So me and my brother are currently creating a game design document and we need to define the gameplay. Problem is, we are not sure how some things are called. Like, what types of cameras angles are there? Top-down (board game), isometric (RTS), First Person Shooter (Doom), ??? (Resident Evil (the first)) etc. Are there standards? Is there a book? Something like a dictionary for game designs. I looked at GameDev's (http://www.gamedev.net/dict/) which is a more general dictionary than the one I'm looking for.

There are no official rules or standards.

If you gave your finished game design document to a group of programmers and artists and etc and they were able to make your game exactly how you wanted it from only reading that game design document, then your game design document is perfect, on the informative level (there is another "reader's attention security" level but that can be ignored for this issue).

So make your game design document as closest to that perfect state I have described above in whatever means you can, however that state doesn't require the use of certain "official terms" (which may not exist anyway).

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Original post by pek Are there standards? Is there a book? Something like a dictionary for game designs.

1. No.
2. No.
3. Not quite. But take a look at http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson28.htm - you may find some useful terms (but surely not as many as you'd like).

Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design (New Riders 2003)

This book on game design gives a few great insights and it also suggests what your gdd might possibly look like.
Camera angles are handeled somewhere aswell and you might get some inspiration from this book on how to possibly call them.

This is of course not the official guide to game design and naming in a gdd.
But it is something to start from if you have no idea at all.

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Original post by GarmGarf There are no official rules or standards. If you gave your finished game design document to a group of programmers and artists and etc and they were able to make your game exactly how you wanted it from only reading that game design document, then your game design document is perfect, on the informative level (there is another "reader's attention security" level but that can be ignored for this issue). So make your game design document as closest to that perfect state I have described above in whatever means you can, however that state doesn't require the use of certain "official terms" (which may not exist anyway).

Yes, I agree. That is what I'm trying to do right now. But some things are hard to explain. Like camera angles. If there are commonly known definitions it would make the design document less complicated and the reader will instantly know what you are talking about. Instead now I have to dedicate two lines to explain and hoping I did it in a clear way.

What is quicker: saying the game is isometric or explaining what isometric is?

Problem is, if your explanation wasn't clear enough it could mess the rest of the document.

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Original post by Tom Sloper Quote: Original post by pek Are there standards? Is there a book? Something like a dictionary for game designs. 1. No. 2. No. 3. Not quite. But take a look at http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson28.htm - you may find some useful terms (but surely not as many as you'd like).

Nice link. Love the site!

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Original post by buckED Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design (New Riders 2003) This book on game design gives a few great insights and it also suggests what your gdd might possibly look like. Camera angles are handeled somewhere aswell and you might get some inspiration from this book on how to possibly call them. This is of course not the official guide to game design and naming in a gdd. But it is something to start from if you have no idea at all.

I will definitely give it a look. Thanks.

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Original post by pek Like, what types of cameras angles are there? Top-down (board game), isometric (RTS), First Person Shooter (Doom), ??? (Resident Evil (the first)) etc. Are there standards?

It doesn't cover every camera type you could use in a game, but graphical projection may be what you're looking for. Other than that just use common terms like you already have: first-person, third-person, over-the-shoulder, etc.

Hope that helps. [smile]