Intent Vs. Impact
When I’m working on a new design, whether it’s a whole game or just a piece of one, one of my earliest goals is to identify a clear intent. This is usually a brief overview of what the game or system is meant to accomplish including descriptions of pacing, visuals, theming, and so on; it can also include a snappy, evocative pitch that looks at the holistic experience. As an example, here’s a (hypothetical) intent statement for Subset Games’s FTL: Faster Than Light, a game close to my heart and one that’s certainly had an influence on both my overall design sensibilities and my ideas for Mad Max Uber Driver.
“FTL is a real-time with pause ship-to-ship combat strategy roguelike that hands the player control of a modular space ship and its crew racing against an encroaching hostile fleet. The player controls the crew and ship from a top-down perspective and manages the targeting of weapons and distribution of power across their ship’s systems. Gameplay is tough and unforgiving, and rewards closely managing resources and ability cooldowns as well as improving in skill through trial and error across multiple runs.”
This is hardly a deep dive into any of the game’s mechanics, but it doesn’t need to – an intent statement is just meant to communicate the highest-level gameplay, theme, and tone. Game development (at least, good game development) is inherently iterative, with tons of ideas that might not make it into the final product. A solid intent statement can serve as something of a landmark in the shifting landscape of agile development; weighing whether or not a design choice furthers the intent is often a useful metric to judge it by.
Mad Max Uber Diver has the potential to go in a lot of different directions, so a solid intent statement is crucial to not lose sight of the original concept. Not to say that an intent statement can never change – just that doing so should likely only be done very deliberately. Until I start testing prototypes and getting solid, actionable feedback, my intent statement isn’t going to see any significant changes. Here’s what I’m currently working with:
“Mad Max Uber Driver is a hybrid driving game/RPG that tasks the player with delivering passengers and shipments to various locations in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. A modular parts system allows players to customize vehicles for various scenarios and viable playstyles, though limited resources, challenging combat and driving, and tricky social engagements all create a sense of scarcity and tension that helps players get emotionally invested in the story they and their vehicle will tell.”
This might seem incredibly ambitious for a one-person development team – that’s because it is. But as both this and my previous post demonstrate, this is a concept I really want to experiment with. While having a number of complex systems means there’s a lot to design, implement, and refine, it also means that I have lots of paths I can make progress down should I encounter significant roadblocks on others (pun intended).
I plan on starting on a handful of mechanical prototypes soon – the three I currently view as most important are the modular vehicle parts, “settlement screens” where players will take jobs, purchase supplies, and interact with NPCs, and of course the actual driving. I’m hopeful I’ll have significant updates to share in the coming weeks!
