Bepa and the Babushka

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”

Written by Kirkpatrick Edmonds

Version # 1.0

Game Overview
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 19^th century Russia world.

General Genre: Action/Adventure/Platforming

Game Genre: 2D side scroller.

Game Summary:

Set at the end of the 19^th 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:

                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

                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.