Design Pillars - AlexisBliesener/Bewitched GitHub Wiki
Defines the team's core design pillars. These pillars serve as guiding principles for decision-making, creative alignment, and team communication.
Pillar 1: Replayablity
Summary:
Replayability is the games ability to stay engaging over multiple playthroughs. Bewitched will offer new challenges and strageies to discover each run. This pillar aims to ensure players stay engaged and want to come back for more.
Why it matters:
Replayability keeps the game fresh and valuable beyond the first run. In the case of Bewitched, a portfolio piece, this makes the game memorable after one playthrough making it stick in the players mind and have then wanting to play more.
How we apply it:
- Variations in level design. Core level design with slight variations to keep things fresh.
- Multiple character builds in the form of 2-3 rare evocations that change the players abilities drastically.
Pillar 2: Fast pace game play
Summary:
Bewitched emphasizes constant motion and rapid decision-making. Players must move quickly between enemies, navigating swarms while managing the temporary nature of possessed bodies.
Why it matters:
Fast-paced gameplay keeps players fully engaged and creates a high-energy experience that feels urgent and intense. We chose this principle to build tension, promote flow, and differentiate the game with its aggressive, momentum-driven combat loop.
How we apply it:
- Enemy decay while possessing them, forcing the player to quickly move between enemies
- Enemy Hot swapping Damage Buff, encourages the player to move even faster, gaining bonuses for moving quickly between targets and remaining aggressive.
Pillar 3: Ticking clock of mortality
Summary:
A gradual deterioration of the player’s condition throughout gameplay, a constant, desperate struggle for survival. It should feel like your character is burning through every last resource, clinging to life by a thread, with death always just seconds away.
Why it matters:
This pillar reinforces the game's tension and identity. It pushes the player into a high-stakes mindset where every moment counts, and survival depends on quick thinking and relentless movement. It turns the entire game into a race against time, enhancing urgency and immersion.
How we apply it:
- Possessed bodies deteriorate rapidly, with visible and mechanical feedback
- Dark and and sickly art style
- Bewitched's "sales pitch"
- Using abilities inside of enemies drains health as well