Rebellion

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Rebellion

• By Chris Carr

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What kind of game is it?

• Role Playing Game
• Two different situations
• Normal
• Elaborate menu system
• Player wanders between different locations and
  interacts with other characters.
• Battle
• Galaxian style shooting game.

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Game Overview

• Set in an undisclosed location during the Middle
  Ages
• Player initially chooses 1 of 3 characters
• High-ranking knight
• Young countess
• Yeoman mercenary

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Game Overview 2

• Ultimate goal of the adventure does not become
  clear until deep progress has been made.
• Each character will have an initial driving goal
  that compels him into involvement.
• The knight discovers a plot to assassinate the
  king and frame him for the crime.
• The countess is sent away from home when her
  family is threatened by a new, rising power.
• The yeomen is traveling south to escape the
  winter and to find work when he discovers an army
  camp.

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Game Overview 3

• Basic elements of the menu system
• Areas or environments
• Money and health meters
• Attributes such as strength, speed, accuracy,
  etc.
• Purpose
• Navigate between the environments until a
  character knows how to gain access to this boss
  and is ready to fight that boss.

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Game Design

• Sprites
• Three main protagonists
• Sword, knife, arrow, and other weapons
• Enemies and their weapons
• Townspeople, peasants, other characters
• Bosses
• Items (money, food, power ups, etc.)
• Scenery and background

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Game Design 2

• Trackers will be attached to all sprites except
  the background sprites
• Collisions
• Two mutually benevolent characters
• Dialogue occurs
• Characters interact until a resolution occurs
• Enemy
• Shootout!
• Sometimes enemies are disguised as benevolents

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Game Design 3

• Collisions continued
• If a character collides with an enemy weapon or
  projectile, a certain number of points is
  subtracted from that characters health.
• If health is too low and reaches zero the game
  will restart from the beginning.
• If a character collides with money or food
  (health), more points are added to those
  statistics.

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Game Design 4

• No direct system of points
• Player must complete the game to win.
• Battles get harder and harder as a player
  progresses through the game
• Players levels increase
• Indication of how strong the player is
• Based on attribute scores

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Game Design 5

• Splash screens
• Announce special occurrences in the game
• Game starts
• When the game switches modes (player enters of
  exits a battle)
• When a player leaves a certain environment and
  enters another
• The player dies

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Game Design 6

• How will the game end?
• Long complex narrative concludes each characters
  story
• Each character winds up in a different place
  based on decisions made throughout the course of
  the game.

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Basic Game

• Normal Mode
• Menu system will be elaborate decision tree.
• Potential problem of player getting stuck in a
  loop and being forced to restart the game
• Player will gain information about correct
  answers to give, where to go, the storyline, etc.
  through interacting with other characters.
• Bonus mini-games
• Riddles, trivia, word puzzles
• Players will choose the correct answer from a
  menu or input a number or word into a double
  field
• Receive money, food, or other attribute
  enhancements
• Avoid a battle or another tough situation

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Basic Game 2

• Example of gameplay in normal mode
• Character enters an area and is given the choice
  to talk to people, go to the store, go to the
  tavern, rest, or exit.
• The character chooses talk to people and
  another menu comes up asking him if he wants to
  talk to a squire, a priest, a peasant farmer and
  his wife, a woman with a dog, or a child playing
  by the well.
• The character chooses squire and a menu appears
  with a few introductory phrases designed to
  initiate a conversation. The character says
  Good morning. Is it always this fair in these
  parts?, to which the squire responds, No, it
  used to be, but lately thieves have been
  wandering the outskirts of this town to the east,
  making it unsafe for travelers to pass.
• A new menu comes up asking the character what he
  wants to do now. He may choose to power up so
  that he can more easily handle the thieves by
  buying more powerful armor and weapons at the
  store, or he may simply choose to go west on his
  next travel and avoid the thieves.

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Basic Game 3

• Example of item exchange in normal mode.
• A character goes to the store and is asked
  whether he wants to make an exchange, talk, or
  exit.
• If he chooses to talk, interaction progresses the
  same as in the previous example.
• If he wants to make an exchange, a GUI appears
  with fields that he can enter how much of each
  item he wants to buy and sell, how much money
  each transaction is worth and what kinds of
  enhancements it will give him.
• The character then inputs numbers based upon what
  he wants to purchase and his own preferences.

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Basic Game 4

• Battle mode
• Top-down perspective
• Player at bottom of screen, enem(y/ies) at top
• System of equations keeps track of health,
  wealth, attributes, etc. and adjusts each time
  there is a collision.
• E.g. if a player is hit with a projectile, a
  number is subtracted from the players health
  based on how strong the player is. The stronger
  the player, the lower the number
• Likewise, if a player is strong, his or her
  attacks will inflict more damage.
• Whenever any sprites health reaches zero, the
  sprite is dead and disappears from the screen.
  The game returns to normal mode after all enemy
  sprites have been defeated.

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Basic Game 5

• Each character has different strengths and
  weaknesses that can be gauged based on the number
  assigned to each attribute.
• Battle scenes get harder as a character
  progresses up until the final boss battle.
• Example
• The knights attacks are powerful and he has a
  shield but he must be close for attacks to be
  effective as his weapon is a sword.
• The countess is quick and throws knives but her
  health and power is lower to start than the other
  characters.
• The yeomans shoots arrows, can keep his
  distance, and is extremely accurate but is slow
  to get out of the way of attacks.

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Possible Enhancements

• Enhancements for this game will mostly consist of
  building upon and improving the main structure.
• Secrets
• More complex riddles and mini-games for the menu
  system
• More sprites for the protagonists to interact
  with
• Add additional attributes that impact the results
  of battles
• More creative ways to make money
• Adding length to the game
• More artistic splash screens and sprites
• Allowing the player to use both the keyboard and
  mouse to play
• Letting the player save the game mid-progress
• Add midi soundtrack

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Timeline

• Design of videogame classes, methods, and state
• March 22 April 3
• Implementation of basic game
• April 4 April 13
• Testing/Debugging
• April 14 April 18
• Documentation
• April 19 April 21
• Enhancements
• April 22 April 27
• RELEASE BY APRIL 27!