Game Development / Game Design Document

23.09.24 - 20.10.24 / Week 1 - Week 4
Name: ALYSSA AISYAH BINTI 'ARIEF NASRAN (0364017)
Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Game Development (DST61104) 

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INSTRUCTIONS

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TASK 1

Game Design Document

For our first task of game development we are required to create a game design document proposing our three initial ideas for a game and discuss with the lecturer to settle with one to develop to design and create out own 2D side scrolling/platformer game.

I've always had a few ideas for games so I mainly took my inspiration from those past ideas- I have always been interested in darker themes, my favourite genre is horror, so I definitely wanted to make something in that realm. 

1st Idea: The Blood Moon Rites

For my first idea, I got the inspiration from eclipses and the game bloodborne. I always thought eclipses were very interesting as a phenomena, I was born during one as well, but particularly a "blood moon eclipse", (or a total lunar eclipse), its apparently called that since the moon appears red when eclipsed. I always wondered where the name came from however despite that explanation, and thought maybe I could create a story out of it. So I came up with a "rationalisation" for the name in order to act as the base story of my game.

Description

The Blood Moon Rites is a dark fantasy action 2D platformer, where the player navigates the night of the blood moon and fights the deadly creatures emerging from its blight. The player follows and performs the enigmatic ritual steps outlined in ancient texts intended to resolve the blood moon event. The moon approaches its full eclipse as steps of the ritual are completed—the levels become darker and shrouded in a deeper red. A cutscene will play at the end of each ritual, illustrating the crescendo of the blood moon. Levels also become more difficult as enemies will grow stronger drawing power from the eclipse as it progresses to its zenith, and they’re filled with an increasing number of threats.

After each step of the ritual is completed, the player receives cryptic texts and foreboding imagery that hint at the darker truth. However, these clues remain ambiguous until the second to last ingredient, in which the player then realises that they are the final ingredient of the ritual—learning where the true name of “The Blood Moon” comes from. By this point, turning back is impossible—without the ritual, the world will fall to the curse. To complete the ritual, they must toss themselves into a sacred lake, becoming the necessary sacrifice to banish the creatures, mend the land, and halt the blood moon, restoring peace until the next cycle.

To survive, players must collect specific ritual ingredients scattered throughout each level and place them in the correct altar locations found within the map while defeating enemies of the night and avoiding and overcoming dangerous obstacles along the way. Players are armed with a scythe for close-range and far-range melee combat to defeat the creatures of the blood moon, depleting their health until they’re slain. When the player swings their scythe, the stamina bar is partially depleted, which regenerates back in full over time. When the player throws their scythe, the stamina bar is depleted by half, which regenerates back in full over time but takes slightly longer. The player’s health is non regenerable if they get damaged, but can reset when reaching checkpoints. If the player dies, they will spawn at the last claimed checkpoint. The player must balance the risk between close-range combat, exposing them to damage from creatures of the night, and throw their scythe at a safer distance with scarce stamina.

The measurables are:

• Health bar (Player and enemies, regenerates at checkpoints for the player only)
• Ritual ingredients (Key/quest items)
• Stamina bar (Player, regenerates over time)

2nd Idea: Lightbringer

For my second idea, it comes from my heavy influence in dichotomous nature. I like the interplay of opposites, and having a game being based around that idea- particularly light and dark seemed not only potentially compelling for a storyline, since the contrast already exists, but also visually appealing as I could have light-based effects.

Description

You play as a woman who survived the darkness that first overtook her village. Years later, she returns to defeat it and lay her family and others who succumbed to the darkness to rest as they've been overtaken by it and turned into hostile souls, doomed and trapped to haunt the desolate village for eternity until freed. Armed with a lantern, you must purify the corrupted souls to put them to rest, and navigate corrupted areas, relighting them to restore peace and light to the village.

Your lantern serves as a weapon to purify hostile souls as a combat system and a tool for getting through the darkest areas of the game, as well as solving puzzles by redirecting light through reflective objects (mirrors, windows, etc). The lantern can be used to purify hostile souls using either a short radius of luminous flux or emitting a projectile light beam. The player can extend their arm which is carrying the lantern forward and move the short luminous radius of the lamp closer towards hostile souls, where any hostile souls in this radius will have their darkness meter depleted by a certain amount per unit time. When this darkness meter reaches zero, the hostile soul is purified and thus “defeated”. The luminous radius is a short-ranged attack which, although expends the less fuel as an attack, increases the risk of the player decreasing their sanity meter in the event any hostile souls touch them. The player may instead emit a beam of light from the lantern as a projectile towards hostile souls at the cost of extra fuel. Some creatures can only be defeated by lighting the specific level's corrupted area, which unlocks the next level. Neither the beam of light nor the luminous radius will affect these enemies.

The measurables are:

• Sanity meter (Player, pseudo health-bar)
• Lantern fuel meter (Collectible gas canisters, which refill lantern fuel upon pick up)
• Darkness meter (Enemies, pseudo health-bar)

3rd Idea: Beneath The Willow

My third idea is based on a true story where I failed to keep my terrarium alive, I wonder sometimes how it would be thriving now if i kept it alive since terrariums can self-sustain and stay alive for years and years. I thought maybe basing a game on my shortcomings and having it be integral to the story by having the "herb" be vital in that way could be interesting, especially if paired with more mysterious background lore, so I built around that concept.

Description

You play as an herbalist drawn into your land's forbidden dark forest to find a rare herb that is the only ingredient capable of curing a dying patient. Desperation drives you into the forest despite warnings of its cursed and decaying state. Once inside, you discover that the forest's slow death has caused the plant life to wither, and the rare herb you seek can only grow under a willow tree if the forest is restored to life and healed of its curse.

You must restore the forest’s life by replanting key areas and solving nature-based puzzles. Collect seeds, herbs, and plant essences scattered throughout each level and use them to revitalise the withered soil patches in order to open new paths, allowing deeper and deeper exploration into the forest, and for you to find the rare herb you sought out. As you progress through the forest, environmental clues paint the picture of what happened to curse and decay the forest so strongly. The player learns that their land’s overzealous pursuit of this rare herb has led them to pillage and disrupt the natural harmony of the forest. The spirits of nature foresaw allowing this unchecked growth and exploitation to threaten distant lands when the local forest no longer sufficed, and so the forest was cursed into decay as a sacrificial last resort. Each area contains unique plant types that need specific essences to grow, along with environmental puzzles. These essences must be found and collected throughout the level to be applied to the plants which need to be restored. Water puzzles involve rerouting paths in the ground to create the desirable path for water to reach plants, and light puzzles involve rotating mirrors to reflect beams of light from the sun to illuminate plants and foster growth.

The measurables are:

• Collectibles (essences)
• Seeds
• Herbs
• Plants
• Time taken to complete puzzle
• Number of moves to complete each puzzle

Game Design Document

Game Design Proposals Slide

Game Design Proposals Presentation

Final Game Proposal

After receiving feedback, sir said all my ideas were good, but the 1st and 2nd in particular were ones he liked best and I could proceed with any of those two. I decided to go with the 2nd since it was the most interesting one for me.

Final Game Proposal Slides

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REFLECTION

I am really excited to start creating this game, since I very much enjoy the concept and idea as these kinds of stories with a dichotomous nature are very interesting to me, it was fun to brainstorm and come up with ideas for a game, I've always wanted to create one, and with this module, I now get the opportunity to do so. The task of pitching three initial ideas also made me explore more creative potentials for games, and how to decide and evaluate which concepts hold the most promise for development.