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Another Magic Quest
Paula de Pinho Monteiro 03/05/2014
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Game Summary Paragraph: A little kid is the legal heir of the Kingdom of Wizardry, but he cannot reign without the royal wizard hat that gives great powers to his owner, and it was stolen by a diabolic spirit and hidden in a secret dimension. Now, this little child needs to face a journey through unknown dimensions, defeat evil monsters, find the secret dimension and recover the wizard hat in order to become a wizard king. The player wins the game by finding the powerful wizard hat, and he wins the game levels by defeating some creatures and its bosses, which is done by using resources found or earned during the gameplay. The player has to search for these resources to fight against the monsters. However, sometimes the only thing the little child can do is hide from its enemies, who can take away all of his lives. Therefore, the player has to act according to the challenge because the monsters can kill the kid and make the player start a level all over. The game is a 20 minutes long platformer compounded by four levels: the Kingdom of Wizardry, two unknown dimensions and a secret dimension. It targets casual gamers, who will play from the first unknown dimension until they find the wizard hat in the secret dimension.
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Table of Contents: I. Story/Theme Information | pg. 3 II. General Look and Feel | pg. 4 III. Summary of Gameplay | pg. 5 IV. Information Architecture and mock-ups | pg. 8 V. Specifications of Specific Features | pg. 11 VI. Timeline to complete | pg. 15 VII. Concept art | pg. 16
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I. Story/Theme Information: The Kingdom of Wizardry is the main kingdom of a magic world that is connected to other dimensions. It was a great and happy kingdom until the day its king died. On that day, an evil spirit stole the powerful royal wizard hat that was the source of all the great things that existed in the kingdom, and now this dreadful spirit is hiding the wizard hat in a secret dimension and using its power to spread terror and disorder among other dimensions. Therefore the dead king’s child, who is the heir of the Kingdom of Wizardry, needs to recover the hat in order to reign and bring order back. He will leave his kingdom in search for a way through unknown dimensions—the Fairyland and the Rainbow Land—until he finds the mysterious secret dimension—the Land o the Dead—, where he must overcome the evil spirit and recover the hat. However, the child is very young, and his journey can be fatal because finding and passing through each unknown dimensions is a big challenge as allies of the evil spirit are ruling these dimensions. Thus, the kid will have to face them, and other monsters, and obstacles in his way. The good thing is that the spirit’s allies are not the legal rulers of these dimensions; they are usurpers who subjugated the legal king and queen, so some people from these dimensions will help the child as they can. They will use fairies to give the child some very useful resources that can also be found hidden throughout the dimensions or in monsters. Theme: Wizardry, good against evil, conquest, quest Each dimension represents a level of the game, and the goal in each of them is to find the way to the next dimension, except in the last one (the secret dimension), in which the goal is to find the wizard hat. Nevertheless, the challenges that the child needs to overcome to find the next dimension (or the hat) varies in each level to make the gameplay fun. For instance, the boss from the second level is weaker than the one from the last level, who is the villain of the game. Target audience: The game targets casual gamers.
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II. General Look and Feel: The game will have the look of a cute magical world. It will be mainly bright and colorful, but shades of blue and purple will be predominant. Much of the brightness will come from shinning fireflies, stars, lamps, fairies, or mushrooms, which will function as tiny light spots to create a magical and mysterious feeling. Additionally, most characters will be anthropomorphized things and animals.
Figure 1: Shades of blue and purple are predominant, and illumination is provided by fairies, plants, moon, etc.
Figure 2: Colorful image with anthropomorphized creatures.
Images credit: ForWallpaper.com
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III. Summary of Gameplay: Level 1: The game starts in the Kingdom of Wizardry, which is the first level. The character will be standing on a grassy terrain. The player will start moving to the right because that is the only possibility. The player will find an energy ball, and some monsters and obstacles will appear along the way. The player can either run away from the monsters or kill them with the energy ball or jumping on them. When an enemy is killed, it can drop some useful resources, such as lives, and the player is gratified with an amount of points. In addition, some fairies will appear along the game play to give resources to the player. For instance, a fairy can give the player new kinds of energy ball. In some points, the player’s path will branch, so the player will be able to follow different ways. The player beats the level 1 by entering a locked garden where there is a portal to another dimension. As soon as the player enters the portal to the new dimension, the next level starts. The other dimension is the level 2. To enter the garden, the player needs a key, so the goal of the first level is finding this key, finding the locked garden, opening the garden’s door, and entering the portal that takes the player to another dimension. Level 2: The second level is in Fairyland. When the level starts, the character will be on a grassy terrain, like in level 1, but there will be more tree and flowers. The way that enemies and fairies behave in this level is similar to the first level, but there are more enemies, and sometimes running away from them is impossible, so the player needs to fight. A great difference from level 1 to level 2 is that there is a boss in level 2. The player beats the level 2 by defeating the boss, who is an ally of the evil spirit.
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The boss is inside a big tree house. When the player enters the tree house, the screen changes to an arena, where the fight will take place. Besides the boss, there is a switch inside of the tree house, but the player cannot reach it yet. After the boss is defeated, the player can reach and pull the switch. The player exits the tree house and finds a rope ladder going up. The player climbs the rope ladder and reaches the portal to the next level. Therefore, the goal in this level is defeating the boss to pull the switch, climbing the rope ladder, and passing through a portal to a new dimension. Level 3: The third level is in a dimension called Rainbow Land. When this level starts, the character will be falling. At a certain moment, the character will reach a cloud and stop falling. The player can then jump from a cloud to another, as there will be many clouds in which the character can walk. However, some clouds may disappear after some seconds, or even at the moment the character collides with it, but some of them will reappear after a while. In addition, there will be moving clouds. If the players lets the character fall from a cloud, the character can die/lose a life or not, depending on where he stops. Sometimes, fighting enemies is impossible in this level, so the player needs to hide or run away. However, there will be monsters that follow the character. Fortunately, the player can find a magic item that lets the character invisible, and prevents him to be tracked by monsters. This item can either be dropped by dead monsters or given by fairies. The effect of this magic item does not last for a long time, though. If the player starts this third level moving always to the right, as in the other levels, the character will reach an end of the rainbow. Next to this end of the rainbow, there is the house where the boss is, and there are many monsters surrounding it.
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The door of the house is locked, and the key to the door is at the other end of the rainbow, in a pot of gold. The player has to reach the pot of gold to get the key. After that, the player must go back, fight the monsters that are surrounding the house, and enter the house. When the player enters the house, the screen changes to an arena, and the player has to face the boss to beat the level 3. When the boss is defeated, it becomes the portal to the next level. The player enters the portal and is taken to the last level, which is in another dimension. Level 4: The next dimension is also the last level, and it is called the Land of the Dead because it is a land of spirits. There will be more monsters to fight against in this level. When the level starts, the character will be standing on the top right of the level room. This time, the player can only start moving to the left. As the character goes to the left, he will be gradually coming down, finding many monsters in his way. Finally, when he reaches the left side of the room, there will be a chasm. The player has to go down the chasm. The player will see a black hole and pass through it. When the player enters the black hole, the screen changes to an arena, and the player has to face the final boss (the evil spirit). When the final boss is defeated, he drops the magic wizard hat. The player beats the last level by killing the last boss. The goal of the last level is defeating the evil spirit and getting the hat. When the player gets the hat, the character put it on his head, the player earns more points, and the completion screen appears, showing a message that congratulates the player. The game is completed. The high score table appears. The credits appear, and then the game goes back to the front-end.
IV. Information Architecture and mock-ups 1. Flowchart 1
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2. Flowchart 2 - Levels Flow
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3. UI Screen 1: Front-end
Section 1:
Title
Section 2:
Start button
Section 3:
Load button
Section 4:
Help button
Section 5:
Scores button
Section 6:
Quit button
4. UI Screen 2: Game
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Section 1:
Lives
Section 2:
Selected Item
•
Name of item
•
Image of item
Section 3: •
Item Selector
Buttons to select an item
Section 4:
Scores
Section 5:
Game Scene
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Background image
•
Player character
•
Enemies
•
Fairies
•
Dropped items
•
Tiles
V. Specifications of Specific Features: Player Mechanic •
Move Left – A key
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Move Right – D key
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Jump – W key
•
Attack (throwing energy balls) – Spacebar
•
Change item – Left Mouse click on another item
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Pause/resume game – Esc key o Save – S key o Quit – Q key
Enemies: Monsters (mushrooms): •
They move horizontally (from right to left and from left to right)
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When colliding with the player, the player loses both 1 life and the selected item
•
They die if the player jumps on them
•
They can also be killed by both white energy balls and red energy balls
•
When they are dead, they can drop lives, energy balls, or invisibility potions
•
They release their own energy balls from their heads o The player loses both 1 life and the selected item in a collision with mushrooms’ energy balls
Monsters (trees – type #1): •
They move horizontally (from right to left and from left to right)
•
When colliding with the player, the player loses both 1 life and the selected item
•
They die if the player jumps on them
•
They can be also killed by both white energy balls and green energy balls
•
When they are dead, they can drop lives, energy balls, or invisibility potions
Monsters (trees – type #2): •
They track the player
•
No energy ball can kill them
•
They does not die if the player jumps on them
•
When colliding with the player, the player loses both 1 life and the selected item
•
The player stops being tracked by selecting the invisibility potion
Bosses (all): •
They track the player
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The player stops being tracked by selecting the invisibility potion
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They have a health bar
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They die when their health is zero
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The player earns points when they die
•
When colliding with the player, the player loses both 1 life and the selected item
•
Any energy ball can drop their health a little
•
Jumping on them also make their health drop a little
•
They release their own energy balls
13 o When their energy balls collide with the player, the player loses both 1 life and the selected item
Boss 1: •
When the first boss dies, he drops lives, energy balls, and invisibility potions
Boss 2: •
When the second boss dies, he drops lives, energy balls, and invisibility potions, and he becomes the portal to the next level
Final boss: •
When the second boss dies, he drops the wizard hat
Fairies: •
They rarely appear
•
They drop resources (lives, energy balls, or invisibility potions) to help the player
Items: Red energy ball: •
It kills mushrooms
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It decreases the bosses’ health
Green energy ball: •
It kills trees (type #1)
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It decreases the bosses’ health
White energy ball: •
It kills mushrooms and trees (type #1)
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It decreases the bosses’ health
Invisibility potion: •
The player cannot tracked while this item is selected
•
Effect disappears after some time
Golden key: •
Opens a locked door
Wizard hat: •
It ends the game
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Is dropped by the final boss
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When it collides with the player, the player earns points, and the completion screen appears.
Environment: Wall: •
The player cannot cross it
Clouds (static): •
The player cannot cross it
Clouds (moving): •
The player cannot cross it
•
Can have vertical or horizontal movement
Cloud (disappearing): •
Can be static or moving clouds
•
Some of them disappear instantaneously at a collision with the player, and other disappear some seconds after the collision
•
They can reappear or not
Rope ladder: •
The player can climb it to reach high places.
Portals: •
They take the player to the next level
Locked doors: •
The player needs to have a golden key selected to pass through them
Doors/Black hole: •
They take the player either to an arena to fight against a boss or to the locked garden
User Interface: Score counter: •
The player earns points when an enemy is killed
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The player earns points when the game is completed
Lives:
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When a new game starts, the player has three lives
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Lives are lost when the player collides with enemies
•
The current level restarts if there are no more lives
Item Selector: •
It shows all items that the players has
Selected item: •
It shows the item that the player is using
Main Menu: •
To start a new game – Start button
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To load a saved game – Load button
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To show how to play – Help button
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To show high score table – Scores button
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To quit the game application – Quit button
VI. Timeline to complete: Week 1: •
Create sprites, tiles, and backgrounds
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Gather sound effects
Week 2: •
Finish creating all sprites, tiles, and backgrounds
•
Start working on Game Maker: create objects and start coding
Week 3: •
Coding
•
Make the first and second levels
•
Test/Debug levels
Week 4: •
Let friends test the levels
•
Fix gameplay problems
•
Test/Debug levels 1 and 2
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Week 5: •
Coding
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Make the third and forth levels
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Test/Debug levels 3 and 4
Week 6: •
Let friends test all levels (1, 2, 3, and 4)
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Fix gameplay problems
•
Test/Debug all levels
VII. Concept art: Player:
Energy balls (red, green, and white):
 Fairies:
Monsters:
Bosses:
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 Levels/Scenes/Background images: Level 1:
Level 2:
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 Level 3:
Level 4:
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References: Magical World wallpaper. N.d. Digital painting. ForWallpaper.com. Web. 23 Feb 2014. <http://www.forwallpaper.com/wallpaper/magical-world-388817.html> Game, girl, creature, fantasy, magical world wallpaper. N.d. Digital painting. ForWallpaper.com. Web. 23 Feb 2014. <http://www.forwallpaper.com/wallpaper/game-girlcreature-fantasy-magical-world-295315.html>