Arcade Berg aka. "Learning Game Design with Arcade Berg"

Organize my designs

As I discussed in my earlier post about the epic White Line-paper, there are many tools for documenting your game design.

I use the web, Office software and pen and paper, depending on what I have at hand, what I want to document and how much time I got.

The problem that occurs because of this is that my designs are all over the place! If I only used Microsoft Word, it wouldn't be all that hard. I'd just keep 'em all at the same place, categorized by platform, genre or something. If I'd only used paper, I could at least keep it in the same bookshelf.

But nooo, of course I have to make it difficult by mixing things up a bit! Well, my friends, I've decided to try and sort things out. At least a little bit. I'm working on getting all my digital documents sorted, categorized and of course having more than one back-up online. I mainly use DropBox for that. If you're interested, please make use of my referal so we both get a bigger account for free. (Shameless plug.)

https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTIwNjg4NDk

The bothersome part are the things on paper... To begin with, I still haven't found all my notebooks. The problem with making sure to have always have a notebook at hand. I know I'm missing at least two of them at the moment, probably more. I find them everywhere; on shelves, in bags, under stacks of paper, etc. Even if I did have them all at hand I suppose the best thing for me to do would be typing them into the computer and scanning all the sketches, but seriously that's too much work!

My next adventure is to go to a bookstore and buy some "Removable Adhersive Index Notes" from "STICK 'N"! Wish me luck!

Some Game Design

Four Ways to Write Your Design Docs

A dude named Tim lang has posted an article over at GameCareerGuide about four ways to write a design doc.

http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/737/four_ways_to_write_your_design_.php

It's a good read. He discuss the pros and cons of Word, Wiki, PowerPoint and Google Docs.

When people find out I make games for a living, their first response is "coooool". The next question is almost always "So you program games, then?", to which I answer "no". Then comes the confusing explanation of what a game designer does. After being asked what a game designer does, my usual answer is, "I write documents that no one reads." 

- Tim Lang

Aint that the truth. However, don't neglect the role of the game designer.

I was very happy when I read the text, because of a stupid thing like I've actually tried all of the methods he mentions despite the comment "[...]including two that may seem unusual to you."

I don't have a clear favorite amongst them, although I personally don't recommend PowerPoint or Google Docs.

PowerPoint is a great, great tool for presenting a feature or a mechanic, etc. but I don't think it's the best of choices for a larger amount of content.

I absolutely love Google Docs and use it on a daily basis, but I don't think their tools are comfortable enough to use for something like a GDD. It's just not as good as Microsoft's counterpart. Although, the pros of it being online and has built in sharing functions are amazing.

Well, don't take my word for it. Read the article and try out the methods yourself.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

URL's from 7/5/09