Game mechanics blueprints
113 blueprints for things that make a game feel good, explained in plain words, each with a text to paste to your AI.
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Resources
Ability Cooldowns
A cooldown keeps a strong move from being used all the time without making it cost a resource. The player waits, plans and uses it at the right moment.
Progression
Ability Gates
Gates turn what the player can do into a map of where they can go. A place seen early becomes a reason to come back later, and every new ability opens up something that was always there.
Progression
Achievements
Achievements give the player extra goals beside the main one and a reason to try things the story never asks for. The pop-up makes a small win feel seen, and the list of goals shows what is still left to do.
Resources
Action Points
Action points make a turn a puzzle of choices. The player has a few points and many things to do, so every move, attack or item use has to earn its place.
Story
Ambient Barks
Barks make a world feel lived in. Characters comment on what happens around them, and the player hears something alive between the big story moments, without the same few lines becoming a nuisance.
Resources
Ammo and Reload
Ammo makes shooting a series of small decisions: fire now or save rounds, reload now or risk running dry in the middle of a fight.
Combat
Area of Effect
An area of effect lets one attack hit a crowd, punishes standing together and gives the player a way to answer many enemies. The warning, the falloff and the cover rules are what make it readable and fair instead of a surprise from nowhere.
World
Autosave
Autosave means a crash, a dead battery or a closed window costs the player a minute of play and not an evening. The player never has to think about saving, and the game never freezes at a bad moment to do it.
Inventory
Bad Luck Protection
A pure chance can hand some players a hundred misses in a row while others win at once. A rising chance and a certain last try give every player a fair worst case, and the rare prize still feels like luck.
Combat
Block and Guard
Guarding gives the player a way to take a hit instead of avoiding it, and the parry rewards good timing. The meter and the break keep it from being a way to stand still forever.
Combat
Boss Phases
Phases turn one long fight into three shorter ones, each with something new to learn. They also give the player a clear sign of progress, so a long fight keeps its drive.
Story
Branching Choices
Choices make the reader a part of the story. The player feels that what they pick matters when later scenes remember it, when some paths close and others open, and when a bad pick can be taken back without leaving the story in a broken state.