hi all,

Should the Game Design Document contain the layout of the GUI (Graphical User Interface)?

Or is it enough to list the items needed on the GUI and their types (eg. Name, Password [Input boxes]; OK, Cancel [Buttons]), and let a specialist design the layout somewhat later?

In case you say it should include the GUI layout, then how detailed/precise should that be, or is a rough sketch enough?

I--and most people, I think--view GDDs as a living document that's anything but sacrosanct

There are many types of design documents.

Some are high level, wide-ranging overviews. Some are called the 'ten thousand foot view' or similar, where a wide range of features are explained in abstract forms, nothing is concrete.

Others are very specific details. A design document for a specific game object may detail exactly what features it has, exactly what formulas must be used, exactly what values must be adjustable.

Depending on your development processes and where you are along the development cycle, the documents may be easily adjusted with a quick discussion where the designer types it in as you go, or they may be nearly fixed in stone requiring a meeting with all the leads and directors to discuss why the thing must change.

If the GUI layout is important in that specific document, it should be there. If the GUI buttons are important but layout is something that can be discovered or modified based on feedback and art design, the document should state it; programmers can implement the button functionality and leave the rest to the UI artists. If the design does not mandate a specific functionality or specific look and feel, that should be documented instead, and updated over time.