Containers — L2 — the silo this document lives in. Zoom out for context; the map places every document.

Game Design Document

Template note — Step 21, Game Designer. This page is the living document for that work: fill it in as the task runs and keep it current. Delete this note when the document is real.

C4 position: L2 Containers. Design authority across containers; its Systems part specifies components (Cain document 3 lives here).

Part 1 — Setting

[Summary of the Setting document, or its final text. Full document: Setting.]

Part 2 — Story

[Summary of the Story document, or its final text. Full document: Story.]

Part 3 — Systems

One block per mechanic, copied for each. Goals come first and are agreed before the mechanic’s design is debated; disagreement about a goal and disagreement about whether the mechanic achieves it are separate conversations, held in that order.

[Mechanic name]

Goals (high level): [the shared goal this mechanic serves, e.g. “melee and ranged must feel different, neither strictly stronger”]

Goals (this mechanic): [why this mechanic exists — never “be fun”]

How it works: [the mechanic, briefly]

Setting/story it supports: [the element of Part 1 or Part 2 this mechanic exists to serve — a mechanic connected to neither is cut or explicitly justified]

Scope exclusions

[What this game deliberately is NOT. Explicit, so later arguments end here.]

Open questions

Approval record