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Space Game Design Doc - Looking for FEEDBACK!

Discussion in 'Game Design' started by ceemos, Jul 22, 2018.

  1. ceemos

    ceemos

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2018
    Posts:
    3
    Hi everyone, I've developed a game design doc and would love some feedback from others.

    As a quick summary, it's for a game I'm calling SPACED, which is a collection and crafting game that takes place in (you guessed it) space. It's meant to be a down-tempo, simple, thoughtful experience using the physics of floating and collecting items to be relaxing and the crafting system as small puzzles (think something like Zen Bound, but with life support systems).

    Any feedback is much appreciated. Thanks!
     

    Attached Files:

  2. theANMATOR2b

    theANMATOR2b

    Joined:
    Jul 12, 2014
    Posts:
    7,790
    Here are a couple comments related to the game design document.
    I personally like to have a feature morgue in a game design document. The feature morgue (to me) are features that are listed as 'dead' for this version of the game. The feature is kept in the certain sections with reference to the morgue.
    For instance - If I was doing a runner type game and the gameplay was fast paced and I wanted the play throughs to be done in one sitting without pausing the game. Initially maybe I thought about a pause button and menu, but decided I wanted part of the difficulty of the game, not to be able to pause. In the UI and maybe mentioned in gameplay/difficulty I would mention the pause button/menu and say it was deprecated and placed in the feature morgue. I would list why the feature was placed in the morgue, on the listing of that particular feature in the morgue.
    This keeps me from revisiting the same feature and wondering why it was not considered, or why it was considered and rejected. This is especially useful when working on systems that can have numerous different statistical outcomes like weapon buffs and stuff like that.

    For purposes of motivation I like to put the pitch sentence, or statement on the first page with the title. This to me is motivation whenever I open the design doc, (when working on the game) in the direction towards the end goal.
    I can't really tell what is the elevator pitch for your game, space based, casual, crafting, survival simulator, or something like that? To me - it should be a sentence or a few sentences that describes the game, but in as few words as possible with discreet action words that provide a vision to anyone you tell it to. It should sell the game instantly and create interest succinctly.

    The game itself (from reading the first 10 pages) sounds interesting. It reads to me like kind of a walking simulator, set in space with some tension built in through crafting mechanics.
     
    TonyLi and ceemos like this.
  3. ceemos

    ceemos

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2018
    Posts:
    3
    Thanks so much! These are some great points, especially the feature morgue. It makes perfect sense to keep track of the features which have been considered and axed for one reason or another.
     
    theANMATOR2b likes this.
  4. Kiwasi

    Kiwasi

    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2013
    Posts:
    16,860
    So what happens when I run out of air?
     
    BrandyStarbrite likes this.
  5. FMark92

    FMark92

    Joined:
    May 18, 2017
    Posts:
    1,243
    Go straight to jail and don't collect $200 on start?
     
  6. BlankDeedxxAldenHilcrest

    BlankDeedxxAldenHilcrest

    Joined:
    Jul 10, 2018
    Posts:
    292
    "Feature Morgue" WOAH, what a great idea.