(NOTE: This post was a draft from July 22nd, near the start of MFGJ Summer 2018. I was using it for reference then, but now that the jam is over, I'll publish it.)

Hello. My name's Adam, and I'm currently the sole developer for this MFGJ Entry that I'm just calling "Water Merchant" for now. These are some notes from the planning phase of development. No assets or in-engine work will be done until the jam officially starts on July 14th.

OVERVIEW

The idea for this game combines inspiration from the game "A Dark Room" with the optional theme of the jam: water. It places the player in a parched desert where villages survive by trading with traveling water merchants that source their goods from remote freshwater springs and oases.  The interface will be mostly agraphical. Players interact by reading text descriptions, clicking buttons, navigating across tabbed views to manage various tasks, and responding to events with pre-determined options. In general, the player accumulates wealth in the form of water. They must have containers to collect from a water source, which can be crafted from other resources or traded for with water. Water stands in for cash in the setting of the game -- a true liquid asset. Upgrades can be built to improve production or other elements. The game will be divided into three chapters.

Chapter 1

In the first, the player stumbles upon one of these springs and merely survives by themselves for a while, trading with some passing travelers. There will be multiple opportunities to make choices when interacting with your visitors. Whether to be generous or greedy; whether to acquiesce to force or stand your ground. To advance, the player will have to complete some kind of upgrade to their setup.

Chapter 2

The second chapter has the player truly establish themselves as a merchant. They can now recruit volunteers to work the spring, gathering building materials, handling customers, or guarding the camp. More choices will come in this chapter, and the challenge will increase. Events might come along that require the player have certain defenses prepared, or a certain amount of resources stockpiled, to succeed. Failing will probably result in setback rather than total game over. Instead of attending to their personal survival, the player's "health" is keeping ahead by having enough water to pay their employees. Dropping into the red will send them back to the start of the chapter. To advance, they must complete another kind of upgrade.

Chapter 3

The third chapter makes the player's operation mobile. Things at base camp mostly handle themselves without much management required. Instead, the player must travel around the desert region to various villages to conduct their trade. They might receive "quests" in the form of contracts or requisitions from local leaders, but can otherwise travel and trade as they please. Prices are controlled by the player's reputation and the scarcity of water. The more desperate people are, the more they are willing to pay, but gouging them too hard will scar the player's reputation. Losing all reputation causes the player to be blacklisted by the region at large, labeled as "not to be dealt with," and sending them back to the start of the chapter. Occasional events will continue to offer choices to the player that will affect the regional economy and the player's rep and inventory. If regional water scarcity becomes too desperate, the game's ending will be triggered. The likelihood of events that will make water scarce increase over time, pushing the player towards the end.

Epilogue

The ending of the game will involve one final, difficult choice. If the player meets a certain requirement by that time, they can choose one of, for now, we'll say two endings. If they don't meet the requirement when the ending is triggered, they get a "bad" ending and are allowed to restart the chapter.

That's all for now. I'll write more planning info tomorrow or Friday, prior to starting real dev work on Saturday.