Game Design Document: The Minotaur's Labyrinth, v 1.0

Minotaur’s Labyrinth Level Design Document

Creator: Margaret Lewallen V 1.0

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Table of Contents

Characters:

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Events:

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Goals:

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Map:

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The Story:

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Walkthrough:

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Bibliography:

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Credits:

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Game Engine: UDK Genre: Fantasy – Action /Adventure Game Style: (Art Undecided)

The Story: Zeus, in the form of a bull, brought Europe from the Phoenician seashore to Gortys in Crete where he made love with her under a plane tree (or on the plane tree after assuming the form of another sacred animal, the eagle), since then the plane tree was blessed to never lose its leaves (evergreen). From their union three sons were born triplets (or two twins). Next, Zeus arranged the marriage of Europe to the Cretan King Asterion (or Asterio), who appointed Europe's and Zeus' sons as his successors.

As promised, the three sons of Europe and Zeus (Minos or Minoas, Radamanthis, Sarpidon) succeeded King Asterion to the throne of Crete. Initially they seemed satisfied to cogovern, but Minos, who wanted the reign to be his exclusively, ended up banishing his brothers: Radamanthis was sent to Viotia (or Cyclades) and Sarpidon to Asia Minor. Minos became the monarch who believed the gods would give him everything and anything he wished.

The gods loved Minos because his father, Zeus, honored him above all. They presented him with a wife, Pasiphae, daughter of Helios (Sun) and Persida, and sister of Circe, the sorceress, Kalypso and Aete, and aunt of Mideia, the grand sorceress. There is talk of eight children for Minos and Pasiphae: Androgeos, Katrefs, Defkalion, Glafkos, Akali (or Akakalis), Xenodiki, Ariadne and Phaedra.

Once, wanting to offer a sacrifice in honor of his uncle Poseidon, Minos asked Poseidon to send the best bull he could find from the sea. The bull was so beautiful that Minos didn't sacrifice him, but instead kept him with his flock (or in the palace gardens). To revenge Minos for not keeping his promise, Poseidon made the bull so ferocious and dangerous that his eventual capture in Crete became one of the twelve feats of Hercules (Cretan Bull).

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When Pasiphae, his immortal wife, saw the bull she fell in love and coupled with him. She was able to couple with him with the help of Daedalus, who constructed a wooden likeness of a cow, in which Pasiphae hid. From this union the monster Minotaur was born, a humanoid being with a bull's head, which Minos promptly jailed in the Labyrinth, an enormous construction in Knossos.

Minos, as ruler of the greatest naval kingdom of that time, undertook many journeys and military expeditions. His best known aggressive expedition was against Athens to avenge the murder of his first born son, Androgeos. When the siege of Athens continued for too long of a period, Minos asked his father, Zeus, for help, and Zeus unleashed a terrible epidemic.

Following the instructions of the Oracle, the Athenians were forced to surrender and accept all of Minos' terms of submission. The most onerous condition of the surrender was the blood tribute. This called for Athens to provide every year (or every three or nine years) seven young men and seven young women as food for the monster Minotaur for as long as he lived.

When the last group of young men and women arrived from Athens, prince Theseus, son of Poseidon and the successor of King Aegeas of Athens, was among them. The princess of Knossos , Ariadne, fell in love with the brave youth from Athens, and helped him escape. She devised a plan and gave Theseus a ball of yarn (mitos) so he could find his way through the Labyrinth and kill the monster Minotaur. After the killing, Ariadne departed Crete together with Theseus. However, along the way Theseus deserted her. Eventually, Ariadne became the wife of the god Dionysos.

During Minos' reigning years, Daedalus, from Athens , took up residence in Knossos, after he was exiled to Crete for committing a crime in his own country. In Crete he eventually became the official architect and sculptor for Minos. In Knossos he built the Palace, the Labyrinth, the wooden likeness of a cow for Pasiphae, and even helped Ariadne and Thiseas kill the horrible Minotaur. However, when Minos became disillusioned with him, he jailed Daedalus together with his son, Icarus. The brilliant engineer didn't stay long - he made a pair of wings for himself and Icarus and they flew away. The wings were made of feathers held together with wax. Daedalus warned his son not to fly too close to the sun, as it would melt his wings, and not too close to the sea, as it would dampen them and make it hard to fly.

They successfully flew from Crete, but Icarus grew exhilarated by the thrill of flying and began getting careless. Flying too close to the sun, the wax holding together his wings melted from the heat and he fell to his death, drowning in the sea. The Icarian Sea, where he fell, was named after him. Daedalus lamented his dead son and then continued to Sicily, where he came to stay at the court of Cocalus in a place called Camicus.

Of Daedalus' many ingenious works, the most famous was the Labyrinth - the gigantic palace comprised of clusters of rooms and corridors so complex and convoluted that only Daedalus himself was able to find the way out again. It was in this Labyrinth that the Minotaur, the 4|Page

horrible creature who was the love-child of Pasiphae's perverse affair with the bull from the sea - was kept.

NOTE. This story comes from the book "The Labyrinth of Messara" by Kaloust Paragamian and Antonis Vasilakis. English translation by Lou Duro for ExploreCrete.com - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Walkthrough: The level begins at the entryway of the Labyrinth. The first thing the player comes upon is a trap of great swinging blades that they must make their way through to the other side.

Successfully achieving this, the player will come upon their first set of patrolling creatures – ghosts of the blood-tribute men and women of Athens who had been sacrificed to the Minotaur.

If the player were to go around into the dead-end corner, they would be able to find a special pickup item.

Immediately following the group of souls is another trap – this time a pit lined with spikes in the bottom. This can be crossed either by ropes from the ceiling or scaling the walls around it.

On the other side of the pit in a small alcove is the first of the hidden doors – but the player has not gotten to the hidden switch, so it’s blocked.

Following the hallway down we come to our second set of mobs, more ghosts of the lost. Following the bottom path will take the player to one of the first hidden switches – flash a cut scene here to show it opening the hidden door to the treasure room.

Taking the path immediately above this, and in the dead-end corner will reveal the second of the hidden switches – flash another cut-scene to show it opening the second of the hidden doors to the lair itself. A timer is also started as the Minotaur seems to wake up and look around. (This hints that the Minotaur may possibly leave the room after a certain amount of time if not gotten to by the player.)

Out and around the corner leads to a third set of mobs, which are again ghosts of the lost. This leads into our third and biggest trap made up of doors that move in and out with the potential to flatten the player out to a pancake. (How to get around these--?) The player may choose to enter the revealed door to the lair here, or go on around and continue exploring.

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If the player continues to explore: If the player continues on, or has missed the switch, there is a hidden alcoveroom that holds a pickup (3). Moving on to the right will reveal a fourth set of souls to fight, along with an empty dead end.

Exploration may reveal in the topmost corner of the map the final of the hidden doorways to the Minotaur’s lair. The topmost hallway will simply loop around to the area where the third set of ghosts had been patrolling. These may or may not have respawned, depending on how long the player has taken to explore.

If the player goes into the Minotaur’s Lair: If the player chooses to enter the lair before the timer goes off, the Minotaur will be there waiting. Once the Minotaur has line of sight on the player, he will charge, and the fight will begin.

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If the Minotaur is defeated:

Pending if the player has found all the switches will depend on what other hidden doors are open. If the player has not found the switch for the hidden ‘treasure’ room, the Minotaur will drop a key to be able to open it.

In the hidden room is a last set of spawned ghosts, guarding the treasure of the room.

Once defeated, the player can retrieve the treasure and make their way out of the labyrinth.

This can be done in a few different ways, again depending on what switches the player has found. If the last switch in the topmost corner of the map has been thrown, the player may simply walk out that door and make their way to the entrance.

If it was not flipped, then the player will have to make their way through the long way around the labyrinth and out. Ghosts will not respawn after the Minotaur is defeated; but any that were still spawned before that time will still wander the halls.

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Goals: -

Find and open the secret, hidden entrances to the Minotaur’s lair.

Defeat the Minotaur Find the Minotaur’s hidden treasure Escape the Labyrinth Exploration Rewards:

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Pickup 1, Armor Pickup 2, the Minotaur’s treasure

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Maps:

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Events: Pickups: 1. Pickup a. Armor 2. Pickup a. Minotaur’s treasure - sword 3. Pickup a. Health Enemies: -

Pats of ghosts can regenerate every 5-10 minutes 1. Pat 1 a. 4 ghosts 2. Pat 2 a. 3 ghosts 3. Pat 3 a. 4 ghosts 4. Minotaur 5. Hidden Pat 1 a. 3 ghosts

Traps: 1. Swinging Blades 2. Spiked Pit 3. Smashing Walls Doors and Switches: 1. Start 2. Minotaur Hidden 1 a. Opened by Switch 1 3. Minotaur Hidden 2 a. Opened by Switch 2 4. Hidden Room 1 a. Opened by Switch 3

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Characters:

Player The player plays as Theseus, who, in legend, defeats the Minotaur with the help of Ariadne and a ball of yarn.

Minotaur This is the half bull-half human monster that is trapped within the maze. Theseus has promised to kill it.

Mobs Ghosts of the Lost These ghosts are the remnants of those paid in blood tribute from Athens over the years. Seven men and women were sent into the labyrinth to feed the Minotaur.

Bibliography

http://www.explorecrete.com/history/labyrinth-minotaur.htm NOTE. This story comes from the book "The Labyrinth of Messara" by Kaloust Paragamian and Antonis Vasilakis. English translation by Lou Duro for ExploreCrete.com - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Credits: The story of the Minotaur does not belong to me. It is being used for entertainment and practice in the creating of a video game.

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