Moodboard for Games: It Matters, Even if No One Cares

“Game design document” (GDD) preparation is one of the initial stages learned by newcomers entering the industry. In reality, there are stages in game design that should be done before the GDD, but these stages can sometimes be skipped by new game designers.

One of the stages in the Identification phase, which begins with a game idea, is creating a Moodboard.

Consequences of missing a Moodboard:

Lack of Intellectual Property: the game lacking a unique artistic language.

Inconsistencies in art: a sense that visual materials have been collected from different games.

Inconsistencies in design: inconsistencies in level design, story, and overall feel.

Communication breakdowns: Keeping sample models, games, and images for the concept in a disorganized manner can lead to repetitive feedback from the game designer for each element and result in communication breakdowns. (Spoken words fly away, Moodboards remain 😃)

Even one of these deficiencies could potentially lead to failure.

A Moodboard is a document that portrays the overall feeling of the game on a board. It is adorned with atmosphere, models, color palette, general gameplay feeling, theme, and visuals related to the subject.

It collects every concept element on the board instead of individual files for the environment, character, equipment.

Figure 1 First Moodboard of one of my games in the Idea stage

“But how can so much be conveyed? 🤔” you might ask 😊 In fact, a game is a whole, and these elements are in harmony with each other. Now let’s look at some example Moodboards.

Figure 2: A Moodboard from Pop Coin Studios

Although an idea might seem complete for the creator, without visual support, each listener forms a different game concept in their mind. When a Moodboard is created with images in different categories, the concept in everyone’s mind aligns.

A Moodboard can be made for every aspect that requires the person who will listen to the idea and bring this abstract game to life to understand it in every emotional way.

It can even be prepared for music packages that will be produced. It can be prepared for categories such as environment and characters. It can be broken down into sub-sections as shown in Figure 2, or separately.

Milanote, Miro, Adobe Color, Recraft ai, Midjourney

Moodboard Tips:

• Keeping the board organized enables the team to read it easily. You can work with a collage approach and fit it into frames. As the number of photos increases, some photos may be overlooked, so avoid adding repetitive or irrelevant images that may complicate understanding.

• Sometimes you may not find the image you want. You can utilize AI tools like Midjourney, Recraft, or even draw certain key images yourself.

• Color palette is one of the initial factors that affect the game’s atmosphere. You can use color wheels like Adobe Color to create a harmonious and emotive palette based on negative, positive, and neutral elements.

• For specific topics like environmental design, equipment, enemies-friends, puzzles, you can add visuals from similar games.

• The Moodboard will be a resource consulted until the GDD is produced; afterward, a comprehensive file will be prepared with the GDD. Moodboards can be edited later and tools like Miro or Milanote, suitable for group collaboration, can be used to create them.