Day 27 - Lens 102: The Lens of Documentation
To ensure you are writing the documents you need, and skipping the ones you don't, ask yourself these questions:
What do we need to remember while making this game?
I need to remember the core design decisions. When I make one it needs to be added to my design document.
I need to remember how my designs affect play. When I playtest I need to take notes.
I need to remember how players perceive my designs. I need to record their experiences.
I need to remember what failed. When I remove something from the game I need to note why.
I need to remember to keep thinking at the edges of my design. I need to write about my design daily prompted by things like the lenses.
What needs to be communicated while making this game?
For the development of the game I didn't need to communicate a lot other than playtest instructions as I did all of the development and art myself. I did need to establish channels for feed back and to gather data from playtesters. I used google forms to collect playtest data and began writing versions of the rules for each playtest early on. In future games I will probably be more rigorous as it proved very useful.
I also took regular photos of the pieces and boards of the game. Having those preserved has helped me understand the evolution of both those physical components and the design that shaped them.
Now that I am nearing the end of the design phase and am starting to market the game I am needing to communicate about the game much more, though most of that communication is not design related.
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