Managing documentation like a (game) boss

Game development is a highly complex process that requires effective collaboration between multiple interdisciplinary team members, including designers, developers, and artists. The byproduct of that process is various documentation, and without an organized approach it is easy to get lost in it.

“Designing a game requires a huge number of complex, inter-related documents. Game engines, code, tools, processes, character designs, market research, background research, customers, business models... These were building up across our task management tools and in scattered online document tools,” explained Matthew Bond, the lead game designer at Psyon Games. “We had tried a wiki, but it was clumsy to edit and hard to build relations between pages. The vital ‘shared brain’ of company knowledge was hard to read and even harder to edit.”

Documentation is generally seen as the most tedious and frustrating part of the game design process. But instead of accepting this as a sad fact of life, take a look at the tools you are using and ask yourself if they are really setting you up for success.

“Nuclino is scarily easy to use,” said Matt. “It has had new team members squeal with delight at its intuitive editor and the ability to quickly, simply, and consistently format documents. It's easy to find what you need – the search is powerful, and the structuring simple. And it's so easy to edit. Links no longer require knowing the exact link you're pointing to – just @ mention whatever you want to reference.”

”The product is brilliant. The team making it... brilliant too. It's a delight to make contact, have your needs addressed clearly – whether it's guidance on how to do what you're trying, or collecting suggestions,” added Matt.