Or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the GDD.

For any game, planning is incredibly important. If you do it early enough, you can have a definite idea of how you would want your game to turn out. To this end, creating a Game Design Document and Technical Design Document is a very good way to go to begin with.

I have heard of instances where the use of a Software Design Document instead but that is purely a difference in structure and approach.

A Game Design Document is a descriptor of what you want your game to look like and feel like. It is a generalisation of your plan for the game. The Technical Design Document has all the specific factors that would make up your game. Hence Your GDD is sort of your pitch and your TDD is your actual plan… sort of.

I have seen instances where the TDD is absorbed, phagocytosis style, into the GDD creating an all in all more complete Design Document. That’s sort of the approach I took with mine (partially due to time constraints, also out of laziness).

Below will be the overview of the Game Design Document. I would put the whole thing on this post… but it is a tremendously long read.

I may update this with a link to the full GDD in time. Watch This space.

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Overview

Concept and Genre

“Ludo: A Passing War” is a turn-based cross-and-circle strategy board game, abstracting a war game where the pieces represent troupes attempting to return to home base while either avoiding or attacking enemy troupes.

Target Audience

This game is based on the old board game Ludo (also known as Parcheesi or Sorry!) Hence a main demographic would be people familiar with the game, most likely people who tend to use mobile phones, tablets or other low-powered or mobile devices. This is to facilitate mass appeal across a large age group and diverse income.

The initial audience group would be Ghanaians of age 9+. This was expanded to a worldwide audience due to the widespread reach of the board game.

The game may, most likely, be ported to PC, Linux and Mobile, with more platforms where possible.

The most likely Competition will be Ludo games and board on the markets of the respective platforms, though they may not have as detailed a presentation as this game. The most difficult competition would be board games and real-time strategy games like RISK, Sid Meyer’s Civilisation and the Age of Empires series. The lower skill ceiling for Ludo: A Passing War would be an advantage over such games as it will allow an easier introduction into the game.

Game Flow

The game is controlled by mouse or other pointing device. The player pieces will move to their intended location based either by dice roll or by the decision of the player. Object of the game is to move one’s pieces (piece by piece) form the Start Base, to the Start Square, along the game board square by square, to the Home Base, where each piece is retired from the game.

The loop for the game in summary is:

1. Roll dice
2. Move players’ pieces based on roll
3. Reward outcome of any decisions

The game ends if all 4 pieces of the Player Character or all 4 pieces of all Enemy Player Characters find their way to the Home Base.

Look and Feel

The game will be mainly in a top-down, two dimensional format. There may be a chance though to have a three dimensional view where the player pieces are modelled fully three dimensionally. The pieces could either be tokens, pawns or mock up fighters.

The game may have a selection of layouts (these are primarily aesthetic changes only and may have no mechanical effect on game-play). These layouts may have an immersive effect on game-play, and in a future design may have mechanical changes to add complexity to play. These layouts include:

• Classic: A layout similar to the original Ludo game.
• Verdant: A board inspired by flora and fauna; a forest based level.
• Aquatic: An ocean /naval inspired board.
• Aerial: A board themed around Hills and skylines
• Haze: A desert inspired board.

These layouts are to add intrigue to game-play and retain interest on a game by game level. Each Layout will have its related theme displayed visually (in art style) and audibly (in music and sound effects). The game may include Character portraits and dialogue from Enemy AI NPC’s based on the turn of the game.

Scope

The following MUST be included in the final product:

Content and Mechanics

The game must be a board game with 4 available playable slots. For a game to commence, at least 2 players have to be involved in a game. The game is Local Play only.

The Di(c)e

At least one die has to be involved, and function completely impartially and randomly, preventing either side taking an unfair advantage in progression outside of random coincidence. The die functions as follows:

1. -Any single roll less than 6 moves any piece on the board attached to the player whose turn it is to roll the die. The choice of piece is determined by the player unless there is only one piece in play.
2. A roll of 6 grants a re-roll and starts a counter. Every subsequent six will add to the tally. The count ends on the first non-six, which will also be added to the tally. The player decides which pieces attain what quantities. A 6 also allows a piece in Start base to move to the Start Cell and come into play.
3. A 0 roll or flub is possible, where the player misses a turn. This simulates when the die rolls off the game board.

The Board

The game board is described as follows:

• 4 shells made of 6 x 3 square cells,
  • 6 of these square cells in each shell colour coded
  • (1 starting cell, 5 home stretch cells). 
• 4 Start Bases to house 4 game pieces each.
• 1 Home Base/ Goal

The Players

The Pieces must move in a clockwise manner, cell by cell, based on the total dice roll and dice rules.

Player actions include:

• Moving pieces individually per turn.
• Stacking pieces to block enemy players. (optional)
• Sending a piece to the Start base by “kicking” the enemy piece (Landing on the same space as that piece on your final move). These actions are optional in game and can be choose as House Rules before a game.
  • Forward Kick: Removing an enemy piece by landing on the same square in the final square as part of forward progression.
  • Home Kick: The player can, provided they have the exact number of steps, move into the Home Stretch of an enemy player and Kick them back to the Start Base. This can be done as a Forward or Back Kick.
  • Back Kick: Choosing to remove an enemy piece by deliberately moving back, provided the distance the piece is capable of moving allows it.
  • Slide Kicks: Landing on a parallel and opposing space to an opponent and choosing to move to that space (this excludes the colour-coded Home Stretch.). This move can be combined with a forward or backward motion, or already executed forward or back kick, provided the conditions allow it.

Boundaries

The game may include the following, but is unnecessary in completion of the game.

The Di(c)e

There can be multiple dice in play. Only one die rolling a 6 is required for a re-roll or let out a piece into play.

It could also be possible to “hold a Six”. This is a method by which a 6 roll would be held back for another turn and its effects withheld as well. Only one six can be stored at a time.

The Board

The board may have optional traps to prevent movement, return pieces to the Start Base, or advance a players’ movement (an extra chance system to increase variance in game-play).

The board can also have environmental handicaps based on the layout. This could include elemental handicaps (where one player gets a boost and a higher chance of landing sixes) or a trap system as mentioned before, though based more on environmental systems.

The Players

Enemy AI have dialogue during the game, including taunts, jeers, pleas and Meta-gaming. A possibility for truces and treaties may also be possible. A  Story/Legend mode where in progression through the story is done by consistently winning or surviving several games.

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This is most certainly the driest Document I might post on here… For now.