itch.io

I appreciate your review and addressing each point forwardly.

I'm glad you think the game is playable; that's the hope at the end of the day!

I didn't use visual representations for things because as you acknowledged I had a very limited time to complete this document. However, in the next phase of developing this document I'll refine each section by replacing most of the written description with visual equivalents.

I can see that in retrospect; I may have followed the tool tip on the IGA Template a little too literally by only just stating the actions the player would do as a part of the gameplay loop. I may have tacked on fragments of the gameplay loop into the other sections of the document.

The story, like some other elements of this document, were impromptu/improv. I made it up as I went and am not as proficient in developing narratives rapidly as I'd like to be. The story elements or implication of them were more to lay a foundation or expectation in the limited time I had and "as-I-go" nature of the development.

The genre references and correlations to other game titles were a way I thought I could use to describe the idea of the game in different ways without spending too much time writing every granule of detail specifically. It was a cost assessment I made and I fell short expecting imagination/interpretation to do the work. The concept will be distilled and refined into a more concise and definitive idea while also improving the visual reference/aid to help readers/team members paint a better mental picture of the project.

I appreciate your time writing this comment and providing good feedback to my GDD. I'll do my due diligence in identifying the game's core pillars more clearly and restructuring the document in the future!

Thanks Maka!

The logical purpose of the Admiral and Engineer existing as characters in the game is to enrich the single player experience One Gun can offer. In the options menu, dialog could be toned down in frequency or muted all-together aside from story-critical dialog. Narratively, the Admiral and Engineer also give some tethers to the immersion of the world; like you feel like you're in a massive space ship with an army instead of wandering mostly alone and passively existing. There may also be opportunities for side-quests driven by them as you find and recover pieces of their original Stellar Fortress and [REDACTED].

I hope that sufficiently addresses that question. I appreciate your time reading my document and leaving your review!

Thanks Surya! I'm grateful to hear that you like the concept!

I suppose I got a bit too imperative with simple system descriptions there. I'm not exactly sure why of all the things I could've left open to interpretation I chose that... As for the choice of describing some of the mobility parts the reason I did that was because I didn't think about it in the initial concept; I had just imagined your CRDT would just be a stationary turret where it was dropped, but then I realized that might be difficult to make engaging if I expected story to be tied into it.

Aye, the story and enemy factions themselves were a bit "on-the-spot" too. Sort of made things up realtime as I kept describing the doc. I wanted to make visual references for them and the systems but realized my next best bet was cleaning up the typography with the limited time I had.

I did get a little "pitch-happy" there I'll be honest. Defining a new genre is more challenging than I thought it would be so I just restructured a game I had in mind to try and make it unique enough to be one. Association is how I do that best but I suppose without one definitively unique trait it sort of falls apart in that regard. I can accept that and move on when further developing the project.

I appreciate your time and insight with your response! I've got a call tomorrow to help me determine some next steps, but this one could be it for me.

On reading your GDD I'll preface my comment saying I understand if time was a significant constraint; it was one for me too.

Your game does have elements of social deduction in combination with responsive/semi-intelligent dialogue. To make a truly "AI-powered" dialogue system may take much more work than using certain pre-defined values and "line pools" the characters can select from to add just enough variety through a game loop without being overbearing to manage/train.

The game makes me think of a combination of the Salem Witch Trials online game with (oddly enough) dating sim-esque dialog interaction and status adjustment features. I made a similar genre/game comparison or association in my doc so I can respect the parallels between those games and yours. However, much like how I tried to present mine perhaps it's not wholly a new genre.

The length of the gameplay loop is intriguing to note. It reminds me of an expected gameplay session time of most Turn-Based/RTS hybrid games like Total War. 

The social events you have planned in your game system gives it good variety potential and gives many factors to consider. Though in that depending on how gameplay is or isn't tutorialized/introduced players may wander into it confused when they're getting backstabbed by the Duke of Doughnuts after they called him a "fat man" on the first night.

All this to say, I think this game has promise as a standalone title and good inspiration behind it! With a little more visual reference and gameplay loop walkthrough it can shape up to be something awesome!

After reading through the GDD and the others' comments myself I share a few sentiments but enjoy the idea of the game.

The document is a bit more verbose/pitch-like than it is imperative design. It read more like a pitch to a publisher rather than a game dev team oriented graph-and-chart or specific sequence kind of document.

Despite that the approach to the narrative design and interactions of the game as a platformer is intriguing. I had to scroll down a bit myself to piece together it would be a 2D Platformer but I got there eventually. 

The protagonist's interactions with characters from each period is also interesting, though I find my suspense of disbelief waning a bit in how solid the narrative cohesion stands. Specifically, if Dr.Rayden is a highly-skilled futuristic scientist might he already know most of the concepts the native denizens of the timelines he visits tell him about? Maybe a side-effect of the time machine makes his memory foggy or fragmented and then each denizen jogs it back up to solve the problems he needs to in order to journey onward through time?

This is still an adventure game I'd play myself; I love Sci-Fi and this theme is an interesting one to explore!

This GDD was a pleasant read through and a mini-adventure in my head as I read it.

Harkening back to things like Sonic Unleashed and referencing A Hat In Time helped me paint a mental picture of how the level design might happen and seeing the personalities of the characters in their actions throughout the game.

You have a great deal of developed ideas here and that will help people understand exactly what they're getting into with this game project. With a little visual reference and maybe a sample "slideshow" of level progression it could come together as an awesome anchor for the project!

As others may have mentioned, this genre isn't necessarily something new, but regardless of that you have something great cooking here! I look forward to seeing where your work and the project go!

I love what you have going on in TDD Duel! At first read it makes me think of it as a twist of Kingdom Rush, Clash Royale and Bloons TD 6 Vs. where the twist is your custom pathing to the enemy base.

Your GDD is extensive but good at hitting most of the design features of your game. It's specific in its description of user interaction and menu navigation which leaves little to the imagination there; it's a good thing it does. The one thing I had trouble piecing together when I read it was exactly how you create your custom paths to the map border edge. 

Do you just build it up to the edge and units will march off/attack from there? Do some units attack earlier along the path or later rushing down the enemy base? Are there units that might ignore the pathing once spawned and require a special kind of Defender, like a Flying unit that just goes straight for the base that's weak, but needs an Anti-Air style defender to gun them down? Can players in a game of TDD disrupt or interrupt each others path? Can they use sabotage powers or abilities to make a path through an opponents path? What kinds of map design features will prevent a player from just building "the shortest path" to the base each match to make sure their troops consistently get there first?

Bombardment of wondering aside, I'd add this game to my library for the challenge and tower building aspects. I like fantasy, sci-fi and tower defense games so this is a great all-in-one package for someone like me!

This game is a pleasant tangent from the 3D Puzzle Room mobile games I used to play.

The new kind of environment interaction and objectives to complete are a welcome deviation from that gameplay formula.

Your GDD is also well laid out with excellent visual aids and references to help bring the vision of the game together. It was concise and posed enough thoughts about each of your subjects (Inhabitant AI, Spooky's tap controls, the Scare-o-meter, etc.) to introduce the idea to potential teammates.

The only thing I didn't either see immediately or understand was if there was a losing condition in the game and what that might entail. You did mention that if the player didn't do any possession or create enough of a disturbance for the Inhabitant to notice and be spooked that their scare-o-meter would slowly drain over time. This doesn't matter as much if the game is meant to be a penalty-less casual experience but if it's meant to be that way it should be mentioned in the document.

Overall this was a fun and colorful read! I wish you and your project here well in your future pursuits!

This looks like a fun little game!

Made me reminisce about old browser site games of a similar art style and reminded me of Risk of Rain 2 in a way where you get different relics to upgrade your character in an increasingly chaotic game state.

Your GDD has great visual examples and it seems you've already got some good assets developed for the game conceptually with an easy to program game loop. Some of the items in the document pertaining to what inputs the player uses to control the ship and toggle its speeds/steering to collide into or avoid collision with obstacles was a bit vague.

Overall though, I could see this inspiring a spring of games in a similar vein of genre; well done!

Fair responses.

To preface my perspective going into the GDD I visualized it as more of an Animal Crossing/Nintendogs/Neopets than a World of Warcraft so to speak. The game more heavily themes around the acquisition, breeding and training of pets rather than other larger MMO aspects like major story, combat, or grinding  (As far as I saw. I'm aware mitigating grinding was a point in your document but that seems ironic with the systems in place to optimize your pets).

Soren Johnson once said, “Given the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of a game”. Through breeding or holding on to high-value pets like the Fabled rating ones they may just win outright unless there are other considerable factors that prevent those things. Granted, your pets have personalities or dispositions that prevent them from learning certain skills more quickly, but what happens when any pet reaches the "ceiling" of its skill potential? Are the maximum numbers of points/stats for each creature the same? Do they vary by rarity or type?

On the subject of the in-game economics and greater scope of the game, addressing the economics first, your implementation of fee systems for different parts of the game could work, but some players may start running a "ranch" to sell optimized pets. And if fees scale too high cumulatively for a casual player to afford they may be permanently stuck at a point in the game because of always backtracking due to fees, will be dissuaded to play because it requires so much in game time and (ironically) grinding to keep up paying them, or the optimizers of your player base will see them as little more than minor inconveniences. It's not easy balancing Economics which is why some games have them scaled out of control (EVE Online and Team Fortress 2 for instance).

As for the MMO topic, your chats and gameplay loops consider this title a MMO but little information is presented about a greater story in the game. It doesn't need one perse if it's not meant to be a full MMO and more of a pet-based Stardew Valley but the implication of what an MMO is may shape your player's perceptions and find them disappointed that it wasn't the experience advertised. It could be re-branded to a Social Adventure game and take gameplay from inspirations like Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet. The story isn't mandatory but by interacting with the world and leading your entourage of pets you can create your own adventure somehow.

Those are all the thoughts I have at the time. I hope this helps you in your future development of the GDD and the project going forward!

Reading through this GDD shows a promising premise for a Retrospective game. At first thought it made me think of a Point-and-Click adventure to the theme of European art with some real-world lore Assassin's Creed style.

The simplicity of navigating the game's levels and using more visual elements to piece together clues will be a welcome intellectual challenge for people with, or looking to sharpen their, observational and inferential skills. I had a few questions regarding the word bank and Ad-Lib puzzle system. Are you able to see the color-coding of words to blank spaces immediately or do you need to find another clue/solve another puzzle first to show their color association? Having or not having that aid in the game could change its difficulty.

 Learning more about the details of the kinds of challenges you'd encounter in an exhibit would also be intriguing (finding discrepancies in paintings, symmetrizing/asymmetrizing art pieces, kinetic sculpture completion/repair puzzles, or creating visual balance within an exhibit room).

The game's narrative and characters are sure to be a treat for those intrigued in the kind of story the game presents. You and your team did well! I look forward to hearing more about how this project develops!

This was quite the read but a pleasant one for sure!

Your game premise is related to multiple other RTS style games but makes an interesting twist through use of the traditional mechanics in a new way. Your document structure is clean, legible and consistent despite a few minor spelling errors; makes for an easy comprehension of all your game's mechanics to-date. Which you've planned and described very well.

Gwen was right, it was hard to not give such a document a perfect score. I look forward to seeing what you have in store for this project in the future!

I noticed some portions were marked for later completion, so I'll only review what was made.

Your game's premise intrigues me. It makes me think of a mix of Homeward Bound (the movie), Stray, and Untitled Goose Game. Where the Winnie and Mags are going on a long adventure together to get back their owner's artifact from the Raccoon.

The idea of the Stress and Motivation management is interesting in how it might play into both pets' reactions to things in the game world. Having each of them be "NPCs" while controlling the other also opens up opportunities for intriguing level design with how each animal would interact with and disrupt the map accordingly.

The detail you gave into each pet's story and the summaries of your level zones also helped paint a clear mental picture of what this game could become. You did well and I hope this project can go a long way for you!

When I first read your GDD I was curious to see that the player would be effectively something the player works around instead of controlling them directly. It makes me think of a "Reverse Stanley Parable" or "Bongo Boom".

Some of the phrasing was direct or succinct but gives little specifics into how the game is actually played. I could imagine a few controls for it personally but everyone's imagination is different. Specifically describing the kinds of things in an environment the player will be able to control around the character and what interfacing they would use to do that is a place to start.

The mention of NFT/Web3 integration only made sense to me because I'm a Web Developer but that reference or intent may not be received well by most people. Even then I'm not exactly sure what support plan would be in place for such an integration into the game; that space of tech is a delicate and volatile matter to delve into.

Still, your overall premise of a game where the player controls the environment rather than a direct player-insert character is intriguing. With some more specifics, maybe a sample level presentation/walkthrough and details about a Web3 tech integration lifecycle it could become something unique.

When I read the GDD this game reminded me of a Metroid-vania; a classic among games.

Your GDD was well structured, supplemented with good visual aid to help others see your vision, and sets the stage for a fun adventure! 

I do enjoy the premise of this Cozy MMO. Upon first hearing about it it reminded me of a combination of Pokemon and Wizard 101's Pet system strangely enough.

I did question the depths of breeding and economics in this game if it was meant to be for casual players. Some of the ideas of currency standardization and conversion rates also seem a little complex compared to the premise the game offered. I also wondered why only male pets were eligible to be listed in the "Breeder's Shop" and how "Mythic" pets couldn't pass down their rarity to other pets through breeding.

Overall it was a thorough GDD, but it obfuscates or introduces systems or items within those systems that deviates from the premise in my opinion.

I appreciate the review you wrote Gwen!

Looking back at my doc and comparing it to your feedback I can see how the genre description may have been misaligned with the actual gameplay. As I made things up I suppose I neglected to check for continuity in that regard.

I hadn't heard of either Convoy or FTL before your comment and found them on store pages like Steam. I suppose compared to those two my game would be a spin on them.

In the time I had between Mother's Day events and errands I wasn't able to fully flesh things out with the combat system in a way I would have found sufficient but I recognize those sections stand to have room for improvement beyond what the titles of mission types would suggest.

Your assessment is reasonable and I thank you again for your time in leaving your review! I'll keep it in mind as the GDD develops and becomes a full game!

Unable to rate submission. Project is just a single still image saved as a PDF. Cannot scroll or navigate document to read for a proper review.
Please attempt to re-upload a Word doc or readable PDF of the full GDD