It takes a village to make a videogame, and there's no one way to do it. Solo devs and quintuple-A studios alike face all sorts of challenges trying to make all a game's moving parts cohere, and the more cooks you add to the kitchen, the more different design philosophies are bound to conflict. That's where design documents come in—living, comprehensive treatises that outline all a game's systems and design goals to be referenced by those working on the game—at least, for some.
Johan Andersson, lead on Europa Universalis 5, said in an interview with PC Gamer news writer Joshua Wolens that the practice can be too rigid and restraining. For Paradox Tinto, good design comes with a bit of democracy.
"Design documents stifle creativity and it reduces people's ownership and empowerment," Andersson said. "You create better games by talking with your team … tell the person some broad outlines, like 'we want this,' 'it should function like this,' a few samples, and let them make the detailed decisions. It creates greater ownership and greater accountability long-term in a project.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
