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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Movement
Camera Dead Zone
A camera glued to the character shakes with every step and makes small moves feel like earthquakes. A box in the middle lets the character move around calmly, such as fighting, aiming or jumping on the spot, and the world only scrolls when it needs to.
Movement
Camera Look-Ahead
A camera centred on the character wastes half the screen on where the player has already been. Showing more of the way ahead gives the player time to react to enemies, gaps and turns, and makes fast movement fair.
Combat
Charge Attack
A charge attack lets the player trade time and safety for power: a stronger strike for anyone willing to stand still, slowed down and open to being hit.
Movement
Charge Jump
A jump the player shapes with the button itself: a tap for a small hop, a long hold for a big leap. It makes a jump a decision, because a big one costs time before it starts.
World
Checkpoints
Checkpoints keep a death from costing the whole level. The player risks only the stretch since the last marker, so a hard part can be tried again and again without walking the same easy part each time.
Story
Clue Journal
The player solves a mystery by thinking, not by walking into the right room. The journal remembers what was found, checks what the player connects and helps when they are stuck, without ever giving the answer away.
Combat
Combo System
Combos reward timing: the same button does more for a player who presses it at the right moment.
Combat
Cover System
Cover turns a fight into a choice between safety and shooting: the player hides to survive, then pays with exposure each time they peek to hit back.
Movement
Coyote Time
Players judge a ledge by eye and often press jump a moment too late. Without coyote time they fall and feel the game ignored them. With it, they get the jump they meant.
Inventory
Crafting System
Crafting gives the things players gather a use, and lets them decide what to make from what they have.
Combat
Critical Hits
Crits add a little luck to every hit, so fights are not exactly the same twice, and they give gear that raises the chance or the damage a clear meaning. Used with care they add excitement without deciding a fight on their own.
World
Crop Farming
Farming gives the player a slow, caring loop with a reward at the end. Planting is a small bet on the future, watering is the attention it asks for, and harvest day is the payoff that brings the player back.