Since starting development of this project I had vague ideas of what the mechanics would be, the overarching theme, and the background for it. These things weren't however completely thought through, so I opted to start some kind of GDD.
+ +What is a GDD?
+It can vary, but a GDD (Game Design Document) is a 'living' document that contains all the mechanics, designs, plans for UI/UX, the story, characters, etc. Essentially, if it's going to be in the game, it's in the GDD, along with any research regarding the rational.
+Living?
+The 'living' here means that the document changes and gets updated along with the game, if a mechanic is changed in the game, it changes in the GDD. The GDD is typically then shown to any partners, etc. to show them the progress, and let them note any changes they think would be beneficial.
+A GDD is typically a large word doc, so with this in mind, I didn't use a GDD in the standard sense.
+ +Why not use a standard GDD?
+I wanted someplace to throw all my ideas, future plans, mechanics, etc. and keep in a uniform location, and to check, and amend each thing with more ease than a standard document, and to be able to pre-plan (and in some instances test) development changes before coding them in.
+ +This let to creating a google sheet to throw all my basic ideas into, that I can then flesh out organically, and quickly as they evolve.
+The main difference between a sheet, and doc, is the speed at which I can edit, update, and add notes, along with comparing against my older concepts to decide what should make it into the game, and my development.
+ +The Spreadsheet
+This game is an exercise in three things I enjoy, the game genre itself (and within that mechanics, and balancing), development, as it's intended as a PC game first which I'm doing with 'realtime' server side development that's new to me. The third thing is world building and writing lore, so that the world of my game feels real and alive.
+The spreadsheet itself currently consists of numerous tabs to facilitate for notes for completed, incomplete, and future plans for each of the mechanics, balancing, development notes, and lore/world building with them overlapping when needed.
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