Although I’m not going to share it with you here, the first draft of our design document for Cliff Climber is 99% done. A quick spit shine and it will be ready to turn in. Why is this important? Let me tell you.
The design document is the description of the game and mechanics that we have planned for it at this point. It is 40 pages of us describing how this game should look, act, and feel. It is also a living document that grows and matures throughout the development process.
For us, this design document is a way for us to articulate our view of the game that we will make over the coming months. Since we have a hard deadline for finishing each step of the development process we need to have a clear vision and clear milestones. That is what we think we have created and, pending instructor approval, that is what we are going to base our game on.
Next step is production planning and revisions to the document based on instructor feedback. Like I said, this is a living document.