket.

  • Primary players: [who they are and how they play]
  • What they play today: [three or four games]
  • They stop playing when: [...]
  • Secondary players: [...]

Comparable games

Three or four games your team and your players already know. Say what you take from each and, just as useful, what you leave.

GameWhat we takeWhat we leave
[Game][...][...]
[Game][...][...]
[Game][...][...]

Scope

What the first release contains, and what it explicitly does not. The second list is the one that keeps scope from growing quietly.

  • In the first release: [...]
  • Not in the first release: [...]
  • To be decided later: [...]

The rest of the design

Each part is its own document. Link to it rather than copy from it, so every fact lives in one place and changes in one place.

This template is free to use, change and share. It comes from Nodary, where these files import as a map of linked documents.

Download the template9 Markdown files in a .zip, 12 kB

How to use it

  1. Write the overview in one sitting

    Fill in the table, the pitch and the pillars first, in about an hour, with the people who will build the game. Every other page is judged against them.

  2. Fill the parts as decisions are made

    Leave a section empty rather than invent it. An empty section is an honest open question; an invented one gets built.

  3. Log every decision

    When a decision changes the design, add a line to the decision log in the production plan and update the page it affects. The log says why; the page says what is true now.

  4. Give every page an owner

    Each part names its owner and the date it was last reviewed. A page that nobody owns is the first to go stale.

Import it into Nodary as a map

Nodary is a workspace for game teams where documents are linked like stars on a map. Import the .zip and the overview arrives with its eight parts filed under it, the links between pages kept and the diagrams drawn. Your team then comments on passages, asks for reviews and sees what changed since their last visit, and AI agents connected over MCP read the design before they write in it.

  1. Open a project’s map and choose Import.
  2. Choose the Folder or ZIP tab, then Choose a ZIP.
  3. Pick the downloaded file, check the tree, and import.

The free plan holds ten documents per workspace, the project’s own page included: the template’s nine fit in a new workspace and fill it. Paid plans have room for more.

How Nodary handles game design documents
Nodary’s import dialog with the template’s .zip chosen: the nine documents as a tree, the overview with its eight parts under it, and a line saying the import creates 9 documents, of the 9 the plan still allows.

Writing a GDD people actually read

A game design document fails in one of two ways: nobody reads it, or everyone reads an old version. These habits prevent both.

One page per part

A sixty-page file is read once, at the start. Short linked pages are read when they matter, and a change touches one page instead of five.

Write decisions, not wishes

“Combat should feel good” decides nothing. “A hit lands within 100 milliseconds of the button press” can be built and tested.

Say what is still open

Mark unanswered questions as open, with who answers them and by when. A guess written as a fact is how two departments end up building two different games.

Link, never copy

When the economy page needs the tide timings, link to them. A fact written in two places soon says two different things.

Keep the why

The decision log records why things are the way they are, so a new teammate does not undo a choice the team has already paid for.

Cut what nobody reads

If a section has not been opened since it was written, merge it or delete it. A short document that is true beats a long one that was.

Questions about game design documents

What is a game design document?

A game design document, or GDD, describes the game a team is making: its pitch, pillars, mechanics, systems, world, levels, look and sound, and the plan to build it. Designers, artists, programmers, producers and, more and more, AI agents read it, so it has to stay current while the game changes.

What should a game design document include?

At least a one-page overview with the pitch, pillars, audience and scope; the gameplay and core loop; the systems and their numbers; the world and story; levels and content; art and audio direction; interface and accessibility; the technical constraints; and a production plan with a decision log. This template has one document for each.

How long should a GDD be?

As short as it can be while still answering the team’s questions. The overview should fit on one screen. Each part grows with the decisions taken, not with the hopes: a page of settled rules beats ten pages of possibilities.

Do indie and agile teams still need a GDD?

They need the decisions written down, not a bible written up front. Teams that iterate quickly use the GDD as the record of what the game is today: short pages, updated when a playtest changes something, with the reasons kept in the decision log.

Which format is the template in?

Markdown: plain text files that any editor opens. Links between documents are relative links, tables are Markdown tables, and diagrams are Mermaid, which GitHub, Obsidian and Nodary draw. Nothing depends on one particular tool.

Can I use it in Obsidian, on GitHub or in another editor?

Yes. Obsidian opens the unzipped folder as a vault with every link working, and GitHub shows the files with their links and diagrams. Tools that import Markdown one file at a time keep the text and the tables; check how they handle links between files.

How do I import the template into Nodary?

Open a project’s map, choose Import, then the Folder or ZIP tab, and choose the downloaded .zip. Nodary shows the tree first, then creates the nine documents with the overview as their parent, keeps the links between them and draws the diagrams. Any folder or .zip of up to 200 Markdown files imports the same way.

Can I use the template for a commercial game?

Yes. Use it, change it and share it for any game, commercial or not, with or without a Nodary account. A mention is welcome, never required.

Read next

Keep the design where the team works.

Import the template into Nodary and the GDD becomes a map that your team and your AI agents keep current. Free with two members, one project and ten documents, no card needed.

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