HOW DOES ONE USE A GAME DESIGN DOCUMENT FOR GAMES MADE IN RPG MAKER?

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Yes, you see, I'm completely clueless about how the GDD is supposed to be used and how to work in it. I remembered that I had a template for one somewhere on my Google Drive, but I never used it, because I was so much an idiot (among other things)... still am an idiot, mind you, but that's from lack of know-how.

*ahem* Anyway, I'm wondering how to best use this design doc that I'm filling in the template for, which is going to be used for an RPG Maker game. Anyone have any idea how to best work with it for the whole thing? Also, last I checked, this was supposed to go with the Unity3D engine... oh well: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13TLifEVWfwGIAARBPlnHRpTjatNMG6lMh--jW0wi5Sg/edit?usp=sharing
I don't think you should use a GDD if you're just getting started. You should do such documents if you want to develop AAA games and need to get a publisher to fund you. A simpler approach would be taking a story structure and building your game plot around that. These questions should help you flesh out the plot:

1. Who is the hero?
2. What does your hero try to accomplish?
3. Why would someone like the hero?
4. What is the worst part of the hero?
5. Why is that person the hero and not someone else?

6. Who is the villain?
7. What does your villain try to accomplish?
8. Why would someone hate the villain?
9. How does the villain get others to sympathize with them?
10.What makes the villain a threat?
author=LightningLord2
I don't think you should use a GDD if you're just getting started. You should do such documents if you want to develop AAA games and need to get a publisher to fund you. A simpler approach would be taking a story structure and building your game plot around that. These questions should help you flesh out the plot:

1. Who is the hero?
2. What does your hero try to accomplish?
3. Why would someone like the hero?
4. What is the worst part of the hero?
5. Why is that person the hero and not someone else?

6. Who is the villain?
7. What does your villain try to accomplish?
8. Why would someone hate the villain?
9. How does the villain get others to sympathize with them?
10.What makes the villain a threat?


Huh... that actually makes a lot more sense to me than trying to use that ridiculous GDD. Perhaps I should go with that instead?
It's pretty much a baseline for a simple story. You do have to do some worldbuilding, maybe introduce a few secondary characters or even have different villains and heroes across the narrative - but the conflict between hero and villain generally tends to be the centerpoint of an RPG.
Hi Xamusel,

When I was younger, I used RPG Maker at will, without a design document. As I got older, my projects became more complex, and I stopped trusting my memory to coordinate everything. Writing out every internal system in separate documents was an immense help in not only keeping everything organized, but also keeping everything, period.
I don't have a unified doc.

I have like...4 to 8 txt files on my desktop titled Story, Characters, battle mechanics, skills, items and equipment, etc etc etc.

Whenever I'm in class or at home doing something and get an idea, I just open the corresponding file, and type it in real quick. Then, later, I go through the ideas and refine them, then use them as my base for game creation.
Thank you for your comments, everyone. I deeply appreciate them all, especially since they make way more sense to me than doing a GDD.

Then again, I'm one of the four writers for this game's story, and the only one with the engine... so that makes me the only designer of the team (four on the team total). How does that make any sense?
Yeah I don't think a full blown design document is necessary for your own game, nor would it be very useful to you. What I really like is the web-based project management tool Trello, which lets you put thoughts and ideas into "cards" and visually plan out pretty much anything, as well as track bugs and things. There's also a mobile app for it, so you could be playtesting your game, find a bug, and throw a quick reminder for it in your trello board via phone. It's even better if you are working with a small team, because you'd all be sharing the same board or have ones for different areas of development if you want to get more granular.

There's lots of funky extra things you can do to make managing your projects easier (checklists, card templates and things), but if it's just you working on a game, you probably don't need all of that.
Hmm... that sounds very legit, I think, yeah.

Well, yeah, I'll have to keep that in mind for everyone on the team. Thank you all for your help so far.
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