Every publisher asks for a GDD. Almost none of them look like what actually happens in the repo three months in.
What most GDDs look like
A 40-page Google Doc that opens with a mission statement, has 6 pages on lore, and never once mentions what is explicitly out of scope.
A wishlist is not a plan. Nothing in that doc tells a new hire, or a tired version of you on a Thursday, what the game is not going to be.
The shape that survives contact
Three parts, in order:
- The pillars. Three testable statements that any feature can be measured against. Not "fun," not "immersive." Testable.
- The core loop. What the player does in 30 seconds, described in 30 seconds. If it takes a page, the loop isn't clear yet.
- The cut list. What is explicitly not in the MVP. This is the page that saves the project. It gets edited every sprint.
Everything else, mechanics, art direction, story, is scaffolding around those three.
The tell
If a feature can't be traced to a pillar, cut it. If your cut list is empty, you don't have a GDD, you have a mood board.
Draft one with the GDD Generator.