An adventure game is a story-based video game, with traditional features of the genre including exploration, character dialogue, puzzles that are part of the narrative, and collectable objects as puzzle solutions. Sub-genres of adventure games are defined by additional core gameplay, such as point-and-click adventure games relying on mouse-like inputs, narrative adventure games focusing on providing meaningful narrative choices and consequences, and action adventure games using real-time combat, with reduced or no puzzle emphasis. Building an adventure game involves establishing the core gameplay actions, designing the world and story, and planning and constructing the environments, characters, objects, challenges, and levels. Game design documents (GDDs) are used to plan an adventure game’s design, while construction takes place in a game engine. Read this guide to learn how to design an adventure game.
What are the fundamentals of adventure game design?
The fundamentals of adventure game design are engaging, solvable puzzles, an immersive world, and a strong narrative. Elements of solvable puzzles in an adventure game’s design are interactive objects that communicate a purpose as solution items, a user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) designed around puzzle-solving interactions, and creating interesting and thematic puzzles that require a solution. Creating an immersive world refers to the worldbuilding process, the visual design of the adventure game, and constructing and incentivizing the player’s exploration. Developing a strong narrative includes the narrative storyline, story quests within the game, developing characters, and determining how player agency affects the story experience.
Interactive objects are items players use to solve puzzles in the adventure game’s world. Interactive objects’ design must communicate what an object is, hint at the intended purpose, and show the object’s status, such as whether the object is modified or even interactive. Identifying an object and its purpose is done through text labels, clear art, and characters’ remarks about the object. Modifications to objects are shown through updated art, such as showing a jar with its lid askew after being loosened, and updating characters’ remarks and the text labels. Detecting if an object is interactive requires the object to first be discoverable, either through being distinct enough to be seen or by being pointed out, such as playing a sound effect when a coin falls to prompt the player to search for it. Highlighting a discovered object shows that the object is available when it is detected by a cursor or other detection method in the UI.
An adventure game’s UI and UX are designed for puzzle-solving and must be simple and intuitive. Reducing cognitive load and smoothing players’ experience means avoiding ambiguous options and showing only actions relevant to the current interaction context. For example, the Curse of Monkey Island’s mouse-selectable talk to action for characters becomes an eat action for objects, as the player has no need to talk to objects. This context-sensitivity allows the game to keep the number of mouse actions to 3 actions at any point in the gameplay. Modern point-and-click adventure games have adopted this trend in simplifying their UIs, replacing the genre’s original large verb menus. Another example of UI and UX enhancement in the point-and-click genre is switching to non-persistent inventory. Both enhancements not only simplify the UX, but minimize the visible UI to show more of the environment and puzzles.
Puzzles that players solve in traditional adventure games engage the player in the world’s themes and form part of the narrative progression, as well as providing interesting observation and deductive challenges. Picture puzzles in adventure games as ‘walls’ for players to overcome, with their solutions or ‘tools’ being objects and interactions. Factors that keep puzzles interesting and rewarding are when puzzles provide sufficient challenge, are varied, and are logical and coherent to be solvable. Beyond the design of the puzzle itself, another factor that keeps players engaged in an adventure game’s puzzles is how relevant the puzzle feels to the game’s story and constructed world.
Worldbuilding involves conceptualizing an adventure game’s world in terms of setting, lore, and rules to create the scene for the story and puzzle environments. An adventure game world’s setting includes geographic details of architecture, scenery, regional climate, resources, and proximity to other civilizations. Building an adventure game’s lore refers to the game world’s history, cultures, mythology, and other narrative elements that set the story’s context. The world’s rules specify what is possible in the universe, such as whether abilities like flight exist, and the details and constraints of futuristic technologies or magic systems that enable them. The details conceptualized through worldbuilding are depicted in the game’s visual design.
Visual design concerns the aesthetic of an adventure game’s world and the visual construction of the elements players encounter, like characters, objects, and environments. Visual design of the game’s world includes not only designing the elements inside the game world, but applying the world’s artistic themes to elements outside of world environments, like UIs, maps, and inventories. Deponia is an example of visual design that is thematic to the game, reinforcing the concept of a planet of repurposed trash through the world’s environments, the color scheme, the map, the inventory, and the puzzles. Effective visual design, such as emphasizing that a map area is unexplored through its lighting, also guides players to new areas for exploration.
Exploration lets players discover new world environments, puzzles, and solution items to progress an adventure game’s story. Exploration incentives encourage players to explore further by showing which areas are unexplored, provoking curiosity, or promising a reward. An example of a reward is an achievement items for completing a quest. In traditional adventure games, the main rewards for accomplishing an objective are that give new areas and objectives, and reveals that show more of the storyline.
The narrative storyline in adventure games is not only the reward for overcoming obstacles, but the means of progressing the gameplay to new areas and challenging scenarios. Narrative plot points and objectives set the context that makes challenges feel relevant. The narrative must be consistent with the adventure game’s world, not violating rules and limitations of the world’s history, technological advancements, or other details. Adventure games convey narrative not only in overt ways, such as through narration, cutscenes, and character dialogue, but through implicit means like environmental storytelling and the visible consequences of decisions. Narrative arcs in adventure games form levels, with objectives serving as missions or quests.
Quests are a way to focus adventure gameplay through narrative objectives while giving players a sense of accomplishment for quest completion. Quest completion rewards add to the satisfaction of completing the mission. Adding additional challenges through side quests makes the game world feel larger and more intricate, and the story more detailed, by letting players explore beyond the main storyline. Fable uses hidden side quests that aren’t selectable via the quest map to encourage players to explore further. These side quests unlock achievements and new objects, with some providing choices that impact the player’s alignment and relationship with other characters.
Characters that are well-developed and fit the narrative and world feel realistic and increase players’ investment in an adventure game. Well-developed characters have believable backstories, personalities, and paths for growth. When developing characters, it’s important to focus not only on main characters, but also antagonists and side or background characters. Showing a characters’ personality or growth is done through non-verbal communication as well as dialogue. Non-verbal communication like vocal inflections, expressions, and behaviour are subtle ways to signal a character’s emotions or imply motives, such as making a shifty character look over their shoulder before responding. Character dialogue referencing past experiences, player actions or other characters are a way to show changed perspectives and growth. Character dialogue options with narrative consequences are also a way to give players agency.
Player agency is shown when players are given choices that affect the narrative and gameplay in ways that feel impactful or provide a sense of freedom. Fable provides agency through allowing the player to decide whether to be good or evil, through choices that impact morality. Significant choices are whether to marry the mayor or report her for murder, and whether to gain a powerful sword by killing your sister. Choices feel impactful through their consequences on the story, through sacrificing rewards and playable routes, yet provide new achievements and gameplay opportunities. For example, Fable’s above good choices, while self-sacrificial in the narrative, let the player become the new mayor and unlock a sword available to good players.
How to design levels in an adventure game?
To design levels in an adventure game, plan the layout of the level and the actions taking place, as well as artistic and exploration elements that guide players and provide immersion. Planning the level’s layout includes the layout of obstacles and solution items distributed through the level, the placement of checkpoints, and the design of the environments and significant objects in the level. Building actions within the level includes the actions by the game – level events – as well as players’ abilities, affected by the level. Creating a level’s artistic elements includes designing the visual themes and using environmental storytelling to convey narrative and gameplay messages to the player. To encourage players to explore, build exploration incentives and rewards into the game level, as well as map and navigation indicators that direct players through the level.
The layout of obstacles and solution items in a level’s design is planned through a level stage diagram. A level stage diagram gives visibility into factors that affect game pacing and difficulty, including what challenges exist, how complex the challenges are, and where solution components are located. The routes taken by the player are able to be shown through progression flow indicators, numbers indicating the order in which elements are encountered, or other indicators. Balancing the level of challenge with players’ willingness to take risks requires effective checkpoint placement.
Checkpoints are placed either within the physical layout of an adventure game level, or are triggered by stages of the level’s narrative and gameplay. Well-placed checkpoints give players a sense of gameplay accomplishment and narrative progress and encourage further play. Narrative conventions for checkpoints are before a level or level stage, after an important event, or after discovering a significant area. Avoiding checkpointing in-progress narrative choices gives players freedom to reattempt a challenge with new decisions. Placing checkpoints in a way that provides a satisfying level of challenge without making consequences for failure too punishing motivates players to take risks, invest effort, and explore the environment.
The layout of a level’s environmental design affects how players feel within an environment, through the environment’s depiction and scale, and the distribution and placement of elements. For example, how close together large surrounding structures like trees are in an environment affect how constricted, sheltered, free, or exposed players feel. Depiction, scale, distribution, and placement are also used to show the importance or relevance of significant objects in the level environment, and indicate what actions are possible to take.
Significant objects in an adventure game level’s layout are used for mission objectives, solutions to puzzles, or as collectable trophies. Significant objects are highlighted not only through environmental design, but through artistic effects like lighting and sound effects, in order to direct players’ attention. An example of object highlighting using artistic effects is placing a large, decorated chest at the centre of an area, illuminated in a beam of light. The chest’s size, lighting, placement, and association with treasure indicate a reward. The Zelda games use chests’ size and ornateness to indicate the reward’s value. Artistic effects that direct players’ attention don’t only focus on objects – they also convey information about level events.
Level events are actions that happen during gameplay in an adventure game’s level. Level events are able to direct players towards an objective without drawing attention to a specific item or solution. Level events are conveyed through visual and audio effects, such as camera shaking and audible rumbling to indicate that an earthquake is happening. Level events notify players of new objectives, such as the earthquake warning the player to escape a cave-in or to check if a previously-closed-off entrance has been torn open. Level events are also able to convey new or modified player abilities.
Level abilities in an adventure game are player actions affected by the level, and include both modified existing abilities that are specific to the level or level environment and new permanent abilities the level introduces. Upcoming abilities or ability changes in a level are hinted at through atmospheric effects and the environmental designs that imply the ability’s need and use. An example of a level environment showing a modified existing action is visible and audible wind effects, implying that drag physics will affect the player’s movement. An example of introducing a new ability to be gained is the Terror Island cave’s shadowy effects in Return to Monkey Island. The effects show that the ability to light the cave is needed, as well as reinforcing the area’s visual theme.
Visual themes are central messages or explored concepts, expressed through artistic elements like atmosphere and mood, that persist throughout the level, level environment, or adventure game. Atmosphere refers to the vibe of a level, game, or area, whereas mood is the player’s emotional state in response to the atmosphere. For example, Gibbous, a Cthulhu Adventure, uses dark, shadowy effects and eerie lighting with Cthulhu carvings and other references to Lovecraft’s works. Gibbous’ atmosphere is foreboding and mysterious, yet comedic, its mood is unsettling, yet humorous, and its theme is Lovecraftian. Themes convey an overall message, while atmosphere and mood add world immersion through environmental storytelling.
Environmental storytelling uses the artistic design of the level’s areas and objects to convey a story to the player about historical and present events or the area’s inhabitants. For example, walking into a cabin in the woods and finding rifles and hunting trophies implies that someone who hunts for sport lives there. The design of architecture and landscapes further conveys a sense of place through perceived significance or personal attachments. Examples are a shrine evoking reverence and sacred ritual, a mountain view inspiring awe, and a studio apartment feeling cozy and personal. Environmental storytelling also indicates whether an area is relevant to the player’s current objective, providing an incentive for exploration.
Exploration incentives and rewards motivate players to explore an adventure game level further. Incentives act as promises that entice players, whereas rewards are given after accomplishing an objective. An example of an exploration incentive is when players anticipate story and game progression after finding a way into the villain’s lair. The delivered reward is the new unlocked areas, a story reveal cutscene, and a new gameplay objective. Items, achievements, and new abilities function as specific incentives and rewards. Varying these kinds of incentives and rewards and keeping them impactful on gameplay and relevant to the story keeps players invested in achieving them. Increasing a reward’s value based on the difficulty of an area gives players additional motivation to persevere after tough puzzles or combat. Incentives like new quests and areas are able to be shown through map indicators.
Map indicators direct players on new areas of the level to explore. The types of indicators used on the map determine how players explore the level. Explicit exploration indicators on maps, such as symbols flagging regions and landmarks, direct players to a point of interest. Implicit indicators, such as unmarked areas of the terrain, encourage exploration in the region to discover new objectives. Point-and-click adventure games like the Monkey Island games use explicit indicators like question marks to show discrete map areas visitable by the player. MMORPGs like Guild Wars 2 leave unexplored map areas unmarked to encourage free exploration, reserving explicit indicators for already-explored regions’ key objectives. Map indicators are aided by navigation indicators in directing players
Navigation indicators are UI elements or markers in an environment that guide exploration in an adventure game level. Fable provides examples of explicit navigation indicators through breadcrumb indicators, road signs, and the directional mini-map. UI symbols that overlay objects in a game, such as quest markers above NPCs, are another example of a navigation indicator. Subtle navigation indicators are used in cases where the route is meant to be discovered rather than apparent. Examples are vague directions or clues in the environment, like worn paths and landmarks that hint to players to search for a hidden route.
How to design actions for an adventure game?
To design actions for an adventure game, identify the core mechanics and types of challenge that players will engage with, and derive the actions required. The types of actions that are found in adventure games include lock-and-key sequences, tool-and-obstacle challenges, context-sensitive actions, and unique gameplay actions, among others.
In lock-and-key sequencing, puzzles and their solutions function as a simple lock and key: the player has to find an item or a type of interaction, known as the key, to unlock a puzzle, the lock. An example of lock-and-key sequencing is a puzzle in Escape from Monkey Island where the player has to obtain the correct key items to throw at Herman Toothrot to jog his memory. The monkey with the accordion and Herman Toothrot with amnesia are the locks, whereas the cymbals the player trades with the monkey and the accordion used to wonk Herman Toothroot are keys. Locks and keys are specific solutions: a key unlocks a particular lock. An alternative that allows solutions to be more generalised and creative is tool and obstacle challenges.
Tool and obstacle challenges involve using items or abilities as tools to overcome complex challenges or obstacles. An example of tool and obstacle challenges is the Zelda series. The majority of puzzles developed in Zelda games involve building the tools in the environment and obstacles that must be overcome, and creating levels and sequences of events around these challenges. Tool and obstacle pairs that don’t fit with the story are later removed as the game is refined. Zelda titles are action adventure games, which is the genre my own game development background lies in.
A context-sensitive action enables a slot with different types of actions depending on the context the player is in. An example of a context-sensitive action is in No Rest For The Wicked, which Robin and I worked on. The game enables context-sensitive actions for the situation that are determined by a prioritized list of actions, although, at times, actions like wall-sliding are prioritized over more appropriate ones.
Unique gameplay actions are unusual core actions that define a game and form part of the narrative. Examples of unique actions are telekinesis in Anna’s Quest letting players grab out-of-reach items, Maniac Mansion’s ability to toggle between 3 protagonists with different skills, and using the talking cat in Gibbous’ to climb walls and enter spaces the protagonist can’t.
How to design puzzles in an adventure game?
To design puzzles in an adventure game, create challenges that are relevant and varied, and then make sure that puzzles provide the right level of challenge for players, and are constructed in a way that is reasonable to solve. Puzzles and solutions that feel relevant to an adventure game feel like part of the story and world, even serving as narrative plot points. Using variety in the types of puzzles used, such as environmental puzzles, inventory puzzles, platform-specific puzzles, and novel puzzle types, keeps them interesting. Making sure that puzzles provide the right level of challenge to players involves balancing the difficulties of individual puzzles as well as managing how difficulties scale in the game. Reasonable puzzles use the right player feedback, are coherent, are player-tested, and make use of appropriate constraints.
A puzzle or solution’s relevance to an adventure game’s world and story elements affects players’ levels of immersion and motivation. The Secret of Monkey Island is an example of puzzles fulfilling narrative functions, as all of the protagonist’s quests, such as passing a pirate trial or sailing to a remote island, form part of his overall goals of becoming a pirate and saving his love interest. Each puzzle or objective within these smaller quests, such as hiring a crew member or sneaking past guards, progresses the narrative and keeps the world’s pirate theme, rather than feeling like a puzzle for the sake of adding puzzles. Puzzles’ relevance isn’t limited to being story and world obstacles: they are able to work as distinct narrative plot points.
Using puzzle challenges as distinct narrative plot points increases puzzles’ relevance. Discovering a narrative plot twist within a puzzle solution, rather than after completing the puzzle, adds a sense of intrigue to the problem-solving itself. An example is a whodunnit in AR-K: The Great Escape, which involves collating clues from witness testimonies. At a surface level, the case elements conform to a familiar 5 by 5 grid logic puzzle. Solving the case, however, reveals not only the perpetrator’s identity but the fact that two trusted witnesses omitted key information to hide their own connection to the case. Puzzles’ relevance to the story isn’t the only factor required to keep them interesting to players: adventure game puzzles also need variety in their design.
Puzzle variety in an adventure game keeps players engaged. The way to vary puzzles is to ensure that the types of solution mechanics – the actions players must use to solve the puzzle – are different. Different puzzle types include inventory puzzles that combine items, deductive puzzles that involve observing an area for clues, and manipulation puzzles that require interacting with parts of the environment, to name a few.
Examples of types of puzzle actions and solution mechanics are listed below.
- Create an item, such as making coffee by using a mug along with a coffee machine.
- Build an item by arranging components, like assembling a radio using a schematic.
- Deconstruct items to get new objects, such as getting batteries from a radio.
- Finish a task that takes time or effort, like digging up treasure using a shovel.
- Study a problem carefully to understand it, such as by solving a riddle about which path to take.
- Design your own workable solution through ingenuity, like creating a new kind of building in a sandbox adventure game.
- Relate an item to a puzzle as its solution, such as identifying a strange object as a key to an ancient tomb based on its shape fitting a crevice in a door.
- Interact with an item in a direct way, like opening a window.
- Block an event from happening, such as by placing a brick in a gate’s path to keep it open.
Environmental puzzles include a variety of puzzles that require players to solve problems by observing details in the game’s locations and interacting with the environment. Environmental puzzles are a way to connect the narrative with the visible game world by using the adventure game’s architecture and scenery. An environmental puzzle in Gibbous: A Cthulu Adventure involves playing as the cat of one of the protagonists and leaping across a series of hanging model planets, using momentum to aid movement. This physics puzzle engages the player with the strange dungeon environment, while giving them a chance to play as a cat. Environmental puzzles are contrasted with inventory puzzles.
Inventory puzzles in an adventure game are a puzzle variety that use collected inventory items to solve puzzles. Inventory puzzle items are either used with the environment, are reference or guide items, or are modified or combined inside the inventory. An example of using an inventory item with the environment is using a key on the character’s possession to unlock a door. A map or design schematic is an example of an inventory items used as a reference or guide items. In-inventory puzzles include modication of existing items, combining items to create new items, deconstructing or destroying items, or examining items to discover something about them. In-inventory puzzles are a feature of traditional point-and-click PC adventure games. Adventure game genres trend away from using in-inventory puzzles when favoring cross-platform design.
Platform-specific puzzle varieties are adventure game puzzles whose type or solution mechanics are affected by the game platform. A type of platform-specific limitation is what type of input devices the platform supports. For example, a mouse allows unique scroll mechanics, hovering for a tooltip, click-drag-release mouse actions, and precision. When designing a cross-platform game, puzzles that require a certain platform’s inputs must be taken into account.
Examples of puzzles that aren’t feasible on all platforms are physics puzzles that are precision and timing-based. While simplifying traditional puzzle mechanics is one way to overcome platform limitations, another way is to design new puzzle types that suit these limitations.
Novel puzzle types add variety to puzzles by introducing new, thematic interactions and mechanics. Psychonauts adds novel mechanics that include a literal different perspective in the Den Mother boss fight. The enemy switches off the lights, and the player must figure out that they need clairvoyance to see themselves through their opponent’s eyes and night vision. Clairvoyance switches the combat to a second-person view of the player as well as inverting the directional game controls. The unique puzzle mechanic to “see yourself through another’s eyes” adds both immersion into the game’s psychological themes and a new level of challenge.
Balancing puzzles level of challenge or complexity involves both modifying individual puzzles to be solvable and balancing how difficult puzzles are distributed in the game. Spacing difficult or complex puzzles out between shorter or easier ones prevents the game from dragging or feeling too simple. Giving players storyline progression after high-investment challenges improves the flow and motivates players to keep going. Even challenging puzzles, however, must keep within the bounds of the game’s difficulty scaling.
Difficulty scaling refers to the level of challenge of puzzles relative to factors like players’ expectations of challenge, players’ abilities, and other puzzles. The difficulty curve refers to how puzzle difficulty scales as the game progresses. Games with gruelling early challenges and a final boss too easy to beat start off being overwhelming, and end up disappointing the players who persevered. Difficulty modes are an additional scaling mechanism that allow designers to accommodate different experience levels. An additional benefit of difficulty modes is that they add replayability to the game. Before marking a complex puzzle as difficult, it’s important to make sure that the puzzle is reasonable to figure out, giving players the right feedback.
Player feedback systems provide reasonable feedback on puzzles by showing success, progress, failure, or other feedback on a player’s actions through the visuals or audio. Player feedback systems are used in complex puzzles where a precise sequence of steps is involved, and one wrong move resets progress. An example of a player feedback system in a puzzle is using the sounds of clicking gears and grating when players pull the correct combination of levers to open a gate, and using the sound of a gear slipping and moving the levers to their starting positions when a wrong lever breaks the combination. Effective feedback systems have responses that are unambiguous and immediate, and make the difference between complex puzzles that are satisfying and puzzles that are incoherent.
Coherent puzzles are comprehensible and reasonable challenges to solve, making sense in the given context. Don’t confuse a puzzle with poor design with an “advanced” puzzle: the difference is whether a puzzle is logical and has solution mechanisms able to be detected. An example of detectability of a solution item is a cave painting in an observation-based challenge that is meant to serve as a clue on how to open a door. The painting must be visible enough for players to make out the details, or the solution is not detectable. The way to determine if puzzles are coherent is through testing on players.
Player testing makes sure the level of challenge of puzzles is reasonable, in addition to assessing player’s overall gameplay experiences and identifying bugs. Player testing involves observing players’ gameplay or allowing play-testers to report back. Early and iterative player testing on puzzles enables designers to refine and improve the design before problems become expensive to fix. Testing on players reveals scenarios that developers hadn’t considered, such as players being able to access areas, objects, and interactions they shouldn’t be able to due to insufficient constraints.
Reasonable constraints on puzzles are used not only to prevent bugs but to affect the level of challenge of a puzzle and fulfil narrative functions. Constraints lock players into a puzzle area, mechanic, or other constraint until the puzzle is solved. An example in the Curse of Monkey Island is players needing to collect the diamond ring, hidden behind wooden nickels, as the solution mechanic to escape LeChuck’s ship. This constraint ensures the players have access to both the ring, which fulfils a story function, and the wooden nickels, required for later puzzles. Later in the game, players are time-constrained in grabbing items from a rollercoaster to fight LeChuck, being blasted by him if they take too long. This time constraint adds narrative tension.
What software to use for an adventure game design?
To design an adventure game, use software that you are skilled in or that facilitates the needs of your planned design. Unity, Unreal, and Godot are all engines that allow game designers to create game development logic and integrate assets. The question of which software to use for developing adventure games is the wrong one. You don’t need to be constrained to the one people tell you is ideal: go with whichever engine you prefer.
Asking which tool or engine is the one to use to build adventure games is comparable to wanting to know which artistic medium is recommended to portray the human form. Any engine allows you to build games, in the same way as whether using stone, paint, clay, or sand, you are able to create art! I found my own way to modify Fair Dinkum, an OS/2 game, as a child when my dad brought home the source code. I changed the descriptions of monsters I thought were too scary, recompiled it, and then played the game. It was censorship, I admit, but it was a text-based adventure game! The decision of how to create adventure games is up to you!
What are some ideas for adventure game design?
Some ideas for adventure game design are high fantasy worlds containing magical talking animals, diplomatic space-travel missions between planets in other galaxies, adventures based on real events from ancient history, an ocean voyage on an unusual mission with an eclectic crew, and mysterious monsters appearing in a little-known town or village. Get inspiration from exploring different art styles, subverting established genres, and considering unusual game mechanics to center the story around. Another way to get inspiration is drawing on real-life experiences of yourself and others, including crowd-sourcing ideas! Combine and refine these ideas into concepts to shape your game’s narrative, aesthetics, and mechanics.
Exploring different art styles is a way to gain inspiration for the feel and even the narrative genre of an adventure game. Unusual or dramatic visual aesthetics and themes add a defining atmosphere to the story and come with associations of certain genres, such as noir themes being associated with classic detective mysteries. Stop-motion animation, cozy, pastel coloring, and other striking art styles all evoke different feelings towards the game experience and give players certain emotional and cultural associations. Art styles are also a way to subvert the expectations of a genre.
Subverting genres by going in the opposite direction to a trope, stereotypical plot, or aesthetic is a way to create a new narrative and gameplay experience. Broken Age has a plot that subverts genre tropes, art norms, and plotlines: a boy raised on a sentient starship to save humanity learns that his real purpose isn’t heroic and that his mission isn’t based in space but on Earth, part of a con by cults for cultural exploitation. The game merges artistic and storytelling elements of opposite genres, designing a high-tech starship in the aesthetic of a toddler’s playpen, and combining unsettling ship surveillance with knitted creature friends and robots resembling shape sorter toys. An additional way to subvert genre is through unusual gameplay mechanics.
Game mechanics that are unusual to a genre are a way to create new types of gameplay. Portal’s platformer and FPS genre-inspired mechanics, physics-based puzzles and fun use of portals provide a gameplay style of continuous movement and real-time actions. The resulting narrative experience is one of environmental storytelling rather than exposition, to allow continuous movement through the levels. The third Fable game subverts expectations from the original game’s simple binary morality in its late stages by making evil actions result in greater good, and good actions result in harm. These mechanics and the protagonist’s relationship with choice-affected characters results in a story different to the first Fable game, focusing on the consequences of ethical decisions in ways that are more serious and feel closer to real life.
Draw on real-life experiences, whether your own or others’, as inspiration for fictional events and characters’ experiences. You can even scale up the effects and experiences to apply to fantastical scenarios. If unsure whom to ask, crowd-source ideas from game design subreddits, discord servers, or in-person events, to ask for ideas.
Where to get an adventure game design template?
To get an adventure game design template, use one of these 3 free versatile templates. Select the template based on the goals of your project and the size of your team. Additional places to find adventure game templates are asset stores and marketplaces for game development, game design forums, and open-source repositories on platforms like GitHub. You can also find them linked in online template libraries, on the personal websites of developers and educators, and through other free and paid websites.
Asset stores and marketplaces like the Unity Asset Store, the Unreal Engine Marketplace, and sites like Itch.io have both free and purchasable custom adventure game templates in a variety of formats. Vendors at stores and marketplaces sell game development templates tailored to the various types of adventure games, as well as general-purpose game design templates.
Game design forums are places to find free adventure game templates. Examples of game design forums are Discord servers like the Funsmith Club and the Game Design Den server, dedicated site forums like GameDev, and subreddits like r/gamedesign. Game Design Den has specialized documentation on narrative, economy, and level design.
GitHub and other code repositories have both custom adventure game templates and open-source GDDs, refined with input from developer communities. An example is the GitHub GDD repository by kosinaz, which is designed to be beginner-suited and was put together with the help of community contributors.
Online template libraries created by game design enthusiasts and professional outlets are a source of hosted downloadable templates and GDDs from past games. The Gamescrye library links to GDDs like Far Cry, Sam and Max Hit the Road, and Leisure Suit Larry. Gamedocs shares examples such as Grim Fandango, the lucasarts SCUMM games, and others. The Mayadem Technology library on Medium advertises templates for every game genre, and has documents for adventure game types that include open world, text, first-person action adventure, point-and-click, platformer, and real-time 3D adventure games.
Personal and business websites of real game developers and game design educators are a source of usable templates, guides, and GDDs. Indie Game academy provides free downloadable game design templates and guides. GDDs from past games by professional developers include the Grim Fandango GDD shared by its creator and Double Fine founder Tim Schafer on the company’s site and the LucasArts SCUMM GDDs shared by the engine’s co-creator Aric Wilmunder on his own site. Double Coconut provides both a usable GDD and guide on their website. David Mullinch makes his own GDD section guide available on his personal site.
Other websites and blog sites not specific to game or software development, such as documentation companies and work coordination platforms, include templates, guides, and examples for adventure games and general game design. Examples are Rosa Carbo-Mascarell’s Notion template and guides, Dave William Harrison’s GDD and guides on Slideshare, a detailed GDD section guide with examples provided by Slite, and Nuclino’s GDD guide.
What is an example of an adventure game design document?
Examples of adventure game design documents include the GDDs for the Monkey Island franchise, Sam and Max Hit The Road, Alien Tanknology, Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle, and Indiana Jones and the Iron Phoenix. An adventure GDD has an introductory page and sections covering the story, gameplay details, and visual design of the game.
The introductory sections in a GDD have a title page, table of contents, and premise or project description summary. The storyline segment includes a synopsis or full story breakdown, a worldbuilding section, and character profiles. Gameplay details range from explanations of gameplay mechanics to diagrams of gameplay flow, puzzle design documents, and level design details. Visual design documents feature art direction guidelines, UI mockups, and asset lists.
An adventure GDD’s title page in an adventure GDD includes creators, GDD revision date, and version number, as GDDs are refined as projects progress. Adding concept or game art makes the GDD stand out, especially when paired with a catchy tagline for the game. The table of contents lays out the rest of the document for quick reference; direct section links make navigation even easier.
The premise is brief—even 2 to 4 sentences—to give an immediate understanding of the narrative and gameplay. An adventure GDDs premise mentions the player’s role and objective, the game’s core themes or genre, and the defining gameplay mechanics. The premise is sometimes the only part of the GDD a person reads, so it has to be concise and interesting while conveying the game’s essence.
A project description summary is an introductory section at the beginning of the GDD explaining the most important information about the game, with an ideal length of less than a page. Summaries mention information like the premise, main characters, the setting, unique selling points of the game, and basic gameplay. Another option for narrative-heavy games with simple gameplay mechanics is to replace a project description summary with a synopsis.
The synopsis provides story details in a structured summary in the adventure GDD, listing the significant narrative events from beginning to end. The length of the synopsis varies depending on the detail and complexity of the narrative storyline and its elements, but its intent is to be an abbreviated easy reading of the story. Aiming for under 1 to 2 pages is ideal in terms of synopsis length. Other options are to replace a synopsis with a premise or brief summary. A synopsis is used to summarize a full story breakdown, or to form its initial concepts.
The story breakdown is the section of the adventure GDD that provides full story details. The story breakdown explains the narrative from start to finish, introducing characters, the setting, and plot and game events the player will experience. One way to write the story breakdown is to use the model of a screenplay, capturing all events, interactions and cutscenes in a similar way to writing a movie’s story along with its cinematography.
The worldbuilding section in an adventure GDD describes the world that supports the story details, including the game’s setting, lore, rules that affect the narrative and gameplay, and other details. The setting details the physical locations of the game world, such as architecture, scenery, and civilizations within the regions. The world’s lore refers to the stories and practices of different cultures, the world’s history, and other story contexts. The rules of the game world and story specify constraints within the story, such as social rules of a society, as well as actions allowed in gameplay.
Character profiles are details of each of the story and game’s significant characters. Character profiles include backstories, personality traits, game roles, abilities or skills, and appearance details. Backstories are a synopsis or summary of the character’s history before the game. Personality descriptions needn’t be long, if a paragraph or bullet points convey the necessary information. Characters’ abilities or skills are either narrative or backstory details, defined story roles, or game actions. Character roles are characters’ purpose in the story and game. Character appearance details include concept art, which evolves into refined designs.
The gameplay mechanics section within an adventure GDD’s gameplay details explains the game’s actions, rules and systems, including what player interactions are available, the control schemes – or input devices – and the player’s objectives or goals during gameplay. Gameplay mechanics show how players’ interactions affect game states and how the game system must respond. Gameplay flow diagrams help visualize and clarify details such as the directional flow of the game through flowcharts, decision trees, interaction diagrams, and sequence logic diagrams.
The puzzle design section of an adventure GDD provides gameplay details on individual puzzles, specifies the puzzle’s type, gives solution mechanics, and assigns a difficulty ranking. Puzzle types are determined by the actions required to solve them. Examples of puzzle types are physics-based puzzles or inventory combination puzzles. Solution mechanics are the steps to solve a puzzle, such as which objects to collect and how to collect them.
Level design in an adventure GDD are gameplay details of the level’s visual environments, challenge elements, and progression flow. Level design sections include maps and diagrams that show the level’s layout, obstacles that the player must overcome, and what’s required to overcome them. The progression flow path in a level shows the route players take to progress through the level.
A GDD’s art direction guidelines define the visual design requirements of the adventure game’s art. Art direction guidelines include the visual style, aesthetics, tone, and mood details. An example of specifying art guidelines is showing examples of the line work or the texture of the art style. Other inclusions in art direction guidelines include reference art as visual examples, and a mood board which combines the colors, reference images, and other art requirements to reflect the game’s overall mood.
UI mockups are wireframes or mock-ups in GDD that show visual design layouts of the adventure game, the player’s navigation flow across the environment, and the player’s interaction points, such as objects, characters, or enemies. UI mockups evolve from low-fidelity wireframes to medium and high-fidelity detailed mock-ups during the adventure game’s design evolution.
Asset lists are comprehensive records that track audio and visual design assets in an adventure GDD. Asset lists include the file type of the media, the number needed of each, and the current status of creation or implementation. Keeping track of the number of assets required is relevant when requiring many assets for a single item category, such as background trees for a forest. Examples of an asset’s status are whether the asset is under construction, approved, rejected, or added to the game.
