The process of designing the content, background and rules of a game is called game design. The document describing the games design during development is called the design document. The main requirement of all game designers is creativity. This is because there is a wide range of demands on the market and so designers have to design games based on licensed properties or ideas. Game design is produced with six different documents of different stages of its creative process.

The first part of game design is design treatment. This is a quick discussion with your colleagues of your products unique features and specialties. The next part is the preliminary design, where you discuss the games rules, content and behavior in a qualitative way. Make sure that you circulate and discuss this document with your colleagues as much as possible, depending on the doubts and clarifications of the game design. Then comes the final design, which actually is a re-write of the previous document. It is here that you etch the products features in stone.

The product specification of the game design details how the features of that game design will be implemented in the final design. Then there is the graphic bible, which helps in determining the look and feel of the characters, maps, props, etc., of the game. If appropriate, there is also the interactive screenplay in the game design, which contains the storyline that will be implemented into the product.

However, the game designer may not be qualified to write all of these documents. The games producer, lead programmer and artist create the product specification of the game, while a professional writer crafts the screenplay. However, the game designer is considered the guardian of the vision and has the final say on what goes in the product, and is involved in all the aspects of the game design.