Pillars and Player Experience
With your game idea in hand, it’s important to establish what are the key concepts your game will revolve around. These concepts are also known as “Pillars”.
To find those pillars ask yourselves:
“What do I want the player(s) to feel/experience?”
“What is the most important stuff in my game?”
You should be able to find 2 to 3 pillars (more often than not, the theme of the game jam should be one of your pillars).
If you find that you have more than 3, remember you only have a short limited time to create your game, and pillars should represent the essence of it, less is often times more.
“Why do I need Pillars?”
These key concepts represent your game idea, therefore it will inform you of the features you need to develop, help you cut features that go against one or more of your pillars and help focus the team to achieve that vision for the game.
Example:
In God Of War (2018) the pillars where :
1) Combat
2) Father / Son
3) Exploration
