Game Design Master Document

Gameplay

A single interaction should cause a single action
- Giving multiple actions to the same interaction will cause confusion
Destruction is caused by the player
- Entities can't break or place blocks
- A player sets off an explosion, a player presses a button, etc
Each biome should have something unique setting it apart from others
- Plains is flat, forest is dense, ocean is under water, jungle has tall trees, etc
Each ore should generally have a unique usage
- For example, iron is used for tools, copper is used for circuits, coal is used for cooking
Interactions should occur in-world
- When crafting, you place items on the table, rather than opening a GUI
Features should build off of each other, not overrule each other
- Different types of armor protect you from different things
- If you want to add a new item for a specific feature, try to find an old item that can fit that feature first
Don't be afraid to change or throw out things that aren't working or fun
Don't strive to be realistic
- "I've never thought to myself that realism is fun, I go play games to have fun" - Gabe Newell

Each set of colors in an image should tend to at most 5 hues/shades
- 5 hues/shades of brown, 5 hues/shades of green, 5 hues/shades of orange, etc
- Dithering should be used to make hues/shades blend into one another
A texture should use as little color sets as possible
- A fox texture would have white, black, and orange
"Natural" block textures should tesselate discreetly
- A wall made of a single natural material should not look like it's being tiled