Game Design Document

Teresa Jacoby

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • Game Overview: Papildon is about a garden that has lost it’s

magic through the invasion of spiders. Our hero must restore the magic and vanquish the spiders. This is a single-player PC action/adventure game.

• World Overview: Papildon will be built from a three-dimensional model. The player will be able to walk or fly through and around a world full of colorful plants, tunnels, walls, mazes and more that will seem more realistic because of the depth and volume provided in a three-dimensional model.

• User Interface: The user interface seen by the player will remain simple to navigate through the use of icons and inventory lists. The player will be able to move the character and complete all actions through the use of a mouse.

• Player Immersion: The player will be able to become part of the story through the use of cut-scenes and a well written backstory that allows them to feel that they are part of the game story itself.

• Interesting Characters: Beyond the main character, the NPC’s are dynamic characters with individual personalities. This will allow the player to become emotionally involved with the storyline and increase the vested interest they hold in restoring the garden.

• Marketability: Research has been included showing the success of other games that are similar to this concept.

BACKSTORY Papildon was once a magical garden filled with beautiful plants and home to a kingdom of butterflies who protected the garden and its inhabitants from harm. Last year, as fall approached, small changes began to occur within the garden. At first, the kingdom simply tried to reverse the harm to the plants and keep the inhabitants from becoming alarmed. Within a matter of weeks, the garden was dying. Spider webs were strangling the magic from the plants and the inhabitants were disappearing. The remaining inhabitants began fleeing the garden in search of a new, safer home. The King and Queen of Papildon knew there was no hope for the garden during this generation. They made arrangements with the troop of ants within the garden to protect their heir throughout the winter. They hid what magic they could collect from the remaining plants and left instructions with the ants on how to train their heir. They then faced Tarantula, the Queen of the Spiders, in a final battle for their garden… As the first warm rays of spring shine down on the lonely dandelion just outside the gates of Papildon, a single egg, on a leaf that had barely survived the winter, begins to stir. An ant moves quickly back to the anthill to alert the others… … Gathered silently around the dandelion, the troop of ants waited patiently for the heir to Papildon to emerge from the egg. At first, the egg barely disturbs the leaf from it’s rest. But then a crack appears in the shell of the egg and the young heir struggled to push the shell apart. As the heir emerges from the shell, the bright light of the sun is momentarily blinding. The heir feels the warmth of the sun and starts to examine the surroundings. Just when the heir realizes that he is surrounded by ants, the entire shell of the egg is lifted and the ants begin to carry the shell into the ant hill. The ants carry the shell, with the heir in it, all the way to the center of the ant hill where the shell and heir are both deposited in front of a large ant. “Hello Lepido. I am the General. We have waited all winter for you to be ready to take your place of honor among us.”

CHARACTER BIOGRAPHIES

Lepido: Our hero in the world of Papildon. He has been born into a strange world where the great expectation of his ability to restore the magic to the garden is immediately placed on his young shoulders. With the help of his friends, he will be able to drive the spiders out of the garden walls.

The General: As the oldest remaining inhabitant of Papildon. He knows everyone and everything about the garden. His command of the troops has kept what is left of the garden alive. He has made sure that the young heir was protected through the winter and will train him to become the hero the garden so desperately needs.

Tarantula, Queen of the spiders who killed the magic garden of Papildon. Her only goal is to keep the garden for herself. She will use any means necessary to achieve her goal.

Ralph is the senior soldier ant. He is constantly moving to keep the troops well supplied and stocked. He is determined to once again live within the garden walls in a world filled with magic and wonder before he retires.

Bull is a young beetle. The ants rescued him from the darkness of the garden. He now works for the General, charging through situations that others could not maneuver.

Lilighta is a beautiful firefly. Her calm, soft spoken voice often leads others to think she is weak but her ability to find her way through the garden darkness has made her invaluable to the General.

World Overview

Challenges: * Exploration and economic challenges will be used to find all of the garden plots and NPCs where they will use social interaction actions to visit with and learn from the NPC. * Economic and logical challenges will be used to restore the garden plots to 100% magic capacity. Construction actions will be used to plant seeds, place items in the garden, water the plants, and remove items from the plot. Economic actions will be used to collect magic from the plants and monitor the progress of each plot. * Conflict, physical and economic challenges will be used to defeat the spiders in battle. * Memory, pattern-recognition, logical, physical and race challenges will be used to complete the many spider web challenges necessary to clear pathways and open garden plots. Dimensions: * Physical dimension: A three-dimensional world with boundaries set by the garden walls, plants, tunnels and mazes. * Temporal dimension: Time will be based on a scale of 5 minutes real time to 60 minutes of game time. This allows for changes from day to night. Anomalous time will be used to determine the rate at which specific plants will grow. * Environmental dimension: A fictional world with colorful cartoon style characters and surroundings with a contrasting environment of the areas inhabited by spiders being dark and in varying tone of gray-scale. * Emotional dimension: The player will find empathy towards the hero and a connection with the world of Papildon as they are drawn into the storyline at the beginning of the game.

Core Mechanics: * Symbolic and mathematical processes will be used throughout the game to allow the player to visually see their progress or to gauge their progress through percentages. * Win condition will be to defeat Tarantula and return the entire garden to 100% magic. * Loss condition will be being defeated by a spider or spiders during a battle. User Interface: * A different user interface will be available for each mode which includes the exploration mode, gardening mode, spider web challenge mode and battle mode. * Exploration and battle mode interfaces will be very similar with the player primarily using an inventory system. The difference is that during battle mode, the player will only see the items that they are allowed to use during that mode. * Gardening mode will utilize icons that allow the player to plant, water, harvest, remove and edit locations of items within the garden plot. This is the only mode that will use this interface. * Spider web challenge mode will vary based on the challenge being presented to the player. At the beginning of each challenge the player will be given instructions on how to complete the challenge.

Market Analysis

Comparable action/adventure games, such as Spyro, Jak and Daxter, and Ratchet and Clank, have been capturing the hearts and the pocketbooks of entertainment purchases for years. The sales have evolved to include not only the games themselves but also movies, toys, clothing and more.

* Spyro was one of the first 3D platform games for the original PlayStation. Released in 1998, the game has sold approximately five million copies and is still actively played by the original fans and new players alike.

* Jak and Daxter, released in 2001, has sold approximately 3.64 million copies.

* Crash Bandicoot, released in 1996, has sold approximately 5.42 million copies.

These statistics, as of December 2013, prove that the gaming world readily accepts and looks for action/adventure games with animated characters who have personality and a great storyline.

* New developments in technology have taken gaming to a new level of desirability and sales by combining gameplay with real life action figure collectables. Activision’s Skylanders Giants sold $195 million in games, accessory packs and figures within the first three months of release.

* Movie goers have proven their love and loyalty towards animated insects with movies such as Antz and A Bugs Life. In 1998, A Bugs Life earned $291,121 during the first weekend at the theaters. Sales continued as the characters began to appear as toys, clothing and more.

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A garden lost in darkness awaits a hero to restore the magic.

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A garden lost in darkness awaits a hero to restore the magic of…

Front of Box Art

The garden of Papildon has been a dark, desolate home for spiders through the winter chill. As spring rays warm the ground, a hero is born. It is your task to become the hero Papildon has been waiting for!

• Join new friends. • Clear the spider webs. • Battle the spiders. • Grow the gardens. • Explore all 5 levels.

System Requirements: PC with Windows (Any version) Monitor Mouse

* * Copyright and Trademark information not yet available. Concept and art created by Teresa Jacoby for GAD312 class finals. All conceptual and intellectual properties of Teresa Jacoby.

• 3D environment. • Easy to use interface. • Single player

Back of Box Art