TinyMaker:GameDesign

lastmod 2026-10-06created 2026-10-061 edits

1. Overview ★

Working title: (e.g., Little Lord)
One-line pitch: (e.g., A game where you play cards each turn to develop your domain, weather the events each season brings, and earn the kingdom's recognition within 30 turns)
Player's role: (e.g., a country lord who has just inherited land)
Length of one run: (e.g., 20–30 turns, 15–20 minutes)
What the player should feel (3 keywords): (e.g., tightness · steadily stacking growth · the weight of each choice)

Reference games

Game	What to borrow	What to do differently
(e.g., Slay the Spire)	(e.g., deckbuilding, picking card rewards)	(e.g., domain management instead of combat)
(e.g., Reigns)	(e.g., the tension of keeping stats balanced)	(e.g., a hand of cards instead of binary choices)

2. Core loop ★

Flow of one turn

Write it in order. It helps to separate the steps the player takes from the steps that happen automatically.

(e.g., [auto] Turn start — reveal 1 event card)
(e.g., [auto] Draw 5 cards from the deck)
(e.g., [player] Play cards within 3 action points — build, levy, diplomacy, etc.)
(e.g., [player] Press End Turn)
(e.g., [auto] Settle production and upkeep → resolve events → discard remaining hand)

Each turn's dilemma

What the player is torn between — where this game's fun comes from.

(e.g., spend gold now on a building, or save it for the next event)
(e.g., add a strong card to the deck, or remove a weak card to thin the deck)

Flow of one run

Early game: (e.g., 3 tiles of land, starting deck of 10 cards. Goal is to stabilize food)
Mid game: (e.g., land expands and special buildings unlock. First invasion)
Late game: (e.g., the final 3 turns of meeting the king's demands)

3. Cards ★

What the cards are

[ ] Deckbuilding — draw a hand from the deck and play it; gain or remove cards during the run (Slay the Spire, Dominion)
[ ] Choice-based event cards — a few options per card; choosing one changes stats (Reigns)
[ ] Cards on a board — stack or attach cards to combine them (Stacklands)
[ ] Placement — place cards on domain tiles to become buildings or workers
[ ] Other: ( )

Deck and hand rules

Item	Value
Starting deck	(e.g., Farm 4, Levy 3, Logging 2, Build 1)
Cards drawn per turn	(e.g., 5)
Hand limit	(e.g., 7)
Remaining hand	(e.g., discard all at end of turn / carry over)
When the deck runs out	(e.g., shuffle the discard pile into a new deck)
Cost to play a card	(e.g., action points / resources / none)
How to gain cards	(e.g., pick 1 of 3 every 3 turns, buy at the market)
How to remove cards	(e.g., pay gold at the church building to remove)
Single-use cards	(e.g., yes — marked "Exhaust")

Card types

Type	Role	Examples
(e.g., Production)	(e.g., gain resources immediately)	(e.g., Farm, Logging)
(e.g., Build)	(e.g., leaves a building on the domain)	(e.g., Build Mill)
(e.g., Event)	(e.g., bad cards shuffled into the deck)	(e.g., Bad Harvest, Plague)

Draft card list

Listing only the cards for the first run is fine (10–20 cards). The more effects are written down to the numbers, the better.

Name	Type	Cost	Effect	Source	Notes
(e.g., Farm)	Production	1 action	Food +2. +1 more if you have a field	Starting deck
(e.g., Levy)	Production	1 action	Gold +2, Morale -1	Starting deck
(e.g., Mill)	Build	2 actions, 3 wood	Mill on an empty tile. Food +1 per turn	Reward

Card face

What must be visible on a single card: (e.g., name, cost, effect text, type color, art slot)

4. Domain ★

How the domain is shown

[ ] Grid (square tiles)
[ ] Hex tiles
[ ] Region nodes (points and paths)
[ ] Numbers only, no board (building list)
[ ] Other: ( )

Initial size / maximum size: (e.g., center 1 tile of 3x3 settled → up to 5x5)
How to expand land: (e.g., play a "Settle" card to open one adjacent tile)

Terrain

Terrain	Characteristics	What can be built
(e.g., Plains)	(e.g., nothing special)	(e.g., most things)
(e.g., Forest)	(e.g., becomes plains when logged)	(e.g., Lumber camp)

Buildings

Name	Build cost	Per-turn effect	Upkeep	Conditions / notes
(e.g., Field)	(e.g., 1 wood)	(e.g., Food +1)	(e.g., none)	(e.g., plains)
(e.g., Wall)	(e.g., 5 stone)	(e.g., Defense +3)	(e.g., 1 gold)	(e.g., domain edge)

Residents

[ ] There are residents (population) — they grow and shrink, and provide labor and taxes
[ ] No residents

(If yes: conditions for population growth and decline, stats like happiness or morale)

5. Resources ★

Resource	How to gain	Used for	At turn end	Starting value
(e.g., Gold)	(e.g., Levy, Market)	(e.g., building, buying cards)	(e.g., carries over)	(e.g., 5)
(e.g., Food)	(e.g., Farm, Field)	(e.g., residents eat their number each turn)	(e.g., cap of 20)	(e.g., 6)
(e.g., Action points)	(e.g., refilled to 3 each turn)	(e.g., playing cards)	(e.g., leftovers are lost)	(e.g., 3)

Danger stats

Stats that cause something bad when they hit 0 or cross a limit.

(e.g., if food runs out, residents -1; lose if it lasts 3 turns)
(e.g., if morale is 0, a Rebellion event card enters the deck)

6. Events and threats

Random events: (e.g., 1 event card per turn. 40% good, 60% bad)
Event examples: (e.g., Bountiful Harvest — Food +3 / Bandits — Gold -2, blocked if Defense is 3 or more)
Passage of time: (e.g., 4 turns make a season. Food production halved in winter)
External threats: (e.g., a neighboring lord invades at turns 10 and 20 — resolved by comparing against Defense)
Combat: [ ] none · [ ] stat comparison check · [ ] separate card combat · [ ] other ( )

7. Victory and defeat ★

Victory: (e.g., survive 30 turns and meet the king's demands — 50 gold, 20 population)
Defeat: (e.g., population 0, or 3 turns with morale at 0)
Score / rating: (e.g., score from remaining resources and buildings, 1–3 stars)
What carries over between runs: [ ] nothing (fresh each run) · [ ] card/lord unlocks · [ ] permanent upgrades · [ ] other ( )

8. Difficulty and balance

Difficulty levels: (e.g., none / Easy·Normal·Hard — differing starting resources and event frequency)
Randomness: (e.g., allow setting a seed — same seed, same run)

Tuning knob candidates

Values you want to adjust by moving them in the dev tools. They become src/tuning.json knobs (AGENTS.md "Tuning knobs").

Key (dot-separated camelCase)	Meaning	Initial value	Range
(e.g., `deck.drawPerTurn`)	Cards drawn per turn	5	3~8
(e.g., `economy.startGold`)	Starting gold	5	0~20
(e.g., `event.badChance`)	Bad event probability	0.6	0~1

9. Visuals and presentation

Camera: [ ] looking down from above (top-down) · [ ] angled (quarter-view 3D) · [ ] frontal, like 2D · [ ] other ( )
Graphic feel: (e.g., flat-color low-poly, soft pastels, paper card texture)
Assets: [ ] basic shapes only (boxes, cylinders) · [ ] use free assets · [ ] draw my own later as replacements
Colors: (e.g., dark navy background, gold yellow, food green, danger red)
Card animation: (e.g., flies out of the deck when drawn, enlarges on hover, flies to a domain tile and vanishes when played)
Sound: [ ] none · [ ] sound effects only · [ ] sound effects + background music

Screen layout

A rough sketch is fine.

+--------------------------------------------------+
| 금화 5  식량 6  목재 2  민심 ■■■□   턴 3/30  봄   |
|                                                  |
|                 [ 영지 보드 ]                     |
|                                        사건 카드  |
|                                                  |
| 덱 12   [카드][카드][카드][카드][카드]   [턴 종료] |
+--------------------------------------------------+

10. Controls and information

Input: [ ] mouse click · [ ] drag (dragging cards onto tiles) · [ ] keyboard shortcuts · [ ] touch
Preview: (e.g., hovering over a card shows the resource changes after playing it)
Log: (e.g., a turn log beside the screen — "Turn 3: Farm → Food +2")
Undo: [ ] none · [ ] within the current turn only · [ ] other ( )
Tutorial: [ ] none · [ ] guide text in the first run · [ ] separate tutorial run

11. Saving and other

Saving: [ ] none · [ ] continue in the browser (localStorage) · [ ] other ( )
Language: (e.g., Korean only)
Devices: [ ] desktop · [ ] mobile portrait · [ ] mobile landscape

12. Terminology

Deciding code names up front lets the LLM use the same names on every iteration.

Game term	Code name (English)	Meaning
(e.g., Domain)	`domain`	All the land the player manages
(e.g., Tile)	`tile`	One square of the domain
(e.g., Action points)	`action`	Points spent each turn to play cards

13. Scope ★

Must-haves for the first playable version (MVP):
- (e.g., starting deck of 10, 10 card kinds, 3 resources, 3 buildings, 20 turns, victory/defeat checks)
To add next:
- (e.g., seasons, invasions, picking card rewards)
Not doing:
- (e.g., online, multiplayer, unlocks between runs)

14. Definition of done ★

Conditions under which the game can be called "done" — write them so each can be checked on screen. The plan moves them to .loop/goal.md.

[ ] (e.g., start screen → one run → victory/defeat screen → restart flows continuously)
[ ] (e.g., playing a card visibly changes resources and the domain immediately)
[ ] (e.g., starting with the same seed produces the same run)

15. Open questions

Things not yet decided, still being considered, or that you want the plan to propose.

(e.g., whether to have both action points and resource costs, or just one)
(e.g., whether to put in enough effort to show the domain in 3D)