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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Inventory
Item Stacking
Stack limits turn a bag into a set of choices: small piles for rare things, big piles for common things, and a clear answer every time an item arrives and there is not enough room.
Inventory
Item Upgrades
Upgrades give the player something to save for and a reason to love one item, while a rising price and a limited top level keep the climb meaningful.
Movement
Jump Buffering
Players often press jump a little before they land. Buffering keeps that press, so the character jumps as soon as it can, and fast movement flows on instead of stalling on the ground.
Inventory
Key Items
Key items keep the story from breaking. The player can never lose, sell or fail to pick up the one thing that lets them go on.
Movement
Knockback
A hit that moves the target tells the player what happened, makes space after a fight and gives weight to strong enemies. Without the stun and the protection it is only a shove, and a fair game turns into one the player cannot escape.
Movement
Ladder Climbing
A ladder joins levels vertically without a jump. It must feel safe to grab, easy to leave, and never trap the character or catch it again by accident.
Movement
Ledge Grab
Players misjudge jumps by a hand's width all the time. A ledge grab turns a near miss into a save, and it makes every edge a place to climb.
Combat
Lock-on Targeting
In a fight with several enemies, the player should not have to aim by hand while dodging. Locking onto one enemy makes attacks and the camera follow it, and the rules for picking and keeping that enemy decide whether the lock feels helpful or fights the player.
Resources
Loot Table
Random rewards with chances you control, so most drops are common, some are rare, and the odds are exact and easy to change.
Story
Lore Codex
A codex gives the story a place to live outside the action. The player collects it at their own pace, sees how much is still missing, and comes back to a half-understood mystery later.
Resources
Mana Pool
A mana pool makes strong spells a choice about when, not just whether. The player spends in bursts and then has to play without magic while it comes back.
Progression
Mastery by Use
Mastery by use makes a character grow in the way the player plays. Swing a sword often and you get better with the sword, and the game never asks the player to choose from a menu what they have already shown.