Documentation Standards
- Made for the student-led Heatwave Studios @ ASU
- My first project as a Design Lead
- Written by me, revised by myself and other Heatwave Studios Design Leads
View PDF
Overview
After the issues during Color Phase's development, my first project as a Design Lead was to develop documentation standards.
Their primary intention was to ensure our documentation is consistent, effective, and well organized.
While I initially wrote these on my own, they have also seen later revision from myself and other Design Leads.
These standards are divided into three sections, covering structure, content, and filemanagement. This provided us with a strong foundation for training new designers, and helped frame their work as a means of communication between various members and teams.
These standards are divided into three sections, covering structure, content, and filemanagement. This provided us with a strong foundation for training new designers, and helped frame their work as a means of communication between various members and teams.
Lessons Learned
Keep a balance between organization and flexibility.
Standardization is good, but it should remain flexible enough for each project. In my attempt to make comprehensive guidelines before even starting our next game, I did not consider the needs of the specific project nor the living nature of documentation. While this didn't cause any hang-ups in development, parts of these standards proved to be of little use during our next project.
Standardization is good, but it should remain flexible enough for each project. In my attempt to make comprehensive guidelines before even starting our next game, I did not consider the needs of the specific project nor the living nature of documentation. While this didn't cause any hang-ups in development, parts of these standards proved to be of little use during our next project.