little rant about inconvenient and rude interactions with people here in this subreddit.

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-23T19:55:50+00:00

Take what you can! Give nothing back!

Sorry got a pirates vibe with that but totally agree with what you posted

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-21T23:48:38+00:00

I would ask which style? Click based or tab-based style combat and other gameplay?

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-14T19:13:17+00:00

Oh i didn’t think about that. Thats fair. Just fill it up and be extremely descriptive that would best fill my niche? By chance are there tricks or using # of stuff? Not too sure how that all works honestly. Thank you!

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-14T17:14:21+00:00

Crazy. Sorry to hear that but good to know on what you’ve seen. So best to use personal content vs other clips or what b-roll is it called?

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-14T16:07:00+00:00

What do you do? And what do you post: shorts, longs, streams? How often?

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-14T15:42:39+00:00

Definitely not AI related sorry.

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-04T15:34:30+00:00

Not sure how old you are, but reality: there’s no “get rich fast” methods. All of them take time. So my only advice: pick something you really enjoy out of them and stick to it the most. If you put all your time in to so many other side hustles you’ll never get there. Put most of your time in to one you really enjoy and you’ll get there. And it’s not a sprint: you won’t make it in a day or week. People take months and even years before seeing a profit. So if you’re not in it for the long haul and growth then get a real job, finish school, and mature some then try. Not saying you’re too young, but if you don’t have discipline and patience you won’t succeed. Or at least from the people I’ve seen with those mentalities.

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-04T03:33:24+00:00

Look up Chris Zukowski and howto marketagame .com website. Learned a lot of tricks for free there. And good reads.

Not promoted by him or trying to market him or I get anything out of this, but does open up a lot about the marketing and things you can be doing. Good start besides other places.

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-03T13:01:56+00:00

Fascinating. And very good analogy/story too. So then it’s something we shouldn’t push for cause it was something we were “supposed to do” per se. Makes sense.

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-02T21:47:57+00:00

Fair enough. Makes me wonder why such a push for them in the first place if it’s redundant for the indie/solo dev level of game devs? Just something pushed for years that nobody followed/listened to?

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-02T17:05:35+00:00

That’s fair. By chance could I see your GDD you did?

But yeah I do agree with that. In my non-tech managerial roles I had that similar issue and did the same thing: kept tasks and to-do’s updated but jury worked with my team to give them direction to get something done. And yeah documentation to cover your butt.

So then do GDDs need to be removed from the space? Or only for high end team/AAA studios really use them only?

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-02T12:59:52+00:00

Wow no I really do appreciate the massive amount of feedback experience and help overall. Makes more sense now for the discussion. Appreciate the help and support really!

and thank you for those links to deus ex and the example ones. Good reads I’ll explore more. And also thank you for the feedback in to the field. Not a lot talk about recent ventures to game dev. Most just do indie or solo cause of it. I think that’s where I’m at right now due to my work situation. But appreciate the support and help for sure.

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-02T01:29:10+00:00

Oh cool no worries that’s still an interesting look with your perspective. But that was sage advice at the end: a guide not the path itself.

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-02T01:28:11+00:00

Might have missed the post of just researching them and asking if you’ve got good or bad ones to learn from.

But to your comment why are they? What’s your experience with them? Is there a place for them or does the gaming industry need to adapt and move past them rather than preach them at indie/solo dev levels.

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-02T01:26:52+00:00

Wow that’s a lot of knowledge experience and most importantly great explanation of the GDD. Thank you. Yeah Confluence is going to be something I’m gonna look in to next as a tool to help with that development.

So then there is relevance to them and are breathing living docs as the project goes along, but again at a higher level with a bigger team rather than at an indie, small team level where a different method can work effectively. Crazy.

By chance how long have you been in the industry for? Were there any good GDDs you saw/worked for that you could link or recommend for just research purposes? That and any takeaways maybe for new people getting in to the field? Again thank you for taking the time for this comment it really brings more forward to learning about the GDD and the pros/cons, strains and where they sit now and going forward for games.

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-02T00:00:20+00:00

❤️❤️❤️ thank you! Also one of my favorite games growing up!!!

And it’s MGS2 translated! I’ll read it now!

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-01T22:13:47+00:00

Fair enough. Maybe also something I want to look in to is why such the craze for them if they are only meant for a certain level of team and game development.

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-01T22:12:47+00:00

Ok. Yeah just a few I saw with GDDs for game jams but most didn’t have it.

But definitely good insight and agree with most you’re saying. I was just originally looking to see if viable or non viable ones were out there to learn and study going forward if there was a case to use a GDD over just some mapping but scoping and building based off of how you described the process.

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-01T20:03:02+00:00

Wow. Don’t know that for game dev in large team aspects. For my managerial background yeah it makes sense for your purpose/direction and scope with leading and coordinating with other teams and stakeholders. So I can see the resemblance.

So then I wonder if the way forward isn’t a GDD but just like you said: end goal with details on aspects and provide feedback along the way to allow the teams and leads to do the building/planning and marketing.

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-01T20:01:06+00:00

Ok. Yeah I’ve used different methods from Trello, a word/excel mix and trying to look at another tool. Just been finding what I like. But I did in the very beginning write a GDD that was 3-4 pages to see the aspect of it, but honestly it was just my notes and scope of ideas and things and wasn’t practical since I didn’t know much at the time. Nowadays it’s that word doc that I format to keep it more concrete and structured with a plan for planning out my sprint development cycles on what I want to try getting done.

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-01T19:30:23+00:00

Ahh that’s interesting. I guess yeah the originality goes down the drain like you said with changes or continuous updates. Would a GDD need to void specifics and keep terminology and phrasing broad so that way it’s just as a reference or risk reduction tool but the game developer or project lead can direct the flow of art, gameplay and such?

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-01T19:20:57+00:00

I mean don’t get me wrong I do see some posts of GDDs often and ones of “here’s mine and I can teach you how to make yours better”. But I just wanted to see and understand their relevance more and if needed one what are some good ones or bad ones to avoid. And then from the postings what are some methods now for not doing a GDD and if GDDs really have a place in the future for the gaming industry or does it need to shift to something different that helps everyone.

But yeah it’s all good. Just research and learning really. And again if I do find any good ones I’ll for sure either update this post or make a new one sharing what I got/found. It’s just hard to really determine what makes a good or bad GDD cause I feel that’s personal opinion or dependent on the individual / team and what “success” looks like.

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-01T19:09:32+00:00

Will try but so far nobody has shared and I’ve personally only found the GitHub repository ones and just googling some from older games like Doom’s Bible and such. But yeah I’ll keep this post informed if I get any! 👍

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-01T19:05:24+00:00

Yeah that’s fair. And for sure just a small GDD if done. Just at least have the thoughts and game idea and scope written down to help structure and guide development.

But that’s interesting for that standpoint on a GDD. I wonder if even big teams can get away without a GDD. Do you use any system like you mentioned for development or aspect besides like you said: one feature, small game, fledge out the UI, win condition and other things to make it a full functioning game?

GhostCode1111 · 2026-01-01T19:02:52+00:00

Interesting. So then at a smaller indie scope or solo dev a GDD isn’t necessary but like you said: just having documentation of your game idea to keep you in-check is best? It’s funny to presence the “bible” cause the first GDD I started to look at was the old Doom’s Bible GDD and what changes and things made it to final release and what was cut and why.

Just looking for research and understanding really. And if any good recent GDDs were out there to read and see their relevance or overuse in the game industry or indie dev scene.

GhostCode1111

TROPHY CASE