Game Design Document Template [For Narrative Games]

What is this?

Designed specifically for narrative-heavy games with branching choices and routes. This GDD template hopes to fill the gap in commonly shared templates that are often focused on gameplay-heavy games like platformers and shooters.

If you're making your own Game Design document and feel like it's not being helpful for your intended project, or that you're stuck trying to fill in a template that doesn't have what you need, this might be for you!

Intended for visual novels, interactive fiction, dating sims, and character-centric adventures.

Written by a game developer with 7+ years of experience and over ten released character-driven visual novels.

Includes sections that are handy for when you want to pitch your game, such as marketing strategies and potential risks and mitigation methods. Editable tables, summaries, best practices, and some examples to help you out.

This document is intended to save you trouble, headaches, and frustration. I've been there before. I hope to be able to mitigate at least a little bit of the pain for you too.

Included:

Fully editable .docx file (compatible with Google Docs, Word, etc.)

Sections for:

• Game overview & emotional tone

• Narrative structure & branching paths

• Character bios, arcs, and dynamics

• UI/UX design & accessibility

• Assets, audio, and budgeting tables

• Technical specs & localization

• Marketing, release planning, and team roles

• Development timeline with milestone breakdown

• Risk assessment & scope control

• With example text throughout to guide your process.

Please do not redistribute, resell, or upload this template elsewhere.

You’re welcome to edit, expand, and share filled-in versions with your team, for projects personal or commercial.

Why Make a Game Design Document?

A Game Design Document is a way to turn scattered ideas into something clear, concrete, and shareable. It helps you organize your vision, figure out what your game actually needs, and communicate it to anyone working with you. 

A GDD keeps you grounded. It doesn’t have to be perfect or final, it just needs to reflect what you’re building and what matters most in the experience you want to create.

I greatly recommend that you make one, or at least draft one out, for your own sanity and comfort as you develop your game, even if you’re a solo developer and everything is in your head and all makes perfect sense for you. You never know what’s going to hit you.

Anything else?

If you find that this template is missing something and your project needs more, write it down! The more information you have, the easier you’ll have it later on.

You can insert flowcharts and images of wireframes and sketches for your UI. You can make the character bios more intricate and in-depth if you find it very important for development. You can link to other documents.

There are templates and advices out there that can give off the idea that having (or not having) this and that aspect in your GDD means it’s not good enough. But every game is different and every developer has different needs and ideas.

This template is a starting point. It is your canvas, I’ve sketched down something you can do the lineart for or re-do, erasing the lines you don’t feel are necessary and adding more to corners that you need to have filled.

Terms of Usage:

• You may:
  • Use this template for your own game projects (personal or commercial).
  • Share a filled-in version with your team members or collaborators.

• Credit to 'Meiri' in the finished GDD is optional but appreciated.
  
• You're intended to edit it, remove parts you don't need, and add on to it as your project needs. Feel free to go wild with it.
• Do not redistribute or re-sell this template as-is. I've worked very hard on it and I rely on releases like this one for my living expenses and funding my projects.
  
• If the above terms are broken, this release might become unavailable. Do not ruin it for everyone else.