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DocumentsBy the Nodary team

A free game design document template, in 12 languages.

Nine linked Markdown documents, from the pitch to the decision log, each saying what to write. Read them on the site, download the .zip, and import it into a project in one step.

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 the line saying the import creates 9 documents of the 9 the plan still allows.
Inside Nodary · Demonstration data

Most teams start a game design document from a blank page, or from someone else’s sixty-page file. There is now a starting point that is short on purpose: nine linked documents, one per part of the design, each saying what to write and showing a short example from Saltmarrow, the sample game this site uses.

Nine documents, one per part of the design

The overview fits on one screen: a table of the essentials, the pitch, the pillars, the audience, comparable games, the scope and a link to every part. Eight parts follow: gameplay, systems and economy, world and story, levels and content, art and audio direction, interface and accessibility, technical design, and the production plan with its decision log. Each part names its owner and the date it was last reviewed, and ends with its open questions.

Read it before you download it

The template’s page shows every document as written, with its tables, checklists and diagrams, and draws the nine documents as a map: choose a star and its document opens. The page and the download come from the same words, in English, French and ten other languages.

Markdown that opens anywhere

The download is a .zip of Markdown files. Links between documents are relative links and diagrams are Mermaid, so the folder works in Obsidian, on GitHub and in any editor, without an account.

One import into Nodary

On a project’s map, choose Import, then Folder or ZIP, then Choose a ZIP. The overview arrives with its eight parts filed under it, the links between them kept and the diagrams drawn. From there the team comments, asks for reviews and sees what changed, and agents connected over MCP read the design before they write in it.

Try it in your workflow

  1. Open the template’s page and read the overview.
  2. Download the template.
  3. On a project’s map, choose Import, then Folder or ZIP, then Choose a ZIP, and pick the file.
  4. Fill in the overview’s table, pitch and pillars first.
See how it works

The template uses nine of the free plan’s ten documents, the project’s own page included, so it fills a new free workspace.

Keep exploring

The Home of Frostline Studio, a fictional games studio, in Nodary: under Your projects, the name of Project Kestrel has turned into a field holding the new name, Glasswing, typed in place beside its 3 documents, with Ember Tactics and Tidewater below and the documents to jump back into above.
Teams and access

Rename a workspace or a project where you see its name.

Press F2 on a project’s or a workspace’s name, or choose Rename in its menu, and the name becomes a field where it stands: on Home, in the top bar, on the map, in Columns or from Ctrl+K. Every open tab follows, and the team’s history keeps each rename.

Read the story
Design pillars of Saltmarrow, a fictional sample project, in Nodary’s editor, opened from the map: Back to the map · Vision at the start of the header, the words “The tide is the clock” selected in a heading with the bubble above them offering B, I, U, S, Link and Turn into, then Clarify, Shorten, Tone and Comment, and below, a list whose items keep their bold “Do:” and “Don’t:”.
Documents

Write by hand, with the keys you already know.

A new document has a line to type on, bold and links stay in lists and tables, a bubble formats what you select and the shortcuts of other editors work. The way back from a document names where it goes, and gets there.

Read the story