Developing the Story

Looking to add depth to the concepts and possible elements, I started to explore potential narrative themes for each concept. Here is what I developed so far.


Concept 1 (Necromanager) Story: 

Pryhill's graveyard has its share of corpses, but few cemeteries would boast about the heroism of their groundskeeper. Anton has protected the people of Pryhill against the abominations that walk the night for decades. The time has come to train a new groundskeeper, an apprentice for Anton to entrust the safety of Pryhill. So the town send him an apprentice.

 

Concept 2 (We Don't Need No Heroes!) Story: 

Having to watch hero after hero attempt to climb the tower, beat the guardian, and whisk her off to a happy ever after…end in failure. Princess Addison Oxworth has witnessed hundreds of wannabe heroes after her hand, but the courage of these men wavers long before reaching Addison’s room.

The appeal of shining white knights is gone, each new hero is an insult to Addison. She wants to change her fate. So she decides to take on the trails of the tower and show the heroes that the princesses of this realm don’t need no heroes! Setting out on a quest to liberate the other princesses and become the heroine of the kingdom. 

Why?
Using the narrative to shape the direction of design and give context to the player. Helping to create a believable world and aspects to explore in later iterations.

We don't need no heroes!

High Concept: The princess is fed up with waiting to rescued by the moronic hero, so she switches it up. Knocks out her captor, takes his armor and descends the tilting tower. She finds the moronic hero in the nearest tavern, she challenges the hero to prove himself in a drinking contest. Drinking the hero under the table, she reveals herself as the princess. Shaming the hero, the princess takes his gold and goes to rescue the other princess and humiliate the other heroes along the way.

Objectives:
-Overcome various physic puzzles
-Shame the heroes
-Liberate the other princesses

It started with the phase "We don't need no hero!" and evolved into the team's second game concept.

Using the physic puzzle with the platforming aspect to give the concept challenge and to separate it from a traditional platformer game. This allowed for a lot of interesting level concepts, which I pull inspiration from old games like Jenga, Tetris, and simple physics ideas like fulcrums.

I wanted the game to feature a heroine, because female protagonists don't get a lot of spotlight or respectful displays of body shape. So I also wanted the heroine to be realistic without a hourglass figure and could hold her own on the same level of the male hero. So I flipped the idea having the men by the moronic fools that are beaten by the princess proving she is capable of doing anything they are suppose to. 

Showing the other princess that they don't need a man to define their existence in this fantasy inspired world of badass princesses and moronic heroes. 

Battle Royale at the First Critique

-The first presentation of concepts-

Having built an initial demo to present our game concept, it was time to show what the team had produced. Displaying the art, design, and in-engine demo to the group we were prepare for critiques. But apparently we weren't ready to present as a cohesive team.

Presenting pieces of the design as if it was individual from the group. The unrehearsed presentation revealed differing ideas on the overall design of the game the team was developing. Taking note of the issues with concept direction, the presentation ended with the critique on the first iterations of the graveyard game idea.

The team still had an open concept which allowed for the forum of free ideas and possible directions for the early game concept. I should have known better to assume that the team still had different visions of the concept at this stage. But good discussion for later about the overall vision of the concept as a team at a later meeting.

Initially concerned and slightly annoyed that the concept wasn't the individual realized vision that I had seen. But coming back to reality the four members of the team would hold different thoughts until later iteration of the game. Recognizing this internal mistake, our team's next step would be to solidify the concept and iterate.

Additionally, the team need to consider an secondary idea as an alternative route if the game turned out to have too many issues. Creating a terrible and unenjoyable game.

Overall the first presentation went well, but our team need to reconvene and review the first concept and brainstorm an additional idea. While additionally iterating of the first concept until that second game concept had been agreed upon.

What would become the next idea was something completely unexpected.

Digital Prototype Was A Bad Choice This Early

Trying to do a digital prototype this early, didn't work for two reasons:

First, I lacked a direction that I wanted to go for presentation other then the basic movement. Which is nothing worth presenting to get the concept across to an audience.

Second, As I was building the digital concept the overall vision of the game was immature. I didn't know where it was going. How is that going to play?... Where are the enemies going to spawn from?... What is the AIs goal?... I was at a lost.

So, the paper prototype would be created.

Finding the answers to the questions one by one.

Gameplay- Constant zombie swarms spawn form Midnight to 6am, as the gravedigger it is your job to keep the zombies in the graveyard. Preventing chaos in town and insuring that your paychecks keep coming.

Player Goal- Keep the zombies from going into town, by putting them back in the graves and continuing to do so until your shift is over and they go back to sleep.

Enemy Spawn Rates- Constant time interval for spawning with a random number of spawned enemies at the set interval.

AI goal (zombies)-Reach the gate, break it, and cause mischief in town.

Simple and easy to put in game for the first iteration of the prototype.

Go for the Graveyard Game

-Brainstorming Session 1-

Attempting to start strong the team looked for inspiration in a recent Indie Game "Shovel Knight." Appreciating the art, style, and feel of the game the team started bouncing ideas. This is the dialog that followed:

What if, we...No.
Do a pixel art style, with...No.
Wait what if, you were a...No.

Finding nothing to agree upon the team was at a loss for a game idea. So the team said "Stop, separate and lets all bring fresh ideas later." Re-adjourning the following day for the second brainstorming idea.

-Brainstorming Session 2-

After trying to come up with an idea early, the team couldn't connect with any idea that was presented. The team had yet to be inspired by the concepts, until the graveyard game vision.

Quickly, the team's spirit rose attaching their interest and inspirations for the concept adding their imagination and perspective. Creating the team dynamic that would prove to be a valuable resource of energy and ideas to improve the overall design.

The team was mindful of scope, focused on core gameplay insuring the prototype would prove if the concept was sound and enjoyable for the player.

The Conception of the Graveyard

-Brainstorming the Initial Idea-

Take "Legend of the Dungeon" visual feeling, "Shovel Knights" retro art style, and "Papers, Please" economic inspiration then throw in a graveyard. And we have the basis of our team's initial game idea that stuck.

A not too serious game where the zombies need to be put back in their graves. This restless zombies are mischievous fiends, breaking windows, scaring kids, and biting your neighbors. It is your job as the gravedigger to police these zombies, making sure they don't cause a ruckus in town. If the zombies cause any damages in town, the costs are deducted from your paycheck.

-In-game mechanics & systems-

The General List: The Early Stage
Picking up zombies and putting them in holes.
Random spawning zombies in graves.
Camera view and feel is important. (isometric)

Updated List: Currently Known
Attack (Shovel Stun)
Carrying Zombies
Level population w/ assets using randomization
Isometric Camera Viewpoint
Economic (Paycheck) system
Enemy spawning (constant stream) (Varying #)

-Prototyping-

I started with an attempt to produce a digital prototype, but quickly knew that the gameplay still hadn't been solidified. So onward with a paper prototype, rough and quick. Finding the mechanics, scraping the bad ideas, and modifying on the fly to get the core system. Identifying that the "combat" was the core of the gameplay, the team could push forward and ensure that this element was fun.