Aexora Game & Media Design Document Standard

The Aexora standard for designing a professional-grade game, interactive experience, or media production. It replaces the AIEA GDD Template v1.0.

The template is a workbook: every section is a required deliverable, not just reading material. When all sections are filled in and every stage gate has passed, the project is fully specified — any competent team could build it without asking the designers what was meant.

Contents

File	Description
template/aexora-gdd-template.pdf	Compiled template (v2.0, 34 pages) — read this first
template/aexora-gdd-template.tex	LaTeX source — copy this to start a new project document

Starting a New Project Document

1. Copy template/aexora-gdd-template.tex into your project repository and rename it (e.g. projectname-gdd.tex).

2. Fill in the Project Identity block on page 2 before anything else.

3. Work in vision-first order (Section 1.2 of the template), not front-to-back: vision → loops → scope → systems → production.

4. Compile with any standard LaTeX toolchain:

   pdflatex projectname-gdd.tex && pdflatex projectname-gdd.tex
   

   (Two passes for the table of contents. latexmk -pdf also works.)

5. Log every significant revision in the Document History section.

For non-game media productions (film, series, animation), the gameplay sections translate to format, episode/beat structure, cast, and world bible; the gates and all other sections apply unchanged.

What Must Be Laid Out and Completed

The template encodes seven stage gates. A project is done designing when G1–G3 pass, and done building when G4–G7 pass. The full checklist lives in the template's Appendix and is used verbatim at gate reviews.

Gate	What must be complete	Unlocks
G1 Concept	Identity block; elevator pitch; design pillars; target experience; comparables; game basics; declared scope class	Pitch & greenlight review
G2 Greenlight	Three gameplay loops; primary game elements; core mechanics documented with real values; economy (faucets/sinks/rates); business & compliance draft	Pre-production funding
G3 Vertical Slice	Player properties & verb set; progression; UI/HUD/controls; accessibility checklist; art pillars & asset scope; audio direction; technical spec; one slice of the game at shipping quality	Full production
G4 Alpha	Level roster locked; enemy/cast docs complete; narrative structure final; all features implemented (feature freeze)	Content push
G5 Beta	All content implemented (content freeze); test plan executing; blocker count trending to zero	Polish & certification
G6 Release Candidate	Localization complete; compliance checklist signed off; release checklist complete (store pages, ratings, cert, day-one patch, live-ops readiness)	Gold master submission
G7 Gold	Document history closed; final version archived	Launch

Design Rules the Standard Enforces

• Vision is a contract. Three to five design pillars decide every later argument; nothing is locked before the pillars are.
• A mechanic without exact values is a wish. Mechanics, player stats, and enemies are documented with real numbers, marked "initial tuning" if necessary.
• One source of truth per topic. The verb set drives the control map and the animation list; the word count drives the localization budget.
• Scope is declared, not discovered. Projects declare a scope class (S / M / L) at G1 and cut at concept time, not at Alpha.
• Accessibility and compliance are launch requirements, not patches: both have checklists that block G3 and G6 respectively.
• The vertical slice gates production. One small piece at shipping quality proves the pipeline, the look, the loop, and the estimates before full production spend.

Versioning

Version	Date	Notes
2.0	July 2026	Full remake: stage gates, nested loops, scope classes, accessibility, live ops, rights & compliance, definition of done
1.0	March 2025	Original AIEA GDD template (superseded)

Changes to this standard are proposed by pull request to this repository.