Friday, June 15, 2012
Bepa and the Babushka Design Doc.
A Bad Meat or Good
Cheese Production
Design Document for:
Bepa and the Babushka
“The doll left the
nest”
Version # 1.0
Game Overview
Philosophy
Philosophy
This game is built up around
a completely unique and original concept.
Players will be drawn in by the playful and painterly art style that
delivers a bit of fun and amusement, yet still retains a harder and darker edge
of the storyline. A unique art style will be coupled with an extremely fun play
style that delivers on both the action, adventure, and platforming fronts. All
this will be set against an ever darkening story of survival as one girl
strives to save her imprisoned family from their wooden doom!
Marketed as either an arcade style release or a phone app,
or both this game would appeal to gamers both young and old, casual and
experienced.
Game Pitch in one
sentence:
Rayman Origins style
meets Dust: An Elysian Tail gameplay
all set in a fantastical early 19th century Russia world.
General Genre: Action/Adventure/Platforming
Game Genre: 2D
side scroller.
Game Summary:
Set at the end of the 19th century at a time of
great economic and cultural upheaval. Various social movements shake the
country to its core as revolutionary terrorists prowl the country side. The strife is lost to the young girl Bepa and
her family, living the hard but happy lives of Russian potato farmers – until
one day that all changed. A vicious revolutionary army crosses your land and
decides to steal your crops, food, and possessions and when you resist the evil
magician at their head, Rasputin, turns you and your family into Russian
Matryoshka Dolls, or “Russian Nesting Dolls”. Your family is taken but you, the
small innermost doll are left behind, forgotten. That is until the Good
Babushka and her wandering gypsy caravan happen upon your devastated farmstead.
The Good Babushka takes you into her caravan and returns you to your previous
human form. You have recovered your form but your journey to rescue your family
and bring justice to the evil wizard who has stolen them has just begun.
Why Create This Game?
The centerpiece of this game is the story. My aim in
creating it was to create a unique story that the player just wants to dive in
and explore the awesome art style and fun and engaging gameplay.
Another incenting is that right now the app marketplace is
hot and a perfect place for smaller indie developers. I feel like this game
would be something original and developing for an app or arcade marketplace
would be the perfect outlet.
The Game World
Overview:
Overview:
Few ideas for where the game
can take place:
Farm/Potato
farm
Gypsy
caravan
Factory
Wood
carving factory
City
Palace
Siberia/Frozen
wastes
What is the main focus?
The main focus of the game is to rescue your family who
has all been turned into Russian Matryoshka
dolls or “Russian Nesting Dolls”. After being reanimated back to life you must
collect your family and bring them back to the Good Babuskha to revive them
into their former selves.
Feature Set
Game play:
I am really torn on the gameplay style as of right now. The
way I see it there is two possible directions:
1.
A complete platforming game. In this case maybe
your player is never returned to human stature and is either left small or
still as a mini doll character. In this case the game would be more platforming
centric.
2.
Gameplay will be action packed and intense. It
will involve tons of enemies and a character who has returned to her human
stature. With her trusty sickle she will slay the evil armies on each level
while still completing puzzles or some platforming elements. Bosses will be frequent
and the battles intense.
Game Characters
Overview
Overview
Bepa – the young protagonist
The Babuskha – an old gypsy
grandmother that finds Bepa and returns her to her human form.
Bepas: Father, mother, brother,
sister
The evil wizard – name either Merlinoff,
Merlinetzke, Rasputin
User Interface
General Game Play:
In general the game’s interface will be a mix of Russian
style and fantasy elements.
The main elements that will appear to the player onscreen
will be their health and power up bars. Killing enemies will yield souls. It is
possible to have some element of gameplay where Bepa must collect souls to
prevent her from returning to her wooden doll form.
This game will require a main menu screen, Maybe an
inventory screen – but not in a typical sense. More like an item screen where
you can show your collected family and some stat details.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Friday, May 18, 2012
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Sail
A Bad Meat or Good
Cheese Production
Design Document for:
SAIL
“Why live on the edge
when you can fall off it?”
All work Copyright ©1999 by A Bad Meat or Good Cheese
Production
Version # 1.0
Game Overview
This
game is trying to create an epic love story. Not a cliché or cheesy one, but a
story that is both relatable and told on the grand scale of adventure and depth
that a player wants to dive into the game and feels the story through the
characters and unique worlds. Fundamentally I am aiming to achieve something
that is both relatable to RPG and Adventure fans but through the characters,
magical gameplay style and environments is something that they have never
experienced before.
We want this to be an
all-inclusive game, that meaning that it will be multi-platform non-exclusive
endeavor. For those who want to play on
PC they will be able to, for those who want to sit in front of their TV and
play on a controller they can do that as well. We want to give access to the
people, and to do that we want to reach them on as many platforms as possible.
My game design goals is to
create an immersive and expansively beautiful RPG game and world that is so
nice you don’t want to explore it by yourself. That’s why you will have the
multiplayer/co-op function so you can play a top of the line RPG/Adventure game
not solo (even though you can if you choose) but with a friend.
Common Questions
Game Pitch in one
sentence:
Witcher 2 meets Odyessus’s journey set in Ursula K.
Leguin’s Earthsea universe.
General Genre:
Fantasy adventure
Game Genre:
Third-person action/exploration
Game Summary:
Set in a near flooded world the land spans only over a vast
reaching archipelago of hundreds of islands, surrounded by uncharted ocean. The
central and larger islands long held influence over the reaches and outlaying
atolls have begun to crumble as long held alliances break and even Imperial
power itself is threated by the onset of a bloody civil war. As rebellion
encroaches from the distant islands the Imperial city descends to chaos as talk
of the end of the royal family’s 300 year rule begin to spread. In the midst of
this chaos the young future king and his to be bride are themselves lost in the
bliss of young love, innocent and mindless to the pending war that will soon
arrive at their doorstep. When it does, the lovers are forced to meet their
doom or set sail, not for a new home or in exile, but for the pursuit – the
edges of the unexplored world, and perhaps off it.
The centerpiece of this game is the story. My aim in
creating it was to create a world and story so intriguing and so powerful the
character wants to get involved and once they do they get swept into the
universe. Like a great novel I want it to be something a player returns to
again and again, if only because it was part of a world that you never wanted
to leave.
Personally I love RPGs and I think this one will be a unique
take and perspective on what has kind of become a stereotypical market.
The game takes place on a
dozen or so Islands out of the Hundreds that make up the entire known
archipelago. From the heart of the Empire on the core islands to the distant
outer reaches and all the way into the uncharted waters beyond the known world.
You control: the main
character, his customization, leveling style, fighting and play style. In
situations where there is not a second player the Ai takes over but the main
character still has complete control over their customizations.
This
game also offers choices, choices that affect your story. These choices you
make don’t just determine how immediate story events play out but have dramatic
impact on the whole game. These aren’t good or bad choices, your choices are
morally ambiguous. The main character is not a hero or a villain, just a guy in
love.
How many characters do I control?
Two
at most. One completely and the other you will not directly control but will
set and control HOW they will play alongside you.
The main characters goal
is literally to sail off the edge of the world. The initial starting goal of
the naïve characters is light hearted and innocent – it is adventure! They want
to set off away from the stuffy royal lives they have known and set out to
explore all the way to the end of the world
which is unknown to them and everyone as it is uncharted and mysterious.
As the plot thickens though we find our main character on an adventure gone
astray, their past having caught them, and a hero now chasing his lost love.
The possible co-op RPG elements
will be a unique as well an awesome part for anyone wanting to directly share
in their adventure with a friend.
Feature Set
Game play:
This game is primarily action based, with a unique co-op
function that reflects the relationship between the ex-prince and girlfriend.
This combines the varied weapon melee combat with magic and spells that each
character can wield. A unique aspect of this game is that spells and weapon
attacks can be synched together if both players are using the same combat style
for an extremely effective result; however, they can still be unleashed
separately depending if the players have different preferred play styles.
Physically players will be able to: run, cover, block, hack, slash, jump,
crouch, but will have no physical ranged abilities. On the magical side players
will be able to: cast defensive and healing spells as well as buffs for
themselves and each other, they can also inflict damage through paladin type
holy spells, however as they explore on their adventure they can learn more
“animalistic” and darker tribal spells from other cultures they encounter.
Within the game, the player will also be able to upgrade
their personal abilities as well as their weapons and gear through various
crafters, forgers and blacksmiths they find throughout the game. Spells and
magic can also be upgraded and new ones can be learned through wizards and
magicians scattered throughout the islands. Trinkets and other miscellaneous
available upgrades can be looted, received from quests or crafted by the
players
In addition to the RPG gameplay elements, the game is
heavily story driven and a major emphasis of the game is the exploration factor
and quest to the edge of the world the players have embarked on. The game is
set over numerous islands, each with a varied culture that is uniquely
individual to the inhabitants. Some are sunny, tropical and warm, while some
are dark, foreboding and cold. Some islands frown or forbid the use of magic’s
and some have embraced it. However, each island has been affected by the fall
of the Empire and the story is constantly unfolding around the players.
An
Empire that has stood for 300 years has become hollow and weak, eroded from the
core. As rebels and unrest take root on the outlaying sphere of the Empires
influence, a once conquered kingdom at the edges of the Empire reemerges and
unleashes a devastating attack against the heart of the known world.
The
Islands are connected by the same time period but look of houses and the
cultures of the island are distinct.
World
Feature #1 - Ord
The
heart of the Empire and the largest Island of the Archipelago is Ord. Home to
numerous ports as well as the seat of the Empire; its capital Rune is largest
of them all. It is said all routes lead to Rune and the island is gluttonous
with resources and wealth. In the past 100 years though the islands population
has also exploded, leading to an explosion of immigrants and a huge poor class and growing tension and
unrest with the established nobles and political system.
World
Feature #2 – Yir
Long ago the Kingdom of
Year dominated the landscape of the planet. Using their dark magic’s and
powerful military they conquered much of the known world. A rebellion and revolt ensued against their
rule though and they were pushed back by the budding Empire, at the time a
collective of free Islands led by Ord, to their home reach. There a divisive
and crushing victory ensued with the king choosing to demolish his own people,
instead of succumbing to defeat at the hands of the enemy. Now long forgotten the
Kingdom has re-emerged after 500 years, for what purpose and to what means no
one yet knows.
The
world is near completely water but islands varying in size speckle this blue
water world.
The
islands of: Ord, Yir, Dal, Dune, Abal and Kry
The
travel is a unique function of the game; the player can travel over water in a
boat that can be upgraded to complete certain mission. The player can also
choose to fast travel to various locations they have already been.
On
land the player can buy or steal riding animals or run.
Weather
will be everything from beautiful sunny days to hurricane force storms.
The
game offers a day and night cycle at an equal time scale to the real world, but
in this world daytime extends longer than it does in the real world .
Time
will work on a real world basis. Minute for minute. Players can sleep and fast
forward time if they choose or need to.
The future king of Ord, the
young prince Mur.
The future queen of Ord, the
young princess Mial
Numerous other characters Mur
will pick up as companions throughout the game.
Personalization
has everything to do with how you want to play, either melee or magic and this
style will also impact your characters look, in what armors you can wear and
also certain things like your eyes and build.
User Interface
The game’s interface will be a
mix of Iron/bronze age medieval elements with a heavy touch of Fantasy and
Magic. Think of the magic level up system of Skyrim with some of the in depth
skill and technical physical info of Dark Souls. The player will have an
inventory system that allows them to set up what weapons and skills they want
to have selected, but can have a multitude equipped to switch through during gameplay
without having to pause. They will also be able to switch between physical and
magic attacks easily in this fashion – Dead rising inventory system is an
inspiration. This will be a pivotal aspect of the game, as much uninterrupted
gameplay as possible. Of course, there will enough aspects that occasional
interruption will occur during non-combat moments to set up these systems and
for more detailed level up and upgrades.
Health, navigation,
weapon and spell lists will all be displayed on screen.
Interaction
Combat
Melee weapons
Swords
Maces
Axes
Knives
Defensive Weapons
Shield
Armor
Magic offensive
Magic defensive
Magic buffs
Healing/Recovering
health
Combined
abilities that unleash improved results
Character
Interaction:
Co-op fighting styles between
players
Relationship meter between
players
Shopping: Merchants,
blacksmiths, Wizard trainers
Weapon
upgrades
Gear
upgrades
Spell
upgrades and new spells
Some type of recognition threat level
Exploration:
Navigation
On foot
Compass
Piecing together a map
Single-Player Game
The single player game will
function much like the multiplayer game; accept instead of a co-op player the
main player will have an NPC companion alongside them. Should the player really
choose to go solo than the game will function like most other RPGs with
personal gameplay and exploration possibilities, as well as different side
quests the player can choose and fulfill them as wanted, with an overarching
story that the player also has control of with their choices they make in game.
As
I stated before this game also offers choices, choices that affect your story.
These choices you make don’t just determine how immediate story events play out
but have dramatic impact on the whole game. These aren’t good or bad choices,
your choices are morally ambiguous. The main character is not a hero or a
villain, just a guy in love.
Would aim for a 30 hour main
story with many, many other hours added on should the player want to complete
every single story in the game.
Multiplayer Game
The
Multiplayer will function much like any RPG game but instead of solo questing
the player will have a companion that will aid them in support along the way.
Much like the Mass Effect or Star Wars: The Old Republic companion functions.
2
would be the maximum number of Multiplayer players.
Customization
comes in the people who the main character picks up and meets along the way; if
possible the second player can import their own character into the game to
play. Players can customize these characters with weapons and fighting styles.
No.
The
players will be able to save a multiplayer game when not in combat. When they
reload that, they can continue playing with the same person or if that person
is not there they can continue questing solo or with one of their NPC
companions or even a new person.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Feedback and Control Schemes
RPG – Skyrim
Character development and story are the most important. RPG
elements include: character stats, gaining levels, weapons, armor, health,
magic, stamina. All of which can be seen in Skyrim.
1.
Control Schemes
Skyrim
is one game that excels at its control schemes. On Xbox the controller
interaction is smooth and flawless in combat. Left hand attacks are controlled
by the Left Trigger as are Right handed attacks controlled by the Right
Trigger. Every necessity for combat is easily accessible and controls are
provided for every manor of combat without interruption to gameplay. Switching
between 1st and 3rd person views are seamless and also
easy to switch back and forth between. Controls for: Sprint, shout, sneak, jump
are all easily activated as well are the various sub menus such as your journal
and character menus. Character development and story are the most important.
RPG elements include: character stats, gaining levels, weapons, armor, health,
magic, stamina. All of which can be seen in Skyrim.
2.
Feedback Schemes:
Skyrim
has an enormous feedback system. The most obvious feedback we receive are those
that are constantly on display. These include our: Magicka, Health and Stamina
bars as well as our Compass and directional feedback. Skyrim presents this menu
in a clean and practical function. Don’t have magic equipped? Well your Magicka
bar will not display. Not running or using Stamina? Well than your Stamina bar
will not pop up. However when you start to sprint it pops up into action and
starts to display your diminishing stamina, hence showing you how much longer
you have to run. Another awesome feedback system is Skyrims directional
compass, located at the top of the screen. Instead of the traditional mini map,
which is used in a lot of RPGs Skyrim utilizes a compass that functions not
only as a directional guide but also displays: tracked quests, cities, enemies,
as well as numerous other important locations. These icons also scale with your
relative distance to them, getting either larger or smaller as you approach or
distance yourself. Enemy health also displays here when in combat.
Feedback
can also be seen when under attack, physically or from other various ailments
such as poison, frost or fire. When hit by an enemy blow blood will splatter
and blur the screen as well as induce blood splatter across the viewport.
Another is the weight system, where if you are utilizing armor, which has a
higher weight than you can currently carry your character becomes overburdened
and begins to move extremely slowly.
Feedback in Skyrim submenus is generally
successful. On the CONTROL menu we are provided up to date feedback on our:
quest progression, general stats such as or questing, magic, crafting and crime
history. In the SKILLS menu we can see a hugely successful aspect of Skyrim’s
feedback system. On the top we can see our name, race and level as well as a
progression bar to see how far into that level we are. Also displayed are our 18
skills, these include: Two-handed, lockpicking, archery, alchemy and speech. Each
provide individual and specific feedback and are displayed with a brilliant
control system that is easy to interact with and give you up to date feedback
on your skill level and progression into that level. Each node gives you a
required level as well as description. Here we can also see our Magicka, Health
and Stamina levels. This is also where we go when we level up to put more
points into said categories and become more powerful.
3.
RPG Interface Challenges/Problems/Fixes
As Harvey Smith, Studio Creative Director for Midway
Studios-Austin states: Role-playing games poses difficult interface problems.
RPGs carry massive expectations and desires of fans. Also, representing a
complex, evolving character in a richly detailed world, with a wide variety of
inputs into that world, the game designer must juggle a lot of balls (and keep
the text on the balls legible as they are flying through the air.
One personal interface problem I had was when in Skyrim’s 3rd
person perspective the camera zooms too close into the character, as a result
the only practical way to play in 3rd person view is with weapons
drawn, which although it zooms the characters out providing a better view slows
the character run speed down
dramatically.
The largest
failure of Skyrim though was in its layout of its item system. Although we are
provided with positive feedback on our carry weight, gold and health in these
menus, as well as individual positive or negative armor effects the sub menus
are poorly organized and can often lead to player mistakes and trouble.
The problem? Your treasure is mixed in with trash. In the Apparel menu
everything from crappy armor you have picked up to sell to your best crafted
gear is all clumped together. Even though Skyrim attempts to counter act this
with a favorites menu, all your good gear is still grouped with your trash. A
more detailed menu could be provided for as an example potions. Potions could
be further divided into a health potions, magic potions, stamina potions and
misc. potions category. As the book points out players could also be given the
chance to organize armor according to its strength, which Skyrim makes a big
deal out of. Ex: Ebon, Daedric, Steel armor.
As the book states any action that might result in
frustration for the player should be made difficult to accomplish by accident. As
an example if a player accidently sold their Daedric armor chest piece to a
vendor they are only given 2392g, however to buy it back it will cost them
17126g. A fix to this would be to let players buy back items for the same price.
Friend pointed out, “Oh, well – that’s capitalism!”
Better control menu to switch from: magic to one-handed to
two-handed. This could be accomplished with a button set up like the book
references in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic where a single button
switches between blaster and light saber or L4D2 where by pressing “Y” a player
switches between A main handed weapon and their offhanded pistols or melee
weapon.
Adventure – Limbo
Platform exclusive title on Xbox Live Arcade. The game is an
Adventure/Puzzle/Platformer. The player guides an unnamed boy through dangerous
environments and traps, for an unknown motivation (We at the end find the
search to have been for the boy’s missing sister. The developer built the
game's puzzles expecting the player to fail before finding the correct
solution. Playdead called the style of play "trial and death", and
used visually gruesome imagery for the boy's deaths to steer the player from
unworkable solutions. Provides a really dark presentation, compatible to film
noir.
1.
Control Schemes:
Limbo is 2d side
scroller. Limbo possesses a uniquely simple control scheme with only two
buttons (A – Jump and B – Action, as well as the joystick move control.
2.
Feedback Schemes:
Limbo has no health bars, stamina
bars or special menus or setups. Instead the only feedback we receive is from
our character, who is a completely black silhouette of a young boy. His health
is either on or off, if his eyes are glowing white he is alive; if his eyes go
black he is dead. The only other feedback we receive is through dying. Did we
do something wrong, are we going about something the wrong way? We will figure
it out soon enough because traps and death are everywhere and when you fail –
you know it! As a result feedback is almost entirely through the environment
itself. The game can provide us insight through recognition of danger or
foreshadowing where we need to go with recognizable ropes, pulleys, flies,
spikes, shadows, and dangerous obstacles.
Simulation – Tower
Defense
1.
Control Schemes:
Since Tower Defense is on a smart
phone, game control can have a completely different feel from that of a typical
console game; however, in reality can provide a lot quicker and more enjoyable
control. The basics are all there, the game starts with a: Start, Options and
Info buttons. Start brings up the Campaign or Challenge game modes. Options
brings up our music, sound options, as well as a more smartphone related
section: Twitter and Facebook – where you can post your scores and challenge
friends. Info gives us a game guide, scores as well as a cinematic of the
story.
One of the beautiful things about
control on a smart phone is how much control the player actually has. As a
player we are provided with informational feedback on what the upcoming map
will be as well as what the enemies will be and can then choose from a variety
of turrets and weapons to defend against the oncoming onslaught. The player
also sets the pace of the game with a play/pause button as well as personal
strategy and speed (either 1x or 2x) and can unleash up to 3 oncoming enemy
waves at one time.
2.
Feedback Schemes:
General feedback is displayed at
the top. These include: our economy (number of resources, which we get from
killing enemies), lives (number of times an enemy can penetrate our defenses
and hit our base), and score (points earned from surviving each round and
killing units). On the bottom we are given feedback on the upcoming waves of
monsters, through form of visual symbols, each representing a different type of
enemy. Also shown are the number of waves we have survived as well as total
number of waves we need to survive to beat the level.
The whole map is gridded out into
areas where we can place turrets and cannot. To place a turret we click in an
empty grid square and the turrets we previously selected on the startup menu
appear alone with the cost of each turret. This is feedback as we can see which
ones we can afford to place and which ones we don’t have enough resources
for. After placing a unit we can also
click it again and either sell it or upgrade it to the next level. Money gained
for selling it, cost to upgrade and increase in power level are all displayed.
Every unit can be upgraded twice. Feedback can also be seen in the form of
either an empty base (for level 1 units), a solid metal base (for level 2
units), or a glowing blue base (for level 3 units). This provides great
feedback to know what has been upgraded and what can still be upgraded. An
equally important feedback device when placing a unit is a circle that
surrounds it. This shows the range of fire for each turret, this also displays
each time, when you click any unit to show its next possible upgrade range or
the fully upgraded range.
We also receive feedback in the
form of in game visuals. The closer the enemies get to our base or the more
that break through our defenses, the worse we are doing. Vice versa if we are
slaughtering them and the enemies are not making any dent in our defenses than
we are to assume positive feedback that our strategy and gameplay is working. Should
enemies penetrate our defenses we not only see our lives go down but our home
base begins to smoke and eventually flame up should it become extremely
damaged.
3.
Simulation Fixes
Players can easily accidently sell a unit. When placing them
the player receives a secondary check question of “OK?” they must hit to
assuredly place the unit. This is not the case when selling it, so when a
clumsy iPhone player, in the excitement of a game accidently sells a fully
upgraded unit there is nothing you can do and no check to prevent this from
happening.
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