What is Craft?

Craft in game design is the transformation of raw input into meaningful output. It turns gathering into gear, effort into progress, and systems into ownership.

Crafting is not just a feature — it’s a feedback loop of agency.

1️⃣ Definition

Craft is the player-driven process of creating, upgrading, or combining in-game items, tools, or resources through the use of materials, recipes, and systems.

It’s the answer to: “What can I make from what I’ve earned?”

📍Crafting isn’t about menus — it’s about choice, trade-off, and transformation.

2️⃣ Why Crafting Matters

Purpose	What It Enables	Example
Progression	From survival to mastery	Subnautica’s gear tree evolution
Expression	Personalized gear, builds, aesthetics	Valheim’s settlement decoration
Exploration reward	Materials fuel tangible upgrades	The Witcher 3 potion and sword trees
Economic value	Items feed into trade or barter loops	Final Fantasy XIV player marketplaces
Loop integration	Gathers multiple systems into one payoff	Monster Hunter’s hunt → forge → hunt cycle

📍Crafting shouldn’t just be a chore between fights — it should close loops and open new ones.

3️⃣ Components of Crafting Systems

Component	Description	Game Example
Resources	Gathered or earned materials	Ore, herbs, parts (Minecraft, Hades)
Recipes / Blueprints	Known or discovered combinations	The Forest’s contextual combining
Stations / Tools	Workbenches, anvils, cauldrons	Valheim, Don’t Starve
Progression Gates	Tiers, rarity, level locks	Horizon Zero Dawn gear upgrades
UI & Feedback	Clarity, preview, success/failure	Diablo IV crafting menus and highlights

📍Always show: What can I make? What do I need? Why should I care?

4️⃣ Styles of Crafting

Style	Focus	Example
Survival Crafting	Utility, realism, scarcity	The Long Dark, Green Hell
RPG Crafting	Gear optimization, stats	The Witcher 3, Elden Ring
Creative Crafting	Expression, construction	Minecraft, Terraria
Economic Crafting	Supply-demand balance	MMORPGs, Runescape
Automated Crafting	System building, abstraction	Factorio, Satisfactory

📍Match your crafting style to player fantasy: self-reliance, power-building, creativity, or economy.

✅ Crafting Design Checklist

Do crafted items feel valuable, not filler?

Is the resource loop (collect → build → benefit) satisfying?

Are recipes discoverable or learnable through play?

Does crafting enhance the game’s core loop (not distract from it)?

Are friction points (rarity, scarcity, grind) intentional and tuned?

📍Let crafting feel like ownership. The player should think: “I made this. I earned this. I chose this.”

Summary

Term	Craft
What it is	A system where players transform resources into useful or expressive items
Why it matters	Fuels progression, creativity, economy, and world interaction
How it's used	Through recipes, gathering, crafting stations, and upgrades
Design goal	Make crafting feel like a reward, a tool, and a form of expression

📍Craft is how systems become tangible. It’s how effort becomes something you can carry, wear, equip, or live in.