Final Game Document

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xTl8h_sln6lNIF6xntCVOW5gmJQVczoLmN-RNi-4Jyg/edit?usp=sharing

PURGATORY

Game Design Document

PURGATORY

Overview

Introduction

This first person interactive horror game places the player in the body of Sara, moments after her death, and is sent to the realm of Purgatory.  The player’s objective as Sara is simple - find her way out, and save her soul.

In Purgatory, the suffering that lost souls have to experience in order to be completely purified is a necessary test in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven. But this version of Purgatory could send you to hell if wrong choices are made.

The game takes place in an expansive interactive labyrinth. In order to progress, the player must ensure their immediate well-being is intact while avoiding supernatural creatures that lurk in the darkness.

The goal is to collect prayers scattered across the labyrinth. However, be careful not to collect the wrong items, as this may result in Sara’s soul being sent straight to hell.

Purgatory is a single-player exploration horror video game that delivers an immersive experience, capturing player’s minds with its astounding visual depth, atmospheric music, and engrossing gameplay.

Control Scheme

Game Document

Desired Game Experience: Players of all skill levels, from novice to advanced, are welcome to play as the game is balanced to appropriately reward every level of skill.

Game Objective: To find an exit to the level while surviving in the maze.

Story (level by level)

The main level Purgatory plus a secret level, a mini game or bonus area would be placed in a hidden location of the game map, to make the game structure rewards exploration.

Characters and their attributes:

·         Sara : Lead character; once human and now dead, her soul must find a way into heaven.

                                    # 1                                                                        #2

· # 1.  Elsar: A demon escaped from hell, tormenting the lost souls that pass through Purgatory.

· # 2.  Melsebu: A demon that awaits to capture the souls that are looking for an exit inside Purgatory.

   Items/Powers:

Becoming more powerful is the key to survival in Purgatory, and something players naturally desire. This is achievable in the game by way of it offering various magical items to acquire, enhancing the player’s abilities momentarily. This includes potions and other items spread through the many remote corners of the maze - the player’s navigation skills would be rewarded or punished with items that give temporary bonuses and status effects to the player.

Weapons: Axe / Dagger / Magical Staff / Potions / Spear & Shield / Spell Book

Points are generated to reward the player simply for collecting items, but is not crucial to the goal of the game.  Trying to improve their score may actually hinder players in their mission to escape, and careless players might find themselves sent to hell by going after certain items.

List of puzzles and their solutions: The main puzzle is the giant maze, finding an exit is the solution.

Puzzle Discovery (“where, how, when, in what order”): Being aware of where you are at all times is key to unlock the “when” and “in what order” to move forward in the game.

Winning strategies:

• Avoiding capture by the monsters.

Players being pursued by monsters simply need to run around the maze’s many corners.  This strategy can slow down monsters while in chase mode and even get them stuck in some cases.  However, they should be careful not to get lost or cornered when fleeing from the monsters.

Maps:

Level 1 (Main Level) / Level 2 (Mini map)

The pictures below show the main stage for the game to take place. This map is filled with traps and is the perfect place for monsters to lurk in the dark.

                                                                          Perspective View                                         Top View

                    Top Textured                                       Entrance and Exit:

                                             Textured & UV mapped                              

Secret rooms/ to be announced: 1 leading to bonus mini game?

Corridors =  ~  20 in  ~  the perfect areas to run away from monsters

Sara’s New Rig by Alan Morales:

Homework 9

When talking about the first type of balance in Ch. 11 of the book, it uses Pac-Man as an example of symmetric vs. asymmetric gameplay.  Having four ghosts chasing after Pac-Man makes the gameplay more asymmetrically and also more challenging for the player than having a single ghost, which would make the game more symmertical.  Our objective would also be to work towards asymmetry, having multiple monsters that will go after the player if they draw near, and give the player access to items they find through exploration and puzzle-solving that will help them escape the monsters.  Using asymmetry would allow us to give players a way to explore the game space and create interesting situations.  Looking at our idea through the "Lens of Fairness", we want to provide an interesting challenge for all players.

In balance type 5, "heads vs. hands", it would be that apparent our game is going to emphasize the "head" side, presenting challenges that are solved with thinking, rather than dexterity.  However, there will be sparse moments of action where player may be pressured to make a quick on-the-fly decision, if, for instance, they are being pursued by a monster.  The player could panic and make a mistake in the actions they perform, but the challenge of the game will not come from trying to master a complex control scheme.

Balance type 8, rewards, will be a large part of our game.  Resources are one such example of a player reward.  The player will have the option to collect items that will aid in their escape of the monsters.  We want these resources to take a lot of effort from the player to acquire, from deep exploration into the labrynth or fulfilling a challenge's requirements.  The player will have a great sense of satisfaction using these items to escape or even fight back against monsters that they are normally powerless against, but they may find even greater rewards if they refrain from using items in encounters with monsters.  Because our game is a horror game, it will have periods of low action in order to build up players' tension, and use specific sounds to cue the player as to their situation and the effects of their decisions.  The book mentions how "Nintendo games are famous for giving players lots of secondary praise via sounds and animations for every reward they get."  I knew that as soon as we decided we would make a horror game that this was a concept I wanted to make extensive use of.  Balancing the games rewards will be one of the most important components to making it fun.

Length-wise, it's not aiming to take long.  The environment we have is small and the player's objective is simple - make it out of the labrynth.  The length could be stretched out by having the player start out from the beginning of the labrynth if they lose.  This idea could change as the design of our game becomes more clear and we test out what players find fun and fair.  This ties balance type 7 together with type 9, punishment.  The player could be punished for failing by being sent back to the beginning, but our game ought to include an incentive of some kind to encourage them to try again.

The last three types of balance offer some seriously interesting and perplexing conundrums.  #10, Freedom vs. Controlled Experience, is probably the easiest when going by the book, and leaning more towards a controlled experience makes a better game, so long as we don't give the player so little control that they feel like they're playing an amusement park ride instead of a game.  #11, Simple vs. Complex, is a little harder.  It's one thing to make a game that's simple yet effective, but making a simple game with emergent complexity is in a whole different ballpark.  I find it fortunate we decided on a horror game, and also made it take place in a maze.  A maze already has a degree of innate complexity, and if the rules of the game are designed well, then the coveted "balanced surprises" mentioned in the book will be even better as a result.  With horror games, these "balanced surprises" are integral to the game, because their very nature is to mess with player's expectations. The parts of horror games where monsters pop out and scare the player are just a part of the whole experience -- they become truly memorable when the moments leading up to those scares are also engaging and full of surprises.  Games like Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Five Nights at Freddy's are praised not just for the way in which they give players limited resources to manage, but how they mess with the player's head, making them feel paranoid and delusional as the monsters pursuing them draw closer and closer.  Our game should try to balance suspense and surprise.

The last type of balance is currently in a place I'm unsure of.

Homework 7

NOTE: I had this assignment about 70% done before I rebooted my computer.  However, I foolishly believed what I had entered was automatically saved to my drafts, and when I pulled up the fraft everything I'd put into it was gone.  This version will be a much more brief do-over.

1. Is the space in your game discrete or continuous?

Similar to how the textbook talks about a soccer game having both discrete and continuous space, our game will also make use of both spaces.  The player will be able to move around in three dimensions, which uses continuous space, but the gameplay will confine them mostly in a maze, which can be simplified to a discrete space.

2. How many dimensions does your space have? 
The game will operate in three dimensions.  The player can currently move along the x and y axes and look around in all directions, as well as jump.  Keeping in the jump ability would mean the z-axis is planned to be incorporated in some way with the gameplay.

3. What are the boundaries of your space? 
The boundaries are within the maze of the game world -- there are some locations planned to be outside of the maze but they will consist of small spaces that cannot be travelled outside of.

4. How many verbs do your players (characters) have? What are they? 
Player's actions should include the following:

• Walk
• Possibly run
• Look
• Jump
• Collect
• Hold
• Use

5. How many objects can each verb act on? What are these objects? 
Walking (and running, if implemented), looking, and jumping are all actions that apply only to the player character.  Collecting, holding (either in Sara's inventory or her hands), and using are verbs for items found in the labyrinth.  The items themselves can be used on the player character herself (or just be general uses that help players reach their goals) or on the monster they encounter.

6. How many ways can players achieve their goals?
Players will have several ways to reach the end of Purgatory -- through multiple physical paths in the maze, and whether various items should be used to escape the monsters or kept for other purposes.

7. How many subjects do the players control? What are these subjects? 

8. How do side effects change constraints?

9. What are the operative actions in your game? 

10. What are the resultant actions in your game? 

11. What actions would you like your players to do that they cannot presently do? (based on your current knowledge of Blender)

12. What is the ultimate goal of your game? 

13. Are there short and long term goals? What are they? 

14. How do you plan to make the game goals known and understood by the player? 

15. What are the foundational rules of your game? 

16. How are these rules enforced? 

17. Does your game develop real skills? What are they? 

18. Does your game develop virtual skills? What are they? 

Homework 5

What I've made for this simple physics game experiment is basically an attempt to clone Katamari Damacy - a game that was vey popular for its unique use of physics.  The idea came directly from that game when found out I could use Collision sensors to trigger actuators that will parent objects based on their material. I made a room filled with objects, some of which could be used in our game like the angel statue or the tree.  The temple enclosure could act as a secret area or challenge room, and the big ball used to roll up other objects could be used in a puzzle of sorts.  It's a simple but fun use of game physics with an element of challenge that comes from trying to handle a big, unwieldy object in the right direction.

Blend file download

Homework 3 REDUX

Here we have a slight improvement to Homework 3 based on the assignment guidelines.  There are two objects now -- One is a Greek-style temple, a possible location within the world of purgatory.  The second object is a potential model for our female player character.  I simply made it possible to move the character in four directions with the arrow keys, with the camera parented to her and viewing from directly behind her. There are no physics implemented yet, but they will be in the next homework assignment.  I tried to add invisible walls to keep the character confined within the temple, but didn't have the time to get the physics to work properly.

I recorded the video in a place that has too much background noise for me to have voice recording over the video.  My laptop mic is of poor quality so I may just record voiceover off my phone and add it to the video instead.

Blend file download

Homework 4

Chapter 2

1. Forgetting about the game, think about your player. What are the experience(s) you want your player to have. 
The essential experience of the game is simple -- the player is stuck in purgatory.  "Trapped in limbo" might be another commonly heard term associated with it.  The game should make the player feel they are in a dream-like, otherwordly state -- the player's character has died, and so those who have had near-death experiences have often described it as being like a dream before their "souls" reunited with their bodies (interesting & somewhat related fact: in Greek mythology, Hypnos, the god of dreams, and Thanatos, the god of death, are twins).  The experience should aim to be dreamlike, but also nightmarish -- the player is trapped in a place they are trying to escape, so that the soul of the player's character can find peace in heaven.

2. What are the essential element(s) of that experience. 
Lost in a dark, unfamiliar, labryinthine place, having to keep their cool and use their wits to make it out.  Divine beings invoking religious themes and Christian mythology, judgment and redemption, etc.  The rules of this realm may be different than expected, in keeping with the dreamlike state.  In this game world, anything goes, and often it will be reflective of the player's subconscious mind -- it should in addition to the religious/spiritual aspects have elements of common subconscious fears manifested.

3. Suggest a few ways your game might capture those experiences. 
Using effective sound design to make the player feel immersed in the world of the game, as well as to communicate to the player the effects of their chosen actions, signal certain situations and bring the theming of the game together.  Music that fits the dark, mysterious, and religious themes of the game and sound that creates an appropriate ambience will craft an experience that helps a player recognize what they are doing and engross them in the atmosphere of the game.

Chapter 3

1. Discuss a few ways in which you might include surprise in your game.
In addition to the "surprises" that are typical of a horror game, the game might also include a secret area or a mysterious, hard-to-find item with a purpose not immediately apparent to the player.  The area and the item might be linked somehow -- the item could be found in the area itself, or used to lead the player to the area where they might discover a hidden aspect of the game.  There's potential to add a cool easter egg or two amidst the darkness and horror.  The player may also have encounters with other beings populating purgatory that will impart information that could have subtle implications about the underlying story and world of the game and offer backstory on how the protagonist ended up there.

2. How will your game be fun? 
The game will create a sense of tension and fear in the player whilst also providing an element of exploration and problem-solving.  The player will amass a collection of items and meet entities who will impart cryptic messages on how to escape purgatory and on the uses of their items - it is up to the players to figure what to do with the knowledge they have of their items and if this information can always be trusted.  They also will be pursued by monsters who will try to catch them, sending the protagonist's soul to hell and ending the game.

3. Discuss the goals of your game (as it stands now).
Our goal is to learn as much as we can about the tools we have at our disposal to make a simple but effective 1st-person horror exploration game.  The game should at least have a world to explore and monsters to populate that world once we've learned enough, as well as items to collect, and ambient lighting and sound effects.

4. State your thoughts on how you will make the player attached to your game, or motivated to play the game. 
The main draws for the player should be immersive sound design, a clear and simple objective that creates tension, and a story that has potential to make for a interesting background to the game and is told in pieces that can be sought out by the player depending on how deep they are willing to explore the game.

5. What problems do you expect the players to solve in your game?
The problems the player should be motivated into solving are navigating a deep, dark enclosed labryinth (could be in a dungeon/temple/maze/haunted house setting), outsmarting or just outrunning pursuing enemy monsters, collecting items that will help them to progress, and gathering and assessing info from the game world's denizens on how to reach the end.

Homework 2

1) When and where did you meet?
The only times we met were immediately after class, in our same classroom.  Fridays gave us the most time to discuss due to not having other classes.

2) What did you discuss?
We discussed several pressing matters, chiefly how our team plans to divide up the work in making the game.  It was decided Alan would handle the story and art, Justin would handle 3D modelling and programming, and I would handle programming and sound design.  There would obviously be a lot of overlap between the tasks we'd handle and we'd exchange a lot of ideas on what to add to the game.

3) Did you take notes? Why? Why not?
I didn't take notes for myself, which I'm going to do starting now so I don't lose track of things.  Alan took the liberty of making some notes on our progress, and sent them out to us.  We also have some materials uploaded to the Google drive for us to refer to.

4) Did you transfer the contents of the discuss to the computer?
As mentioned before, we did manage to get some materials up on the Google drive, as well as had a few documents sent to us by e-mail.

5) Did you discuss the game document?
We started a notebook with a brief outline of the game concept, and the duties each of us were given.  The game document was discussed in our few previous meetings, but not much planning was made towards it -- that would be handled later once we get more conceptual workings done with.

6) Did you pick a team leader. Why? Who is it?
We didn't formally pick a team leader, but Alan took the liberty of putting together the elevator pitch for which we'll springboard off of when developing the game -- he has some clear prior experience in artistry that resulted in giving something we were open to expanding on.  I feel lucky to have Alan on the team, as we had a member who dropped out of the course after the teams were decided, but his initiative in getting ideas and materials together for our game has made up for this.

7) Please describe briefly some initial ideas regarding the game you plan on developing. 
Alan used a fangame based on the Slenderman mythos, "Slender's Shadow: Elementary" to illustrate the gameplay concept for our planned game, currently named "Purgatory."  It would use 1st person perspective during gameplay as well as possibly mixing in 3rd person cameras during certain gameplay moments or cutscenes.  The protagonist would be a female who has died and wound up in purgatory, and the game would have her explore an enclosed environment, like perhaps a temple.  The rest of the elevator pitch states: "In purgatory she must find and exit that leads to heaven or hell depending on the collected items along her journey.
Note: Angels & Demons would appear making the journey difficult as well as pointing in the right or wrong direction at given times."

8) State on your blog the contributions you, the individual, made towards the team game in the last week.

I have contributed only a few things over this week -- some blendswap models that were searched for per Alan's suggestion (a statue, which I managed to find of an angel, fitting nicely with the theme of our planned game, and a bridge leading to the temple the game takes place in).  I also found a plethora of links to unlicensed sound effects and music for aspiring game creators from a post I found on tumblr, which I copy-pasted into a Word document and added to the Google drive. My plan now is to start a notebook for me to jot down more ideas to add to the game.