Game Design Document Template (Free)

The game design document structure working teams actually use — lean enough that people read it, structured enough to settle scope arguments.

What is inside

• One-line pitch and three-pillar framework, with the test for whether a pillar is real
• Core loop breakdown across 30 seconds, 5 minutes and 1 hour
• “What this game is not” — the anti-scope-creep section most templates omit
• Per-system pages with a “how this could break” prompt
• Three-tier scope: must ship / should ship / cut first
• Art and tone reference table — what you are taking and deliberately not taking
• Milestones with real definitions of done, plus a change log

Format

Plain Markdown (.md). Opens in any text editor, Notion, Obsidian, Google Docs or VS Code. Version it in your repo next to your code — a GDD in someone’s personal drive is already dead.

Licence

Free to use and modify, including in commercial projects. No attribution required.

Want the reasoning behind each section? Read the full guide.