Game Production Documentation: Feature List?

arybak89

Hey, currently in a Game Design Masters of Science degree program and I'm taking a class right now on Game Production Tools. We were given the following assignment:

Game Feature List • 50 Gameplay Features • 5 Tool Features • 10 System Features • 5 Process Features

I got a great book to use as a reference (People, Planning, and Production for Video Game Development by Gerard Merritt) as far as the setup of the feature list is concerned. My issue is coming up with the 50 game features. Does anyone know of any kind of taxonomy or comprehensive list of game features out there? Something I could use as a resource to pull from. Thanks in advance!

Kwramm

not sure what they're after here, but I would first ask myself what sort of game you want to make. Then of course you have standard features tied to your requirements: input (e.g. controller support), output (video, audio, etc), storage, network. Those are your system features. For the game, you need systems to handle levels, enemies (NPCs), PCs, dialogue maybe, hitpoints, achievements, and so on. Tools you need for important graphics, designing levels, testing, deployment to your build machines, etc. Processes: you need an asset workflow, a review and approval process, a process to manage game builds, a process to handle change/feature requests, you need a QA & bug fix process, etc.

I would really keep it simple for such an assignment. Maybe choose a jump'n'run as example.
Good luck!

chrisradsby

Well a feature list goes down to every tiny little detail, it has to so that everybody is on the same page and can see what's getting prioritized. In my experience most of the time they break down the features into their major categories like: 

Traversal
- Jumping
   - Double Jump
   - Wall Jump
- Climbing
- Vaulting
- Running
- Crouching

etc etc

Each of these is a feature and it's very detailed, every facet of every feature needs to be written down, designed and detailed. If you prototype jumping, then it has to work properly with animation, maybe you need a falling state? it needs to be synced for networking, do you need a 3rd person animation as well to show other players? that needs to be synced for networking. Etc etc.

It's a lot that goes into this and it easily becomes bloated once you try and make sure the feature works for every department. So yeah, go ahead and think like this, it can easily amount up to 50 features. When showing a feature list for gamers however, it's the major categories that are shown most of the time.