The Japanese Nintendo website has released the Manual and two Japanese Game design Documents about the Starfox 2 game. One Game Design Document is about the Design, the other one focuses on the Arwing. These document are made available because of the pending release of the SNES mini console
Released
List of Game Design Documents (Fallout, Tron, Silent Hill and more)
Mikael Segedi, a game designer and project manager has linked some intriguing game design documents from his website. The ones from Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2, Tron and Silent Hill were new for me, but the other ones are also interesting to read. This is his complete list:
- Doom
- Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2
- Grand Theft Auto
- Grim Fandango
- Silent Hill
- Torment
- Tron
- Diablo
Double Fine Productions Game Design Documents from Lee Petty
Game developer Lee Petty from Double Fine Productions has placed some interesting game design documents on his Scribd page:
- HeadLander Casting Document
- Brutal Legend Material Standards
- Stacking GDD
- Stacking: The Triple Decker Tank Engine Level Design
- Stacking: Stacking Zeppelin Level Design
Chris Sawyer’s Transport Tycoon Pitch and snippets of source code
The pitch document from Chris Sawyer for the “The Transport Game”, which later became Transport Tycoon, can be found on the official website. Also a snippet of the source code can be viewed there.
Pid game design document from Might and Delight
The Game Design Document about Pid – Peculiar Destination from Might and Delight tells about the design for the game. It’s a stealth platforming adventure game with puzzles, rendered in a lovely art style.
Game design documents from designer Richard Hill-Whittall
On his personal website the game development entrepreneur Richard Hill-Whittall uploaded many game design documents. Some of the games are released some of them were not. He shared the documents for the following games:
- Build’n Race
- Build’n Race Extreme (renamed to VTrax)
- Combat Tanks
- City Defender
- Monsters
- Pool Hall Pro
- Vertigo
Planescape Torment Vision Statement
In a lengthy two part interview lead designer Chris Avellone and “second designer” Chris McComb talk about developing the game Planescape: Torment at Black Isle Studios. The interview can be found at RPGWatch
At the end of the second page Chris Avellone shares the original Vision Statement for this game. This document was used to Pitch the game to their management. With quotes like “don’t do what’s been done” and “re-examine your first instinct” it’s an interesting read.
Design document for the original GTA (Race’n’Chase)
A couple of years ago Mike Dailly released the design document for the original Grand Theft Auto video game (then called Race’n’Chase) on flickr.
It was planned that Race’n’Chase would be a multiplayer racing game first, but later evolved into what it is now.
Shred Nebula Pitch and Gameplay Documents
A couple of years ago CrunchTime Games Inc shared the Pitch Document and 60 Seconds Of Gameplay Document for their XBLA game Shred Nebula. These documents can still be found on their website.
According to the author James Goddard: “What makes these documents special is the way they are created, using a technique I call “Visual Game Design” that I was fortunate enough to adapt over the years, reflecting on experiences of working with the Japanese early in my career.”
Development journals Prince of Persia and Karateka
On the website of Jordan Mechner two samples of his journals can be found about the creation of Prince of Persia and Karateka. The complete journals can be bought from his website, but these samples already give a glimpse into developing these games.
At the bottom of this page the source code for the original, Apple II Prince of Persia and an explanatory technical document can be found.