I wrote the background setting, the bestiary/guardians sections, part of the village section in environments, the Mt. Zijin and Ruoshui Cave sections in environments, and the quest progressions for both quest one and two.
Refining Kunpeng/Kaiming Shou Quest
I used Yilin’s initial quest outline as a guide and as inspiration for refining the quest. I also did some research into the creatures to help me form the narrative and quest gameplay better. You can find the research here.
KUNPENG QUEST OUTLINE
– INITIATION PHASE:
1. Player starts in village. They leave the ruler’s tent/home to find some people running from one side of the village in a panic. Part of the village is on fire. Villagers evacuated the area and now cannot return/go there. That side of the village is near the path to Mount Kunlun.
2. Player finds out about Kunpeng and the artefact – a hollow, beak-shaped object – by interacting with people/objects. Player goes to the museum to pick up the beak.
– RECRUITMENT PHASE:
3. Player uses totems to find Kunpeng. They go to the Lotus Lake and swim to the bottom to find a fairly small statue of Kunpeng mostly in their fish form. Its mouth is slightly eroded. Player places the beak over the statue’s eroded fish mouth. The statue transforms into Kunpeng in their full form – they’re much bigger than the statue.
4. Then Kunpeng swims to the top. Player follows suit. When player reaches top, player uses lotus leaf to jump OR swim close to Kunpeng but Kunpeng swims away from player if they get too close. Player goes back to shore and cuts down a vine from a tree to make into a lasso. Player then equips it and jumps back onto the lily pads to go towards Kunpeng – when player reaches a certain distance with the lasso equipped, Kunpeng begins swimming away swiftly – chase begins.
5. Player must jump onto the lily pads to try to catch up to Kunpeng – Kunpeng will periodically leap out of the water. Falling off the lily pads means the player must swim back up. When the player is close enough and Kunpeng leaps, they must aim, throw and reign the lasso in to successfully catch Kunpeng. Kunpeng now lets the player ride them and lends the player their power.
6. After mounting Kunpeng, to fly, player must press a key to have Kunpeng spray a stream of water onto the ground to elevate it and control the direction they move in. Kunpeng loses momentum the more distance it covers and begins descending to the ground after a while – unable to move – so player must land Kunpeng in a pool of water OR collect some water in a bottle from a pool of water and splash it onto Kunpeng. Player flies Kunpeng to the village.
7. Player uses Kun Peng to extinguish all the fires in the village by having Kunpeng spray water at the fires. After doing so, the path to Mount Kunlun opens up/goes out. Player then navigates Kunpeng to the top of Mount Kunlun, where Kaiming Shou is burning down the temple at the mountain top, and turns to target the player once it sees you by spraying fire out of it’s multiple heads.
– BATTLE PHASE:
8. The player controls Kunpeng’s flight to avoid the flames Kaiming Shou is shooting, and also controls Kunpeng water sprays to target each of Kaiming Shou’s flaming heads to extinguish them. This renders them to be non-functional.
9. After all of Kaiming Shou’s heads are extinguished, the heads transform into new heads – they have a more animal-like appearance, and appear more like a guardian’s. The temple is also restored – it reveals multiple altars – one for each beast/guardian (four). Kunpeng and Kaiming Shou both begin to glow and dissipate. After they disappear, statues of both appear in their respective alters in the temple – if the Zhulong/Yayu quest is not complete yet, two of the alters are empty.
Bestiary Format/Design
Deciding Fonts/Formatting: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WSm9VsRHLUARykPi0RsUXqjP-e48V1BuSY0cKmstZIY/edit?usp=sharing
I decided to test different fonts and formatting for the GDP’s text. I concluded that we should have one font for everything to ensure nothing clashes. I also decided to have the heading and subheading be centred whilst the body text is in justified format.
I also decided that underlining bold text makes the writing less legible so I opted for not underlining the heading and subheadings (which are bold).
I initially chose these font sizes:
Headings = 28 size
Subheadings = 20 size
Body text = 12 size
But the sizes needed to be altered when typing on the official GDP – the pages are bigger.
I initially chose Lora as the chosen font but after looking at more fonts using the google add-on – extensive fonts – and doing some more tests – I chose Cagliostro and Texturina and the possible font choices – I narrowed it down to two from the ones I had typed out (which were ones I quite liked).
In the end, I chose Cagliostro after testing the font on official GDP pages/slides – it looked good.
Formatting
The GDP should be vertical and as single pages (as opposed to spread page and/or horizontal) – it’s easier to navigate and read/zoom in on
Colour/Visuals
Like a bestiary/journal – Yilin designed and drew the pages
Contents Page – Formatting
I played around with formatting and positioning the text on the contents page:
Proposal Details Lecture Notes
Talk notes:
Hand in details: two pieces for the proposal – work over twelve weeks – blogs and stuff you did in that time – portfolio & documentation
AND the project proposal itself – not fixed – should be dynamic to suit project/work – look at examples – last year there was a storybook – Maive – ruby and Sarah did a newspaper – showed what the game is, what it looks like, etc. – by the end of semester 1 – links are in slack*
Proposal – what are the benefits to doing it in any form other than a GDD style proposal – a formal, detailed document
But it can become an arrogant itself if it’s an eg book or newspaper – can show people and get them interested – it’s different – well-designed and considered – looks nice – an object as opposed to a document
It should be either a pitch or a game outline – there’s no intended audience – it’s for us to package up our thoughts for this project – so whatever we think/like best should be what we choose to go with – depends on project
Could be a pitch document if you do wish if it suits the project
Two parts are the documentation of the journey AND the proposal
Proposal should have details nonetheless – eg how long it should take to make it, etc.
If it’s in GDD form, can also make a design appendix – have visuals referenced there – our own visuals
A proposal to demonstrate that we thought about the visuals as well as the details
Could make something interactive and have the details on a document
Should avoid working on multiple projects in semester 2 – should focus on own project as the standard is high – should have a polished game by the end of the year
Mobile games should be mac-compatible
When making the games in semester two – if you’re in teams, there should be so much to do that no one should be waiting and doing nothing at any time – it should be a fully integrated experience
TASK: discuss with the class about our projects
Try telling someone who doesn’t know your idea well your game idea and get them to explain it back to you – to see how well you conveyed your game idea
Team Meeting – 17th Jan 2021
How to separate different sections?
Format – have different sections – journal sections – have headings? – have items
Journal – simple descriptions – then go to bestiary for more details – not match exactly with eg dialogue
Signal to player which sections change – glow – tab – stops glowing if checked
No character sections
Sections:
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
GUARDIANS/BEASTS/TALISMANS/ENVIRONMENTS
TASK: bestiary, narrative. For all. Research. Finalise.
Organise dialogue and cue system. – place in narrative GDP section.
Characters
In-game objects/assets – interactions w/ objects – FILL IN SECTION ON TRELLO
Interactions – spreadsheet – dialogue and environment cues
Make pinterest board for bestiary design/layout – concept the layout
FILL IN QUEST GAMEPLAY SECTIONS
ENVIRONMENTS/BEASTS – VISUALS/DETAILS OF HOW THEY WORK, ETC.
For bestiary, have tabs with words on them – eg journal – description – on side have notes – clues/hints – one of the sections with bestiary
Journal = Descriptions of things happening in the moment/present.
Could have objectives sub section – on the side/horizontal instead of just vertical – or vice versa – have Tabs on top, and tabs on the side.
Include what the hunter did – in history
GDP sections
YILIN: player/controls sections.
Stamina amount – how much player the glows
Can’t regenerate max qi
Collect qi orbs in environment
Just glide and double jump/thrust
No fall damage
Bushes and flowers – and butterflies – to prevent player from going back to certain area to get qi
Look at trello
Quest gameplay
CHANGE YAYU ATTACK TO PHYSICAL FIGHT
CHANGE YAYU’S TALISMAN PHYSICAL APPEARANCE? – FOR KS? – MAKES MORE SENSE FOR FIRE TO BE KS. – CHANGE TO – GEM or CRYSTAL. SHOWS ON CHEST AFTER RETURNING IT TO YAYU
KUNPENG TALISMAN? – GEM SCALE
HAVING TALISMANS PROVIDE FOR THE VILLAGE SHOULD BE RETAINED – IT MAKES CONTEXTUAL SENSE – BEFORE IT WAS THE GUARDIANS WHO PROVIDED FOR THEM – BUT LEADER DEFEATED THEM – AND MADE THE VILLAGE GET IN TROUBLE – LEADER SAVES THEM
KS TALISMAN? – FLAME? – ORB
AWAKEN ZHULLONG – FINDING HIM SHOULD BE ENOUGH
DONT LIGHT CANDLE – NOT FIRE – ITS LIGHT – CONTINUE TO GET RID OF THE LIGHTING CANDLE MECHANIC
YAYU’S NARRATIVE EXPLAINED: YAYU FIRST DIED AND GOT SLIGHTLY CORRUPTED BUT STILL W/ GOOD HEART – CORRUPTED FROM ERFU’S BETRAYAL – RELATIVE/FELLOW GOD – FEELINGS OF RESENTMENT AND BETRAYAL TAINTED HIS RESSURECTION – ADD IN BESTIARY – AFTER LOOKING AT CAVE DRAWING EXTERIOR
YAYU RELENTS TO EVIL/DEMONIC ENERGY AND RESENTMENT DUE TO PREVIOUSLY ALREADY BEING TAINTED WITH RESENTMENT – IT’S EASIER FOR HIM TO RELENT TO RESENTFUL ENERGY TO GAIN POWER AND TURN DEMONIC DUE TO PAST TAINTING
TALISMANS ARE MISUSED/TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF – IT DOESNT HAVE TO BE FOR THEIR ORIGINAL PURPOSE – EG YAYU SOUL CRYSTAL USED AS A LIGHT – CORRUPTS IT – AS WELL AS EG WATER FROM SCALE – MISUSE/FROM OVERUSE AND USED BY THE WRONG PEOPLE – ALSO FROM BEING SEPARATED BY OWNER – GETS CORUPTED
BEASTS USED TO PROVIDE FOR VILLAGE BEFORE HUNTER DEFEATED THEM – ADD TO BESTIARY? – CAN BE SUBTLY IMPLIED?
Team Meeting – 9th Jan 2021
Have a symbol for each guardian so we can have totems near places relevant to the respective guardians as visual indicators for players
Design a symbol for each guardian
NARRATIVE TALK
All creatures used to be guardians and all have artefacts – the guardians became stone and demonic beasts turned resentful and becomes demonic – defeat them and give them back artefact then – add artefacts in museum
Guardians gave in and demonic ones manifested power through resentment/evil means – happens over time – village stops worshipping for a few decades or so and guardians change over time and when player gets there guardians have completely changed to stone/demonic – things begin happening
Hunter wants to open up the portal to heavens – collect artefacts to activate gate to heaven – doesn’t work
Kaiming shou was the guardian for temple – gate – hunter already got stole some artefacts – KS already mad – gate was open cos guardians were complete – but now closed cos Hunter messed with balance/guardians
Hunter started the village OR took over – LATTER – lies to villagers
Village used to worship guardian beasts – then hunter manipulates villagers to turn away from gods cos they’re not trustworthy and humans have the power
Get rid of brainwashing but keep pollution
Player invited – gate slowly opens as the player resolves things and hunter finds out and tries to hijack it
Guardians give info about how they were attacked by a hunter – player finds out that the hunter is the leader
Towards end, some guardians return to alters, gate to heaven lights up a bit – semi – open – leader gets clued in
PLAYER
Has a default amount of chi – refills really slowly – gets chi from interacting with environment
Default movement – eg if player gets a leaf and goes down a hill – slides down it
Mounting – changed to offer them desired object – need object – after a while creatures get fed up and bump player off – run away by default – shy and also don’t want to be used – creatures run away after bumping them off – desired objects don’t
Inventory – have same items in stacks – if more than one – eg equip one and throw – immediately replaced with another
Bigger items like big leaf can’t fit in inventory
Can exit environments and parts of quests except BATTLES – must finish those once entered
Quest outlines are a path – make a map with the quest parts on it to show how non-linear/open world it is
Have fire at beginning
When you get kunpeng and bring them back more fire at village – another attack or spread – spread slowly – some live at temple
PRESENTATION
QUESTS
NARRATIVE
CHARACTER
ENVIRONMENT
Have one nice concept art for each quest – important part
Storyboard the important parts
Draw props for some
Be specific about mechanics and how they work – pick out one example to explain the mechanics
Be general about narrative
Cover marketing?? And music design – USPs – part of intro – don’t have marketing in presentation – just in proposal
Team Meeting – 7th Jan 2021
Player should have no health
Player screen turns dark or blurry when damage taken
the feather –
Could go to museum to ask about it
Records sounds – could hold it and press key to record and wear it – either automatically after Zhulong is at Yayu’s dwellings
Kunpeng quest:
One side of village on fire
Player rescues villager – they tell player about beast – they point at mount kunlun – path is on fire
Path is too hot to go on
Player goes to lotus lake to find guardian
Lake is full of lily pads – player jumps on them – triggers guardian animation – to show up
Water is clear – can see guardian swim in it
Player cut a vine from tree – make lasso to catch guardian
Player catch kunpeng by jumping on lily pads – if close enough to kunpeng – throw lasso
Succeed = kunpeng follows
KUNPENG ARTIFACT – from museum – hide museum a bit from player – Player can just give it to them – makes them able to fly
Kunpeng can’t leave lake without artifact
OR
Learn about kunpeng – came from a bird that hatched in the ocean
Must have artifact to hatch the egg – swim to bottom of the water – and then catch it – but it suggests that kunpeng was just born – OR not an egg – became unmoveable cos lost artifact
THIS ONE IS BETTER rather than catch it and be unable to move it
After catching it – can ride it
NAVIGATION
Player control kunpeng – blast water on ground to propel up in air – player too heavy – can’t fly well
Kunpeng dries up and needs to refill on water? – unneeded – too convoluted? – also doesn’t make sense that it runs out of water – it is a water guardian
PLAYER
Player collects chi – in jar – visually indicative of how much chi you have
Guardian moves and expels chi as it moves – player can collect it
FIGHT
Village now has more fire – beast came to attack again or fire spread
Must extinguish path of fire – like cleaning up – simple
At top of kunlun mountain – beast is there – attacks when you’re close enough – must attack with kunpeng – extinguish heads – the less heads the less attacks – heads extinguished = charred stubs – non-functional
Defeat = cracks and grows new heads – now looks like a guardian
Now extinguish rest of fire and reveals temple. Temple have alters – demonic beasts once worshipped.
Animation – kaiming shou – temple restored – guardians go to their respective alters and shows that they’re restored and go in air OR alters
MAYBE
After end – go to main menu – unlock new option – temple – can summon the beasts – like a beta test for new feature
Temple could be an archive – library with info about lore and beasts
Qi boosted jump, glide
Bounce off walls?
Super speed? – not suiting essence of this explorative game
If you have x amount of chi = you can do one thing
You can run or walk as a feature
Can interact with small creatures/default environment creatures
- How?
- Mount, chase?
- Appease with item/interact/stroke?
- Limitations? – to stop player fro, constantly using them – can’t go to certain areas
Mount? – not needed –
Slide on slopes – default on slopes
Tracking ability? – not really needed – it’s visually indicative
Have basic creatures populate area – they expel chi passively
Can interact with them – stroke them
Minimise UI/no on screen UI
Inventory
Split up tasks:
Quests/Narrative = me – decide specifics for now and how player discovers lore
Playtest
Gameplay – quests and
Character = yilin
Environment = alex
Fill in environment section on trello and beast section – add descriptions
Team Meeting – 14th Jan 2021
Intro: Yilin – make terrain in unity
Make more detailed parts like buildings an assets in blender
Possible Solutions:
Cut out battle phase – replace with animation – the navigation phase is interesting enough
Cut out environment creatures? – unnecessary – OR make them very minimal and interactions very simple – eg two different types of creatures sparsely laid across the world and one is small and you stroke it AND the other you can give a berry to and you can ride it – OR forgo the riding
Cut down on some of the player’s mechanics? – too many? – just have gliding and SIMPLIFY the Qi system- Qi is dotted around environment, some in high places too AND the incentive to travel like that is easter eggs/pieces of lore that can be discovered as special items or environmental things like special plants to add to bestiary or to lore like a burnt tree
Cut down some areas? – environment too big? – make cave connected to/part of mount kunlun? Have village be very close to kunlun – can make less empty space – purple mountain abs lake can be fairly close to each other too or part of one big area – they used to keep to themselves for contextual justification – kunlun usually in lake or flying nearby AND Zhulong by the moutain
For lotus lake and chasing – will we have turning when fish reaches end? Or continuous path in chase event? If former, have the fish leap out at least twice or thrice before turning – give the player a few chances before turning:
Fish will swimming by the edge and then turning sharply at certain points – eg 5 points at certain parts of the edge – randomly or a pattern – at points it leaps
YILIN NOTES:
Not defined enough?
Make a mock up with details – as the game plays – to test game and see game as a whole
Open world? – necessary? Simple environment but there’s lots of empty space that won’t come to use
Exploration can come from details in the environment design
Make it semi – linear
Village hub = centre of world
Can have some repeatable areas but some not
Quest gameplay game or scavenger hunt/narrative game – capitalise on quests/collab – keep battle phase
Make narrative discoverable – simplest form:
Player starts in archive/museum
Have narrative in village
Change name artefact – definition is man made – change to eg talisman
Scrap narrative in quest? No Items to find??
Can have environmental bits to have player interact with – add to bestiary – if not interacted with – it has blank spaces
After quest – adds to bestiary info
Environmental pieces – don’t give all info – player character figures it out and writes in book
Design the pieces and do concepting – also concept quests again
Concept the quest again – make quests linear – zhulong first and kunpeng
Semi-linear = make environment – less open – make player feel like on they’re on the quest
Player can still go to areas where the quest hasn’t been initiated yet – to get some of the narrative – retains aspect of open exploration
When making stuff – make an archive for reusable assets
Have environment layout as is? – since it’s linear now and not open world
Decide on details of village:
Leader house
Archive
Houses – how many?
How big is the village?
How many buildings etc.
Make modular 3D assets – make pieces to make up a whole instead of the whole – to make reusable assets
Decide on complexity of the shapes of the environment/assets – nail the style down
Use Chinese ink painting for shapes reference – outlines not completely straight or smooth – organic, rough look – adding irregularities
Yilin notes continued:
Cutting down environment creatures: separate component to the quests – one (or two) different creatures you can interact with
Have several different creatures populate world
Player controls – should have little abilities – cut down on their mechanics – take away Qi system? If too complicated & have advanced actions – eg double jump, glide, bounce off walls – could have creatures BUT means multiple creatures you can interact with – worried Qi system would be too hard to make – ASK JAMES AT MEETING TOMORROW
Could remove sprinting or not very fast and have faster be riding creature – but what about during fights?
Basics actions – walk, run, jump
Decide on headlines of proposal – decide on details based on them – start designing proposal – concept and make assets
COLOUR SCHEME
Paintings of deities – blues and golds – special/best colours to use
Look at Yilin’s Trello ART section
Yilin and Jenny/Me: Design guardians and beasts
PROPOSAL HEADLINES – look at Maive’s – as a guide
Decide on detail of:
Narrative pieces
Bestiary content
Environment designs and layout
Quests progression and details
Character mechanics
Asset list/interactive items
Creature designs
Concept environments for my quest
Team Meeting w/ Adam 1
Meeting with Adam as Team – Me and Yilin (before Alex joined):
Make a design journal space to document meetings/discussions
Should scope our game with the idea of having just the two of us as a team
Proposal should inform the game idea – clearly define the game – prioritise a good game proposal instead of just learning skills
Could include in the proposal plans – in semester 2 or plans to outsource – proposal also acts as a plan of what and how we’re gonna do things – BUT don’t include learning skills in the proposal
Should schedule regular meetings regardless of the break (our suggestion)
Decide on the most important aspect of the game and make sure that the scope of the game doesn’t disregard them
Include plans to prototype and test parts of the game – eg test 10 puzzles and choose the best 4
Proposal should spell out the concerns – be clear about them – could help inform design decisions
Could make a GDD and add in a bestiary/character book (our suggestion)
Write down the things you want to do and if it’s possible and how you’re gonna do it – reflect – no Plan Bs just Plan As and revised plans
Have weekly meetings with James – to inform us on the technical side of things and if we’re on the right track – write this in our proposal – plans (our suggestion)
We’re working together – there’ll be lots of crossovers and no one should have to wait for anyone
Make the plan in/during our proposal so as to not waste time in semester 1
Could include estimates in our plans, eg by week ? – we’ve learned unity/made three characters
Can’t talk to Adam during the break – can message in slack though
Team Meeting w/ James – 7th Jan 2021
Questions:
How to make it so that throw parabola only works when has item is true AND key is pressed – I’m calling has item from another script and theres an object referenced in the function so it says that the item isn’t stanced into an object and makes the code not work. How to fix?? – object reference not set to an instance of an object
How to implement aiming – looking at visual parabola line as UI/indicator for player AND a parabola you can control with mouse – LOCK CAMERA ROTATION/MOVE WITH MOUSE FUNCTION when enter aim mode AND how to make it so that holding a key will enter make parabola visible and lock camera and parabola controlled with mouse AND let key go moves the object in parabola
How to make it so that player can’t pick up more than one item at a time and how to make it so that player can’t pick up an item while carrying an item AND how to make player pick up the item closest if they hit more than one object collider at once
How to make it so that the same key can both pick up and drop an item
NOTES
Open world issue – how to signify to player certain quest triggers – CHANGE the triggers? Worried it relies too much on players finding the triggers – players can be idiots and not follow the clues and wander off
See what you can remove from a direct gaming experience- if it’s a chain of events that must happen for something to occur – must it be that way – linear gameplay structure
Issue with quest initiation trigger
Could have environmental clues suit that? Like rock carvings and have the initiation be numerous triggers
Getting to the puzzle is a problematic area
Why not be explicit with quests? – better for player to chance upon while exploring – to retain fluidity of player – is it important though? Not important to puzzle solution
Explore for narrative and clues
Could have guardian shrines dotted around – shrine puzzle clues – awaken them – could cut out initiation triggers – flexible
Why make it a mission? If you dont do anything about the beasts – they’ll keep causing issues – must stop them – must have guardians help
If open world – 4 beasts and guardians
Must use specific guardians for specific beasts
Eg if player enters cave without guardian – lose health
But what if u awaken wrong guardian and fight wrong beast – could make one guardian stationary – summonable but for this scope? Maybe
Doesnt have to be a quest – doesnt need to be this structure – we have the fundamental formula – no need for a quest structure
Dont need linear events – make it a truly open world – could keep set up – still have a hub – suppose theres a map – names of locations- village has book about beasts – info – example – got the info to find puzzles
Want to avoid quest giving – wanted to have environmental triggers but what happens if players miss it – should give players the general consensus somehow at the beginning – fits the narrative of the player being invited to village for missions
MEETING TALK 2
Player hub village at beginning
Have people distress when you step out
Not linear quest – outline just an example
Land fish in water
Fish floating when lands
Have stuff outside of quest be basic gameplay – make getting the candle simply – MC takes it from the archive
SCHEDULE ANOTHER JAMES MEETING? – tried to but it didn’t work out – I figured out some of the answers to the questions anyway so it was alright
Jgameproposal21 