Of course its smarter to send a treatment first, to see if there i any interest. But if you are serious about getting the thing done then you´d better have your big design doc ready. And with design docs i think that bigger is usually better, as you should cover EVERY aspect of the game and describe EVERYTHING that´s possible, which eventually will make you think about all the details of the game. If you can do that, you have a solid game. I´m not saying that you should expose your game to featuritis to gain length, but that you should explore what you have to the limit.

Hase,

Exactly. Explain your game and every aspect of it. But don''t go into the design process with this logic... "it has to be 200+ pages, yaddah yaddah".

Its actually quite interesting that everyone started making design documents. In the beginning days, games were made by programmers... not designers. And we''re beginning to understand the concept of "do not let the programmer draw!!!" .hehe.

Unless he or she is a rennasaince man/women of some kind who can tremendously develop both aspects.

I was just wondering what the design document would look like for Pong or Pacman. or Dig Dug.

quote: Original post by digitaldirt
But don''t go into the design process with this logic... "it has to be 200+ pages, yaddah yaddah".

Well, I´m not saying that you should fit your design docs to a certain size, but if its a design doc (which, at least by my definition is the most complete documentation a development process can get) and not a treatment or a concept or whatever you call it, then it WILL be big, depending on what kind of game you are doing.
And adding all the graphics material, layouts, scribbles, character designs etc., you will probably not arrive at 200 pages but rather something closer to four big folders (the real ones with plastic on both sides).

quote: Original post by digitaldirt
Its actually quite interesting that everyone started making design documents. In the beginning days, games were made by programmers... not designers. And we''re beginning to understand the concept of "do not let the programmer draw!!!" .hehe.

Unless he or she is a rennasaince man/women of some kind who can tremendously develop both aspects.

I was just wondering what the design document would look like for Pong or Pacman. or Dig Dug.

I think this is mainly due to the size of projects. A good design doc saves a lot of time and money, because AFTER the design process is more or less finished all the artists, programmers, sound people and content/level designers get a copy of the doc and can start working right away, with little or no work going to the trashcan because of redesigns or bad task management.
I´m not saying that these people shouldn´t have a say in the design process, everyone should be able to put in his or her ideas, but once the design doc is approved it stands "as it is".

And (another plus) you can let each of your departments make an effort estimation, which will not only help you prevent you company from going broke, but which will also score with potential publishers/investors, because those people are usually pretty interested in how much EXACTLY they are going to spend.

Agree.

In the beginning days, games were made by programmers AND artists