Choosing Between Planning and Improvisation in Game Design

The Unplanned Success of “Astra’s Ascent”

Every indie developer grapples with it: the tension between meticulous planning and on-the-fly improvisation. You sketch out every feature, every level, every line of dialogue, only to hit a wall of creative paralysis. Or, you dive in headfirst, improvising daily, and find yourself adrift in an aimless sea of disconnected ideas. I’ve lived both extremes. My project, “Astra’s Ascent,” a tactical roguelike, became an unexpected crucible for finding the sweet spot.

Our initial plan for “Astra’s Ascent” was a sprawling design document, a tome detailing every possible encounter, every enemy type, every item. We spent months on it, convinced that foresight was our shield against failure. The pitfall quickly became clear: we were designing in a vacuum, without ever seeing how the systems actually felt to play. We were over-planning to the point of paralysis, delaying actual development for theoretical perfection.

The Pivot: Embracing the Unknown

The first major challenge was the combat system. Our meticulously planned turn-based mechanics felt clunky in practice. The initial reaction was to double down on tweaking the existing plan, but we were stuck. That’s when we pivoted. We decided to prototype a completely different, real-time-with-pause system, something we’d only briefly considered. This was pure improvisation, a gut feeling that something had to change fundamentally.

This wasn’t aimless improvisation. It was guided by a core principle: playability. We built a bare-bones prototype of the new system in a weekend. The initial results were rough, but the feel was immediately better. This rapid prototyping, an act of controlled improvisation, saved us months of iterating on a flawed foundation. It taught us that some problems are best solved by building, not just by thinking.

Iterative Design with Adaptive Documents

After that pivot, our planning approach shifted dramatically. We adopted iterative development cycles. Instead of a single, monolithic design document, we moved to adaptive design documents. These weren’t static blueprints; they were living records, updated after each two-week sprint. Each sprint began with a high-level goal, but the specifics of implementation were often left to be discovered through development and playtesting.

For instance, when designing new enemy types, we’d outline their general role and a few core abilities. However, their specific attack patterns and synergies with other enemies were often refined through playtesting early versions. We’d observe player behavior, identify what felt frustrating or too easy, and then improvise solutions directly within the game, documenting those changes in our adaptive design document afterward. This balance allowed us to maintain direction while remaining flexible.

The “Unexpected Combo” Breakthrough

Our greatest success story with this approach came with the “unexpected combo” mechanic. We had planned for individual enemy abilities, but during an improvised playtest session, a developer accidentally triggered a powerful synergy between two enemy types we hadn’t intended to combine. It was chaotic but incredibly fun. This wasn’t in any plan.

Instead of dismissing it as a bug, we immediately recognized its potential. We leaned into it, improvising new enemy designs and level layouts that encouraged these emergent combos. This spontaneous discovery became a core strategic element of the game, a feature born directly from an unplanned moment. We then formally integrated it into our design documents, outlining its rules and implications for future content.

Key Takeaways for Your Own Projects

1. Don’t Over-Plan into Paralysis: A robust design document provides direction, but don’t let it become a cage. If you find yourself stuck, prototyping a radically different approach might be the key. Build minimum viable features early and often.
2. Improvise with a Purpose: Aimless improvisation leads to feature creep and a disjointed game. Ground your spontaneity in core design principles, like “fun” or “player challenge,” and always ask: “Does this improvisation serve our game’s vision?”
3. Embrace Iterative Development: Break your project into small, manageable sprints. Plan broadly for a sprint, but allow for discovery and adaptation within it. This allows you to test assumptions early and pivot quickly.
4. Adopt Adaptive Design Documents: Your design document isn’t a holy text; it’s a living record. Update it constantly to reflect actual development, player feedback, and spontaneous breakthroughs. This helps you track game development progress effectively.
5. Document Everything, Planned or Spontaneous: This is crucial for learning. Every decision, whether meticulously planned or born from a spur-of-the-moment idea, should be noted. Why did you make that choice? What was the outcome? This creates a valuable history of your project.

To genuinely learn from both your planned successes and your improvised triumphs, you need to track game development progress. Documenting your decisions, both planned and spontaneous, is crucial for learning and growth. Why not start tracking your own design evolution with our game development log tool? It’s the perfect companion for any solo developer aiming to master the delicate dance between foresight and adaptability.