Made some progress on a one pager to act as a ‘game design document’.
Major change is the addition of competitive mode.
I’ve added a crafting dependency graph to ensure that the game is always solvable.

Goal

To have your troop achieve the most merit badges, or more merit badges than the other team, before the game is over.

Pillars

Crafting

Natural resources are in limited supply, and limited in utility.
Players get to satisfy their curiosity by crafting more useful items that unlock potential areas to explore and player capabilities.

Exploration

Players are encouraged to explore all areas they have access to, while some areas are not immediately accessible, solving problems (crafting, bridge building, etc.) will uncover more areas to explore.

Cooperation

Players can achieve more by working together, than going solo.
The game (and all elements) should reward all players for cooperating as a team.

Rules (v2)

• 1 to 6 players
• Troop formation (choose the game type)
  • Players can all play in the same troop (survival mode)
  • Players can play against each other by joining different troops
    • 1 v 1
    • 2 v 2
    • 3 v 3
    • 2 v 2 v 2
    • 1 v 1 v 1 … (up to 6)
• Players can perform activities to earn merit badges
• Players who earn a badge become proficient in this activity, allowing them to help others obtain the badge
  • example: Possession of a musical instrument will earn a Musical badge. Player1 crafts a flute from 4 sticks and a sharp rock, earning the Musical badge. Player1 can now craft a flute from 1 stick and a sharp rock and give it to other Players.
• A Day is 4 minutes long
• Sun starts setting at 3:30 of that day
• All players need to be in a tent by Dusk, 4:00
  • Debuff condition: if a player is not in a tent by Dusk, the next day they are slowed down, .75 move speed, until they go in a tent to rest for a minute (1/4 of the day)
    • Math: they can do 75% less than normal this day
• At the end of the day, night falls and creatures come to visit camp, steal food, and may destroy camp structures along the way.
  • Tent has 4 hp
    • Lose condition: if tent is fully destroyed during the night, the game is over
  • Fence has 1 hp
  • squirrel: steals 1 food and deals 0hp damage to structures
  • deer: steals 4 food and deals 1hp damage to structures
  • wolf: steals 0 food and deals 2hp damage to structures
• Night fall lose condition: if there is no CampFire, the game is over
• At Dawn, 0:00 of next day, all players need to consume 2 units of food
  • Lose condition: if a player cannot consume 2 units of food (food is either in the tent or in their own inventory), the game is over

Merit Badges (WIP)

Canvas item used for crafting Art piece
Compass item used to render an arrow that always points towards camp
Bird House structure @TODO something to do with Animal Science?
Wicker Food Storage structure used for storing food

MVP Badges

Starting Parameters

Each player starts the first day with 2 berries.

Crafting and Item Progression

p is number of players.
p*2/day for a 3 player game is 6 per day.

Map Design

Either one map with features and materials placed in different areas by “group name”. Or separate scenes.

Thin Vertical Slice

• ✅ Connecting Screen
• 🚫 Title Screen
• 🚫 Lobby Screen
  • 🚫 creates game session, renders link to invite other players
  • 🚫 start game button
• 🚫 Day 1 (4min timer)
• 🚫 Night 1
  • 🚫 Creatures stealing food from camp
  • 🚫 Creature Pathfinding
• 🚫 Day 2 (new core game loop)
• 🚫 Lose conditions
  • 🚫 No camp fire at Nightfall
  • 🚫 Player cannot eat at Dawn
• ✅ Crafting
• ✅ Player can make a CampFire