Survival
Characteristics
Live!
Scavenge for limited resources and survive dangerous situations.
EXPLORATION
🔍 Find limited resources 🛡️ Find safe areas
MANAGE RESOURCES
❤️ Health, hunger, etc. ⚒️ Craft items & structures
DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENT
🌇 Day/night cycles ⛈️ Changing weather 🌊 Evolving threats
Keys of Success
Challenging - Based on decisions and tactical fights against monster or players
Immersive - Revolves around generating tension from the constant search for good resources
Play for long - Endless replayability through varied playthroughs with resources
NEED TO HAVE
Immersive sound, light, VFX, scenery
Hazardous areas to explore and scavenge (weather, enemies, etc)
Weapons, health consumables, etc
NICE TO HAVE
Branching narrative
Risk and reward for optional quests
Game Loops
Below is a general game loop diagram for this genre. Your game's loops may vary.
Learn to Create It
GAME MAKER TEMPLATES
LOGIC TO EXPLORE
Random items/events
Swim/oxygen, fall damage
Equipment options
Resource management & health
TEMPLATE NOTES Disaster Survival - Disaster VFX and logic Survival - Resource management and health sustainability logic The Walking Dead - Narrative survival (linear)
Make it More Interesting
Consider ways to add to or change the core structure of this game type to challenge and motivate players differently.
MAIN OBJECTIVE
⌛ Disaster countdown
☠️ Survive poison, etc
RAMP OF DIFFICULTY
🔧 Adaptive difficulty (easier or harder when player dies)
CORE DECISIONS
🎲 Random dynamic weather impacts options
🌊 Intensity ramps up risk
PRACTICE: Modify the Disaster Survival, Survival, or The Walking Dead templates to increase the fun:
Use true/false variables for non-linear play events
Add a system for adaptive difficulty
Add random environmental influences on play
Useful Logic
Resource Management genre logic
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