Gdd Markdown Template

GDD Markdown Template

Provides the canonical 13-section Game Design Document markdown template (originally by Artjom Kurapov, packaged by TheLazyHatGuy) as a ready-to-fill scaffold for new game projects.

When to use

• The user asks to create, scaffold, or draft a Game Design Document (GDD).
• The user wants a structured game design spec in Markdown.
• The user asks "set up a GDD for X game" / "make a game design doc" / "document my game idea".
• The user references "GDD template", "game design template", or asks to clone/scaffold the GDD structure.
• A new game project needs an initial design document before development starts.

Do NOT use for: technical design docs (TDD), postmortems, or non-game software specs.

Template structure (13 sections)

The template defines these numbered files. Use the file naming convention exactly as shown.

Two pre-built navigation files are also included:

• _Sidebar.md — short top-level TOC for GitHub wikis / Obsidian sidebars.
• SmallerTableOfContents.md — flat one-level TOC.
• LargerHeadings/ — same 13 section files but with shallower heading nesting for projects that prefer flatter structure.

How to scaffold a new GDD

1. Ask clarifying questions if the user hasn't specified a game concept: name, genre, platform, target audience, scope.
2. Copy the template from assets/ into the target directory (e.g. docs/GDD/ or <project>/GDD/). Keep the numbered filenames.
3. Fill in section 3 first (Game Overview) — Concept, Feature Set, Genre, Target Audience, Look and Feel, Project Scope (number of locations / levels / NPCs / weapons). This anchors the rest.
4. Work outward in waves:
   • Wave 1: Sections 1, 2, 3 (meta + concept).
   • Wave 2: Section 4 (gameplay/mechanics) and Section 5 (story/world/characters).
   • Wave 3: Sections 6, 7, 8, 9 (content + interface + AI + tech).
   • Wave 4: Sections 10, 11, 12, 13 (art pipeline, tools, management, appendices).
5. Leave sections as TBD placeholders when the user has not yet decided — do not invent details silently.
6. Replace inline guidance comments (lines starting with > in the template) with actual content, or keep them as inline prompts.
7. Add a top-level README.md linking to all 13 files and embedding _Sidebar.md.

Customization rules

• Preserve the numbered file naming — many tools and scripts rely on it.
• Preserve the existing heading hierarchy within each file unless the user explicitly asks to restructure.
• You may add new files (e.g. 14_Postmortem.md) but never renumber or remove the original 13.
• For wiki-style rendering, keep the GitHub-flavored anchor links (no spaces in headings).
• For non-wiki readers (PDF, web), strip the github.com/... URLs from _Sidebar.md and replace with relative paths: [Copyright Information](1_Copyright Information.md).

Bundled assets

All template files live under assets/:

assets/
├── README.md                        # Upstream notes + full deep TOC
├── _Sidebar.md                      # Compact TOC for wikis
├── SmallerTableOfContents.md        # Flat 2-level TOC
├── LargerHeadings/                  # Flatter-heading variants of all 13 files
├── 1_Copyright Information.md
├── 2_Version History.md
├── 3_Game Overview.md
├── 4_Gameplay and Mechanics.md
├── 5_Story, Setting and Character.md
├── 6_Levels.md
├── 7_Interface.md
├── 8_Artificial Intelligence.md
├── 9_Technical.md
├── 10_Game Art.md
├── 11_Secondary Software.md
├── 12_Management.md
└── 13_Appendices.md

When the user asks for a GDD, copy from assets/ (not assets/LargerHeadings/ unless they ask for the flatter version).

Attribution

Template based on Artjom Kurapov's GDD template, packaged in Markdown by TheLazyHatGuy: https://github.com/TheLazyHatGuy/GDDMarkdownTemplate

When shipping a GDD built from this template, retain the upstream attribution in README.md.