Games Development / Task 1
25/09//2024 - / Week 1 - Week 4
Iman binti Kamarudin / 0364014
Games Development / Bachelors of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Iman binti Kamarudin / 0364014
Games Development / Bachelors of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Task 1: Game Design Document
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INSTRUCTIONS
TASK 1
Before I came up with some ideas, I chose 3 games that I knew/enjoy and
studied what about it was interesting to me. The three games I chose were;
Haunted Chocolatier, Little Goody Two Shoes and Celeste.
RESEARCH
1. Haunted Chocolatier
Haunted Chocolatier is made by the same developer as Stardew Valley,
ConcernedApe. Although it has not been released, there is a teaser that
the developer posted to announce this new project which gives us insight
into what the game mechanics may be. There is also a blog with progress
updates.
From the early gameplay video, we can see that the player lives in the
chocolate factory and must make chocolate. However, in order to do so, you
must collect your own ingredients by foraging and engaging in combat in
the ‘wild’.
Quoting from ConcernedApe himself “the gameplay loop involves gathering
ingredients, making chocolate, and running a chocolate shop”.
Furthermore, in the video it shows that you can decorate the place and
also build relationships with villagers just like in Stardew Valley.
Strategy:
- Attacks: You can temporarily stun or attack enemies with weapons to
kill them.
- Dodging: Dodge attacks from enemies to prevent losing your health.
Favourite Takeaways:
1. Foraging for ingredients - Gives the player a challenge and a goal.
2. Forest setting
2. Little Goody Two Shoes
Little Goody Two Shoes is a horror narrative game where you play as
Elise, a girl who aims to have a life, bigger and better, than what she
has now. She lives in a small town whose people believe there is a
witch, terrorising them, that lives in the forest.
The gameplay consists of ensuring that Elise is well fed and that her
sanity level is high. You also help out the townsfolk by doing chores,
which is in the form of mini-games. In order to prevent being burned at
the stake, you must make sure that the townsfolk are not suspicious of
you.
The day is separated into 6 parts; Dawn, Morning, Afternoon, Dusk,
Night, and the Witching Hour. Each activity/event that you participate
in progresses the day and takes up 1 bar of your food/hunger.
During the Witching Hour, you have to avoid enemies so that Elise doesn’t
get hurt. If an enemy is alerted of your presence, they chase you down
however you can run away. There are also some puzzles that you have to
solve.
There are 10 different endings in the game.
Strategy:
- Chores: Completing chores helps reduce the townsfolk's suspicions of
you and pass the time.
- Dates: Going on dates builds your relationship with that character,
which can unlock different endings
Avoiding: Prevent Elise from being noticed by enemies. Don’t get too
close to the enemies ‘circles’ surrounding them.
Favourite Takeaways:
1. Art direction - The artstyle of the game is very mediaeval and has
90s anime aspects.
2. Story - The story of the game is very interesting and brings a sense
of mystery.
3. Celeste
Celeste is a 2D platformer game. In this game, you play as Madeline who
aims to climb the mountain “Celeste”. While doing so, she learns about
herself and is confronted with a ‘physical’ manifestation of her anxiety
and doubts, who tries to stop her from reaching the peak.
The gameplay is a platformer which is quite challenging but multiple
implemented mechanics help the player get through the levels. For
example, the game has coyote jumping so even though you have technically
already left the platform, you still have some time to get a jump in.
You also have the ability to dash however it has a limited number of
uses that must be replenished. There is a case study on
Celeste’s level design
that I found which analyses how the design helps communicate information
to the player and is really insightful.
Favourite Takeaways:
1. Story - The story of the game is very emotional and it gets the
player immersed in Madeline’s thoughts and you grow alongside her during
the journey to overcome her struggles.
2. Level design - The level design is really well thought out and
challenging.
IDEATION
After conducting the research, I came up with 3 ideas. I also found visual
references on Pinterest and wrote some ideas for enemies and levels for
each game.
Idea #1
Taking inspiration from the game mechanic of “Haunted Chocolatier” as
well as the platformer movements from “Celeste”. You work as a baker for
your small town. Your neighbours each want a special dessert (featuring
their own story on why and for what/who) and commission you to bake it
for them.
In order to bake, you need to gather all the ingredients yourself. Each
level has three ingredients that you need to collect in order to
successfully bake the dessert and move onto the next order.
At the end of the game, they all throw a party for you to show their
gratitude
Objectives:
Collect ingredients to bake desserts for your clients.
Measurables:
Health
Ingredients
Complex Moves:
Wall jump
Bounce (on mushrooms)
Enemies:
Thieves
Wolves
Boss Fights:
Sentient plant/forest monsters
Visual References:
Fig 1.1 - Idea #1 Moodboard
Idea #2
Crash landing from the heavens into a post apocalyptic/dystopian earth.
Ancient stories were told of a civilisation that caused its own
destruction and it was thought that the world was an empty radioactive
plane. Turns out there were survivors, and humans that survived doomsday
evolved and now live in dome cities.
Team up with a researcher to find out how to get back up to the heavens.
Explore ruins, fight zombified humans and gather relics. Collect 3
pieces of broken relics to put them back together and dissect the
information. The information will help guide you to a place that can
help you get back home.
Objectives:
Collect relic pieces to help guide you back home.
Measurables:
Health
Relic Pieces
Complex Moves:
Short fly (almost like flappy bird mechanic)
Enemies:
Zombified humans
Boss Fights:
Demon (ish) figure or
Those that fell from heaven and resented the world above
Levels:
1st level - The researcher tells you of ruins that were allegedly
touched by heavenly beings. You go to explore them and find relics that
tell a tale of an ancient temple.
2nd level - In the temple, there are 3 carved illustrations, each
missing pieces of text. Gather the relics within the temple and put them
together. The texts reveal the location of an important artefact that
can help send people up to heaven.
Final level - The texts led you to the peak of a mountain where a broken
statue resides. Buried underneath is the artefact which you place into
the hands of the statue. Magic begins to surround the area however a
curse prevents anything from happening. Instead, it summons the final
boss in which you have to defeat.
Visual References:
Fig 1.2 - Idea #2 Moodboard
Idea #3
This idea was inspired by “Little Nightmares” as you play as a smaller
person surrounded by giants.
A miniature being (You) and a robot run a shop together. Unfortunately
one day, the robot breaks down. In order to get your robot friend and
business back up again, you need to help repair it by entering inside
its body and fixing up the misaligned pieces of their circuitry.
Objectives:
Return missing components in the robot’s circuitry and defeat the bugs
that live inside
Measurables:
Health
Complex Moves:
Bounce (on springs)
Enemies:
Bugs (literally and figuratively)
Boss Fights:
Giant Bug
Visual References:
Fig 1.3 - Idea #3 Moodboard
FINAL
Fig 2.1 - Game Design Document
Fig 2.2 - Game Ideas Canva
Fig 2.3 - Game Ideas Presentation
REFLECTION
My experience with task 1 was pretty positive however I did struggle trying to come up with game ideas that would be good as a platformer as I don't really like playing platformers at all. Furthermore, it was difficult thinking of a good objective that would make the player motivated enough to progress further into the game. It was really fun researching the games that I enjoyed though, as it was really interesting to learn more about how they work.
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