Familiar with the humble GDD?

Are you familiar with the humble GDD? Want FIVE awesome examples, and a free template? We got you! 🚀 P.S. If you have your own GDD I'd love to see it linked! Let's learn from each other ⬇ A GDD, or Game Design Document, is one of the most fundamental pieces of work created by the Game Designer. For those who are unfamiliar, you can kind of think of a GDD as the business plan of a game. It primarily includes the systems and mechanics of a game, outlining how a game will function and EXACTLY how it will play. They are primarily used by the production team as a guide on what actually needs to get built. 🗒 They'll often also include things contributed by other departments, such as art direction, timelines, and financial goals. 📈 In order to […]

Willem Delventhal August 12

Journal

Ever struggled to pick which game to build?

Ever struggled to pick which game to build? Never fear, the humble Concept Funnel is here! A vetting process to get you your best possible game 🚀 Originally based on practices used by big companies like EA, SuperCell, and Blizzard, the Concept Validation Funnel is a simple framework we've honed over 3 years at the Indie Game AcademyThe process is simple: ideas go to the top, and one amazing game comes out to the bottom. Let's talk through the steps!1️⃣ DefineIn the Define step, we reduce the infinite possible games we could make to a box for us to ideate inside of. This actually helps creativity (think Game Jams) and we do so by defining 3-5 high-level objectives for the game and identifying any major constraints we might have.2️⃣ IdeateNow that you've defined your creative box, it's time to actually […]

Willem Delventhal August 1

Journal

First time since the pandemic, my credit card debt is $0

For the first time since the pandemic began, my credit card debt is $0. And yet I'm not relieved, because I have so many other debts, each an insidious weight on my so called "American Dream." 👎 Much like many of my friends on this platform, I also carry student loans, a car loan, and most recently a house loan. My partner still has her credit card debt, plus throw on some medical debt too. In some ways, having a car loan or a house loan is a real privilege. But a part of me rebels against that idea, believing it to be propaganda to coerce the common person to accept a country that now has 17.3 trillion dollars in consumer debt, more than it ever has before. Like... ya'll, should we not be able to own homes? 🤔 As […]

Willem Delventhal July 22