Game design worksheet
For anyone who prefers paper, or a studio session without a device. It asks the same questions as the Studio, with a page to draw your game. Print it on A4 in black and white.
Design your game
Game name
Design any game you can imagine, as long as it plays in a web browser: chess, card games, racing, puzzles, battles, idle games, stories or something nobody has made yet.
If it's bigger than we can build, we'll make a simpler first version with you, or tell you why we can't build it.
Answer what you can. "Not sure yet" is a fine answer, and you can change anything later.
Your idea
What's your game? Tell us the way you'd tell a friend. A few sentences is plenty. It can be a twist on a game you know, or something nobody has made yet.
What kind of game is it closest to? Tick any that fit, or none. They only help us understand it, and mixing them is fine.
- Kind of game it is closest to:
- Board game
- Card game
- Puzzle
- Racing
- Sport
- Battle or fighting
- Platform or jumping
- Shooting or aiming
- Strategy
- Building or crafting
- Idle or clicking
- Story or adventure
- Word or quiz
- Music or rhythm
- Life or simulation
- Party game
- Something else
Is it a bit like a game you know? What do you like about that game? We borrow ideas, never names, characters, art or music.
The game
What you like about it
Who it's for
Who do you picture playing it? For example your friends, your family, people at your club, chess fans, or anyone with five minutes on the bus.
Who plays it
- Their ages:
- Under 8
- 8 to 12
- 13 to 17
- 18 and over
How many people play at once? Tick any that fit. We can't build online play yet, so an online game starts as a game on one device.
- How many play at once:
- One person on their own
- Against the computer
- Two or more on one device
- Online with other people
What will they play it on? A game that must work on phones needs controls you can tap or drag.
- On phones and tablets (tick one):
- Must work
- Would be nice
- Not needed
- On computers (tick one):
- Must work
- Would be nice
- Not needed
- Phone held (tick one):
- Either way
- Sideways
- Upright
How it plays
What does the player spend most of their time doing? This is the heart of the game. For example moving pieces, playing cards, steering, tapping to earn coins, answering questions, building, or aiming and firing.
Walk us through one turn, or the first 30 seconds. What does the player see, what do they do, and what happens next?
How do they do it? Tick everything they use, then say what each one does.
- Controls:
- Tap or click
- Drag
- Keyboard
- Mouse
- One button
- Typing
- Game controller
- Something else
What each control does
What are the rules that make it work? One rule per line, as "When ... then ...". For example "When a piece lands on another piece, then it is captured" or "When I tap the cookie, then I earn a coin".
How does a game end, or does it? Some games have a winner, some are about beating your best, and some never end.
- How a go ends (tick one):
- Someone wins
- You can win or lose
- Everyone wins or loses together
- You beat your best score
- You finish it, like a puzzle or a story
- It never ends
- Something else
What counts as winning, if anyone wins
What keeps it interesting as people keep playing? For example harder levels, new cards to collect, a story that moves on or more to unlock. Some games are best the same every time, and that is fine too.
How it looks and sounds
How do you picture it on screen, and how should it feel? For example a wooden chess board, chunky pixels, hand-drawn, neon, cosy, spooky or fast.
- How you see it (tick one):
- From the side
- From above
- At an angle from above
- From behind
- Through their eyes
- Like a board or cards
- Something else
- Not sure
- Flat or 3D (tick one):
- Flat (2D)
- 3D
- Mostly words and pictures
- Not sure
The look and feel
What should it sound like? Music, sound effects, both or none.
- Mood (tick one):
- Calm
- Bouncy
- Exciting
- Tense
- Silly
- Spooky
- Something else
- No sound
Sounds and music
The first version
What has to be in it for it to feel like your game? The one thing you most want people to enjoy or remember.
What's the smallest version you'd be happy to play first? For example one board and the basic moves, twenty cards and one opponent, one track and one car, or one level. If your game is big, this is the version we'd build first.
The first version
What can wait until later
Do players need to come back later and carry on? If they do, say what should be kept. Leave it if every game starts fresh.
Draw it
Sketch what the player sees and label the important parts. Rough is fine: a drawing tells us more than a paragraph.
The main screen
Another moment: the start, the end, a menu or a different level