With the release of our first title “Pew Pew Pod” just hours away, I figured it would be a poignant moment to discuss perhaps the most important aspect of how exactly a game is made, the Design Document.

When creating something with moving, attachable, and interchangeable parts, engineers, architects, and the like all agree that some sort of blue print or Master Plan is necessary to organize everything that goes into the project in one place. In the gaming industry, this blue print is called the Design Document.

We at Bad Egg have had our ups and downs with design documents; in our first round with Shattered, we made it as we went, assuming that it was merely something that distributors wanted to see before we submitted the game. Not true! As far as Bad Egg Studios is concerned, Alex and Cory reside in Richmond, while Kevin and I are stuck in the boondocks of western Virginia. A Design Document is actually what keeps companies like ours in touch with what one another are doing in spite of little face to face contact.

Essentially, the Design Document is a tool that, when properly executed, allows a team with multiple parts to work in total autonomy while maintaining perspective and awareness of the rest of the project. So if you’re thinking about starting production of a game, or even if you have already produced a game, consider making your next step a complete and detailed Design Document. You won’t regret it.