Design Tools

[spacefractal]

I'm also not used paper (I'm not artist), but might design mock graphics or uses ripped graphics in a paint app, how the game would been designed and did quite research for about tool.

I'm diddent uses my own level editor for both my games, but used a external one and created a simple loader for that.

For greedy mouse the artist used 3d placeholder graphics under testing before he did the real graphics and also did a lots of light test. The very first version was very much gameboy assests...

[matchy]

Conceptualization, such as sketches and lists, are mainly for communicating to other teams members but sometimes I would use it alone if the information exceeds remembering. For example, if I am just thinking about a game design like various pickups (say more than 10), I would have to write them down.
Also, if I need to create a quick sketch that mpaint can't handle, out come the pencil and paper because that process if fun even if it's not really needed.

[HamishTPB]

Sometimes planning seems to be a chore that gets in the way of creativity but it can also help in some cases. I suppose it depends how your brain is wired and how disciplined you are. I am a victim of feature-creep when programming so having a plan to achieve to get to v1.0 gives me some degree of discipline. 

When I did formal software engineer training (so many, many years ago!  ) there were actual classes just about design and planning with no computers anywhere near them. 

It would seem that the real answer is to do/use what works for you individually (as is often the case) but I was curious as to how others dealt with planning and if they used any tools.

Thank you all for your input 

[erico]

...but sometimes I would use it alone if the information exceeds...

That is why I do it, but also for variables and sprite #. Most of my needs for it would vanish should I code in more then one code list, but I´m yet to try this out.

...I am a victim of feature-creep when programming so having a plan to achieve to get to v1.0 gives me some degree of discipline.  ...

That is another reason for the planning, I suffer that too and sometimes just can´t hold myself.
Other then sketches on the visual design, I draw a flowchart for the code and a timeline for the game´s actions.

The amount and type of pre-production material I do is more or less dependent on the game type, but these 2 I do pretty much for all of them.