Rise - Game Brief: Year 2 Games Design & Production for Games

Rise Nathan Stead L1088509

L1088509 – Nathan Stead Rise Game Document

Contents

Game Info: Page 3 Research into Genre: Page 3 Research into existing games: Page 5 Research into audience: Page 9 Research Conclusion: Page 15 Game Brief: Page 17 Mechanics: Page 18 Art style: Page 34 Box Art: Page 40 Rationale: Page 41

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Game Info Title: Rise Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PC Genre: Action RPG / Hack & Slash Age rating: 18+ Players: Single player / Multiplayer Key Features:    

Fighting against warriors that would not exist in the same eras.

Simple game mechanics that are easy to learn but difficult to master.

Making a team of the deadliest warriors from many different eras and worlds.

Multitude of weapons and Armour to use.

Research into genre ARPG=Action RPG H&S=Hack & Slash The Action RPG’s and Hack & Slash genres origins stem from the old pen and paper Role Playing Games such as Dungeons & Dragons. Eventually the genre worked its way from the table top onto our screens in the form of video games. Looking into Action RPG’s the common characteristics that spring up are that of the player controlling the main character within the plot, multiple game character joining together as a team (with the player able to take control of them individually), the ability to explore an open world and an in depth story line that is completed through victory in a series of quests. Other characteristic that are found are that of loot finding and inventory system, character actions and consequences and also the ability to gain experience points and level up the character.

ARPG’s take most of these characteristics from the genre they originally came from and those are normal RPG’s. To stand apart ARPGs keep the basic mechanics of RPG’s (the player taking control of the action of a protagonist and taking them through quests) and changing them to fight the action side of the genre. One example of this is that of the combat, in RPG’s the combat is usually turn based making the player wait to complete an action whereas in ARPG’s the combat is in real time allowing the player to react to a situation instantly. This leads into ARPG’s 3 L1088509 – Nathan Stead Rise Game Document

combining into other genres such as the afore mentioned Hack and Slash genre making the combat that much quicker and simpler for the player to accomplish.

When the transition from pen and paper came about all Hack & Slash games shared the same characteristics throughout, which as the name suggests involved the player character having fast paced, simple and stylized combat systems that give the impression of the character hacking and slashing at NPC enemies and in later years a third person camera view. Another characteristic that is shared is the large number of NPC enemies that a player must contend with at any one time; this would also increase as the player progressed through the levels making it more challenging.

Most Hack & Slash games veered away from projectile and firearm combat preferring the use of hand-to-hand and/or melee weaponry combat, giving the player a more hands on approach as they would have to get up close and personal with their enemies.

In 1987 the H&S genre gained mass popularity with the release of a game titled Double Dragon. After the release of Double Dragon a string of similar games followed it, this was a good move on the developer’s side as gamers wanted more of the H&S genre at the time. As the years progressed the base characteristics of H&S stayed the same, now this could be seen as both good and bad as they would draw the attention of major fans of the genre but those with a passing interest could feel that the genre felt a bit stagnant and repetitive.

In the most recent times of the genre it has started to come together with other genres, such as Action-Adventure and RPG, to strengthen its place in the game market. An early example of such games is King of Dragons, which is an H&S game with the characteristic of a role playing game type level advancement system.

Another example is Dungeon and Dragons: Tower of Doom, a 2D side scrolling beat ‘em up/ Hack and Slash. In today’s times the RPG genre has expanded to become MMORPG’s (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games), this is the new genre that the elements of H&S games added to it. Two of the most recent games to be released in the category of MMO’s with H&S gameplay are TERA (The Exiled Realm of Arborea) and Guild Wars 2. Just from looking at some gameplay of these two games online it’s easy to spot the Hack & Slash mechanics that have been put into them and it works so well. The mix of the Action RPG and Hack & Slash works so well because the combat is not too over complicated so not much attention is needed so the main mechanics, those of the Action RPG genre, are not overshadowed by them. Also with the main combat mechanics being so simplified, in the manner that Hack and Slash mechanics are, the player can feel that much more accomplished when they pull off a huge combo or a great attack that takes out multiple enemies. Another great bonus of having H&S mechanics mixed with those of ARPG is that they won’t take away space for any controls that would be need for the ARPG mechanics, this is due to that fact that not many button presses are needed to accomplish most of the combat.

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Research into existing games Researching into games that match my ideals for RISE Devil May Cry: DMC is a great example of Hack and Slash gameplay as it uses one button to attack with a melee weapon, the attacks vary with the amount of times the buttons is pressed along with different directional inputs added. The combat revolves around the player trying to keep momentum with an unbroken chain of attacks on enemies. The chain of attacks is measured with a grading system that is displayed on screen, starting with “Dull” and, dependent on the length of their combo, working through to “Cool”, “Bravo”, “Awesome” and finally “Stylish”.

The grade the player achieves during combat can be lost if they stop their chain of attack or it is disrupted by an enemy. Ranged weapons in the form of dual pistols are included and used to keep the combo and also to keep enemies at bay. This grading system is also used to grade the players performance at the end of mission, but the grades are shortened to just the first letters of those used to grade combat. Mission grading is given out by looking at the players time to complete a mission, overall how stylish their combat was, the amount of damage taken from enemies, the number of red orbs collected (in game currency) and also the items used by the player.

Other mechanics in this game include transforming the main character into a Demonic state, puzzles that must be completed to continue, key items needed to be found in order to move on and also optional objectives. The Demonic state is a mode in which the characters stats such as strength, defence and health are buffed. More powers are also added to the player’s roster which is based on the weapon that the player is using currently.

This mechanic is limited however as the mode is measured by a gauge that depletes as it is being used filling back up with attacks landed whilst out of this mode.

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Main reasons for researching this specific game: The combat mechanics when using the melee weapon (a sword), both the ability to chain attacks as longas the player can sustain them and the style that can be attained with such simple button commands.

Kingdom Hearts 2: Looking into the Action or ARPG side i feel that Kingdom Hearts is a great choice to look into. Like many games that follow in the footsteps of the traditional RPG’s, this game contains an experience point mechanic that develops the character and his abilities throughout the game. Working like any other exp system in that the player gains it by defeating enemies in combat, this allows the player to eventually level up and gain new abilities and to grow much stranger than when they started the adventure. The melee combat is based around real-time and revolves around simple button presses. Other combat options are displayed in a game menu that permanently sits in the bottom left hand corner of the HUD; this is reminiscent of Final Fantasy’s battle menu that appears during combat. Some of the combat options that are available with this game menu are; the use of magical abilities and summoning help from characters met in game. One other mechanic afforded to the player from this game member is to be able to execute combination attacks with one of the two other characters that are always present and help the player in combat. Similar to DMC this game employed a mode that would change the character appearance and also their powers and abilities, it too was measured by a gauge that would eventually deplete with uses and fill back up when the player defeats enemies.

Main reasons for researching this specific game: Its game menu mechanic as it’s an interesting mechanic and like the idea of the combination attacks that can be accomplished with party members.

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Ninja Gaiden 2: This is a game that is in many respects similar to DMC but I included this game in my research as it has something which DMC does not. That something different my friend is the ability to dismember enemies. Now Dismemberment isn’t really a nice thing but it works so well in this game as it fits with the characters heritage of being a ninja. As another member of the H&S family the combat is quick and simple, it revolves around the player having three buttons to use as different attacks (on the Xbox 360 X = Quick attack, Y = Strong attack and B = Projectile attack).

The use of dismemberment is an essential part of the gameplay but comes as a double edged blade as dismembering an enemy will weaken and slow them but it does not kill them, because of this injured enemies are prone to suicide attacks that can dramatically weaken the player. This mechanic drills into the player the importance of dispatching enemies quickly before they gain the upper hand both in a straight up fight and when an enemy tries to use suicide tactics to finish the player off. As well as the main melee weapon (A Katana) the player can use a host of different weapons such as tonfa, a scythe, ninja claws and Kusari-gama, this is to add variety to the combat gameplay giving the player different way to dispatch enemies so as to not get to stale and stagnant. One final component to this game is the art of Ninpo; this is the characters form of magical spells. These spells when activated are a way for the player to affect a wider area of effect and also cause more devastating damage when attacking enemies.

Main reasons for researching this specific game: The ability to weaken enemies by dismembering body parts as it would fit in with the warrior’s motif of the game and also the available use of different weapons for the players to use.

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God of War: This is a great game series to look into not only the Hack & Slash genre but also the action genre. It contains more than just the Hack & Slash mechanics; this game also has platformer and puzzle elements to it. The player navigates the main character Kratos through the multitude of environments that make up the games world; this is where the platforming elements come into the game. Most of the navigation will involve the player just needing to run from point A to B on a path but in parts of that simple path will break off into jumps, climbs and ledge walks. These platforming parts break up the monotonous combat and keep the player invested in the game. The puzzles are also a way to keep the player interested and to give the player a break from all the combat. Puzzles are also used to progress further into the game as they are usually blocking the path that the player must take, so in order to continue they must solve the puzzle. Most of the puzzles involve having to move giant block pieces around or fitting them together, moving statues around to fit them into new position or to block beams of light or even spiked floor puzzles.

Combat in this game revolves around combos that can be accomplished with pressing attack buttons in a specific order. Each combo achieves a different attack and they are all also different in the amount of damage that can be caused to enemies. The player also has special abilities at their disposal that are unlocked with progression in the game. Some of the abilities are things like the ability to hurl lightning bolts, turn enemies to stone using Medusas head and an ability named rage of the gods that that grants Kratos a lot more power with his attacks and also allows him to take less damage from enemies.

My main reasons for researching this specific game: the use of puzzles to break up the amount of combat the player will be going through and also the combat being broken down into combos that the player can easily learn and unleash on the enemies of the game. I was thinking of implementing the platforming ideas but I do not think they would work well with my game as God of War’s environments are linear and the environment I wish to have in Rise will be more open and free to explore.

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Audience Research In an attempt to gain feedback on my game idea I created a survey to see how not only people reacted to my idea but also to look into the gaming habits of others. This was so I could better understand the market that I am releasing my game into so I could possibly see if it would be well received in the market or if it would be a flop.

Here are some graphs to demonstrate the results I received from my survey

From these two graphs you can see that my game will mainly cater to the Male audience of a more mature nature.

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Looking at these two graphs I can see that it would be smart to release my game on the 4 big main competitors of the Xbox 360, PS3, PC and the Nintendo Wii or the new Wii U. Surprisingly enough more people than I expected, of those who answered my survey, own a Nintendo DS or the newer 3DS. What was even more surprising was the fact it proved more popular than the PS3, I think it would be a wise decision to think about releasing a hand held version of Rise for the 3DS. Moving on to the other graph you can see that the top two selling points of a game now is its story and also art style with gameplay footage coming a close third. I believe that this points out that in today’s market the audience look for a game that has a tight well written story that has a matching art style to go with it. It also seems that a game would benefit greatly from gameplay footage being shown before release working interest in the game up, this would be a great benefit to Rise.

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I asked what genres people enjoy in my survey as it is a great way to test the waters and see if my game would be well received.

As my game will fit into two genres ActionRPG and Hack & Slash I thought it was a good idea to put them as separate options in order to see how they fared against others genres. Looking at the results I would say my chosen genres that I am going for are a good choice, this is because separately the both did fairly well (ARPG coming joint 2nd and H&S coming 6th) giving me a mix of a popular market and also a more niche market broadening the audience my game would reach out to. The next graph as you can see was about art style and if the audience felt it was important to a game, as the numbers suggest, they believe it is a very important thing for a game to have a good art style.

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Audience Research Continued These are some basic question that I asked in my survey to see how my target audience would react to some basic ideas behind my game idea.

This first question was to broach the genre of my game and how it would be received. From this question and the one asking what genres the audience like I can feel confident in that my idea would be well received and do well on the market. This second question was to ask about what the audience thought of the premise behind the game, that of a group of warriors from the past being taken away to an alien planet. Again from the feedback gained from this question I believe that the game could do well if executed correctly.

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This final question about my game was to see if the market audience would like to be able to equip futuristic weapons to their warrior from the past. Again looking at the response from my survey it seems that the audience would enjoy this aspect of my game a great deal.

Looking over all of the questions to do with my game idea we can see a pattern emerging that shows the consistency of my target audience and may point out that I am headed in the right direction with this game.

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I asked this question so that I could find out how highly gamers ranked various elements within a video game. I did this so that I could see what key elements I should focus on in my game.

As you can see Story and replay ability scored highly so I know from this that these are key areas for me to focus on.

It is also a good idea to not use some of the elements in my game as some were deemed not important to a game. Collectables and Morality choices are two elements that are ranked low in my survey and so they would take no part in my game.

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Research Conclusions Elements of a Game From my research into existing games I have learned of the features and elements that must be included in the genres ActionRPG and Hack & Slash. The features that should be included are as follows: Stylish combat that easy and fun to learn but hard to master, making the game fresh and enticing rather than stale, boring and repetitive.

A levelling up system should be included to give a sense of achievement when a player takes their character from a weedy scrapper to an almighty fighting machine.

Customisation should be included and it ties in with the levelling up mechanic, as both let the player feel they are in control of their character and they are making it in their own imagined image/design.

A variety of weapons to use against enemies, this is to again avoid repetitiveness in my game.

Include puzzles or deviate from the story once in a while to give a player a break from constant fighting and plot points.

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Audience Feedback This research allowed me to gain feedback from my target audience, so I got info into exactly what my audience would want in a game directly from the source.

I found what elements attract a gamer to a game, allowing me to include them in Rise to appeal to my target audience. One of these element is the story of a game, my audience indicated that to them story is important so story is a key area that should be worked on to suit the audience of Rise. The art style of the game was also deemed important as my target audience felt that it could make or break a game, the logic behind that is the fact that if the art style is poor and bad to look at then it is highly likely that the game wouldn’t sell well as it is not appealing.

Another thing that was thought important and one I highly agree with is the replay ability of a game as its well and good selling your game but the audience of a game as maybe the fans of the franchise would like to have a game that can be played more than once and still be fresh giving them a sense of worth for the game they have just purchased and not think of it as a waste of money. Due to this feel it is important to work that replay factor into Rise I also tested the waters with my game idea by putting questions on my survey that informed anyone looking at it of my game without fully revealing what it is. I found that my target audience reacted positively to my ideas, indicating that I had successfully made a game to fit my target audience.

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Game Premise & Design Brief Story An ancient race of alien beings known as the Rise travel through time to many different Planets to kidnap the most prominent warriors of the time period they have travelled to. They do this as they are a race that enjoys watching those they have taken fight to the death, as well as learning a great deal of fighting techniques, styles and also weapons and armour used by the warriors. Arriving at Earth the collectors take a Samurai, a Viking, and a Knight. The Rise then travel back to the Planet they have taken over from the Natives who live there. Once there the kidnapped warriors are fitted with a collar, which with a press of button by the guards incapacitates them, and are given an alien variation of their weapons and armours. After receiving their collars and equipment they are taken to the arena, they are then forced to fight the other warriors both from Earth and those of an alien nature. With their longing to be free they band together with other warriors and they conspire to fight back and escape the arena. The group soon realise that the Rise, being an arrogant bunch, have started to relax security around their captives. Picking their way out of their cells the group of rebels sneak out of the prisons. They then make their way towards the armoury, trying not to be seen, and use the available weaponry and armour to arm themselves and remove their collars. Now they are armed they barge their way out of the arena, fighting any guards who spot them and trying to rescue any other captives. From then on the kidnapped warriors and their fellow rebels take the fight to the Rise by rallying together the Natives and helping them take their planet back.

The Premise Rise is a Single player game with Multiplayer elements, it fit in the genres Action RPG and Hack and Slash. It’s to be released for the Xbox 360 and the PS3. It will give the player a choice of 3 warriors for them to play as with the remaining 2 characters becoming companions to the player. The main game mode will revolve around the player going through the story on their own, with a secondary game mode involving a multiplayer element. The multiplayer element will centre on two to things, those being the ability to see player’s on your friend lists characters ghosts and challenging them to fights and also downloading their characters data if they chose a different starting one to the player. This secondary multiplayer mechanic will allow the player to replace the remaining warriors with a friend’s character, in doing this the player may gain knowledge and tips about future quests, worthwhile items to find and learn new abilities.

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Gameplay The bulk of gameplay will revolve around the story of the game, although there will be some side missions that the player can decide to complete over the main story. Throughout the game the player will have to deal with groups of enemies attacking at once, complete puzzles to unlock Armour, completing the main quests to progress in the story and to complete side quests for the in game NPC’s. The main objective is to break free of the Rise, link up with the Natives of the planet, fight back against the Rise and take back the Natives planet. Side quests will revolve around gaining new weapons for you character and his companions, find the other types of armour, test your skills against the creatures of the planet and destroy Rise space ships. The space ship destruction will involve the player having to think before acting as they can charge at the ship as there will be base camps around them full of too many enemies, they will have to think strategically of way to sneak in and sabotage the ships.

Mechanics

Combat The combat for each character will share the same button controls but they will differ in style as they belong to different backgrounds. At the start of the game the player will be put through their first few Coliseum fights that will act as a tutorial level to explain the basics behind the combat. The combat will consist of melee and ranged attacks with weapons that belong to each of the characters class, for example the Samurai will use Katanas, Wakazashi and spears, the Knight will use Long and Broadswords and also maces, finally the Viking will use Axes, Polearms and Knives. The three different classes will share a similar ranged weapon of a bow and Arrows with the each getting some specific class related ones like a Crossbow for the Knight, Yumi (a special type of bow and arrow) for the Samurai and Throwing axes and knives for the Viking.

The melee combat will work with two of a buttons Square for light attacks and Triangle for heavy attacks, with the more times they are pressed the longer the combo the player can achieve will become. Ranged combat will also be accomplished with the use two 18 L1088509 – Nathan Stead Rise Game Document

buttons pressed together, L2 + Circle. The player can also use melee and ranged attacks in tandem to string attacks together allowing them to make even longer combos than what is available when they are used separately. As an incentive the more combos the player can chain together to more experience they will gain for their character.

Controls

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Stealth Combat For a brief period in the game, during the players escape from captivity, the combat will take on a slightly different tone to most of the rest of the game. The player will have to take on a stealthier tactic as they will be escaping and so a head on approach to fights would not work here.

To compensate for this the player will be taught the silent takedown that they can use in other such situations were a head on fight would cause more problems. They will also be able to use distractions, like throwing a rock, to cause guards to leave their post and the player can then choose to attack the guard or sneak past.

Abilities Each of the three characters will have separate abilities that are based on their skill sets. The Samurais abilities will focus on precision attacks, they will slice foes up causing them to steadily bleed out leaving them weaker and easier for the player to finish off. A downside to using the Samurais abilities is that any attacks attempted after the use of his ability will be weaker than usual as he loses precision for a short period of time. The Vikings abilities will revolve around a berserker rage; this will enhance the characters strength and will allow the player to cut apart their foes with ease. This like the Samurais abilities has a downside, whilst in the berserker mode that activates while using the abilities the HUD will have a slightly red hue appear on screen that will disrupt the player’s field of vision. The Knights Abilities will be all about valour, he will become much stronger and whatever armour he is wearing will become tougher after making a shout. The downside to using his abilities are that when activated the Knights movements will become slower and friendly stat buffs will not affect him.

Below are my tables with my ability mechanics:

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Armour The armour in this game will come in five forms. Only one will be given to the player (the normal defence armour), the rest will have to be found out in the land of Rise. Some of the armours will fit all 3 of the characters and when equipped it will change its appearance so it is fitting with the characters type, but some armour is character specific and can only be equipped by that character. An example of a piece of armour that can be equipped by all and will fit however the player wishes is the grappling claw armour. One example of armour that is character specific is the shield armour, the player must find the armour with icon matching their character, and if it does not then they can give it to a friend or one of their companions to equip instead.

In order to acquire the other types of armour the player will have to find chest that contain the armour. Obtaining it will not be as easy as that though as the player will have to complete a puzzle in order to open up the chest. Each chest will have a different puzzle that is in need of solving, this is so that the player doesn’t get the newly found armour easily by remembering a previous puzzle answer.

To increase the armours capabilities the player will be able to spend skill points on it increasing it defence quality and also the characters health, in the case of armours with abilities the player can chose to level up the ability making it far stronger then what it started as. Examples of making abilities stronger are as follows, the grappling claw expanding to grab more enemies or the shield armour allowing the shield to stay in effect for much longer and so on. The player will be able to mix up the armours that they equip but they will not be able to level them all up to their max so if they wish to have armour at its peak they must choose one as their favourite and stick to it. This quality can add to the replay factor as the player can choose to stick to different armours each playthrough to see how wearing a different one can change the situations that they are in during the story.

Below is a table that lists the type of armour available to the player, it also has a legend that informs if a specific character type armour has to be found or if all 3 can just equip it. If a specifically coloured icon, (Blue for the Knight, Orange for the samurai and Red for the Viking), is displayed on a piece of found armour that mean only the character that matches to the coloured icon can equip it, whereas if a Green icon is shown on a piece of armour then that means all 3 characters can equip it with no problems.

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AI There will be 3 kinds of AI; Enemies, Companions and Native NPC’s.

Enemies will consist of the Rise fighting using their own fighting styles that the player will have to watch out for as their moves are unknown. The Rises will also use the combat skill they have learnt from the many warriors they have captured to throw the player off making them react incorrectly to an attack and hopefully kill them. Another type of enemy the player will come across will be other captured warriors. Over the years the Rise have forced more and more of their captives to fight outside the arena against the Natives, they have even managed to persuade some of the more blood thirsty captives to willingly become part of their army and take control of the Planet.

Companions are the AI that makes up the players team mates that will join them on quests and help in fights. The first companions the player will gain will be the two remaining warriors they have not chosen to play as. Companions are controllable be the D-pads on controllers. The player can use the D-pad to tell his/her companions to 4 things, attack, defend, follow and stop. The attack command lets the companions know they are free to engage in a fight with any spotted enemies, whilst the defend command does the opposite and lets them know they need to be on the defensive against enemies. Follow is used if you wish your companions to follow your every move and be at your side, whereas the stop command brakes off the follow order and the companion are free to roam of their own accord within a set radius from the player. Whilst in stop command and roaming about the companions may find items the player has missed or even spot a group of enemies and let the player know.

The Native NPC’s are there for the player to talk to in order to gain quests, new companion members and items. Natives are dotted around the remaining camps left in the Rise’ destructive wake of their home Planet, all are approachable and talkative but not all give out quests or useful information.

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Ghosts These are silhouettes that player will be able to see walking around the world that represent the characters of the players friends who also own the game. The player can interact with these ‘Ghosts’ and challenge them to fights, trade items and also exchange character info.

If a fight is initiated both player will be taken from their game and put into a lobby, here they can choose the settings for an arena match. Once the settings have been chosen they will put into the arena where they can fight each other using the moves and skill they have learnt in the single player.

The exchanging of characters info will work into the Companions mechanic. This will work by a player choosing to download a friend’s character, say the Viking. That character will replace the one in the player’s game and this replacement will have all the knowledge from the friend’s game. The replacement character will give tips on how to complete a quest or find specific items if they were downloaded from a further ahead part in the game that the player has not yet reached. The player will also be able to join their friend’s games and vice versa by interacting with the ghost and picking the option to join their world. Doing this will allow the players to help one another in quests if they are struggling and also to just play through the story together,

Experience Points During their play through the player will obtain experience points that can be spent on levelling up their character, companions, Armour, weapons and abilities. Experience will be gained by completing a multitude of things, these include completing quest, both side and main ones, fulfilling specific objectives whilst on a quest, killing enemies, defeating volatile creatures of the Planet, completing the puzzle chests used to gain new armour and freeing slaves of the Rise. The spending mechanics will be simple; all the player need do is select the area they wish to level up in, i.e. their character, the armour or ability, and then spend the point on the skill tree that will represent that option they can level up in. Within a tree there will be numerous things for the player to choose from allowing for a different on each play through of the game.

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Art Style I and 75% of those that answered my survey believe that the art style of a game can be important. This is for a few reasons some given out in my research were; “It defines how the audience mentally experience the game”, “It’s the first thing that the player notices and defines their judgement of the game from the word go” and one more “Can tie the whole thing together and give it an identity and also give you the desire to play it in the first place”.

Due to this I feel that it is important that I chose an art style that work well with my game and is also appealing to the market that my game is targeting. After seeing the answers to my survey I started to create some mood boards about different aspects of the game. The first set I created was for the Planet that game will be set on. The planet will have two sides to it, as the Rise have invaded the Planet parts of it will be in their image and the section that the natives have managed to keep a hold on will look how the Planet should, as if the Rise had never set foot on it. Below are the mood boards that show the kind of feel I want to accomplish:

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Alien Planet References Day

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Night

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Day

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Night

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Box Art

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Rationale

Why will Rise be a fun game? I believe that Rise will be fun game to play for a host of reasons.

The Story The story behind this game is a crazy idea bringing 3 warriors from old to not only the future but also an Alien Planet. This will make the game fun as the player will play as a character that is way out of his depth, because of this the player will be able to see the transition of a lost and confused character to that of a more confident and strong one. This story also gives the player the chance to take a fighter, which is used to old weapons and armours, and give them some weapons that would never normally be seen in the hands of a Samurai, a Knight or Viking. This hands them the power to do things these character types would never be able to do in other situation and makes the players feel they are accomplishing an amazing feat with a few simple pushes of some buttons.

Fights between warriors of different eras This element brings together warriors that did not exist during the same time periods on Earth and pits them against each other in an arena. This has been done before in a game but I have added some elements that I hope attract gamers to my game and also make this mechanic of the game unique. What I have added to make it different is that not only will you be fighting warriors of Earths different eras but also Alien warriors from different planets, you will also not be restarted to fighting in an arena as the with the story progression the players escape the arena and you will be fight on the battlefield of the feud between the Rise and the Natives.

Ghost challenge mechanic This will allow players to challenge their friends to fights whilst they are playing in story mode. Unlike games such as Borderlands, that has the duelling system that lets players fight there and then, this system will pull both players from their game world (saving 41 L1088509 – Nathan Stead Rise Game Document

their game) and place them in a lobby much like the multiplayer from a Fighter game. Once both players are ready they will be placed in an arena and the fight will be initiated. The fights will use the same combat mechanics as the single player so as to not confuse the player making it a simple and fun thing to compete in away from the main story progression. Rise will also recognise the friends you play with most and will mark their ghosts with little icons to make them much easier to find in the game world so that the player won’t have to spend a lot of time looking for friend they play with a lot.

The Companion system The customisation aspects of a players chosen character, i.e. choosing their armour, weapon, levelling up the character and also the being able to level up the armour and weapons, will be added to the companions making the player feel that all the characters they have with them are made in their own way making the character feel unique and allowing the player to connect with the characters more.

Destructive combat with puzzles and Strategic thinking breaks Looking into the mechanics used for this type of game and also from feedback from my target audience I knew that I could not just have mindless combat and nothing else in this game as the players would get bored very quickly. To avoid this I have added puzzles and also segments that will involve the player having to sit back and think before acting. The puzzles are attached to armour chests, they must solve the puzzle in order to obtain the armour. This is to keep the player motivated when it comes to puzzles as if it is not important to the story they are likely to not complete them, so the enticing reach of strong armour in their grasp that will make progression easier will keep the player motivated to complete puzzles.

The strategic element will give the player a break from all the combat as the player has to avoid combat in these situation, if they do not they will not last long in a fight as there will too large a number of enemies for them to face and they will fail the mission. The players will have to slow down and think carefully about their next moves, if they have thought it through and are successful then they will succeed in the mission.

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Bibliography Box Art References: Future Samuria image: http://s291.beta.photobucket.com/user/jaydasgupta/media/FutureSamuraiCopyrightProtected.jpg.html Future Knight image: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k853u5RNnOc/TsZ3aNzSkfI/AAAAAAAAB-c/257tj4UlnkY/s400/2710442.jpg Viking image: http://www.gamefreaks.co.nz/2012/10/21/viking-battle-asgard-available-pc/ Alien Planet image: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/08/110830-new-planet-found-most-earthlike-life-clouds-waterspace-science/ Space image: http://hqwallpapers4free.com/space/outer-space-desktop-wallpaper-1133385/ Demonsouls Samurai: http://forums.gametrailers.com/viewtopic.php?f=784&t=896811 Dsouls Multiplayer ghost example: http://uk.ign.com/images/games/demons-souls-ps3-14242310/4fa6cb3acdc388ed13f3ec52 Another ghost example: http://www.pushsquare.com/games/ps3/demons_souls/screenshots Knight combat example: http://uk.ign.com/images/games/demons-souls-ps3-14242310/4fa6cb36cdc388ed13f3b3df Coalition font used: http://www.dafont.com/coalition.font http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-2/devil-may-cry http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-2/kingdom-hearts-ii http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/ninja-gaiden-ii 43 L1088509 – Nathan Stead Rise Game Document

http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-2/god-of-war

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