Gameplay
From Project Shrink
Contents |
GAME-PLAY DOCUMENT
I. Overview
SHRINK is a part action, part puzzle game, which will focus on the themes of exploration, interaction, and navigation through platforming. That primary emphasis will be user interaction strategies with items and the environment. The player starts each level at a predetermined spawn location. From here, he or she will have to devise a way to reach the exit. In order to reach this exit, the player will have to use the environment, items at his or her disposal, and a clever overall strategy to overcome the level's obstacles.
Our goal for the game-play of SHRINK is to provide the player with a vast number of variables and variety in each level.This will ensure that virtually every play-through will be a unique experience to the player. For instance, imagine the player was trapped in a hallway and there was a guard hunting him or her down. A small crack is visible in the wall. The player could shrink down and hide inside while the guard passes by. Alternatively, the player could quickly engage the oncoming guard, and use his or her powers to shrink the guard down, and simply run past. Beyond even these two options, the player will have a number of items strewn throughout the environment which can be used in conjunction to create innumerable and imaginative routes to safety.
II. The Start of a Level
Each level will begin with the player starting from a predefined spawn location. The spawn point of each level will be contextually congruent with the exit used in the previous level (the door you exited through in the previous level will be there at the start of the new level, but it will be impassible). However, any items attained or pursuing enemies the player might have attracted at the end of the previous level will be removed. This allows the player to start with a fresh inventory, effectively starting the player anew. All timers and cool-downs will also be reset at the beginning of each new level.
The player's progress will also be saved at the start of each level. This way, if the player meets his end, or becomes stuck and unable to continue at any point throughout the level, he can restart at the beginning of the level. In addition to being re-positioned at the start of the level, all the elements in the level reset, including items, guards, and other environmental entities. Any items the user may have picked up during their previous "life" are removed from their inventory and returned to their original place in the world. Any effects on the environment these items may have had are reset as well (a wet floor from a mop becomes dry again). The AI in the level returns to its initial idle / patrol behavior, in its original position.
III. Movement
The player's primary modes of movement involve walking, running, and jumping. Moving to the left and right will allow the player to navigate through the environment room by room. Though he will be able to jump at all times, players will find that jumping comes more into the game-play strategy while in the shrunken state.
When the player is in large form, the on-screen avatar will navigate through the rooms in the current level. Environmental factors will include such features as doors, stairs, and elevators. Non-Playable Characters (NPCs), will be of greater concern to the player when in full size form. While the avatar is in his large state, the player will form strategies that must include engaging in simple combat, completion of spatial puzzles, and item-environment interaction. In large form, the player's strategies will be based more upon brute force. Using items to affect the nearby terrain, fighting guards with equipped items, and navigating through large rooms are examples of the core skills that can be utilized while in the large form.
Shrunken mode, on the other hand, focuses more on platform jumping, item collection, and avoidance of NPCs, rather than outright combat. In shrunken mode, the player will have the ability to traverse not only the floors in the rooms, but many of the other surfaces as well. For example, where a large player would run past a desk, the smaller version would be able to either jump on top of the desk or hide under it, depending on the needs of his current situation. In other scenarios, the player may need to execute a series of accurate jumps in order to reach a certain area. An example of this could be a series of awkward shaped bricks jutting out from a wall. The player would have to jump from brick to brick in order to reach an alternate passageway near the ceiling. In some cases, if a player just barely missed a jump, he may be able to grab onto the edge of a platform and pull himself up(this feature will depend on time constraints of the project).
IV. Interaction
The player will be able to interact with characters, items, and the environment in many different ways. Additionally, items will be able to interact and combine with other items to create unique conditions or events. These item combination's can affect nearby ground, or can be used to directly attack guards or other unfriendly NPCs. For example, a player who combines matches and flammable chemicals will be able to start a fire in a room. This fire could be used either to attract the attention of a guard, or could be used in an effort to directly set the guard on fire. The environment will also be interactive when using certain items. For instance, a player could use a wet mop on a flight of stairs and then lure a guard down them so that he'll slip and be "killed." Among all the aspects of the game, this varying interaction will be the most important part of development because it ensures unique and fun game-play.
Interaction will change based on how the player uses his special abilities. In SHRINK, the main character has the ability to shrink or grow organic life-forms or mechanical objects. This means he can control his own size or the size of other NPCs, as well as items that are scattered through the levels. This ability opens up many different possibilities for item usage and interaction. Items picked up when the player is shrunk grow in relation to the player.
This way, say the player picks up a magnet in his shrunken state. While the magnet is small in comparison to the world, it will take up a significant amount of space in the player's shrunken inventory. When the player then grows back to normal size, the magnet will still take up the same large chunk of his inventory, and will be much larger than it was before. A large magnet could have many uses, such as the ability to disarm a guard by ripping the gun right out of his hands.
Players can only pick up three objects at a time, but these objects directly correspond to the players size. If a small player picks up a small magnet, he can then grow to full size, and have a giant magnet at his disposal. The larger magnet can have many uses, including bludgeoning a guard, or disarming a guard by ripping the gun out of the guards hands. He can then bludgeon the guard.
Players also have the ability to shrink and grow other unfriendly NPCs in the world around them. What if the player was faced with a guard and guard dog. The player could use this talent to shrink the guard (or grow the dog) and then watch as man's best friend hunts down his next meal, and a clear path would present itself. Using this ability, combined with the ability to shrink and grow objects, opens up a plethora of opportunities for variant game-play.
V. User Interface - Cause & Effect
VI. Artificial Intelligence - Cause & Effect
VII. Combat
Combat may take place between the player and NPCs, as well as between NPCs exclusively. For instance, while a player may choose to attack a guard head-on with a hand held weapon, he may also choose to indirectly attack the same guard by shrinking him in the presence of a cat. The massive cat will then proceed to engage and mutilate the guard. However, guards may also attack the player by means of shooting at him. Even animals, such as the cat, may attack the player should they pose a valuable target (or meal). While combat may be either direct or indirect, each style will still deal with the same properties of health and damage.
Health, armor, and damage are used in the same manner as almost every other game out there. For example, being shot might kill the player instantly (since he is wearing no protective armor), whereas falling from a moderately high perch might simply deplete a portion of the player's health. Similarly, while a single swipe from a cat would disembowel a tiny guard, a single smack from a giant toothbrush isn't likely to kill the guard with a single blow, but will instead remove part of his health. When any entity, player or NPC, fully depletes its health, it will be "killed." In the player's case, this means that the level will reset, and he will have to start back from the beginning. If an NPC is "killed", a death animation will play, ending with a static "death pose" which will remain for the rest of the level (or until the level is restarted). Aside from having a graphic to prove his deceased state, any artificial intelligence algorithms for that particular entity are frozen and will cease to run from then on. The player must remain weary though, because other NPCs in the area may or may not have been alerted to your presence depending on who or what was killed, and its proximity to other NPCs. Essentially, NPCs who are killed are removed from the level in every sense, save for their mangled cadavers which remain until the player either advances to the next level, or has to restart the current level.
Aside from indirect attacks, the general forms of combat involve a static group of weapons:
The guards main weapons will be guns. The player will be limited to using the weapon classes listed above. If at all possible, we want to discourage or even prevent the player from using guns. The core gameplay in SHRINK will revolve around the player's creativity and resourcefulness. We want the players to think of new and interesting ways of defeating enemies, not simply grabbing their weapons and easily shooting everything else in the level.
VIII. Finishing a Level / Victory Conditions
The level will end when the player reaches the Exit Door. The Exit Door will be labeled so that the player can easily locate the end of the level. To ensure that players get a full experience, level exits will be generally placed as far from the player's spawning location as possible. In addition to this, the Exit Doors will often be locked or inaccessible at first. This will force the player to confront the other entities in the level in order to proceed. For instance, the key for the Exit Door in a given level could be on a guards desk in his office. Since the guard will be patrolling near the offices, the player will need to find a way to bypass the guard in order to finish the level.
Once the player gains access to the exit, the game will immediately switch states and load the next level. Even though players are encouraged to openly confront the guards, they are not required to "kill" every last thing in the level in order to move on. A player who simply wants to lure the guard away from his post so that he can sneak past and escape will be able to beat the level regardless of whether or not he actually "killed" the guard.
IX. In-game User Interface
The user interface will give the player a constant summary of every aspect of the game in real time. Health, items, targets, and cool-down timers for player abilities will all be visible on the screen. Despite the number of viewable components, the GUI will not obstruct the player's view of the on-screen action.
The inventory will be displayed discretely in the top left corner of the screen. Because the size of the inventory is limited to three items, all three item slots will be displayed in separate boxes inside a single container. At the beginning of a level, when the inventory has spaces available, each new item picked up will be automatically added to the next empty inventory slot. When the inventory is full and the player attempts to pick up an item, the currently selected item will be swapped out of the inventory for the new one. Selected items will stand out from non-selected items by "popping out"of the inventory screen. Essentially, the tiles where the item images and labels appear will be larger for the selected item, and smaller for the non-selected.
The player's health bar will also be displayed at the top of the screen, opposite the inventory. The health for the player will decrease when injured, and will slowly increase over time as the player's health recharges. As health runs out, the health lost will be indicated by a decrease in length of the health bar. A red graphic will display over its previous position indicating the amount of damage taken thus far. In addition to indicating health status, the health bar will also indicate whether or not the player's shrinking ability has recharged. When fully charged, the health bar will glow blue, whereas it will be green while the ability is recharging. As soon as the player uses the shrinking / growing ability, the bar will change from blue to green (with red still indicating the amount of health lost to damage).
In order to shrink or attack enemies, the player will need to target the enemy he wishes to shrink or attack first. In order to show the player which enemy is currently selected, there will be a series of four small arrows surrounding him. Every time the player switches targets, the indicator will also switch to the new target that has been selected. In the case that there is no target selected, the arrows will simply be absent from the screen.
X. Camera
The in-game camera will keep its focus on the player at all times. The field of vision will be large enough to view upcoming threats, and as such will not need to reposition itself in order to properly display what is happening. Since the camera will be static in relation to the character, the player will be able to see the next room when approaching a door or wall. This will assist the player in forming a viable strategy to complete the level.
When the player shrinks or grows, the camera's field of view will stay relative to the player. Essentially, it will appear as if the level is blowing up around the player instead of him appearing to shrink to several pixels in height. After being shrunk, the player will not be able to see as much of the level as his larger self, but will be able to investigate details which may not be evident to the large player.
XI. Music
Dynamic music will indicate different conditional changes in the game's environment. For instance, if the player alerts a guard, the background music might change from a relaxed tone to a more tense tone. Auditory indications would alert the player to many different changes in game-play. There could be different music clips for when a player alerts a guard, is being pursued by a guard, is taking damage, or is engaged in combat. This will add a great deal of atmosphere and immersion to the game, as well as another level of strategy, where the player will be able to react based on the tone of the music being played.
