Intro: So this thread is going to be the place where I plan out the game design and mechanics of my survival crafting game.  While I'll mainly be focused on my game feel free to input your own thoughts and ideas about survival crafting genre in general. 

So yea I strongly believe there are two types of game developers, those who jump right in and try to figure it out as they go and those who don't start coding until they have an actual structured plan about what they want in their game.  I fall into that category.  So the engine that I plan on using is RPG maker MV, mainly because unity scares me and RPG maker fits the aesthetic of what I'm going for better.

Core Gameplay: So the Core gameplay loop involves the players moving around the different environments and collecting resources, while avoiding enemies.  The resources can then be used to upgrade their base and gear which will in turn allow them to better explore and loot areas of the map.

Elements: So to make things simpler I've broken down the mechanics into groups, or key elements of gameplay.  I'll go more into detail on them in different posts and maybe add more, this is just a brief summary.

Base upgrade:  Definitely planning on this being one of the big features of the game.  Right now I'm thinking the upgrades will consist of base defensive (so like structure reinforcement, fences, maybe turrets), as well as department./room upgrades (so like upgrading your crafting bench or maybe adding a science room, or helicopter pad, a farm, water and bullet plant)

Item/Weapon/Armor crafting: Pretty straight forward.  Craftable items will include stuff like health, armor, and weapons and other items used to help with further exploring.

Player Stats:  I want to keep this part pretty simple with only a few basics stats the player has to worry about and have a direct impact on gameplay.  The biggest problem that i'm going to have to worry about here is how to make the narrative work with the stats.

combat: Another element that I want to keep simple, well in terms of actions the character can take anyway.  X to melee something and Z or C to shoot/reload.  Beginning level enemies only take one hit to die while harder enemies will take more than one hit.  I want to set combat up in a Dark Souls style, where the challenge/fun factor isn't so much in the combat itself but rather the player figuring out the best/most efficient way of moving around the areas and dealing with the enemies.

And that's it, like I said I might add in more elements the more I continue to design and plan out the game but for now those are the big 4.  Will talk about them more in depth in the posts below.