I can tell you that a game design document is a living document. It evolves with the project and acts as a source of guidance and truth in the present moment. I personally couldn't see the point in "creating" the whole game in the document before actually making the game. The document is initially very simple and rough and is guided by the project goals as you run into design challenges spread through all skills (level design, gameplay, sound design, music, art, vfx, programming, etc) related to the project.

Creating a game as a product is a task that requires a team of people with diverse skills, where a game designer plays a central and crucial role.

In a game jam and especially at an amateur level, the truth is that most people tend to work as one-man army. And it's almost impossible for a group to search for a game designer.

What you should do is design your game and then look for a programmer, graphic artist, musician, etc., who are willing to help you bring your idea to life, whether for a game jam or not. But I think it's highly unlikely that it will happen the other way around.

Regarding the GDD (Game Design Document): It's not necessary to have a prototype beforehand, but having one helps, as it allows you to know if a certain idea or mechanic works or not. Creating a good design document helps with game development, but actually creating it takes time, and in a game jam, time is often scarce. Therefore, it's almost impossible for a team to afford to wait for someone to create a GDD before starting to develop the game itself. They're usually created on the fly and in a very simple way, and frankly, they're not usually created at all.

What happens on Itch is not typically the game industry.

Roles like "game designer" are implicit or outside the scope of a small game. You do not need that kind of analysis and prediction for small indie games. Or rather it is unaffordable.

I mean, just look at publishing on Itch. Actual professional games typically have a publisher. Itch does not even have the capacity for that abstraction layer. It is very rare to see a publisher here. It is all self publishing by the developers.

A lot of dedicated roles are non existant for games on Itch. Even for teams. There is just more roles than persons.

If you do not have a team, seeking one will probably make you look like the "ideas guy".

So for indie games, you likely will have to contribute more than a gdd. A gdd is basically a plan what to make and why.

I guess that depends.  With everyone going to engines and AI because making a game is too much like work these days, it is becoming one of those things that seem to matter less as time goes on.

In theory, a game designer is supposed to balance a game, assemble the pieces of the project, and make it fun and engaging. In practice, indie developers act like project managers and just give orders to implement their ideas (often stupid ones). In short, indie gd are just gamers with no skills who want to use others to fulfill their fantasies.

the best way if you are good dev, be the designer and find artist friend or learn 3d/2d

on itch you will never find serious people, just gammer with fantasie

so i chouse to learn all i need for make game

i am bad on 2d and 3d but i learned anough for make a game alone

the only hardest way is time/work you have to do 100% of the projkect alone

I'm not a role model; I do this out of passion, I don't want to work in this field. But if you do want to work in this area, and if I can give you some advice: Build up your portfolio, do small projects, sign up for Relance, and do a solo project that's not too big. Get your name out there, and either you'll eventually find a spot in a reputable studio or you'll showcase your own studio. ;) In any case, I wish you good luck! This profession isn't easy!

Game designers are extremely important—honestly, they’re the backbone of any good game 🎮. They decide how the game feels to play, not just how it looks. A great artist can make a game look beautiful and a programmer can make it run smoothly, but it’s the game designer who figures out things like mechanics, progression, balance, difficulty, rewards, and overall fun.

I've been coding and creating games for years now, I see that many people have taken to using AI like kids in candy store to get the bulk of the repetitive work done, and this is fine, it becomes a problem when often simple scripts and programs become overfilled with meanless rubbish that has been placed there by AI that an otherwise skilled coder would leave out and debloat, making the file much smaller and run much quicker. The more we rely on AI  the more we become lazy, as to needing game designers... what planet did you come from, without the process of having intuitive imaginative design, every game will fall into the border lands of being the same tired thing.  What do you do when you want to have a game created and you cannot think it through for yourself, your budget isn't there and your AI is expensive and hopeless, you ask people like myself and many like me for advice, this is why you need game designers.