is much smaller than it would be if the docu ment actually

described all of the enemies in the game. Simi larly, a full version of this
design
doc u ment would include descriptions of more projec tiles for Sam to throw,
more
devices and contrap tions for him to manipu late, and more of the charac
ters he
would meet in the game-world. The game might even be expanded to
include more
areas than just the five described here.
In fact, more detail could be used throughout the docu ment. The way this
document is written assumes that the author is going to be involved
throughout the
devel op ment process, guiding the design in the correct direction. As I have
stated
else where in this book, as a game designer I am only interested in being
involved
with projects that I can see through you will be designing many of the levels
yourself, you do not need to plan everything out in minute detail in advance.
Many
suc cess ful games have been made this way, including a number of the
projects I
have worked on. For instance, Cen ti pede 3D had only a general notion of
the AI,
mush room types, and power-ups designed before the level construc tion
process
began, and it was a system that ended up working quite well.
Of course, before writing a design docu ment, the designer should have a
good
idea of the focus of the gameplay, as I have discussed elsewhere in this
book. Here,
for example, is the focus statement I had in mind when I started working on
the
design docu ment for Atomic Sam.