RE: [GD-Design] Design Documents

[Sellers, M. <mse...@or...>]

Matt Newport wrote:
> How long and how detailed are people's design docs generally? 
> I personally feel that our design docs could do with being a 
> little longer and more in depth but I don't know how they 
> compare to those used elsewhere in the industry. I read in 
> the Deus Ex post mortem that their design doc ran to hundreds 
> of pages, which is rather more detail than we have in ours...

Design docs can easily be hundreds of pages, but I'm not sure they have to
be.  That's like asking how long a novel is -- it's as long as you need to
tell the story.  A design doc serves several purposes, including selling the
design and memorializing it (so you'll remember that incredible idea in
context six weeks from now).  I've seen design docs with too little
high-level design: what's this about, why is it fun, what's the player's
experience, how does this fit together, etc.; and ones with too little
low-level design: what are the pieces, how does movement work, what's the
overall UI like, etc.  The question of when to leave off with the low-level
design and get into implementation is a tough one, but generally I'd say
sooner than later.  Iterate, try it out, and then write it down.  If you've
done the high-level design right, you'll be able to focus on the areas you
need to iterate on a lot more quickly and effectively.

But honestly, this is all still seat-of-the-pants stuff.  I don't know
*anyone* who has a sure-fire design documentation methodology. 

Mike Sellers