Table of Contents

Core Mechanics and Interactions

This section covers features that may be optional or supplementary, depending on the focus of your game. If one of these mechanics is a central part of your game (e.g., crafting, multiplayer), please provide a summarized explanation of how it functions and contributes to the overall experience.

Movements

  • Describe how players move their character within the game world (e.g., walking, running, crouching, jumping, climbing, swimming).
  • Specify input methods (e.g., WASD or arrow keys for keyboard, joystick for gamepad).
  • Include any special movement mechanics (e.g., dashing, double jump, wall run, wall jump, soaring, combo).
  • Outline how players make the character jump, including any additional control inputs for height or distance (e.g., holding the jump button for a higher jump).

Platforming Elements

  • Jump height and distance parameters
  • Platform types and interactions
  • Timing-based challenges
  • Environmental hazards and obstacles

Combat Systems

  • Summarize how players perform attacks, whether melee (e.g., sword slashing) or ranged (e.g., shooting), Blocking, parrying, or defensive mechanics
  • Describe the controls for initiating attacks, including any combos or special attack mechanics.
  • Include input variations based on different weapons or abilities (e.g., pressing a different button for a ranged weapon versus a melee weapon).
  • Damage calculation and hit detection.
  • Special combat abilities or power moves.

Special Abilities or Powers

  • List any special abilities the character has (e.g., magic spells, stealth mode, shields).
  • Describe how these abilities are activated (e.g., holding a button or selecting from a menu).
  • Summarize any cooldowns, resource management, or energy systems associated with these abilities.

Camera Controls

  • If applicable, explain how players control the camera (e.g., using the mouse or right joystick).
  • Outline whether the camera is fixed, first-person, or third-person, and how it responds to player movement or actions.

Cheats and Easter Egg

  • Mention any cheat codes or Easter eggs that players can discover, enhancing replayability or adding fun, non-essential content.

Non-physical interactions

  • Define the actions for non-physical (no physics engine involved) interactions with objects or NPCs (e.g., pressing a button to open doors, talk to NPCs, pick up items).
  • Specify any contextual interaction (e.g., pressing a button when near a specific object to trigger a unique action).

Platform-Specific Features

Use of Unique Hardware Capabilities: Detail features utilizing platform-specific tools (e.g., motion controls, haptics, touch screen).

Cross-Platform Functionality: Explain how players interact across devices or systems.

Narrative Systems

Dialogue Structure Specify how dialogue branching structures are designed and implemented (e.g., as dialogue trees, state machines, or scriptable objects). Include outlines on input methods for interacting with dialogue (e.g., selection wheels or text-based menus). Mention how the system accounts for context, such as dynamic responses based on player choices or world states.

Choice and Consequence Summarize how player decisions impact gameplay elements like objectives, relationships, allies, or resource availability.

Story branching mechanics Explain the framework for mapping narrative decisions to gameplay outcomes (e.g., decision trees, flag-based systems, or event-driven triggers). Describe how player choices persist across levels or save files, and how branching paths affect variables like quest progression, ally availability, or environmental changes.

Spawning system

Mob and NPC Spawning

  • NPC Spawning Systems: Specify the system for dynamic NPC generation, whether it’s procedural, event-based, or rule-driven. Outline how NPCs will spawn based on world conditions (e.g., player progression, area-specific events) and the logic for NPC placement, behavior, and interaction.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Describe if NPCs will move based on pathfinding, avoid obstacles, or make combat decisions like targeting and positioning. Explain if they will react to player actions or environmental changes, such as responding to noise or being ambushed. Indicate if their behavior adapts to the game’s difficulty. Specify if level designers can control these behaviors through configuration files, scripts, or other methods. Also, mention if roles like quest-givers, merchants, or enemies are programmed to support the game’s story and gameplay.

  • Behavior and Role Assignments: NPC behaviors, such as aggressiveness or roles (e.g., healer, merchant). Design NPC behavior systems (e.g., AI states, roles like merchant or quest giver) and how they affect player interaction and world events.
  • Coportment and Role Variations: Develop systems for adjusting NPC roles or behaviors based on game state changes or player actions (e.g., NPCs switching from neutral to hostile).

Procedural Game World and Environment Customization

  • Terrain and Base Building: Outline the system for terrain modification or base building, including the objects or classes needed to modify, destroy, or build environmental elements.
  • World Creation Rules: Discuss systems for tweaking environmental settings such as difficulty, resource distribution, weather effects, or day-night cycles.
  • Procedural Generation: Detail how procedural algorithms determine terrain layouts, resource placements, event spawns, and world dynamics, ensuring a unique experience with each playthrough.

Customization

This section details player personalization options, procedural world adjustments, and crafting mechanics. It provides a foundation for creating systems that enhance player agency and gameplay depth.

Player Customization

  • Appearance: Identify the objects or classes needed to support visual modifications (e.g., character models, texture assets for clothing or accessories) and the system for applying those changes dynamically during gameplay.
  • Abilities and Skills: Define the structures for skill trees and abilities. This includes creating skill progression graphs, defining available skills, and how players unlock and upgrade them based on specific conditions (e.g., experience points, quests). Consider how these abilities interact with gameplay mechanics and affect player strategies.
  • Equipment and Loadouts: Establish a system for equipping players with weapons, armor, or tools, and how these interact with gameplay. Establish classes for weapons, armor, and tools. Consider their properties (e.g., damage, durability, effects) and how these interact with combat, defense, and the environment. Define processes for equipping and managing these items during gameplay.

Crafting Systems

  • Core Crafting Mechanics: Outline how players collect resources to craft items, weapons, tools, or structures.
  • Crafting Recipes: Include details on how players learn recipes (e.g., through progression, discovery, or blueprints).
  • Customizable Output: Allow players to modify crafted items, such as enhancing stats or aesthetics.
  • Dynamic Crafting: Explain how crafting integrates with procedural systems, like randomly generating unique crafting materials or recipe variations based on the game world’s state.
  • Crafting Stations and Tools: Specify whether players require designated crafting areas or tools to create items, adding an extra layer of strategy to resource management.

Game Physics / World Physics

Physics-Based Interactions

  • Grabbing and throwing mechanics
  • Weight and force calculations
  • Object behavior and reactions
  • Environmental destruction or deformation

Collision Physics: Define how characters/spaceship and objects move in the game world (e.g., walking, running, sliding, floating) and how collisions with other objects, surfaces, or characters are handled, factoring in statistics like speed or mass.

Combat Physics: Describe how combat interactions (e.g., melee or ranged attacks) are physically modeled, including the impact of weapon types, character stats, and enemy defenses, ensuring realistic consequences for player actions.

Environmental Effects on Movement: Explain how environmental factors (e.g., hills, water, or terrain) affect movement, with adjustments based on player or character attributes like speed, climbing ability, or resistance to obstacles.

Physics Balance: Discuss how the balance of game physics will ensure a fair and engaging experience without causing performance issues, keeping it high-level and avoiding overly technical details for programmers to handle.

Progression Mechanics

Experience and Leveling: Detail the character advancement system:

  • XP gain mechanics and sources
  • Level-up requirements and rewards
  • Stat growth and allocation
  • Milestone achievements and bonuses

Skill Development: Outline the ability progression system:

  • Skill tree structure and dependencies
  • Unlock conditions and requirements
  • Ability upgrades and modifications
  • Specialization paths and branches

Equipment Progression: Define item improvement systems:

  • Upgrade paths and requirements
  • Enhancement mechanics
  • Rarity systems and special items
  • Equipment synergy bonuses

Achievement System: Specify progress tracking mechanics:

  • Quest completion requirements
  • Achievement tiers and rewards
  • Progress tracking metrics
  • Completion bonuses and incentives

Strategy Mechanics

Resource Management: Define systems for handling game resources:

  • Resource types and their properties
  • Collection and storage mechanics
  • Resource allocation and consumption
  • Economy balancing systems

Tactical Elements: Summarize strategic gameplay components:

  • Unit positioning and formation systems
  • Territory control mechanics
  • Line of sight and fog of war
  • Strategic advantage calculations

Game Flow Control: Specify the pace and structure of strategic gameplay:

  • Turn order and phase systems
  • Action point allocation
  • Time management mechanics
  • Decision-making windows

Collection Systems: Outline systems for gathering and managing game elements:

  • Item or card collection mechanics
  • Deck building rules and limitations
  • Upgrade and combination systems
  • Strategic loadout preparation

Exploration Mechanics

World Navigation: Summarize systems for traversing the game world:

  • Movement modes and vehicles
  • Navigation tools and aids
  • World boundaries and restrictions
  • Fast travel systems

Discovery Systems: Outline exploration reward mechanics:

  • Hidden area detection
  • Secret unlock conditions
  • Collectible placement rules
  • Exploration rewards and incentives

Environmental Interaction: Define world interaction mechanics:

  • Puzzle mechanics and solutions
  • Environmental manipulation
  • Interactive object behaviors
  • Destructible elements

World Revelation: Specify systems for world discovery:

  • Map system functionality
  • Fog of war mechanics
  • Area unlock conditions
  • Discovery tracking methods

Role-Playing Mechanics

Character Development: Summarize character customization systems:

  • Creation tools and options
  • Appearance modification
  • Background and origin choices
  • Personality trait systems

Reputation Management: Define social interaction systems:

  • Faction relationship tracking
  • Reputation gain/loss mechanics
  • Alliance and rivalry systems
  • Social status effects

Skill-Based Growth: Specify character progression mechanics:

  • Skill learning conditions
  • Practice and improvement systems
  • Specialization options
  • Mastery tracking

Simulation Mechanics

Economic Systems: Outline resource management mechanics:

  • Market dynamics
  • Trade mechanics
  • Price fluctuation systems
  • Economic balance rules

Life Simulation: Define daily life mechanics:

  • Time management systems
  • Need satisfaction mechanics
  • Relationship development
  • Career progression paths

Equipment Operation: Specify vehicle/tool control systems:

  • Control schemes
  • Operation requirements
  • Maintenance mechanics
  • Performance variables

Multiplayer Features

Multiplayer Modes: Define the different types of multiplayer gameplay, such as:

  • Head-to-head
  • Cooperative vs. AI
  • Teams (with team mechanics)
  • Every man for himself
  • Hotseat (turn-based multiplayer where players share the same device)

Specify the number of players supported in each mode and the mode’s focus (e.g., teamwork, player vs. player, open world interaction).

Cooperative or Competitive Modes: Describe how players interact with each other within the game:

  • Combat, trading, or collaboration
  • Whether interactions are direct (e.g., combat between players) or mediated through in-game systems (e.g., messages, emotes, team mechanics)

Matchmaking and Party Systems:
Outline the system for matchmaking or forming teams:

  • Criteria for pairing players (e.g., skill level, geographic region)
  • Group formation tools (e.g., party creation, clan systems, or random matchmaking)

Player Communication Mechanics:
Describe in-game communication and interactions between players, including:

  • Text chat, voice chat, or emotes
  • Team-specific communication or open chat

Online Features and Connectivity:
Highlight online play capabilities and requirements:

  • Local or online multiplayer
  • Peer-to-peer or client-server architecture
  • Network requirements and player latency considerations

Differences from Solo-Play:
Explain how multiplayer differs from solo-play in the following areas:

  • Game Flow: How the pacing, objectives, or progression changes when multiple players are involved.
  • Characters/Units: Whether the multiplayer mode introduces new characters/units or players control existing ones in a new context.
  • Gameplay Elements: Unique mechanics in multiplayer (e.g., co-op mechanics, competitive features, shared objectives).
  • AI Adjustments: How AI behaves differently in multiplayer (e.g., AI might be less aggressive or have different priorities compared to solo play).