Game Design

Summary & Genre

Single-player 3D side-scroller style with obstacles to avoid. This is a leveled runner where our main character was about to die. To return to life, he must collect seconds while running.

Target Audience

Young adults between the ages 18 to 25, fans of games with a simple gameplay and a narrative.

Platform

Currently Windows only.

Age Rating

16/18+, due to its dark story.

Main Heading

You play Moce, a 100-year-old guy, frustrated with the life he had, jumps off the globe committing suicide. Destiny chooses a different ending though and as you fall you collect seconds until you reach the very beginning of your life. Each level represents 1 year and for each year you have 31.556.928 seconds to collect. 9 chapters representing Moce’s life periods, each with new obstacles, skills and characters!

Gameplay

Several levels spanning across 9 chapters (less than 100 levels; some years are not represented). Each level being a memory of Moce’s life.

In-game power-ups may be picked up. They will help Moce avoid obstacles and finish a level faster.

Time is both a constraint and a goal. This means that to survive the level Moce must keep collecting seconds, while avoiding obstacles that will take the precious seconds away.

There is a list of possible upgrades for each chapter, which are available for Moce before a level, for improving his main abilities. There he can choose one per each weapon/tool for the whole level.

Depending on the chapter, Moce’s abilities change according with his age (as an elder, he uses a walking cane; as a teenager, he uses a baseball bat, for example). The animations and obstacles for which he uses an ability are different; the way of controlling (pressed keys) is the same.

Each level has a goal of seconds. Moce needs to collect them while the Time Bar is not fulfilled. That goal is needed to unlock the next level.

Mechanics & Dynamics

Mechanics: Jumping, choosing Upgrades and using Power-ups. Upgrades will enhance the power of the player’s Weapons/Tools. Also, Power-ups will be available to be collected in-game and will help the player to finish the level faster, by easily collecting more seconds or by protecting him against penalties when colliding with obstacles.

Dynamics: collecting seconds and Power-ups and using both the Weapons/Tools. Jumping to collect seconds and avoid obstacles is a core dynamic.

Gameplay Loop

Collect seconds -> destroy/avoid obstacles -> Get to the end of the level

Flow

a. Difficulty increase with time

Levels increase in difficulty, be it by Moce moving at higher speed, or a bigger balance of negative objects (obstacles, enemies) comparing to beneficial objects (seconds), as well as their density.

b. Difficulty increase on obstacles

When new obstacles are met, the player will have time to master them as it will be easy to surpass them the first times. They will be encountered time and time again though and later mixed with other obstacles so the player will have to deal with multiple obstacles at the same time.

Levels

Length: about 2 minutes (like fast-paced levels in Rayman Legends)

To help the pressure, Moce will have no checkpoints. Instead, right after hard obstacles, he will have packs of seconds to improve his time margin, which doesn’t mean he gets them. Easy to collect, but require the use of a simple mechanic like jumping.

Aesthetics

a. Introduction

Moce, close to the end of his life, of his Destiny, is granted another opportunity, but at a cost. Suicide grants you Hell, and as such, until he can start his life again with a new mindset, Moce must go through a series of obstacles from the past, only this time with a new look.

b. Chapters (general)

During the chapters, along with the game progress, the aesthetic becomes less and less dark until the moment he enters in his mom’s belly, very close to the bright white light from Heaven, from where comes the chance of a life (from God).

c. Player’s Mindset

We want the player to experience something that gets faster as he learns and masters the game mechanics. He will be hurried to make the best time management he can. Anxiety, pressure and relief are the mindsets we want to provoke in him.

d. Appeal

Simplistic polygonal models with flat textures that bare little details (e.g., a coat might have a flat blue texture with a simple pentagon of another colour representing a pocket). This allows us to present a game that’s visually easy on the eyes with minimalist styling, which is popular with some indie titles like: Jalopy, Copoka, Human: Fall Flat and Boson X.

General Sound

• Dressing/undressing robe (thick cloth moving)
• Clock ticking
• Bright sound (quiet “Bling!” when collecting seconds)

Keyboard Layout

We have come with simple controls. Which are:

i. Jump

Key: space bar

Description: jumping will make use of the Main Weapon for the animation

ii. Main Weapon

Key: A

Description: used to help destroying obstacles and attacking enemies

iii. Secondary Weapon

Key: S

Description: used to collect nearby obstacles

iv. Others

Collecting items won’t need any press of a key. Collisions will do the job.

Menus will use normal keys like WASD/arrows + Enter or the mouse cursor for interaction.

To access Menus while playing a level, press Esc (also to return to a previous one).

Power-ups

Power-ups are collectables found out during the level. Each one gets activated in the moment they are collected. They are the same in every chapter.

i. Robe

Purpose: protect from obstacles; no time penalty

Animation: highlighted blue outline

Parent weapon/tool: attached to character’s body

Lifetime: 10 seconds

ii. Clock

Purpose: removes 60 seconds

Animation: clock pointers going back

Parent weapon/tool: not visible on the character

Lifetime: One-time-use consumable

Chapters

1st Chapter - Elder

Number of levels: 8 (total of 16 years; one in two years has no level)

a. Characters

i. Moce

Age: 100 to 85 (elder)

Description: old man; big beard; uses walking stick; slow

b. Aesthetics and background story

Mood: dangerous, tense, horrible, scary

Immediately, the world becomes an horrendous scenario, frightening, hoping to scare Moce and to make him give up. A tough journey is about to come so he must get ready to leave the border of Hell.

c. Weapons and tools

Items carried by the playable character to interact with the game performing some of the main mechanics. They can be improved with upgrades attached along the level.

i. Walking stick

Main Weapon

Purpose: attack, destroy obstacles

Animation: depends on the obstacle

Context: as an elder, Moce need this to walk

ii. Dentures

Secondary Weapon

Purpose: grab seconds / power-ups usually out of reach

Animation: leaves mouth towards nearby items, if possible

Context: Moce has already lost his teeth. Has Dentures that fall sometimes

d. In-game upgrades

Improvements for the character and his weapons/tools.

Lifetime

Last until the end of the level, unless their obstacles destroy them first. When equipped, their hazards will be highlighted and more and more of these will appear to make sure the player does not make an excessive use of the upgrades.

Interaction

Double click parent action key.

Why use them?

Important to easily surpass obstacles, move faster or access new areas.

Good for recovering from mistakes and/or is a good way of finishing the level faster.

Levels can be finished without them though.

Where to get them? How many can we use?

The player has to choose one per each parent weapon/tool in the beginning of a level.

How do we know we are using them?

There is an icon shown on the screen during the game. And the items are also visible in the character itself (attached to their parent weapon/tool).

i. Rubber tip

Purpose: jump higher to reach other platforms or items

Animation: bounces

Parent weapon/tool: Walking stick

Hazard: spikes on the ground

ii. Umbrella stick

Purpose: glide fast, saving time

Animation: swings to both sides

Parent weapon/tool: Walking stick

Hazard: upside-down spikes

iii. Denture glue (aka toothpaste)

Purpose: launch dentures farther away to get higher items

Animation: liquid leaves the denture stretching like chewing gum

Parent weapon/tool: Dentures

Hazard: Dentures are launched towards non-collectable items

iv. Magnet

Purpose: attract items nearby Dentures when launched

Animation: items are absorbed; electricity-like animation

Parent weapon/tool: Dentures

Hazard: Dentures are launched towards non-collectable item

e. Ambient obstacles

On collision, obstacles take precious seconds from Moce’s time bar. Time slows down and lets him have a chance to recover.

i. Stairs

The bane of every old person, the stairs are sure to trip Moce due to his shuffling of his feet while walking. Moce can overcome the stairs by using his cane to jump over them.

ii. Dogs

Moving, barking, overall an annoyance that Moce has two ways to deal with. Either Moce can jump to avoid small or large dogs, or he can swing his cane to scare away larger dogs. Smaller dogs cannot be swung at with the cane.

iii. Diseases

Everybody gets diseases from time to time, that’s no lie… but when you’re an old man, even a basic cough can be the sign of something serious. Bacterial cells will home in on Moce the same way as with the dogs, but every variant can be dispatched easily with the swinging of his cane.

iv. Technology

“Where do I put the letter in this thingamajig to send to your aunt?” - A quote you’re very likely to have heard before or a similar variant. New technology is something that Moce, like many old people never managed to adopt and confuses him. Use the cane to get rid of them or jump over the computers and appliances that get in Moce’s path.

v. Eyesight

As we get older, our eyesight tends to get worse, and this is no exception for Moce. Broken glasses are something that Moce must avoid at all costs. Jump over them with his cane.

f. Sound / Music

Music: Dark, moody, desolate (e.g., faster version of: The Haxan Cloak - Mist )

Possible genres for the music: Dark Ambient, Drone

Sounds:

• Cane swing
• Cane tap (jump action)
• Fire drafts (non-score ambient sounds)
• Bubbling lava (non-score ambient sounds)

Other chapters (raw)

Chapters List and Brainstorming

Name, Age Range, Year Count, Level Count, Brainstorming

Elder 85-100 16 8 hell

Retired 65-84 20 8 hotel, resting, holidays

Mid-life crisis 46-64 19 8 life, anxiety, depression

Adult 31-45 15 8 children

Young adult 18-30 13 8 marriage

Teenager 15-17 3 3 girlfriend

Pre-teen 11-14 4 4 helmet, skate, spinning top

Child 5-10 6 4 drawings, toys

Baby 1-4 4 4 cry, pacifier, baby carriage, heaven

• Some years don’t have levels because there would be too many levels. Those years will be greyed with no level associated.

HUD (Heads-Up Display)

(1) Time Bar (with number count)

This is where you can keep track of the progress of your goal. When the bar drops below a section, the correspondent level is complete. As the player collects seconds, the bar will gradually decrease until it’s empty and the chapter is complete. A number below the bar will represent the number of seconds still needed to be collected.

(2) 1st Weapon/Tool Inventory Slot

This is where the player can see which item Moce is currently equipping for his 1st Weapon/Tool (e.g.: Walking Cane in the case of the 1st Chapter). The square will always be shown even if it doesn’t have an item equipped for that slot.

(3) 2nd Weapon/Tool Inventory Slot

This is where the player can see what item Moce is currently equipping for his 2nd Weapon/Tool (e.g.: Dentures in the case of the 1st Chapter). The square will always be shown even if it doesn’t have an item equipped for that slot.

(4) Active Power-ups

This is where the currently active power-ups will be shown. The power-up will appear with its icon in a circle, where a timer will count down until the power-up expires and the circle disappears.

Resources

Software: Unity (development), Maya (simple modelling), Photoshop (simple textures for models), Pro Tools (sound design), Ableton Live (music)

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