GAMES DEVELOPMENT - TASK 1: GAME DESIGN DOCUMENT

Luisa Audrey / 0348741 / Bachelor of Design in Creative Media (UI/UX)
Games Development
Task 1
Game Design Document

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LECTURE

For the first week, Mr. Razif briefed us about the module and the things we need to submit by the end of the semester. For the first task, we need to make a documentary about the game that we plan to make.

https://thedesignschool.taylors.edu.my/gamezone/

1. GAME DESIGN

Game design is the game development process of designing the content and rules of a game in the pre-production stage and designing of Gameplay, Environment, Storyline, and Character

Elements of a Game: Story

• How What Happens
• Affects Someone
• In Pursuit of a Difficult Goal
• How he or She Changes

Story Spine:

• Exposition (Intro to the character)
• Conflict (Obstacles and challenges to overcome)
• Climax (The final battle)
• Resolution (The conclusion)

Elements of a Game: Gameplay

1. Challenge: Challenge is the element that will make it difficult for the player to achieve their game objectives. (Different types of enemies, punishments, etc.)
2. Strategy: In order to overcome the challenge, the player should be able to think which allows them to develop a way to navigate through difficult situations in the game.
3. Chance: Chance is the element in your gameplay design that will help prolong the life of the player (Health bar replenishment, super bomb, superweapon, speed booster)
4. Choice: Most common in RPG games or interactive games (Create NPCs)
5. Luck: Luck is an element in a game that can help change the player’s outcome in the game

Key topics:

How to generate ideas for your game:

1. Brainstorming
2. brainwriting 6-3-5
3. Scamper (Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, Reverse)
4. (l) (Incorporate/Include, Improve, Inverse/Invert)

2. GAME ART

3. GAME TECHNOLOGY

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INSTRUCTION

Mr. Razif told us to review the games that were made by the previous students. 

This is the first game that I played. When I first played this, I thought that it was pretty cool. The art style was cute and the movement was pretty smooth. The game goal was also pretty straightforward and clear.

Good review:

- Consistent art style

- There are interactions with NPCs

- Smooth movement

Criticism:

- There is no respawn when you fall out of the world, so you're basically stuck not being able to start over or continue the game

- When you first start the game you didn't know you can move to the left since there was no clear instruction

This is the second game that I played. I really love the movement because it was fast and smooth. The art style is really simple and adorable as well. Reminds me of geometry dash.

Good review:

- Cute and simple art style

- Fast and smooth movement

Criticism:

- There are some parts that are impossible to get through to the point that it is not enjoyable anymore

- There is no respawn point (since the game is pretty hard to get through it is necessary)

For the game design document the sir asked us to make 3 ideas and consult with him. I made 3 ideas and here are the stories:

1. DEFEATING CROPS & DELIVERING FOOD

Kiki is a little kitty who has a passion for cooking. Every day she helps her parent's food delivery business. Lately, there’s been a weird phenomenon where all the source crops become hostile. The carrots, cabbages, etc. started attacking her parents. However, one thing they noticed, is that once they fight the crops, they will then turn back to their original form. Kiki is a skillful kitty, more than her parents, she knows how to fight and defend herself. After knowing the problem, she offered herself to help grab the crops instead. After several days of fighting the crops for the ingredients, she found a secret that might lead to the reason for all the chaos. She found a spilled bottle with weird purple-looking liquid inside. thick smoke comes out of the bottle causing all the crops around it to go aggressive. Kiki then realized that there are more than 1 bottle that has been scattered around the forest. Her job is now to remove them to stop the crops from growing hostile. Deep into the woods, she found a weird-looking house. Kiki was curious so she sneaked in to see what was happening inside the house. She then found an old granny making the potion that looks like the ones she found across the forest. She also saw her crow pets flying away carrying the potion to be dropped around the forest. Kiki bravely confronted the old granny and told her to stop what she was doing as the hostile crops are slowly attacking the town. The old granny laughed hysterically instead knowing that she has slowly achieved her goal, which is to vanish the town. Kiki wouldn’t let that slide. She went to her family and told them what happened to plan a strategy to stop the old granny. They, later on, found out that the potion can be neutralized with a golden radish that is planted far on top of the mountain. However, this mountain is guarded by a big alpaca that Kiki needs to defeat. Thankfully Kiki is a strong kitty. With the help of her parent's nutritious cooking, she became stronger. She then took the radish and went to defeat the old granny. After the old granny was defeated, she quickly put the radish inside the big pot of potion to neutralize it. She then quickly spreads the new potion to return the crops to their original form. After that, the business can now run smoothly again, the town is safe again. 

Game rules:

• You have to defeat the crops that are in the ingredients (Will show the recipe book on what to capture)
• Killing more crops than asked won’t give you drops
• Kiki has 6 hearts in total
• crops deal 1 heart damage
• Kiki carries a backpack that can be used to keep inventory (food boost, food to deliver)
• you can find more coins if you explore deeper into the woods
• Coins can be used to buy skin, pet, or weapon
• you can find at least 1 key on each level
• The key can be used to open the chest
• Kiki uses a knife as the original weapon
• To the left of the restaurant is the forest (where to crops grow), and to the right is the town (where you deliver the food)
• There is a teleportation gadget to teleport to the restaurant
• the crops near the potion bottle are more hostile and will deal more damage
• more hostile mobs deal 1.5 heart damage
• There are 3 boosts that Kiki can get, heals (heals 1 heart), a fast boost (will allow Kiki to run fast and will destroy the mobs she dashed), and a jump boost (can be used to reach a high surface platform to reach rare items).
• All of the boosts can be gotten from the food Kiki’s parents cook (crafting and chest)
• All levels can be done multiple times, however, the key can only be received once.

Level 1:

• You will spawn in the restaurant
• Defeat crops
• After catching the ingredients, cook them in the restaurant
• After cooking, deliver them to the customers in their houses (2 food)

Level 2:

• You will spawn in the restaurant
• Defeat more crops
• the encounter with the potion bottle
• the encounter with more hostile crops
• After catching the ingredients, cook them in the restaurant
• After cooking, deliver them to the customers in their houses

2. CHANGING CHARACTER

Once upon a time, there is a group of super-powered animals that always protect the sun town. Ruby is one of the 5 heroes. All of them possess different elements of power. Starting from fire, water, earth, wind, and finally light. Ruby is the one who possesses the light element. One day, a big evil capybara destroyed the town and kidnapped all of his friends except for Ruby. She felt very devastated as the town was destroyed and she lost her friends. She then came to this old magician for help and to see whether her friends are safe or not. Turned out her friends are still alive captured deep down under the Capybara’s castle prison. The magician said that the Capybara king is planning to destroy all the towns (water town, fire town, earth town, and wind town). Ruby wouldn’t let that happen, she immediately went on a journey to visit all of the towns and unite to kill the Capybara king together. On the way on her journey, she met a few animals that own different elements that offer themselves to help her in the journey. She agreed to their offer and went on a journey as a group of 5. All of them have the same element as her friends, however, they’re not as strong as her hero friends. Still better than alone Ruby thinks. On the way to the forest, they realize that the plants have turned hostile. Not only that, some of them are actually infused with elements causing them to only be able to get attacked by their own elements. After gathering all of the leaders in every town, they all unite to kill king capybara with Ruby as the leader. The Capybara island is the furthest from all, forcing them to cross the ocean. Thankfully the wind town leader granted them the ability to fly to go faster toward Capybara Island. When she got there, she was so worried about seeing her friends getting captured and ready to be thrown into the void. The others tried to stop the machine and the guard while Ruby faced King Capybara. Thanks to her mightiness, she managed to defeat King Capybara. Together with her friends, they managed to stop the capybaras from killing the heroes. Ruby quickly released her hero friends and they all finally reunited. Afterward, they all live happily ever after.

Game Rules:

• Each character has a different heart (Ruby has 6), (Fire has 5), (Water has 6), (Earth has 7), (Wind has 5)
• Ruby carries a backpack that can be used to carry help items
• You can change the character for different elements
• You can find coins across the level
• Coins can then be used to buy skin and help items
• You can find random material that is scattered around the map in place that is hard to reach
• The material is used to craft rare skin
• There are a few help items that are created by each town element such as the ability to fly, the ability to breathe under the water, the ability to control plants, and the ability to remove fire
• Random items will most likely spawn in a place where we need help items
• Plants deal 1 heart dmg if the character that is used possesses the same element power
• Plants deal 1.5 heart dmg if the character that is used possesses different element power

Level 1:

• Spawn in the town
• Meet the first friend with a fire element
• fight the plants in the forest
• Will meet some fire element plants
• A little bit of parkour

Level 2:

• Spawn in the forest
• Fight the plants in the forest + fire elements
• Harder parkour

3. RESCUE THE MONSTER / PETS

Dilly is a little monster that is always bullied by her friends. Her friends bullied her because her color is pink, and the pink monster is not scary. One day there is a big giant robot alien that started capturing all the monsters in the town. It also destroyed the town pretty badly leaving only a few behind. Dilly saw with her own eyes how her bullies were pleading for mercy as they were taken away. As badly as she hates them, she felt bad for them. The big robot then flew far away carrying all the captured monsters from the town. Little did they know, Dilly managed to open the bottom gate letting some of the monsters fall down across the city to the forest. The next time Dilly checked, the plane flew faster, really fast that it was already gone in a blink. She was so scared thinking about what might happen to her friends. Dilly decided not to be a coward monster as she rose and started looking for her friends. She went on her journey starting from the town and later on heading towards the forest. On her way, she found multiple cages and multiple that trapped the poor monsters. She saw a few keys scattered on the ground. The problem is, the durability of the key is not that good, she can only open 5 to 6 cages. Walking and keep walking, she released a few monsters. As she released the monsters, she got blessings from the random monsters giving her the chance to gain super abilities. She kept on walking until she saw the huge plane that captured her friends deep inside the forest. She then slowly approach the plane until a few robot guards stopped her. Using the help of the special abilities, she managed to defeat them. She then bravely went inside the plane and defeat all the guards until she met her friends. There she saw a few monsters being captured. Thanks to her bravery and her mighty, Dilly managed to defeat the king robot and saved her friends. All of the monsters cheered for her including her bullies. She is now a favorite monster and they live happily ever after.

Game Rules:

• Dilly has 6 hearts
• Small robots deal 1 heart dmg
• Big robots deal 1.5 heart dmg
• the key can be found at least once at every level
• 1 key can be used for 5 cages only. If the level requires you to open more than 5, that means there are 2 keys hidden
• There will be coins scattered around each level
• The coins can then be used to buy skins and special ability
• The special ability includes night vision, water breathing, and flying
• Night vision can be used inside the cave to increase the sight, water breathing can be used to dive into the ocean, flying can be used to reach the high platform
• The keys are usually hidden in the place where you need a special ability
• Dilly will sometimes boost powers from the monsters
• Boost powers include speed and extra charge
• Speed allows you to run fast to dash the enemies in front
• Extra charge will damage 2 to 3 enemies

Level 1:

• Spawn in the town
• Find 1 hidden key
• Release 3 monsters around the town
• Fight little robots
• A little parkour

Level 2:

• Spawn in town
• Will go to the forest
• Find 1 hidden key
• Release 5 monsters around the town and forest
• Fight little robots
• More parkour

After I presented everything to sir Razif, he asked me which one I like and I answered the first one. Without any hesitation he just asked me to proceed with the first one. I quickly chose the first one just because I was excited to draw the food.

After deciding which game I would create, I decided to finalize the idea and create some sketches. To my surprise, I actually took so much time creating the character. Here are some of my old sketches:

This is the very first sketch that I made and I did not like it at all. At first, I still didn't know on what animal I should make my first character as. After awhile, I think I would want to create cat more than rabbit. So here are my sketches:

I created the one on the right first. After I made that, I felt like it's not cute at all. The character looks goofy and weird in a way. I finally created the one on the left and I quite like the design. The face is cute and unique. However, I didn't quite like the clothing. So I made the final version:

The apron and the neck fabric makes it look more accurate as a cooker or restaurant helper. I use this color palette:

I finalized the story and the game document including the levels and how the game will work. I was actually kind of worried about my game since it looks kind of complicated, but I just proceed with it first. Here is my game document:

This is my presentation:

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FEEDBACK

Sir Razif said that I need to be careful because I will have lots of thing to draw. However, he still asked me to proceed with it.

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REFLECTION

Personally, I was quite excited making this design document since I kept thinking about how it would be so much fun creating it. I had lots of idea the first time I came up with 3 candidates as well, but I had to compile them into the 3 ideas only. Although honestly, despite my excitement, I was also worried about the coding by the end of submission. Since sir did give us tutorial on how to do the coding and I realized how hard it was just to follow simple command such as walking and attacking. I started to worry on how am I going to make a game inside the game and how am I going to make it talk to npc. However, I still proceed with it and decided to focus on the drawing first.