Making a Visual Beat Chart

The Game Design Document is the most used tool to describe the elements present in a game. there are different versions of it, the 1-page GDD that summarizes everything for the team, the 10 GDD that goes into more detail on component such as the story, the mechanics, the characters, the visual style, menus and other. And finally, there's the game bible which contains every little thing that will make it into the game, but this is something that you will find mostly in big AAA productions. But, sometimes, describing a level in a written format is not always simple. Scott Rogers in his book Level UP discusses the use of beat chart, and proposes building them in a spreadsheet format.

I am translating it to a visual format and, as an example, I'm proposing a redesign for a level in the game Rayman Legends.

I have to say that this tool is a powerful one in the game designer's toolbox and I definitely will keep using it and most likely start apllying it to other aspect of game design.

#gamedesgin #beatchart