Story, Character and Design Development - UQdeco2800/2022-studio-2 GitHub Wiki

Initial Thoughts and Inspiration

In the studio of Week 4 the team talked about story, character and design ideas. We confirmed that positions would buff and debuff the character and confirmed with the studio where we are at with our feature. Teams asked multiple questions about if the enemies have weapons, how the inventory would work and what weapons the main character has.

Elias' started with character and story feedback survey.

Initial Ideas for Story:

Noland’s idea: Give the false idea they can choose to save the island

An archaeologist studying Greek mythology is lost in a storm at sea. Waking up to find him in the long-disappeared Atlantis. Here he needs to fight the sleeping souls (the inhabitants of Atlantis, kings and gods) and monsters. He can gain the abilities granted by the city of Atlantis. (If he doesn't win sooner, he'll be sunk again with the recreated Atlantis.) Finally, reveal the secrets of Atlantis （OR, to win is to wake up and find that it was just a dream? wake up in the hospital or something hhhhhh) EASTER EGG. Each game can obtain a different memory or ability, and the deeper the understanding, the deeper the bond with Atlantis.

Elias’ Idea: Okay so we are playing Poseidon but bestie did something bad or Zesus did something bad against him that put him in groundhog day that has trapped on the island. Its groundhog day and we keep dying, trapped in a cycle. As we die more and more the world around him gets more and more messed up, darker themes, horror, friends turn enemies, he’s slowly succeeding at sinking the island. There's a point where he either succeeds in sinking it and returns to his kingdom or is turned human and trapped in the sunk Atlantis. Alternative: Hes turned human by zeus, same setting, by he doesn't die due to his positive relationship with his brother hades. Potions for MC: ambrosia and gods food, that could work as health or rougelike transfer keys Keeps returning back to the same place when he dies Ideas on why hes trapped: convicted of sleeping with Hera. Zesus slept with his wife. Maybe something is deeply wrong with the ocean or constant storms etc. Unclear on my idea for why.

Isaac Idea (It was just the example I made): Upset plumber: As the only Atlantis plumber, Bobticular is sick of work. Middle-aged and horribly overworked, he plans to reach the depths of Atlantis and pull its plug to sink the city. No guard, monster, or eldritch beast will stop his quest to get a day off. Can still have normal weapons implemented, but can also have fun implementing like ‘atlantis’ items (plumbing pipe, wrench, what would they look like?) Buff items can still remain the same

PLumber can drink ambrosia to get more powerful skills Makes sense on a level setting, further down we go it gets more difficult (we need those ambrosia drinks), but at level 1 it works, cause this is just some regular atlantian (using a pipe / shitty dagger) Makes sense from an enemy sense (atlantian guard -> monster -> extra scary monster)

Alice’s idea: Branching off Noland’s idea: citizen’s of Atlantis caught an unidentifiable virus where they desperately need a special medication which as told to be locked [somewhere, haven’t decided yet] the main character took on this journey to find the medication where he will be undergoing many challenges (stages of the game). When he reaches the final stage of where the medication is locked he end up sinking Atlantis. This all turns out to be the enemy’s plan where they released the virus and gave the main character false hope. The virus was not curable and the there were no medications to seek for.

Leo’s idea: Lucas, the bounty hunter, has a treasure map. He is looking for precious items and gold coins that will make him rich. When he finally reaches Atlantis, he discovers that the treasure map is a trap.

Atlantis has been occupied by demons, Lucas tries to sink Atlantis for saving the indigenous people who have not yet been taken over by demons He is also affected by demonic powers, but the magic potion gives him access to the power of it. Too many deaths will make him weak and he will need the appropriate rare magic potion to get rid of the weakness

Ideas Voting: 1 vote - 1. Archeologist transported to atlantis 7 votes - 2. Posidean stuck in groundhog day where things get worse and wores until he sinks it 18 votes - 3. Ticked off plumber sinking the island 8 votes - 4. Pandemic, cure actually sinks atlantis 1 votes - 5. Bounty hunter with demons.

Winning vote: Plumber

Character Idea: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-A_NEMoRRfBWO4OcQdGWduAW6zI0WPgGI-e_GMuFFYY/edit?usp=sharing

Design: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IBjTML3agB1EYhPAUYyMAYJW2hFaE824pDt8sawzUbY/edit?usp=sharing

18/08/22

nishavashist#4270 got in contact on behalf of the weapons team (04) to talk about what level 1's weapon will be. The discussion was had about ideas, as to whether the story team was amendable to what the weapons will be and clearing up confusion as to how weapons work in a roguelike game. After discussion Elias' agreed to poll the story team at 11:30 pm proposing two ideas to quickly give the weapons team direction since team 09 was relying on them.

Evening @Team 06 - Story / Player we need to make a choice on weapons for sprint one on which weapon they start with 💛 Option one: Trident that looks flashy but is useless. The place is pretty and makes sense in context but the plumber doesn't realise it's bad, how do they work out it's bad tho? This is confusing for the weapons team

❤️ Option two: Plumber item, plunger used as a weapon, it's clear it won't do much damage and fits with the theme. You eventually get good items with greek themes.

Three voted for option two, two for option one, and voters for option two confirmed they were fine with the majority vote and just thought it would be amusing to have a flashy but useless weapon. Team 04 -Weaponizers were informed of the choice and agreed.

sweet @Team 04 - Weaponizers evening, we talked with @nishavashist and had a poll, implement what you had planned for sprint one, develop plumber items in sprint two then swap it into level one so the player starts with plumber items and picks up more greek themed ones in level 2/sprint two.

Update written by Elias Blanch 11:45 pm, 18/08/2022 as they study late.

19/08/2022 Colour and Font

Team 06 - Story & Character met on the 19th of August at 2:30 pm to discuss our milestones. We made choices on inspiration, what the game will look like level to level, who the character is and what the main character looks like. This update provides context for choices made, the inspiration that we chose against and the keynotes of said choices.

Font Choice:

The team discussed various font choices but it was quickly narrowed to what works with an MIT license, we agreed on option 4 as this font was easily usable and free for commercial choice.

Initial Ideas:

A font Map's team found via images (Option 1): Link

Not chosen due to the work involved with converting an image to font, to then pixelate it with our art style.

Dalek Pinpoint Font (Option 2): Link

This is the closest to what we wanted, taking inspo from the greek alphabet and what is associated with greek themed things. This is for personal use only and thus was ruled out.

Grecoian Font (Option 3): Link

This uses greek letters in place of English letters, on a technical level it is too stereotypical and feels like something out of The Emperor's New Groove or The Road to El Dorado, both of which use completely different cultures, the team thought that might skirt too close to cultural appropriation. It is also personal use.

Reality - Opentype Unicode Font (Option 4): Link

This was originally second to Dalek Pinpoint, it didn't feel sharp enough for what we hoped but the decision was made for us when we realised the limitations of the MIT license, but it still fits the vibe/ feeling of what we are aiming for.

[Final choice]

Stunning font, but it's nordic, not greek, and looks to be the official font of a game so private license.

Nord - Font (Option 5): Link

Roman SD Font (Option 6): Link

Heavily links with the Greek alphabet and is visually similar to the font styles used on ancient greek stone carvings. Personal use only license again.

Inspiration/ Reference For Font:

Link

Stardew Valley is a good example of how the font is used in a pixel art style, this is our point of reference when picking a font for the dialog font.

Colour Scheme Level One:

Map's team provided this scheme they made from a map they like, this helped us chose the final colours for level 1. Link

Initially, we all said colours we associated with greek mythology, these were blue, white, cream, purple, green, and teal. From that a quick colour scheme was made:

This colour scheme was then iterated on, considering how the teal and yellows weren't of a similar tone to the rest of the palette, and Isaac raised that this couldn't be the colours for all of level 1 because we have plants and other elements, it was agreed that this was a guide/ inspiration for other teams to use. Hence this was made:

[ Final colour scheme ]

With the agreed context of colour scheme:

White for buildings
Purple for banners/ tapestries
Blue for water
Green for plants

Inspiration For Level 1

The inspiration we took was from the following images, all collated by each team member in our meeting:

Current Greek location, using blues, whites, purples/pinks and greens

Architecture of buildings

Render of Greece temples showing white and how colourful they were when they were first built

Ancient Greece temple render again, colourful people and temple

Current greek temple, showing creams, greeks and architecture we envision in the game

NPC Inspiration & Design:

From discussions it was agreed citizens look like ancient greek people of various skin tones, genders, clothing etc, mainly with ancient greek clothing and the rest will be left to NPC/ Enemy teams.

Gaurd Link

NPC Look and Feel: Link 1 | Link 2

What NPC Team Already Made: These where drafted by the NPC team, it gives an idea of their art style and plans.

19/08/2022 Level 2 Design

Ideas:

Home space, meeting with family and not a good relationship
Concern: implement those design details that you can’t sympathise with
NPC’s hateful, depicts the resentment
Tentacle slithering back to
Under the city, pipes
Poverish, characters' backstory connection through this being his home
Plumbers enemies
Starting to get more monster enemies

It was voted that level 2 be poverty under the city with dungeon elements, all of team 06 - Story voted in favour. This vote was needed as there was a big discussion about why the team wanted poverty elements, especially since this brings about the problem of the person playing sympathising with the characters.

There where the team members' thoughts:

Special Victims Units soundtrack plays... and these were their stories

Hierarchy makes sense with hatred - Alice
Capitalism and liberalism but it feels commentary is needed on the poverty else it feels out of touch. having poverty as maybe housewives, pretending they are fine, pushing they are assholes and that the Pc isn't a good person- Elias
Leo is for but unsure about how extreme we are going with poverty
Just do poverty angle, we can just do some operation to show the range of people in theming - Noland
Concerns about sympathy from the player about poverty, removing the poverty angle. it's a requirement for NPCs to treat them like shit. They must be rude and is a chariciture- Isaac

Level 2 Enemies

Tentacle ball
Slime ball Link
Fighting an NPC friend Link | Link 2
Tentacles of an undetermined creature Link
Killer poop Link

Level 2 Aesthetic, Setting, Visuals

Colours are level 1's colour scheme but grungier, dirtier, and darker, with more greens and blues, with fewer creams, yellows and whites.

The story team chose to take inspiration from the game 'Stray' and its use of poverty, it depicts a cluttered but functional undercity, lower lit than level 1. We took ideas from Bioshock and Dwemer ruins as well in the steampunk pipe scene we would like to see. Link - Stray | Link - Steampunk

19/08/2022 Level 3 Design

Ideas:

Dungeon style
Blueish underground see look
Dark blues, greys, washed out in comparison to L1& L2
Pipes, hidden areas
Bioluminescent
Industrialised
Skeletons
Industrialised
Fighting the hydra to pull the final plug, the hydra is protecting the plug
Tentacle balls and poop monsters

Scrapped Ideas:

Darker, reddish brick tunnels, scrapped because we are sinking the island and blues made the most sense with ocean, under the city feel.

Level 3 Enemies

Tentacle ball Link

Charybdis Link

Hydra (Enemies team has ideas)
Guards Link | Link 2

Level 3 NPCs:

Leave to NPCs and enemies teams mostly.

The old plumber will help the player to gain knowledge of the level 3 dungeon.

A drunk/ intoxicated rich person with glowing mushrooms
Tripping
Potions on him
Call back to disgusting, mean, cruel rich people in level

Guards protecting (are these also enemies? Are these monstrous guards?)

Level 3 Aesthetic, Setting, Visuals

Link | Link | Link | Link

Updated 20/08/2022 by Elias Blanch

19/08/2022 Character Development

Basics & Stats:

Name: Bob Bobaros Name deas that are more greek: Bobicus, Bobticular, Bobarious, Bobelus, Bobio, Bobiugi, Baros

Name ideas initially: Robert (Rob or Bob), Mark, Scott, Brian, Greg [Note, I’m leaning towards syllable names because they are more associated with the working class -Elias]

Names were then voted on, -Bob Baros, 4 -Bob Bobaros (‘Bo-baros’), 1- Bob Bob

Age: 40
Pronouns: He/him
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Asexual (no relationships, not interested) Elias proposed Bob being gay or bi, and Alice suggested asexual because it aligns with him being self-centred and selfish, not interested in others in any way.
Height: 170cm
Weight: 50kg (Intentionally small) Changed from 120 to 50 because Bob is intended to be in poverty, struggling to find food.
Hair Colour: Brown
Skin Colour: Pink/white (pale?)
Ancestry/ god, human etc: Human

Notable physical features:

Not overly gross, not overly gross
Hat bouncing when walking, reveals a bald head
Moustache

Clothing/ outfit/ gear:

Plumbers belt, greek ish clothing? Aprons?
Apron or overalls, dirty
Musty colours, grundy of the level 1 palette
Belt brown/ leather
Gloves
Tools around his belt
Wrench
Pipes
Screwdrivers
Plumbing tape/seal tape
Hat

Weapons: Ideas taken from the vote and discussion had with Weapons team.

Plumbers tools (weak) - L1
Wrench
Plunger
Greek mythology themed (weapons team develop)
Trident
L3 sword ideas:
Tentacle great sword

In level one character uses plumber items to defeat enemies, they aren’t strong and don’t do as much damage. In later levels, they pick up greek mythology-themed weapons that do more damage. (Voted by story team in consultation with weapons team, note for sprint one the weapon will be a flashy weapon that is intended to do high damage, that will be replaced in sprint two with plumber items and flashy weapon put in level 2, this was to accommodate weapons team timeline and designs already made.) Why are they sinking: Sick of clogged toilets

Relationships with NPCs:

Level 1 - Upper-class people: boss and employee relationship Guards : unfriendly Level 2 - Other plumbers: colleagues/friends Impoverished people: unfriendly relationship Level 3 - Intoxicated dude & guards: unfriendly

Character skills - How they work with the story:

Leave entirely to the skills team Theme: Plumber skills, fast-paced worker Different weapons increase different stamina, mana etc, you must trade weapons.

Character Inventory - How they work with the story:

Toilet inventory/chest, the start of each level and one at the end of the level, then one before the boss. Connected through piping so they always have inventory
Checkpoint saving was discussed and agreed upon, we had a discussion about roguelike vs roguelite, agreed the game and other teams are building are rougelite.

Who is this character?

Our main character is a pissed-off plumber, they are over unclogging so many toilets that are varying degrees of disgust. He is either one of the few or the only plumber(s) on the island. He is your stereotypical plumber, middle age white dude that is anti-rich. He’s very working class, pro breaking down the system that was built in the literal burn it all down or in this case drown the whole island.

Character trait:

asexual - so he is self-centred and selfish, only cares about himself -Alice

Inspiration:

**Scruffy from futurama ** Link

Proposed by Elias
"i actually really like this, but maybe a bit more scrawny, gross/unkempt - Isaac"
Alice suggested skinnier dirtier version of Scruffy

Joe from Oz9 podcast: Link

Joe_original-240x300

Their outfits can look more dirty/musty - Alice & Noland

Update by Elias Blanch 20/08/2022

Rethink/ Iteration

Dialogue font was chosen: Pokemon Pixel
Colour scheme was confirmed to be associated with the intended Ancient Greek/ Atlantis
Horror was selected as a theme we ease up on and rethink later on, for now, focus on adventure, especially since this was flagged by user testing and team testing to be a confusing theme