44 lines
3.0 KiB
Markdown
44 lines
3.0 KiB
Markdown
# Game design overview
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This folder holds **vision-level** design: what we want players to feel, do, and discover before we lock schemas, APIs, or content pipelines. Use it for brainstorming and alignment; when something is ready to drive implementation, it should gain a path in [`docs/decomposition/`](../decomposition/README.md) or [`docs/plans/`](../plans/).
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## Summary
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Neon Sprawl’s design work here starts from **concrete visions** of progression, places, risk, economy, social play, combat, and the items/abilities that express them. Documents below are added as we write them; each should stay opinionated and specific enough to argue with, without pretending to be a full GDD.
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## Artifact index
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| Document | Focus | Notes |
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|----------|--------|--------|
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| *(add rows as files land)* | | |
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### Planned topics (stubs)
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Link new files here when they exist; remove or rewrite this subsection once the table is populated.
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- **Skills** — the core classless progression: training, caps, synergies, failure modes, skill families in UI/content. *Professions* are optional only if they mean something skills do not (e.g. diegetic titles, faction job routing, starter focus)—otherwise fold “what you are” into the skill graph and reputation, not a separate system.
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- **Zones** — tone, danger, faction or economic role of a place.
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- **Travel & connections** — how places link (gates, costs, downtime, danger en route); complements zone identity.
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- **Mechanics** — loops, constraints, what the server vs. client must honor.
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- **Items** — categories, rarity philosophy, crafting vs. drops.
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- **Abilities** — inputs, timing, combo with items and skills.
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- **Gathering & resources** — nodes, competition, exhaustion, what “open world” contesting feels like.
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- **Crafting & recipes** — depth vs. breadth, failure, specialization; pairs with items but is its own loop.
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- **Economy** — currency velocity, sinks, trade vs. self-sufficiency, how wealth shows up in play.
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- **Factions & reputation** — who remembers you, grudges, access gates, story pressure.
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- **Combat pillars** — PvE vs. PvP stance, readability, time-to-kill, what “fair” means here.
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- **Death, loss & recovery** — stakes on failure, recovery paths, anti-grief boundaries.
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- **Risk & security bands** — safe pockets vs. wild space; where optional PvP and theft sit (aligns with security-tier thinking).
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- **Social play** — squad scale, corps, trust, betrayal affordances, async cooperation.
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- **Encounters & enemy roles** — archetypes, what a fight teaches, variety without noise.
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- **Onboarding** — first session hook, clarity vs. mystery, how much systems the new player sees.
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- **Tone & narrative** — how lore shows up (quests, environment, UI), voice of the world.
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## Related repo docs
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| Area | Location |
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|------|----------|
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| Module / epic breakdown | [`docs/decomposition/`](../decomposition/README.md) |
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| Implementation plans | [`docs/plans/`](../plans/) |
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| Architecture | [`docs/architecture/`](../architecture/tech_stack.md) |
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