HTML Design Doc Review

[Jack Man]

Hey fappers, I've been meaning to make a game for a while, and recently game dev inspiration stung me in the ass and I whipped up this design doc, I would like some input and suggestions

Spoiler: Design Doc

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The game is planned to be fem protag, sandbox with many many perversion available, taking inspiration from DoD, Cupid's Way, About It, Life Choices and many others. I would love to hear your thoughts below

 

[Jack Man]

Naturally it'll be made in HTML with Twine, since fuck real coding, and using real porn and/or borrowed CGs

 

[osanaiko]

Cool stuff. Although that's the first-est tiniest step to a design doc.

Three things to do in parallel:

1 - start coding something SIMPLE to get yourself familiar with twine. Keep it super simple: one stat, two locations, a day loop, one or two activities (a grind task and one reward scene you get after grinding 3 times)

EXPECT TO THROW 90% OF THIS AWAY - it will be nasty and bad, and you don't want to keep working around your early mistakes forever. But you will learn enough to do it better on second pass, the real deal.

2 - deeply think about the scenes you want. brainstorm and write down lots and lots of ideas. keep each very short (1-3 sentences)

This is probably the fun part. Once you have plenty of scene ideas (20+) then you can pick some and polish them up with more detail. start to see patterns how the scenes could lead to one another, so you can plant clues/joining logic in your story.
Finally, when you are ready to make the actual game, use a few of these as your starting points for dialog and action.

You can combine this step with also writing more and more background info about the specific characters in the game - MC of course, but also everyone else who is part of the plot. Look up the many many articles about character/plot developer techniques. What the like, hate. Their family and friends. memories from teen years. ambitions. style, music, habits. catch phrases. speaking style.

3 - deeply think about the game system. What exactly would a player need to do to progress?

typically you can gate progress behind three things:
- in game character knowledge (the bartender said I should talk to joe in the corner. a new navigation option appears)
- items (obtain item X to now be able to open the door to the secret room. "obtain" might mean buying something with some stat you have accumulated)
- stats: can't progress to the sauna room at the gym until your fitness is level 5

the "best" system is one in which there is some player effort but not stupid grind.
"sleep->gym->shower->sleep" 20 times to get to level 2 strength is STUPID.
But gaining points from story choices (and some minor grind) that somehow all fits together with the narrative and makes progression feel natural - that is CHEF'S KISS AAA game design.


FINALLY: get some art sorted out. But if you are using stolen realporn etc, this is like 10% of the effort, so don't prioritize it. Exception to this: maybe get some inspiration pictures for each character, so you know what they look like.

 

[GNVE]

1 - start coding something SIMPLE to get yourself familiar with twine. Keep it super simple: one stat, two locations, a day loop, one or two activities (a grind task and one reward scene you get after grinding 3 times)

EXPECT TO THROW 90% OF THIS AWAY - it will be nasty and bad, and you don't want to keep working around your early mistakes forever. But you will learn enough to do it better on second pass, the real deal.

Can confirm. I started making a more complex game and have restarted only 3 times from different point and learning a lot along the way. Some things surviving from day one while other stuff got scrapped 3 times over.

 

[Satori6]

Naturally it'll be made in HTML with Twine, since fuck real coding, and using real porn and/or borrowed CGs

You should learn some basic coding at the very least. One of the most annoying things of Twine stolen porn games is that most are just a link-clicking emulator:

You need to click 9 links just to go from your bed to school, then you need to click another 9 times to go back and change into your uniform, because a map or a "change clothes and go to school" option was way too complex for a dev whose understanding of Twine went as far as adding blue links and stolen pics and calling it a day.

 

[Jack Man]

Cool stuff. Although that's the first-est tiniest step to a design doc.

Three things to do in parallel:

1 - start coding something SIMPLE to get yourself familiar with twine. Keep it super simple: one stat, two locations, a day loop, one or two activities (a grind task and one reward scene you get after grinding 3 times)

EXPECT TO THROW 90% OF THIS AWAY - it will be nasty and bad, and you don't want to keep working around your early mistakes forever. But you will learn enough to do it better on second pass, the real deal.

2 - deeply think about the scenes you want. brainstorm and write down lots and lots of ideas. keep each very short (1-3 sentences)

This is probably the fun part. Once you have plenty of scene ideas (20+) then you can pick some and polish them up with more detail. start to see patterns how the scenes could lead to one another, so you can plant clues/joining logic in your story.
Finally, when you are ready to make the actual game, use a few of these as your starting points for dialog and action.

You can combine this step with also writing more and more background info about the specific characters in the game - MC of course, but also everyone else who is part of the plot. Look up the many many articles about character/plot developer techniques. What the like, hate. Their family and friends. memories from teen years. ambitions. style, music, habits. catch phrases. speaking style.

3 - deeply think about the game system. What exactly would a player need to do to progress?

typically you can gate progress behind three things:
- in game character knowledge (the bartender said I should talk to joe in the corner. a new navigation option appears)
- items (obtain item X to now be able to open the door to the secret room. "obtain" might mean buying something with some stat you have accumulated)
- stats: can't progress to the sauna room at the gym until your fitness is level 5

the "best" system is one in which there is some player effort but not stupid grind.
"sleep->gym->shower->sleep" 20 times to get to level 2 strength is STUPID.
But gaining points from story choices (and some minor grind) that somehow all fits together with the narrative and makes progression feel natural - that is CHEF'S KISS AAA game design.


FINALLY: get some art sorted out. But if you are using stolen realporn etc, this is like 10% of the effort, so don't prioritize it. Exception to this: maybe get some inspiration pictures for each character, so you know what they look like.

1) I am a game dev in the non-porn circles, so this shouldn't be a big issue, but I will heed if needed
2) This game isn't meant to be deep or thought provoking, just a slutting around sim
3) I finished Society, Destroyer and other grindy HTML games, so don't worry, won't make the same mistake

Fin - yep, real porn and stuff

 

[osanaiko]

I am a game dev in the non-porn circles

LOL, if you'd lead with that then I wouldn't have written a long diatribe telling you stuff you probably already know.

 

[Insomnimaniac Games]

LOL, if you'd led with that then I wouldn't have written a long diatribe telling you stuff you probably already know.

Well, now it's here for anyone without that experience trying to get into game development, so it wasn't a waste.

 

[aereton]

planned to be fem protag, sandbox with many many perversion available, taking inspiration from DoD, Cupid's Way, About It, Life Choices and many others

None of these keywords are in your actual design doc (or rather, in your quoted section).
But these infos are absolutely vital. Give your idea multiple paragraphs of general description, what you want to make players experience/feel when playing, some catch phrases you would use when advertising the project, etc. This is important because everytime you read the document you keep sight of the bigger picture and don't lose yourself in the details.

 

[Jack Man]

LOL, if you'd lead with that then I wouldn't have written a long diatribe telling you stuff you probably already know.

yeah sorry, I try to keep my porn life and my real life as separate as possible

 

[Jack Man]

None of these keywords are in your actual design doc (or rather, in your quoted section).
But these infos are absolutely vital. Give your idea multiple paragraphs of general description, what you want to make players experience/feel when playing, some catch phrases you would use when advertising the project, etc. This is important because everytime you read the document you keep sight of the bigger picture and don't lose yourself in the details.

I like to write out minute detail that I may forget or misremember, so I keep the grand unforgettable stuff in my cranium, aka this doc was written for me, I just decided feedback would be helpful

 

[aereton]

I like to write out minute detail that I may forget or misremember, so I keep the grand unforgettable stuff in my cranium, aka this doc was written for me, I just decided feedback would be helpful

You do whatever you want of course, but that was feedback. I'm just saying it's a mistake to keep low-level concepts of an idea in your head instead of writing them down. Ideas mutate over time and it's good practice to document the possible stages of a design.
Writing them down gives you an easier time analysing errors, possible pitfalls, etc.

 

[Jack Man]

You do whatever you want of course, but that was feedback. I'm just saying it's a mistake to keep low-level concepts of an idea in your head instead of writing them down. Ideas mutate over time and it's good practice to document the possible stages of a design.
Writing them down gives you an easier time analysing errors, possible pitfalls, etc.

I wasn't saying it wasn't feedback, and not saying this isn't, it's just the way I roll, and thank you for your suggestions