Leena

Here's our noun-verb diagram for Dead Static Drive's core gameplay loop:

Making a noun-verb diagram to explain at a glance "what could interact with what" was a huge turning point for us in terms of documentation (among other things!) and I thought I'd share it in case anyone found it useful. (I'll add a tip in the replies if you're going to give this a go)

I find this far more useful than a "bible" explaining all this over multiple pages before going in a drawer never to be read again.

We have copies of this laminated in the studio as well, and I like to draw on it with whiteboard marker and do little player scenarios to test things out before putting them in flowcharts and blueprints.

It's been useful for finding holes and questioning assumptions we were making about player motivations, and is super handy for pitching at a glance, people can understand the game so much faster with this than a bunch of bloated copy.

#deadstaticdrive #gamedev #gamedesign #narrativedesign #devstaticdrive #indiedev

Nov 14, 2022 at 9:17amWeb
Show threadLeenaNov 14, 2022

(A tip if you're going to give this a go: something that came up when we were doing this work was differentiating between what we ended up calling the "possibility space" and the core behaviour.

***This diagram is not supposed to chart all the things that are possible, but the things you feel are important. ***

Finding where that distinction was and being disciplined about it was a crucial part of the work.

You could really get in the weeds in a game like ours with all the things that are *possible*, and it's important to know where that line is.

Try and keep it for core behaviour that the player *needs* to do throughout the game, not just "can pick up stick, can wave it, can stick it in tailpipe" that kind of thing. Otherwise it becomes too overwhelming! Identify the line early and it is much easier to do)

Show threadTedNov 14, 2022
@LeenaVanD Possibility Space is one of my favorite terms, one that I use too often probably, and also a thing that you should Never Try To Diagram because it includes all things both known and unknown that could be explored! 😅
Show threadTedNov 14, 2022
@LeenaVanD "A survey of the Possibility Space", absolutely, but a "thorough expedition" could be... an excessive investment of your time
Show threadLeenaNov 14, 2022
@esdin it’s kind of got that allure like heroin, you know it’d be bad but man it sounds fun
Show threadTedNov 14, 2022
@LeenaVanD "Hell yeah, just f*ck me up, gonna spend all night doing a deep dive of this whole enchilada"
Show threadThomas WrayNov 14, 2022
@LeenaVanD I've never heard of a noun-verb diagram before but I can definitely see it's appeal. Good that it helped you out. Thanks for sharing!
Show threadArNov 14, 2022
@LeenaVanD this is so helpful, thanks for sharing!
Show threadKyle BanksNov 14, 2022
@LeenaVanD this looks like a super helpful exercise, definitely going to try this. Thanks!
Show threadTim Rach 🦀Nov 17, 2022
@LeenaVanD hey thanks for sharing, this is very helpful! Could you explain the colour coding? I guess: purple -> entities, blue -> consumables, what about orange and green?