Purpose:
To ensure that all play-test materials are consistent, readable, and ready for cross-team collaboration.
To ensure consistency and clarity across all written materials within a game by establishing a game-specific templating and style guide.
While AEG does not maintain a universal template across all games (due to differing mechanics and design needs), each game must have its own internally consistent standards for naming, capitalisation, and terminology.
The purpose of a templating guide is to provide consistency both within the product and across the line if the game expands into more than an initial release.
Although AEG does not maintain a broad ranging template there is a rule for rulebooks. Descriptors in component names are capitalised: Player deck (capital “P,” lowercase “d”), Innovation cubes (capital “I,” lowercase “c”), Charge counters (capital “C,” lowercase “c”). Consistency ensures clarity for players, reduces rules confusion, and streamlines editing.
What this means:
As gameplay mechanics evolve, developers must build and revise components using their approved templates and formatting standards. This includes everything from how card text is structured to how rules are phrased and laid out. These standards make internal testing more effective and reduce rework for editing, development, and localisation teams later. These do NOT need to be complex documents, simple and clear is most effective.
RACI Roles Defined:
- Accountable The developer is accountable for using proper templates and applying style guidelines to their game materials throughout development.
- Responsible The developer builds rules, cards, and components using AEG’s standard formats and integrates updates as needed when the guidelines evolve.
- Consulted Production, Art, and Rules Writers and Editors may be consulted for clarifications, review, or updates to templating expectations.
Key Guidance:
- Follow convention for:
- Keywords and terminology
- Layout and formatting
- Text alignment, bolding, and emphasis rules
- Ensure test components look and read like they belong in an AEG product—even in draft form.
Action Items:
- Use the shared Dead Reckoning style/templating guide as an example to build initial rules and component layouts
- Apply consistent style across all gameplay elements, including placeholder content
- Review templated materials before each playtest milestone
- Update your files when official templates or formatting guidelines change
Reminder: Good templating isn’t just polish—it’s clarity, professionalism, and respect for the next team that touches your work.
