Design Pillars
Listed here are the design pillars for Moffstation. These pillars are intended to give Moffstation a unique vision for SS14 that can be tangibly worked towards.
Every feature, mechanic, design, and change made to Moffstation should abide by these pillars.
Social Interaction
All elements of the game should be social in some manner. There should not be elements which exist sole to engage individuals playing in an isolated manner. Even if mechanics are not inherently social, they should still prompt meaningful social gameplay through their interaction with other systems.
Round Investment
Players should become invested in the station and its continued existence over the course of a round. This should be integrated into the job gameplay loop, and can be done by creating meaningful accomplishments that are not easily repeated across rounds. While there should be downtime, no job should feel like their role on the station is “over”, there should be a wide array of things for them to work towards.
The disaster aspect of a round should not all hinge on a single event. Disasters should be reoccurring and interface with the mechanics of the various departments. The round should end when the effects of these disasters compound and create a situation that is too difficult for the crew to overcome.
The station should have vitality, there should be no small part of the station which warrants evacuation upon its destruction alone, infrastructure should be able to be reconstructed, substituted, etc.
Additionally, the recovery effort should be made fun where possible.
Event Driven
The disaster aspect of a round should not all hinge on a single event. Disasters should be reoccurring and interface with the mechanics of the various departments. The round should end when the effects of these disasters compound and create a situation that is too difficult for the crew to overcome, or when the crew is satisfied with their accomplishments and wishes to leave.
Not all events need to be harmful, but at bare minimum they should have the potential to leave a meaningful impact on the round.
Collaborative Story Generator
The game is not about winning or losing; it’s about creating an interesting story.
Good stories happen when players are immersed in unfamiliar situations, and are able to create interesting, bizarre, or unique outcomes. When situations are predictable or solved the same way every time, players stop engaging with the scenario and instead follow learned patterns.
This is to say, every round should feel unique and different from the last.
- Variation and randomness should play a big role in defining each round.
- Avoid designing systems which have consistent outcomes or solutions.
- Players should have to use discernment when engaging with what’s happening to the station.
For example, yelling “nukies!!” on the radio, followed by the crew arming up and responding may be interesting the first couple times, but becomes repetative, and doesn’t make for an interesting story.
Credits
Some ideas taken in part, whole, or conceptually from the following: