Game Design Document GAM400, Summer 2013

Passage
By DigiPeons

Instructor: James Barnard

Member Name: Gan Ju-We Title: Producer

Member Name: Chua Wei Jian Title: Game Designer / Test Manager

Member Name: Lim Yong Sheng Title: Game Designer / Level Designer

Member Name: Anthony Chong Title: Technical Director / Art Director

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction ..................................................................... 2. High Concept ..................................................................... 3. First-Pass X Statement .. 4. Game Mechanics ..................................................................... 5. Game Environment / Level Design . 6. Game Flow 7. Features ........ 8. UI Design ........ 9. Save .. 10.Audio .. 11. Controls .. 12. Cinematic List 13. Animation List 14. Character List 15. Script List .. 16. Audio List .. 17. VFX List .. 18. Art List .. 3 3 3 3 7 9 12 16 18 18 20 21 23 23 24 26 28 29

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Introduction
Game Name: Passage Platform: PC Game Type: Puzzle-Platform Target Demographic: 12 years and above Target Audience: People who enjoy suspense and surprises.

High Concept
Passage is an exploration-based, puzzle-platform game, designed to instil suspense into the player as he plays. You control a girl who is trapped within the confines of a mansion and must find her way out.

First pass X-Statement

Passage is a 3d platform game, that is played from two perspectives, a player has to rotate between these perspectives to find the way through a mysterious dark world, solve puzzles and avoid supernatural dangers.

Game Mechanics
Walking Jumping Crouching Sprinting Rotation Collecting

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Player Movement The player has basic movement of walking, jumping, crouching and sprinting. These are simple mechanics which the player will use to move within the game. Walking and sprinting are two basic movements the player can employ to reach his target position. Jumping would allow the player to jump across platforms, traps or escape to higher ground. Crouching would allow the player to squeeze inside small holes or tunnels. The use of these mechanics in combination, allows the player to do a wide variety of tasks. For example: running, crouching and then crawling inside a small tunnel to escape from enemies or an enemy.

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Rotating view The player will see himself in a 2d perspective. In this perspective, the player is able to move to a destination with limitations on the direction / axis. If the player is at a junction or crossroad, he can toggle either the O or P key to rotate left or right respectively. Doing so would allow the player to look at the scene in 4 different perspectives. Additionally, rotating the view would uncover areas of the map that the player would not have known if he did not rotate. Rotating could perhaps uncover hidden traps, corridors, tunnels or enemies. Using rotation is fundamental as it is the core aspect of the game. Using rotation in conjunction with movement would allow the player to move in a different axis. Many puzzles or levels in the game would require the player to rotate to find a path out. To avoid confusion of the scene or surroundings when rotating, walls in front of the player will be culled so that the player is able to retain sight of his character. Collecting items Levels in the game require the player to pick up items. Items picked up are stored in the players inventory. Items are unique and there is a limitation to how many items the player can hold at one given time. Each item has a functionality that can assist the player during a level. For example, the lantern would illuminate the area around the player, giving him a better look of the area. A key that the player is carrying around would allow him unlock a door to
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another path.

Using items To use an item, the player would need to equip it from his inventory. There can only be 1 equip-able item at a time though. Items in the map illuminate a soft glow. To pick an item up, the player would need to press the E key. The picked up item would be stored in the inventory. An item has limited uses. For example, a flashlight drained of battery would be automatically disposed until the player finds another one. A key that has been used would be automatically disposed.

Interaction There will be interaction between the character and other NPCs. The player interacts with NPCs by pressing E. From there, NPCs can provide details on the
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game or tell you more of the story in the game. Interaction will form a key component in how we tell the story of the game. Also, interaction allows the player to pick-up clues from NPCs on how to solve the puzzle. The player can also interact with notes or items to pick them up.

Game Environment / Level Design

Passage will have a contrast in light and darkness. Ambient settings will be adjusted such that the player can see objects in the darkness but not clear enough. In some levels, there will be sufficient lighting provided in the shape of objects (Lanterns, lamps, candles and other light sources). Areas with insufficient lighting would require the player to use a candle or flashlight for illumination. Passage mainly takes place in an old, haunted mansion, with small detours in other outdoor areas. Assets such as furniture will be modelled in 3D while the player character and other humanoid objects will be drawn in 2D pixel-sprites. Objects such as furniture can be interacted by jumping over or crawling under. Sometimes, the player could interact with an object to discover an item. Some areas within the mansion are abandoned or run-down, resulting in pitfalls, traps or areas blocked by debris. Additionally, the mansion is home to a variety of ghouls and creatures. These creatures are deadly as a single touch to them will render the player dead. There are a variety of creatures to be added in the game. Each will have unique movement, behaviour and weaknesses.

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There will also be a variety of interactive objects in the game that form the type of obstacles or puzzles that the player will overcome. For example, disappearing boxes, appearing boxes (Light illuminates the box but disappears in darkness) and moving objects. Basically, these interactive objects could hinder the players progress. The aim is to rely on a contrast between light and darkness to overcome these obstacles. For example, the player might be required to lower the intensity of his light before jumping on a disappearing box or vice-versa (See picture below). Having these interactive objects allow us to create different levels.

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The goal of each level is to reach the exit. The way to the exit will always differ. Sometimes it is necessary for the player to collect a key to unlock a door before proceeding. Other times, the player could find an exit by crawling through a small hole. There will be hints given to the player if the player is taking too long to find the exit. Levels within Passage will be either puzzlebased or event-based. In puzzle-based levels, the player will solve a puzzle within his location. For example, the exit requires a 4-pin number. There are numbers on the wall which the player will need to uncover by rotating his view on the world. Puzzles are not time-dependent and will take as long as the player needs to solve the puzzle. Event-based levels are triggered in some levels. These events will force the player to escape as quickly as possible. For example, a player sees the silhouettes of ghouls in a distance. He must escape from them before the ghouls reach him. There will be a balance between these 2 types of levels.

Game Flow

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From the splash screen, the player will enter the main menu. From the main menu, the player can start the game. For a simple level, there will be a simple goal. For example, the player needs to find a key to open a door to get out. If the player gets caught by an enemy, he will die. From there, he can either restart the level or quit to the main menu. From the main menu, the player will be able to access options to change the volume or screen resolution. Below is a sample picture of how the main menu would look like. The main menu will have a haunted mansion on the background. The mansion will have a flickering light effect from its doors or windows.

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For the pause menu, the player will be able to change his options or restart the level.

For the credits, there will be a scrolling transition to show our names. Clicking back will end the credits and go back to the main menu.

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All the transitions will be fade in / fade out to match the effect of a light fading out.

Features
There are many factors that affect the players play-style in the game. These factors may come in the form of objects or events. This section goes in depth about the list of objects we have in the game.

Rotation Boxes Currently, these are presented as green cubes. The player is only able to rotate while standing on rotation boxes. The player is able to know that he is standing on a rotation box by seeing an exclamation mark over his head in the game.

Lantern These are pick-able objects that when picked-up, illuminate light around the
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player. They give off light and can extinguish the darkness around the player infinitely. The lantern can be turned off or turned on by using the mouse scroll. It can also be dropped. There are reasons why the lantern can be dropped or turned off or on.

Disappearing Boxes These boxes disappear when exposed to light. They are represented as lightpale boxes. They even look transparent in the darkness. If there is no light source close by, they become solid. When solid, they have collision, thus blocking the players path sometimes. It is wise for the player to monitor his lantern when treading around these objects.

Appearing Boxes These boxes are the opposite of disappearing boxes. Instead of disappearing in light, they appear in light. These boxes are represented in dark red. Likewise, it
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loses collision when there is no light source nearby. It is wise for the player to monitor his lantern when treading around these objects. Sometimes, if the player lights up his lantern while standing in one of these boxes, it would push the player up, allowing him to ascend to certain levels. Moving Boxes In some cases, there may be moving boxes that come in all forms. For example, it could be a moving rotation, disappearing, appearing or normal box. These boxes retain their properties. The player is able to stand on a moving box to reach his destination. Moving boxes move in any direction. Elevator There is an elevator system within the game that would carry the player to certain heights.

Spikes These are basic traps. They come in 2 forms, either static or moving. When moving, they ascend and descend. The player has only a few seconds to move over these spikes before he gets impaled. Reflectors These are light beams that shine from a light cannon. They are static and rooted to the ground. Like lanterns, they give off light but in a spotlight direction. If there is no light available for the player to use, it may be wise to use one of these to shine the way.

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Patrolling Ghosts (Weak to light) These ghosts are made up of smoke and darkness. In the darkness, they retain their ghost form. However, in light, they lose their form. They are scared of light.

Friendly Ghosts These ghosts can be interact with and they tell you clues on where to go.

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UI Design

Currently holding item

If player holding lantern, able to adjust light intensity.

The UI is kept simple. Basically what the player will see is his currently holding item on the top left and if he is holding a lantern, a bar will appear like above that indicates his current lights intensity.
Currently equipped item

Lantern Flashlight Key

Book
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The picture above describes how the player can equip an item before using it with E. Basically, the player will press F to bring up his item inventory. The player can only hold 1 item at a time. In the picture above, the item highlighted blue is equipped while the rest in black are not equipped. The player would need to cycle through his inventory using his A and D keys. When the item he wants is on the top, the item will be equipped.
When player presses D, Lantern will be unequipped and flashlight will be equipped.

Flashlight

Book

Lantern

Key

There are no health indicators on the game screen. The player character has only 1 health. When the character dies, he has to restart.

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Save
There is no saved profile, but the player is able to save his progress in the game during intermission levels. The data will be stored in a database somewhere (Might be using XML). The only time the player can save is in an intermission level. When he starts the game, he will be automatically reloaded to his latest save file. Things we need to save are players play-time, inventory and story progression.

Audio
Audio Theme The game, Passage, takes place in a haunted environment that aims to instil suspense and chills into the player as he journeys forward. To maintain the chilling atmosphere, we need the same kinds of audio assets. The aim is to have background music that fits the current theme of the level. For example, levels with long puzzles will have a somewhat soothing but eerie BGM. However, there are instances where we want to spook the player. For example, the current level has a standard BGM looping in the background but, at a certain checkpoint, we stop the music. The sudden quietness of the game is a kind of spook factor we want to integrate to send a message to the player that something is about to happen. There are other circumstances where we will use music to change the tension of the game. For example, when there is a chase sequence, the music will change to something more intense to reflect the current theme. A good reference of the type of audio we want in the game is from another game entitled Corpse Party. Corpse Party uses mainly 3D sound with a
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dummy-mic to full effect. Essentially, this is something we want to achieve with our game.

Dialogue Audio The game will not have character dialogue audio. Instead, there will be ghost noises coming from ghosts, ghouls or other frightening creatures. Like I highlighted above, if there is equipment provided for dummy-mic capabilities, we would like to utilize it to develop 3D audio to a whole new level.

Essentially, enemies that are nearer to the player will resonate a sound effect, like for example, a wailing cry. This way, there will be audio feedback that could help the player to indicate where the enemy is. Additionally, there will be audio feedback when a character interacts with either a friendly or enemy ghost. Of course, these will be easier to tell apart as the pitch and tone of the sounds will be adjusted accordingly.

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Controls
Passage will have a simple control scheme. Controls are mapped initially in the best possible way for player comfort. In the future, controls may be able to be assigned by the player himself. Controls are targeted for PC.

A D S O P Spacebar E Shift Escape

Move Left

Move Right

Crouch

Rotate Left

Rotate Right

Jump

Interact / Pick-up

Sprint

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The basic controls are A, D and S. There is no W key. A and D allows the player to move his character left or right. The S key allows the player to crouch to avoid obstacles or crawl through tunnels. The O and P keys allow rotation left to right respectively. Player can use spacebar to jump across obstacles. Jumping requires momentum, so it is required to hold A or D and press Spacebar to jump higher distances. The player can press E to interaction with friendly NPCs or pick up lanterns. When talking to a NPC, a dialog box will appear. Player can continuously press E to progress the dialogue. Pressing E lets the player pick-up a lantern. Pressing E again while holding a lantern lets him drop it. While holding a lantern, the player can change the lanterns light intensity by using mouse scroll. Scroll up to increase the light intensity and scroll down to decrease the light intensity. The player can hold Shift while pressing A or D to sprint. Sprinting allows the player to walk faster. The player can press the Escape key to access the main menu. From there, he can quit, adjust options or un-pause the game again by pressing resume or hitting Escape again.

Cinematic List
The game will have a beginning cinematic scene that shows an introduction of how the main character, a girl finds herself trapped in the confines of a mansion. The beginning introduction will be done initially in game-time. We will be utilizing cameras, camera angles and transitions in Unity to show this. For now, the plan is to have more cinematics done in Unity. If we acquire an artist during our progress, we may do the cinematic somewhere else. Tentatively, the introduction will have a cinematic. There will be intermission levels between levels that serve to give the player more knowledge on the plot of the game. During these intermission levels, we may integrate cinematic scenes during the game. At the end, we will have an ending cinematic to show what happens at the end.

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By doing the cinematic scenes in Unity, we will not jeopardize the quality. It also allows us to comfortably integrate the scenes with Unity. The aim is to make simple scenes first followed by complex ones later. Introduction Scene The camera will capture the girl running to take shelter from a heavy rain. The cinematic scene will have classic movie borders. Initially, the camera will pan up in 3D to show the mansion before descending down and transiting to a 2D camera. The scene ends as the camera lerps towards the player character. Intermission Scene As the player progresses, there will be intermission levels between levels. During these levels, there will be sample cinematic scenes to highlight the story. For example, the girl continues to wonder about the history of the mansion. When suddenly, the camera shifts towards a mysterious ghost that would eventually disappear in a dark corridor. After this small scene, the camera will shift to the player for control. There will be other scenes like this in the future. Some will have plot progression.

Ending Scene The ending scene will basically have a conclusion to the game without cliffhangers. This scene is not heavily planned yet, but the goal is to end the game exactly how it started. The camera will pan from the mansion to the girl who has successfully escaped from the shadows of the mansion.

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Animation List

Character List
Player Ecila Light is the protagonist of Passage. She is a highly curious 15-year-old girl who loves picking flowers in the nearby woods. Her parents, particularly her father, has repeatly warned her not to enter the woods since young. On her sixteenth birthday, picking flowers as usual, the weather suddenly took a turn for the worse. Wet and soaked, she decided to seek shelter in the trees. Heading deeper in the woods for the first time, she found herself standing in front of a mansion...
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White Ghost White Ghost are small-build enemies that are extremely quick. They dislike anything bright and will not hestitate to attack anyone in sight.Enjoying the taste of living souls, White Ghost love to hide in walls and Absorb the life-force of any passerbys.

Phantom (NPC) Victims that were trapped in the mansion were slowly turned in shadowy phantoms. Holding a lanturn to keep their sanity intact, they wait patiently for someone to lift the curse of the mansion and be free one day.

Fog Ghost Fog Ghost are big misty enemies that are much more powerful than White Ghost [see Above]. They are however more afraid of the light as their foggy body dissipate upon been hit by the light rays. Baring a grudge to all humans as they were once caught and trapped in lanturns, they enveloped their victims with their poisonous gas which they emit.

Script List
There are no plans for the script yet. But we have come up with 2 concepts for the story. These 2 concepts share similar stories. A girl who is lost in a mansion, trying to find her way out before the darkness consumes her.

Concept 1: Lost in the woods, a girl found herself looking in front of a mansion. Stepping into the doormat, the floor caved in and she fell through a never ending hole. After blacking out, she finds herself in underground passage to nowhere. Spotting a white light at the end of the passage, she picked herself up and started walking towards it...

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Concept 2: The plot follows a girl (Allison), that wakes up in a room not remembering who she is. She is horrified to find that she's been turned into a mannequin and more, she's missing various parts (feet, hands, mouth and a gaping hole in her chest), the player controls her through this creepy mansion, solving puzzles and retrieving her parts. Along the way she finds clues and information on that fill the gaps of her memory. The player learns that this place is unreal and all in Allison's mind, a reflection of a traumatic experience and Allison's journey through this is a way of coming to terms with reality and eventually recovering from a shattered mind.

Summary For now, we are leaning towards concept 2, as it has a more abstract story and feel. Essentially, the essence of collecting her body parts can be integrated easily with what we currently have.

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Audio Asset List

Below is a tentative list of the audio we require in the game. The list may be expended in the future as the game develop further. All sounds will be compressed to mp3 format to reduce memory complexity.

Player Heart Beat SFX This sound will be added as feedback. Basically, when an enemy is nearby, the heart beat sound will be played to indicate that an enemy is close. Panting SFX When the player sprints, there will be a running animation followed by the sound of panting. This audio adds to the immersion. Dying SFX The sound played when the character dies in the game. It should like a scream. Not a loud one though.

Enemy Wailing SFX For ghost enemies. Wailing is heard randomly from a ghost enemy. This tells the player that there is a nearby enemy.

Grunting SFX For ghoul enemies. Grunting is heard from ghoul enemies to indicate that a ghoul is nearby.

Friendly Wailing SFX A similar SFX like the enemy wailing SFX but the tone and pitch are changed to reflect that the ghost is friendly.

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Other Feedback Obtain item SFX Played when the player has obtained an item like a key or important object. Goal SFX Played when the player has reached a goal. Whisper SFX A sound effect thats played along in the background to confused the player.

Background Music Soothing and eerie BGM 1 A BGM that has a mixture of a soothing and eerie feeling. Played in levels where the player is required to solve puzzles.

Soothing and eerie BGM 2 A different take on BGM 1. The song will still invoke the same feel though.

Tense BGM A good way to describe this audio is that it invokes tension into the player. The audio has to be done right as well so we can time the music along with events in the game.

Chase sequence BGM An audio that is played in situations where the player is chased by ghosts. The BGM could sound like Tense BGM but with better beats.

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VFX Asset List

Terrain Culling Script that makes a piece of the map alpha out, sink away or both, if its between the player and camera(Itween Fade Update) (Vector3 Lerp).

Rotation Rotates the camera 90 degrees around player (ortho cam).

Lantern intensity control Controls how bright lanterns light source is as well as its range. (point light).

Ghost fade Ghosts immaterial body fades away in certain light sources, rendering it harmless (particles).

Ambient Occlusion Light from chosen light sources will reflect of surfaces (baked in with Tommy's scipt).

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Art Asset List

The current game build uses 2D art sprites instead of 3D models. But the aim is to change the 2D sprite to a 3D model. If there is enough demand, we will consider keep the 2D sprites as an alternative, allowing the player to switch between 2D sprites or 3D sprites. More detail on the 3D model can be found in the animation list at the top. Most of the game is made up of tiles or cubes. Each cube is of the same length. The cubes are tiled one after another. Materials will be applied on shaders which would then be applied on these cubes. A cube might be different from another, it might be a disappearing or appearing cube. Other than the player, enemy or other NPCs, other objects in the game will be modelled in 3D:

Units - Player model - Ghoul model - Ghost model Furniture - Dining Chair - Dining Table - Wooden Coffin - Bookshelf - Cabinet - Locker - Wooden Crate - Door - Trap Door

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