i'm just a hobbiest programmer i guess you could say, but i've never found any need for a design document. i'm just wondering if they really help you when you program a game. the closest thing to a design document i ever use is a list of things i want to program next. thats solely to keep me from working on to many things at once. i've seen a lot of people with good ideas for games that say they just got bored and quit. i'm wondering if the design document bored them out, or if it was the programming. do you really think a design document is wortht the time to write? how detailed do you think a design document should be, and how long? anyone that has any stories/information about design documents i'd like to hear from you. thank you for your time.

Having some documents or diagrams of how your project should work is always a good thing, though how much you want would depend on things like the size of your project and complexity of the requirements. Though id like to note I find most official software documenting process such as UML to be too inflexible, high level and abstract to be much use in programming. For my current project (tactics rpg) though it’s just a bunch of scribbles in a notebook documenting has been invaluable to record what I need and to organize the layout before actually coding it.

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Original post by yahni've seen a lot of people with good ideas for games that say they just got bored and quit. i'm wondering if the design document bored them out, or if it was the programming.

In my own personal experience, people who decide to write a design document and quit are those that fill out their design doc and either finally get a sense of how hard it is to make a large game, or they simple dont have everything planned out to the extent they thought they did.

I honestly think drawing one up is crucial for game development. It takes out a majority of the hard work required when creating the game 'on the fly'. Its also a good gauge on whether or not you have the tenacity to complete your project before starting it and wasting a lot of work. You could call it a game dev 'gauntlet'. ;)

Definitely helps with planning and thinking through things. Helps bring issues to light which may require extra attention and are best thought out before implementation.

It provides standards and organization in a team environment where each programmer has a different opinion on how the differing systems should interact.

Also if you decide you want to take it from hobby to paid work, investors may want to see it.

Benny

I would say it depends upon a person's style. I'm just using one to capture and organize ideas for the section of the program I'm working on.

It does eat up some time (which as a hobbyist, is important and in short supply), though this might cause you to increase your dedication to a project. As a hobbyist myself, I find that a short design doc can decrease project time by giving a better picture of what is coming.

One important benefit of a design document is that it forces you to critically consider your ideas. When you're buried in implementation details it's easy to overlook whether or not something is fun or balanced and focus on whether or not it works. During the design phase, you're free from that particular restriction and forced to focus on actual gameplay concepts.

Speaking purely from a hobbyist's perspective, this is the main reason I write design documents. It's also the reason why I have more abandoned design documents than I do abandoned projects. It's much easier to get twenty pages into a design document and realize you're planning a game that isn't worth making than it is to code an entire working game and decide it's terrible.

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Original post by yahn is a design document really worth it?

yes.

If you are the sole programmer I don't see the point in a "formal" design document. However, writing things down that make up what the game is about and what needs to be worked on is important (in my opinion).

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Original post by yahn i'm just a hobbiest programmer i guess you could say, but i've never found any need for a design document. i'm just wondering if they really help you when you program a game. the closest thing to a design document i ever use is a list of things i want to program next. thats solely to keep me from working on to many things at once.

Theres more to creating games than programming. Theres this stuff called "design". Ever notice how some games suck beause theyre just not fun, but the graphics look great, and the controls are solid? Its not the programming that made those games sucked. It was the design.

When I program, I usually create a real basic flow chart (I dont even use the right symbols). From there, I just start writing the code. That part isnt hard. The hard part is writing the code that makes a fun game.

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Original post by Kaze Having some documents or diagrams of how your project should work is always a good thing, though how much you want would depend on things like the size of your project and complexity of the requirements. Though id like to note I find most official software documenting process such as UML to be too inflexible, high level and abstract to be much use in programming. For my current project (tactics rpg) though it’s just a bunch of scribbles in a notebook documenting has been invaluable to record what I need and to organize the layout before actually coding it.

Is UML really impractical? I was considering taking a course about UML.