sketch up designs

These are the screen shots that are labeled of my google sketch up map. These will also be used in my Level design document.

paper designs

these are the paper designs I created before going into sketch up so i knew what i was going to do roughly in sketch up.

After coming up with a general design i worked up a illustrator version of my paper design so you can be seen more clearly.

vice city research

Grand Theft Auto: Vice city Mechanics

Genre –

·         Sandbox.

·         Action.

·         Adventure.

·         3^rd Person.

·         Crime. 

Environment –

·         Based off the city of Miami

·         Colourful

·         Various section to the map area, slums to mansions etc,

·         Open world

·         3 islands

Heavy rain research

Heavy Rain

Genre –

·         Thriller.

·         Action.

·         Half way between cinema and video game.

·         Requires players to use quick time events to continue game.

·         Choices that alter the storyline.

Environments –

·         Dark.

·         Gritty.

·         Realistic.

·         American locations.

·         Texture is duller (more brown) as the game becomes darker. 

MGS 4 research

Metal Gear Solid 4 Mechanics

Sneak Mechanics –

·         Crouch and prone positions to help lower visibility.

·         Gadgets to plan way around.

·         Classic items such as the box to sneak and hide.

·         Hostages and sneak only situations.

·         Customizable weapons for silencers and more stealth like weapons.

·         Combat knife used to takedown enemies.

Octocamo Mechanic –

·         Lean against walls and camo picks up texture.

·         Picks texture from the floor in prone.

·         Change appearance to simulate other characters.

·         Changes visibility due to picking texture. 

Arkham city research

Batman: Arkham City Mechanics

Detective mode –

·         Changes screen colour to blue similar to night vision.

·         Enemies are shown through walls as skeleton figures.

·         Challenges and vantage points highlighted in the environment.

·         To make sure this is not used all the time drops the ability to see objective marker.

·         Used to help solve crimes that happen during in the game.

·         Shows if enemies are armed or un-armed.

 Takedown Mechanics –

·         Various takedowns from environment/ position.

·         Sneak behind enemies for silent takedown.

·         Swoop in and takedown from distance.

·         Pull enemies off ledges.

·         Take enemies down through breakable environment.

·         Combine gadgets with environments to immobilize or hinder enemies.

·         Double takedown on 2 enemies near each other. 

passage

This is the passage that I have chosen to do my level design on. It's from the book Darkly Dreaming Dexter. It's about Dexter a lab geek for Miami Metro who is also a murder.


"His name was Father Donovan. He taught music to the children at St. Anthony's Orphanage in
Homestead, Florida. The children loved him. And of course he loved the children, oh very much
indeed. He had devoted a whole life to them. Learned Creole and Spanish. Learned their music, too.
All for the kids. Everything he did, it was all for the kids.
Everything.
I watched him this night as I had watched for so many nights now. Watched as he paused in the
orphanage doorway to talk to a young black girl who had followed him out. She was small, no more
than eight years old and small for that. He sat on the steps and talked to her for five minutes. She
sat, too, and bounced up and down. They laughed. She leaned against him. He touched her hair. A
nun came out and stood in the doorway, looking down at them for a moment before she spoke.
Then she smiled and held out a hand. The girl bumped her head against the priest. Father Donovan
hugged her, stood, and kissed the girl good night. The nun laughed and said something to Father
Donovan. He said something back.

And then he started toward his car. Finally: I coiled myself to strike and—"

Mechanics

Commands –

The Combat within my game will play in Real time with a combat list at the bottom of the screen; this will include commands such as Attack, Messengers, Summon and Use item. To use a command the player will use the d-pad during combat to select a command and then select by pressing the selection button. There will also be a jump button which can be used at any time in combat or not.

Health and Mana –

Death’s health will be demonstrated by a bar in the opposite corner of the screen to the command list. As well as health there will be another bar showing Mana. Mana will be used to give the player the ability to use other Mechanics in the command list such Summons and Messengers. This limits the player to a certain use of their abilities. As the player progresses throughout the game and levels up Death they will earn more Mana. Health can increased through wear different armour throughout the game.

New abilities –

Death is granted new abilities as he progresses throughout the game by summoning Lilith. He must exchange Dark souls for his new abilities which he gains from fallen minions of Darkheart throughout the world.

Summons –

As Death meets new people and creatures throughout the game after gaining their trust he can then summon them to aid him within battle. So as the player work through the game characters such as the wolf out of little red riding hood will be available as summons. There are some exception to summons rather than help in combat some are support characters and some are even vital to complete puzzles. Death’s horse (Despair) is also classed as summon throughout the game. Lilith is also a summon, however she is only there to give death new Abilities.

Messengers of Death –

Death slowly earns the abilities to send his messengers upon enemies. These work typically like spells and use energy from the Mana bar. As Death progress’s throughout the game he unlocks more messengers. Sickness causes minor enemies to instantly sick blood so they die, against larger enemies this is not effective and useless but can be used to clear smaller enemies and let Death concentrate on the large enemies. Fever can create a fire ball projectile that death throws at the enemy. Dizziness distorts enemies for a short time but also enrages large enemies while active causing them to lash out in random direction. These messengers are granted to Death by Lilith in exchange for Demon souls.

Book of Death –

The Book of Death is basically Death’s journal. It works as a map of the world and as a stats and equipment screen. Using this, the player can progress to certain objectives and also change the equipment that Death has equipped. Part of the book has a list of names, which change as the game progresses, of the souls Death is assigned to claim. This is an ongoing side mission throughout the game. The player is rewarded with souls he can infuse into his weapons to make them stronger and upgraded.

Items –

Throughout the game Death will come across Items that will increase his health and mana. Unlike in other games were the player picks up potions he can use to heal Death must take certain parts of creatures and enemies to gain certain things however the player is not immediately told what does what so they discover it for their self. Once the player has tried a certain thing the effects are noted in a section of the book of Death. There are certain Items that weaken Death.

Upgrades –

As Death requires Souls through the list in the Book of Death he can infuse them into his weapons. This in after spending so many souls upgrades the weapon. This changes it’s appearance and it’s power. Once the weapon is upgraded Death can also later choose a specific ability it can portray such as draining blood or setting enemies on fire. This can be changed by Lilith for a cost aswell being able to learn new moves from her. The Messenger’s can also be upgraded but only by Lilith for the cost of Dark souls.

Weapons –

As Death progresses throughout the world certain characters from each of the fairytale stories grant him new weapons instead of summons, such as the huntsman’s rifle from Little Red Riding hood. These can also be upgraded and keep the game play developing and fresh for the player.

Story Overview

This is a quick story overview for my game.

Death is defeated by the great demon Darkheart. After faceing punishment from Azekiel he must help free the world of Darkheart’s grip one fairy tale at a time. With the help of Lilth death will discover the power that dwells within him and the power he has wanted for all of time.

Story

Death is sent from place to place claiming souls for passing into the next life as set by God himself. If these souls are unwilling to let death claim them he becomes more “persuasive” with his scythe.

He is set the task of claiming the soul of Darkheart whom is unwilling to beaten by death. The two of them begin to fight and after a long and powerful fight Darkheart is victorious and has beaten death. Death returns to Azekiel where he is to face judgement.

With death begin defeated he feels weakened unlike he has never felt before, and is compelled to claim Darkheart’s soul and “finish the job”.

When facing judgement from Azekiel, death begs for another chance to claim Darkheart’s soul. He promises he will do whatever it takes to beat Darkheart even if it means he must die himself. Azekiel  realise that without Death the whole of existence would be in chaos. Azekiel decide to let Death claim his soul but explain that Darkheart has taken each of the tales by force and is changing their intended history which if not corrected could destroy the world itself. They also explain that since defeating Death, Darkheart become even stronger and Death will also need to become stronger in order to claim his soul and send him to his final resting place, but seeing as he has already been beaten Death, Death must be punished to learn not to make the same mistake and they take away his ability to appear wherever he would like within the world.

Once back in the world death immediately see’s the influence that Darkheart has had. Death is attacked by a group of Darkheart’s minions called Demonhearts but incredibly over powers them. After claiming the souls of the minion’s a Demon appears in a smokeless fire that goes by the name of Lilith. She knows of Death’s task and why he was unsuccessful. She also offers death powers he can use to help him defeat the minion’s and even Darkheart himself in exchange for the minion’s souls he claims known as Dark souls considering they have already be judged. He accepts the terms and Lilith grants him a horse called Despair so he is able to explore the world at will.

With the ability to travel around the world now granted Death proceeds to hunt down Darkheart and correct each of the tales as they are unfolding.

After correcting some of the tales and gaining abilities from Lilith. Lilith appears again and is attacked by Azekiel for being a demon. Death is forced to save Lilith so that she can make him strong enough to defeat Darkheart. Death Battles Azekiel and in the process kills Despair causeing him great sadness.

Lilith decides to reward Death with ability previously taken from him to replace Despair but Death is overwhelmed by loss of his trusted horse and Lilith comforts Death as now he knows what it is to lose someone they care about.

Now even more focused on claiming DarkHeart’s soul he sets back out in search of him and set back all of the tales to their normal endings.

After completing his goal of setting the tales back to normal his final tale took him too Simeli Mountain. The mountain opens and Death here finds Darkheart stronger and bigger than their first encounter. Darkheart laughs as Death explains he is there for his soul and stands to fight death. Lilith appears to watch the battle and encourage Death.

After a long and tiring battle Death defeats Darkheart and cuts off his head after allowing him to beg for his life. The world is returned to normal but Lilith has disappeared and is nowhere to be seen.

Darkheart

Name: Darkheart

Age: 37

Height: 10”

Weight: 25 stone

Role: Antagonist

Non Playable Character

Archetypes: Shadow, Threshold guardian, shapeshifter.

Back story:

Darkheart spent his life training in dark magic summoning demons to do his will. As his abilities developed his appearance changed from human to something demonic and giant become somewhat of an outcast among society. This lead to him becoming very bitter at the world around him and wanting to seek more power. He became stronger and more devious by the day changing him even on the outside. His in darkness from within manifested to the stage that he no longer was human but this largely powerful demon.

Appearance:

Darkheart is considered a “giant” among society. He is much large than anything else in the world. His demonic powers have lead to his demonic appearance and are generally terrifying to the rest of the world. He is strong and very muscular as well as carrying a large staff, as more of a symbol of his power than a weapon.

Death

Name: Death

Age: unknown

Height: 7”

Weight: 10 stone

Role: Protagonist

Playable Character

Archetypes:  Hero, Shadow, Trickster, Shapeshifter.

Back story:

Death is a Horseman of the Apocalypse with the job of claiming souls when their time passes. He has no choice on whom he claims or when he has to claim them. He is sent a list of people who he must claim for the order of the universe to continue along its intended way. Yet having the job of claiming souls Death is compelled to make sure they understand that he has come for them and their time is up, almost as though he is compassionate for them. Death is old but youthful, even he has forgotten his age. Death also has a secondary role as a Horseman of the Apocalypse which allows him the ability to summon his horse despair after a certain point in the game as a reward.

Appearance:

Death has a dark and mysterious yet overwhelming appearance. As the game progresses his appearance will change as he is rewarded new powers and weapons. He generically is dressed in black and carries a large scythe to help claim resistant souls.