Feature Spec
A design document scoped to one game feature — defining its purpose, mechanics, edge cases, and success criteria. Narrower than a GDD, one system at a time.
A feature spec is a design document scoped to a single feature: a new weapon type, a crafting system, a tutorial flow. Where the GDD describes the whole game at the level of systems, a feature spec describes one system in enough detail for engineering to implement it without a daily check-in with the designer.
A well-written feature spec covers: the problem it solves (why this feature?), the proposed mechanic (how does it work?), edge cases and failure modes, integration points with other systems, success criteria, and a log of the design decisions made during the process. That last point is often skipped and always regretted — six months later, nobody remembers why the auto-aim sensitivity was set to 0.7.
Feature specs live alongside the GDD, referenced from the relevant section but kept as separate documents so they can be independently versioned and reviewed.
How it works in Gameframe
In Gameframe, a feature spec is a document in your vault. It lives on its own branch while it is being developed, accumulating Specialist Reviews findings and designer comments before being merged into the main vault when the feature is approved to ship.
The merge request for a feature spec is the design review: Specialist Reviews flag consistency issues, the lead designer leaves line-level feedback, and the merge records the approval date and reviewers. That record is searchable six months later when someone asks why the auto-aim sensitivity is what it is.
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