Template: templates/frame.pillars.md

# {{title}}

_What this game is, and the few rules every decision in it answers to. This page and Scope decide what belongs: a mechanic, a level, or an item that serves no pillar is one to question, however fun it was in the prototype._

## The Game in a Breath

_A few sentences: what the player does, where, and why it is fun. If it needs a list, it is not the game yet._

## The Pillars

_Three or four short rules the whole game keeps, each with a sentence on what it rules out. A pillar that rules nothing out is a wish, not a pillar. Every page names the pillars it serves in `pillar`, by the names written here._

### Pillar

_The pillar, in a few words, and what it means in play._

### Pillar

_The next one, and what it rules out._

## The Core Loop

_What the player does over and over, in order: the thirty seconds, the session, the whole game. The loop every mechanic plugs into; draw it on a canvas if that helps._

## Not This Game

_The game next door you are deliberately not making: the genre you are avoiding, the feature every player will ask for that you will not add. The don't-do list, kept short and kept._

Template: templates/frame.player.md

# {{title}}

_Who plays this game, and what they will and will not put up with. The feel of every mechanic and the difficulty of every level get read against this page._

## Who Plays

_A paragraph: who they are, how they play (a couch and a controller, a phone on the train, an evening at a desk), and for how long at a time. Not a demographic; the person you picture holding the controller._

## What They Have Played

_The games they already love, and what each one taught them to expect. The comparable games from the player's side of the screen, not the market's._

## What They Expect

_What they assume the game will do without being told: a map, a save before a boss, remappable keys. Leaving one out is a decision; write it on the page that leaves it out._

## What They Will Not Forgive

_What makes them quit and leave a review: losing twenty minutes to one death, a jump that only works on the third frame, text too small to read. The list a playtest is checked against._

Template: templates/frame.platform.md

# {{title}}

_Where the game runs, and what that costs it. Every mechanic, level, and piece of art is built inside these limits; something that breaks one is either a port problem or a design problem, and this page says which._

## Where It Runs

_The platforms at launch and later, the one you design on first, and the engine and version you build in._

## Controls and Accessibility

_The input you design for first (controller, mouse and keyboard, touch), what can be remapped, and the options every player gets: subtitles, text size, color, difficulty, the things a store or a console requires._

## The Budget

_The numbers the build has to hold: frame rate, resolution, memory, load times, save size, the smallest text on the smallest screen. The limits a programmer checks a mechanic against._

## Store and Certification

_What each store or console needs before it will ship the game: ratings, achievements, save rules, the store page assets. Kept here so none of it is a surprise in the last month._

Template: templates/frame.scope.md

# {{title}}

_How much game this team can finish, and by when. This page and the Pillars decide what gets built; the Cut List holds what did not make it._

## Team and Time

_Who is making it, how much of their week it gets, and how long you have. The honest version, not the pitch-deck one._

## Size of the Game

_How long it plays and how much is in it: hours, acts, levels, mechanics, characters, items. The ceiling every new idea is weighed against._

## Milestones

_The prototype, the vertical slice, content complete, launch: what each one proves, and roughly when. Not a schedule; the shape of one._

## The Cut Line

_What goes first when time runs short, in order, and what is never cut. Decide it now, while it is calm; a cut made in the last month should already be on this list._

Template: templates/frame.market.md

# {{title}}

_Where the game sits beside the games already out there, and how players will find it. The page a publisher pitch, a price, and a store page get read against._

## The Shelf It Sits On

_The genre, and the games next to it on a store page: what each one does that this one does not, and the reverse. Name the difference, not just the game._

## The Hook

_The one thing a player sees in a trailer or a screenshot and wants. If it does not fit in a sentence and a GIF, it is not the hook yet._

## Price and Money

_Premium, free to play, a demo, early access: which, at what price, and which never. The publisher or the funding, the stores' cut, and what the game has to sell to pay for itself._

## How Players Find It

_The store page, wishlists, festivals, the trailer, streamers, the demo, the community. The bet you are making about how a stranger first hears of the game._

Template: templates/mechanic.one-pager.md

# {{title}}

## Why It Is in the Game

_What it gives the player, and the pillar it serves, in a short paragraph. Grow it into the full page once it has more rules and numbers than fit here._

## Still to Decide

_What you do not know yet: the question the next prototype answers._

## How It Plays

_A few sentences from the player's side of the screen: what they press, what happens, how it feels._

## Rules and Numbers

_The few rules and values already settled, numbered._

1. <!-- the first rule -->

## Not This Mechanic

_What it does not do, and which mechanic does. Write this first, not last._

Template: templates/mechanic.full.md

# {{title}}

## Why It Is in the Game

_What this mechanic gives the player that nothing else in the game does. A short paragraph. If this changes a lot, it is probably a different mechanic._

### Pillar It Serves

_Which pillar on the Pillars page this serves, and how; named in `pillar` at the top too. A mechanic that serves no pillar is the first one to question when the scope gets tight._

## Still to Decide

_What you do not know yet: the feel you have not found, the number you have not tuned, the edge case nobody has played. Kept near the top so a prototype settles it, not a meeting._

## How It Plays

_The moment to moment, from the player's side of the screen: what they press, what they see and hear, how it feels. Written so a programmer could build the first prototype from it and an artist could start on the effects._

## Rules and Numbers

_The rules, as short numbered statements a build can be checked against, then the values that tune it (a small table is fine). Keep the numbers the build actually uses; the balance sheet lives in Files and is linked here. If it is not written here, the mechanic is not promising it._

1. <!-- the first rule -->

## How the Player Learns It

_Where it is introduced, how the game teaches it without a wall of text, and where it is tested. Link the levels._

## Not This Mechanic

_What this mechanic deliberately does not do, and which mechanic does instead: the dash crosses gaps, it does not dodge attacks. This is the list that keeps a game's systems from overlapping; a mechanic without it slowly does everything._

## Ties

_The mechanics it needs and the ones that build on it, the items that change it, the levels that teach and test it. Link the pages rather than naming them._

## Notes and Decisions

_Notes: the prototype build, the reference games, what the playtests said. Decisions: one line each, dated, never deleted, so a change to the feel is a decision and not an accident._

<!-- 2026-05-12: The dash no longer passes through enemies; in playtest 3 it skipped every fight. (Designer) -->

Template: templates/level.one-pager.md

# {{title}}

## Why It Is in the Game

_What this level is for in its act, in a short paragraph. Grow it into the full page once it is being blocked out._

## Still to Decide

_What you do not know yet._

## What It Teaches

_The mechanics it introduces or tests, each a link._

## How It Plays

_The few beats already settled, from the way in to the way out, numbered._

1. <!-- the way in -->

## Not This Level

_What this level does not do, and which level does. Write this first, not last._

Template: templates/level.full.md

# {{title}}

## Why It Is in the Game

_What this level is for in the shape of the whole game: the beat it plays in its act, and the feeling it leaves. A short paragraph. If this changes a lot, it is probably a different level._

### Taking for Granted

_What you assume the player arrives with: the abilities, the items, what they know, what the last level left them with. Written down so a level is not built for a player who does not exist yet._

## Still to Decide

_What you do not know yet. Kept near the top so the blockout settles it._

## What It Teaches

_The mechanics this level introduces, then tests, then twists, each a link. A level that teaches nothing new is one to question, or a breather on purpose; say which._

## How It Plays

_The flow, as beats from the way in to the way out, numbered so anyone can point at one: the first sight, the first challenge, the set piece, the reward. Beats are the plan; the blockout is where they get tested._

1. <!-- the way in, and the first thing the player sees -->

## The Layout

_The critical path, the branches, the secrets, the save points, the way back. Link the map and the blockout in Files; this says what the space has to do, not what it looks like._

## What the Player Leaves With

_The ability, the item, the door that now opens, the story beat. If it is not written here, the level is not promising it._

## Not This Level

_What this level deliberately does not do, and which level does. A level without this grows into its neighbors._

## Ties

_The mechanics it teaches, the characters and enemies in it, the items found here, the levels on either side. Link the pages rather than naming them._

## Notes and Decisions

_Notes: the blockout build, the reference, the playtest that changed it. Decisions: one line each, dated, never deleted._

<!-- 2026-06-03: Moved the first save point before the bridge; testers quit at the second death. (Designer) -->

Template: templates/character.one-pager.md

# {{title}}

## Why They Exist

_What this character does for the game, in a short paragraph. Grow it into the full page once they have a part to play._

## Still to Decide

_What you do not know yet._

## Who They Are

_The few facts already settled, numbered._

1. <!-- the first thing that is true of them -->

## On Screen

_How they read at a glance: the silhouette, the colors, how they move._

## Not This Character

_What this character is not, and who holds that instead. Write this first, not last._

Template: templates/character.full.md

# {{title}}

## Why They Exist

_What this character does for the game that nobody else does: for the player, the story, or the world. A short paragraph. If this changes a lot, it is probably a different character._

### Taking for Granted

_What you are assuming and have not written down anywhere else: where they are met, what the player knows about them by then, which level or system they belong to._

## Still to Decide

_What you do not know yet. Kept near the top so nothing gets buried._

## Who They Are

_The facts, as short numbered statements: what they want, what they know, what they will never do. If it is not written here, it is not true in the game yet._

1. <!-- the first thing that is true of them -->

## On Screen

_How they read at a glance: the silhouette, the colors, how they move, how they sound. What an artist needs before the first sketch; the reference sheet lives in Files._

## What They Do

_What the player does with them or against them: the dialogue, the quest, the shop, the fight, the ability they hand over. How they play, not only who they are._

## Not This Character

_What this character deliberately is not, and who holds that instead. A character without it drifts into whoever the scene needs._

## Ties

_The levels they appear in, the mechanics and items they hand over, the characters they are tied to. Link the pages rather than naming them._

## Notes and Decisions

_Notes: the reference art, the voice, where the dialogue lives. Decisions: one line each, dated, never deleted._

<!-- 2026-06-03: She no longer follows the player into act two; the escort beat fought the core loop. (Designer) -->

Template: templates/character.enemy.md

# {{title}}

## Why It Exists

_What this enemy tests the player on that no other enemy does, and where in the game. A short paragraph. An enemy that tests nothing new is a reskin; say so if that is the point._

## Still to Decide

_What you do not know yet: the tell that does not read, the number that is not tuned._

## How It Plays

_What it does, from the player's side: how it moves, how it attacks, the tell before each attack, how the player beats it. A boss gets its phases here, numbered._

1. <!-- the first thing it does when it sees the player -->

## Rules and Numbers

_Health, damage, speed, the timing of each tell, what it drops. Numbered or a short table; the balance sheet lives in Files._

## On Screen

_How it reads at a glance: the silhouette, the color that says danger, the sound of the tell. The tell has to read at the smallest size the Platform page allows._

## Not This Enemy

_What it deliberately does not do, and which enemy does. This is the list that keeps a roster from blurring into one enemy with different hats._

## Notes and Decisions

_Notes: the reference, the animation sheet, what testers did to it. Decisions: one line each, dated, never deleted._

<!-- 2026-06-03: Slowed the lunge tell from 8 frames to 14; nobody saw it on a handheld. (Designer) -->

Template: templates/item.one-pager.md

# {{title}}

## Why It Is in the Game

_What this item gives the player, and which pillar that serves, in a short paragraph. An item that changes no choice the player makes is one to question._

## Still to Decide

_What you do not know yet._

## How the Player Gets It

_Where it is found, what it costs, what drops it, and when in the game. Link the level or the character._

## Rules and Numbers

_What it does, as short numbered rules and values: the effect, how long, how many, how it stacks, how it upgrades._

1. <!-- the first rule -->

## On Screen

_The icon, the pickup, the effect when it is used: how it reads at a glance._

## Not This Item

_What it deliberately does not do, and which item or mechanic does. Write this first, not last._

## Notes and Decisions

_Notes: the balance sheet, the reference. Decisions: one line each, dated, never deleted._

<!-- 2026-06-03: The lamp oil refill no longer stacks; players hoarded nine and never felt the dark. (Designer) -->