Genre:
The genre that my game will follow is Adventure/Fantasy. The reason for this is that the game will follow Siofra after she is taken away from the real world by the fairies. Siofra must then try to escape from the strange world the fairies have dragged Siofra into. This would be the adventure element of the game. In terms of the fantasy genre, the game will be filled with mythical Irish creatures from Irish mythology, for example fairies will be an integral part of the game.
Platforms:
The platforms that this game would be on are both the PC and PlayStation 4. This game will be mainly be designed for use on the PC. When initially designing this game the only platform I had in mind was PC. I will be using Unity to design the game from scratch. But thanks to a recent talk about Unity I have found out how you can develop the game for multiple platforms. In the future I would like to develop my game for the PlayStation 4. On the PlayStation store today there is a huge growing market for indie developers. Sony who own PlayStation are trying to support as many indie developers as they can. They have even gone as far as to devote a full section of their E3 Press Conferences to showcase what Indie developers are creating. This is something I would like to explore with my game in the future.
Themes:
The theme of this game is the loss of innocence. I was inspired by the poem “The Stolen Child” by W.B Yeats. This theme can be seen in the lines,
“There we've hid our faery vats,
Full of berrys
And of reddest stolen cherries”
The idea of the fruit being stolen conveys the point that the child in this poem has lost it’s innocence due to the events that take place.
Objective:
The objective of this game is to help young Síofra to escape from this strange and mysterious world that the fairies have dragged her into and reunite her with her parents.
Player Abilities/Animations:
Move Left/Right
Skip
Run
Jump Up and Down
Press Button
Pick Up Items
Environment Elements:
Magic animations*
Collapsible Platforms
Uilleann Pipes sequence puzzle
Simple animated elements in background *
Example, Trees moving and random characters appearing
Interactable Objects:
Buttons
Switches
Doors
Keys
Death:
The death animation on the character will be a very simple animation. The main cause of death for the player in this game will be caused by the enemy Amadán. Amadán will be moving left and right throughout this level and if he touches you at least three times, you will die. Síofra will simply fall backwards onto her back, squirm for a second or two and then lie motionless on the floor. Also, to not cause the player to get frustrated I will include checkpoints sporadically throughout the level.
Level Description/Design:
The level for my game will be very linear. You will be moving left and right on screen with the aim to reach the end of the level. There will be series of puzzles and collapsible platforms to navigate past. Here is a sketch that I made of how I see the level looking.
The level will follow a similar theme throughout the level. As you move on there will be large chunks of land to walk on, various elements moving in the forest in the middleground and background. One of these elements will be the water that you see in the middleground of the image above. We learned shape motion tweening in Animation class, I'm wondering could I achieve a water flow animation using this technique. Also you will come across moving platforms, collapsible platforms and doors. I was inspired by one of the most recognizable pieces of imagery in The Stolen Child and that is the waters and the wild. I imagined a dark and mysterious place, with lots of moss, streams, trees and wildlife.
I have not sketched it yet but the level will end with Síofra arriving at a giant castle and this will be the home of the Fairy King.
Camera:
The camera on this level will follow the character throughout. I will have the camera zoomed in very close to the main character and at certain key points of the level will switch out to a different camera to emphasize important bits of the level.
Character Design:
In some way the storyline has affected the design of my main character Síofra. Since the poem of The Stolen Child was released in 1886, I wanted to make sure that the character reflected that time period. And seeing as my character was a girl, I did some research into what clothes they may have worn at the time. One item that stood out was the nightdress. This is something that appears quite a lot in period dramas.
I have struggled with the initial character design sketches as I remembered that I have never actually drawn a female character before. So I still have a little more work to do to make the face look as much like a girl as I possibly can. If the design looks too silly I feel that it will let down the story that I am trying to tell and will be too distracting to the player.
HUD:
The HUD for my game will be very simple.
It will have a health bar in the top left of the screen, it will look something like this
It will have an inventory display in the top left, it will look something like this which comes from the game “Raconteur”
The one thing I want to avoid when considering what to add to the HUD is not overloading the player with loads of elements on the screen. I want the player to get fully immersed in the game and I feel having too much on screen will take the players out of the immersion of the game.
Soundtrack:
The soundtrack to the game will be something that will make the players feel in no doubt as to where the game is set. I will be featuring traditional Irish music as the soundtrack to the game. The music will not be upbeat as I want the player to feel the haunted nature of the environment where the main character Siofra finds herself. So I am thinking that the music may be from an instrument like the Uileann pipes. The Uileann pipes are famous throughout the world for the haunting tone that they produce. I think they will perfectly fit the setting of the game.
Unity:
Firstly I took the background image I drew and added it to the Unity scene.
Next I put in the stick figure walk cycle that I created in Flash. I exported this walk cycle from Flash by saving the walk cycle as a PNG sequence.
I then placed in the controller that I had made last semester for my "Spaceman" character. I placed it in the scene to the scale that I want the character to be. I also did this with the platforms and piece of land.
I then also placed the sketch that I drew of my character Siofra into the scene and fit it to scale in the scene.
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Puzzle Idea:
Inspired by the Game Engines class this week I got an idea for a puzzle to include in my game. I have the idea to have a button at some point maybe mid-way through the level, when you hit this button it plays a sound. But after this sound ends nothing happens. Then later on in the level you are presented with 3 Uilleann Pipes on screen. These Uilleann Pipes will each play an individual sound. When you play the sound clips the images of the Uilleann Pipes will shake. It is then up to the player to remember the sound that they had heard earlier in the level. Once you play the sounds in the right sequence it leads to maybe a door opening? Also I could maybe add an animation to the Uilleann Pipes when you play the sound. Something similar to how World Explorer 2 animated the Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona.
I am thinking about this puzzle leading to the end of the level. Once the player makes it through the door the screen goes white. Then an image pops up of Siofra looking at a castle in the distance and "Level Complete" pops up on screen.
Ether One pipes:
In the game "Ether One" one of the reoccurring puzzles is the Pipe puzzle. There are at least 3 Pipe puzzles in this game, an example of which you can see above. You find a hammer and must use this hammer to hit the pipes in a certain sequence. You can find the solution to this puzzle on charts which are on the walls near these puzzles.
Valiant Hearts Puzzle:
At the beginning of the game "Valiant Hearts" you have to interact with the musicians in order, in doing this you make the guard move away from the ladder you are trying to access.
Cluster Puzzles, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood:
In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood there are side quests called "Rifts". These are symbols that appear in buildings when you are using the character's eagle vision. Here is an example of what eagle vision looks like in-game.
Eagle vision is like a 6th sense that Assassin's use to highlight threats, targets and places/items of interest.
Anyway back to Rifts, once you interact with them it sends you into a memory sequence where it presents you with a series of puzzles. The first of which is where you are presented with a lot of paintings. You must place 5 of them in order. The only clue to let you know how to order them is a riddle at the top of the page.
The Solution to all these puzzles lead to secret narrative to add to the modern day storyline of the Assassin's Creed universe. This can be seen in the video below.
Frustration with these puzzles:
Piano puzzle, Silent Hill 1:
In the first Silent Hill game you are presented with this Piano puzzle. The only visual clues to help you solve the puzzle is blood on some of the keys. There is no audio feedback to the keys you are pressing. This has led to players being extremely frustrated when trying to solve this puzzle.
Shakespeare puzzle, Silent Hill 3:
Another frustrating puzzle again comes from the Silent Hill series. This time the player must organize Shakespeare books in order to be given a vital clue to advance in the game. The clues are written in Shakespearean English and reference some of his plays. The player must then guess which play does the quote belong to. Also the clues ask you to sometimes change the numbers from the completed order.
Gabriel Knight 3:
In this bizarre puzzle it is up to the player to get the main character past a security guard. You have an ID in your possession but the person you are trying to imitate has a mustache. In order to advance the player must pick up a piece of tape, then put the tape across a hole in a shed. Then the player must acquire a spray can. Once you have acquired the spray can you must spray a cat that is on a wall. The cat then runs from the wall and heads straight for the gap in the shed. The cat hits the tape and the tape is suddenly full of hair. You then pick up this "Mustache" and approach the guard. He then lets the main character past and you continue on with the game. This is probably the most bizarre puzzle I have ever come across. There is absolutely no logic to it and it would be impossible for someone to guess that sequence of events whilst playing it.
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