IGD 110 INTERACTIVE GAMES FUNDAMENTAL

S0803531 TOM PAJAK

MECH-WORLDA futuristic world were you play a robot who needs to rebuild and create a better world by salvaging and recycling objects you find but you are not the only person who need these objects.

CONTENTS The brief Back story Why create this game Game contents Game layout Moment to moment game play Game controls Character design UI design and environment designs Storyboards References

THE BRIEF A new games company wants you to design a prototype adventure game for a local primary

school that helps children learn about sustainability in a fun and interesting way. Note that sustainability is not just about recycling. The game will be playable via a download from the schools site.

Design an original game concept around this brief and create an interactive presentation

(using PowerPoint 2007 or similar) that illustrates the main features of the game.

You should focus on game play and visual elements, e.g. character designs, concept artwork, screen layout, level maps or the interface designs rather than pages of textual description. Make sure your submission specifies the a company name and logo, game title, a one sentence concept statement, 50 word background story, character descriptions, description of cut scenes and an asset reveal schedule.

In addition you must write a short (500 word) evaluation of your ideas indicating both the positive and negatives aspects of your design. Make suggestions for improvements. References from background reading must be included to warrant a pass mark.

Note that the tutorials during semester 1 will focus on the requirements for this assignment in some detail. This will allow you to develop material on a cumulative basis.

WHAT IS THE GAME BACK STORY? In Mech-world you play Mec a newly created robot and probably the last to be created as the town were you where made is running out of spare parts. You live in a town known as Mechville. Mechville was a small thriving town in the late 1980’s but now the whole town is falling apart because the town is running out of spare parts so you must go out into the world and salvage then recycle the spare parts you find and restore the town to its former glory.

WHY CREATE THIS GAME? The game is needed to teach children about the importance of

sustainability and tips and techniques used to create a sustainable life style.

The game approaches the idea of sustainability in a new initiative way but showing children what will happening if we do not recycle and reuse but it also shows that it is never to late to start creating a sustainable living environment.

GAME CONTENTS Verbs: The key verbs in the game are based around many of the same basic platform games

such as Mario so the character will be able to jump attack and have basic movement. In conjunction with these verbs the player will also have the verbs to salvage wreckage and create new objects from the wreckage.

Tokens: In the game there will be three key tokens, the main character which the user will be able to play and change throughout the game. The normal enemy that the character will have to fight throughout the game and salvage parts from. Finally at the end of each level there will be a boss. The bosses will increase in difficulty as the game progresses and by killing the bosses the character will gain more parts to salvage and complete the level.

Rules: One of the greatest rules within the game is that main character has a limited amount of power in every level so to gain more they have to salvage and collect power from the enemies and buildings.

Actions: The main action in the game is the game is salvaging parts from the different enemies and from different intractable objects. Once the user has salvaged the different parts they are then able to upgrade themselves or recycle them to improve the town.

Rewards: The main noticeable reward of the game is the different upgrades the user can see on the character and different upgrades to the city to make it more sustainable.

Risks: As the player progresses through the level and becomes damaged different parts of the robot fall apart. Also the town they are trying to repair and make sustainable begins to brakes.

GAME LAYOUT CHART The game has a linear approach

Opening FMV

Level One

Level Two

Level Three

Final FMV

Character Upgrade and FMV

Two Character Upgrades and FMV

New Game

Level 1

FMV Cut Scenes

Movement

Obstacles

Combat

Collectable Objects

Health

Boss

00:20 00:40 01:00 01:20 01:40 02:00 02:20 02:40 03:00 03:20 03:40 04:00 04:20 04:40 05:00

MOMENT TO MOMENT GAME PLAY LEVEL 1

Level 2

FMV Cut Scenes

Movement

Obstacles

Combat

Collectable Objects

Health

Boss

00:20 00:4001:0

0 01:20 01:40 02:00 02:20 02:40 03:00 03:20 03:40 04:00 04:20 04:40 05:00

MOMENT TO MOMENT GAME PLAY LEVEL 2

Level 3

FMV Cut Scenes

Movement

Obstacles

Combat

Collectable Objects

Health

Boss

00:20 00:40 01:00 01:20 01:40 02:00 02:20 02:40 03:00 03:20 03:40 04:00 04:20 04:40 05:00

MOMENT TO MOMENT GAME PLAY LEVEL 3

GAME CONTROLS Mech-world will be the same as most games having a default game controls

setting and a setting which will allow the user to specify there own controls. The default controls will be:

Function and ability controls such as attack and salvage

Movement controls

Use keyJump key

MOUSE CONTROLS Along with the keyboard controls the game will also be controlled with

the mouse to make the game more ergonomic and easier for the target audience to use.

Left mouse button : use or action button same as enter

Right mouse button: quick action change

Mouse Wheel: allows the user to scroll between actions

CHARACTER DESIGN In the game there is only one actual playable character known as Mec but as

you explore the world you will encounter different robots that are there to help you and people who are there to try and stop you so that they can have all the spare parts for themselves.

Below is some initial sketches of the way the main character should look and some vector versions of those images.

The main character will be a mixture of design 1 and 4. Designs 2 and 3 will not be used as the main character but they will be used as non playable characters in the game.

As all the robots in the game were meant to be created in the same town they should all have some design similarities but also some key differences so that user can tell the difference between which NPC they are interacting with .

1 2 3 4

CHARACTER DESIGN – MAIN CHARACTER This is the main character of the game known as Mec. Mec is a newly created robot and probably the last one created in Mechville

because he is a young robot he must go explore what is left of the world and learn about the world.

Mec is a quite an immature and quite simple minded little robot, who can act quite silly some times but has a passion to go out and explore and cares for anyone he finds in need.

As the game develops so does the personality of Mec, the user will see Mec develop into a true hero character.

CHARACTER DESIGN- MAIN CHARACTER Throughout the game

the main character is able to upgrade certain parts after every level.

The left picture shows the basic version of the main character and the image on the right shows the fully upgraded version.

As there are three levels in the game there are three main upgrades available to the robot.

CHARACTER DESIGN – THE ENEMY The enemy of the game will all have the same

appearance but will vary in colour depending on the difficulty of the enemy.

The easy enemies will be brown, the medium enemies will be yellow and the hard enemies will be red.

The enemies will also be around the world stealing the spare parts to sell them.

In the game you are not able to kill them as this action would be to violent for a game based around children aged 7-11, instead you will have to stun the enemies or try and go around them.

As the difficulty of the enemy increases both the movement speed and health of the enemy also increases.

OBJECT DESIGNS In the game there are certain objects around the would you will have to

collect, by collecting these objects will be able to upgrade yourself and your town. Other than things you need to upgrade yourself with you also need to collect power canisters to carry on moving around the would because if you run out of power its the end of the game.

The objects in the world that you are able to interact with are: Spare Parts Spare metal Tools Power canisters

UI DESIGN A common features of most recently released games is very minimal UI such as

gears of war. Things like health and ammo are being depicted in different ways. This is the main thing that I would include in my game for example instead of

having a map to show the characters progression through the level instead the light will change. As the user starts the level it will be day but as the user gets closer to the end it will change till night.

The characters health will not just be shown by a health bar but also by what the character looks like. For example parts of the robot will begin to fall off and look damaged as the character loses health.

Another part of the in game UI will be a power bar because the robot has to get to the end of the level before the power runs out.

UI DESIGN• This is an example of

the first design of the UI for the main menu of the game.

• The UI has a tabular design to it as you select your options from the side the main screen changes.

• Mech stays at the side of the screen to give you instructions about what to do.

UI DESIGNS Welcome Screen

Load Game

Main Menu

Options Keyboard Options

Select Profile

Load profile

Text box: do you wish to load

profile

New game

Create new profile

YesNo

Yes No

Sound OptionsVideo Options

Brightness

Contrast

Run in window

Master Volume

Music Volume

FX Volume

Change keyboard options

Return to defaults

Yes No

Yes No

- +

- +

- +

- +

- +

- +

Yes No

Start Game

LEVEL TWO AND AN EXAMPLE OF IN GAME UI SCREENSHOT

STORYBOARD FOR INTRODUCTORY FMV

Scene one: in scene one we see Mech come straight off the factory production line and his box break open. The first robot he meets explains to the problem that face the town and that he was the last robot to be made.

Scene two: the robot then explains to Mech that there might be some spare part still left in the wilderness but you will have to go out explore and find them.

Scene three: when they both go out to explore your robot friend falls apart and the enemy steals the spare parts you need to fix him. As you chase after the enemy and go off the screen you begin the first level.

FINAL FMV STORYBOARD Scene one: you defeat the main boss of the

game and find all of the spare parts that belong to the town.

Scene two: the robots from Mech-ville go and collect the spare parts and bring them back to the town.

Scene three: with the spare parts you find after you stopped the boss and the parts you find around the world you create a big recycling machine that allows you to recycle the scrap metal you find.

The recycled metals then allow you to create new robots again but these robots are green as they are made from completely recycled objects.

REFERENCES