Design Documents

I have been looking at various design documents for videos games this week and have been comparing them with each other to see what makes a good design document and whats makes a bad one.

I have looked at three design documents. The design documents for Claw, Grim Fandango and Technomancy. 

The Claw Design Document

The Claw design document is very detailed however quite boring. The document has extensive detail and the layout of the document is well structured and organised, however the use of images is limited and needs more visuals to help get the idea of the game across to the reader.

The Grim Fandango Design Document

The Grim design document is a very illustrational design document. The document expresses the main elements of the design through many visuals such as diagrams, images, flowcharts and tables. From a coders point of view, this design document would be insufficient data to create a game from, however it would be a concept art maker's perfect game design document.

The Technomancy Level Design Document

The Technomancy design document has a focus on technical data based on creating the levels, however it does not include any information on characters, story and/or concept. This would be a good design document for a level designer, but to create an entire game from this design document would be very difficult from a coders and concept art designer's point of view.