This game was entirely based on one of my previous projects in which I created two robots which would race along a track. I turned this into an animation for my Unit 67.
Originally I wanted to go with my HunterXHunter project and even drew up a story board for it, however after seeing my Unit 67 animation, my tutor saw potential in the idea and urged me to carry it on.
I started off by coming up with some gameplay modes, I originally came up with these ideas based on shots from my animation. Initially this would seem restricting, however I felt those restrictions helped me come up with some unique ideas and ultimately I started to see potential in possibly evolving the racing genre as a whole.
In coming up with these modes, it also inspired my story. The Grav-Tron Grab is the mode which initially inspired my idea of setting this game within a universe which is scarce on resources. Grav-Tron its self is the most rare and valuable of those resources. I was also inspired by the Hunger Games and decided that the way for the player to get a hold of this resource was via competing in a deadly tournament based on racing.
I decided to create a sort of player pool, in which 4 separate galaxies would house the players of the game. I didn't want people to just pick a galaxy which would be winning during a certain week, so I decided that before starting the game, each player would undergo a sort of personality test which would then place them into an appropriate galaxy.
When deciding what the winning galaxy would achieve for winning a tournament at the end of a week, I decided to stick with my story and award the winning galaxy a large amount of Grav-Tron. Allowing for the players to really feel like they can achieve something by working together as a team.
Backstory: Set in a futuristic galaxy, resources are scarce. The most
valuable resource is Grav-Tron. Every 10 years 4 different worlds send
their personal Grav-Racers to compete in a grand tournament in order to
win a large amount of this resource.
Purpose: The main goal of this game is to compete and win in races for your represented Galaxy. When winning in these races you earn Gravtron which can be used as a currency for upgrades and repairs.
Character Types: This is an online game in which you as a player represent a galaxy as your own personalized Grav-Racer. The Grav-Racer's are silent characters to allow the player to portray themselves onto their racer, as well as to allow them to customize them as freely as possible. The goal of the player character is to enter the tournament in hopes of winning Grav-Tron for their galaxies.
Each galaxy is struggling to get by without the Grav-Tron resource and therefore are pinning all their hopes on the Grav-Tron racers, however each one is in direct competition with each other, there are no alliances as there is not enough Grav-Tron to go around . These are made up of the septentrio, meridies, occidens and oriens galaxies.
The tournament its self is run by a sentient alien race which has the ability to produce Grav-Tron. To the 4 galaxies which compete in the tournament, they are viewed as Gods, who literally control the fabric of the universe.
Reflections on finished Game Story: The game it's self doesn't have a true ending per say, at the end of each week, the Galaxy with the highest amount of accumulated Grav-Tron will win the tournament. A large amount of Grav-Tron will then be sent to every player representing this galaxy. In game time, 4 years pass and another tournament begins.
Set in a fantasy world during a war between Mages and Dragons. The story is set at a point where the mages gain the upper hand. They have devised a new magic which allows them to crystallize the Dragons. Duran is a young Dragon who was spared from this magic via the efforts and sacrifice of his clan. Duran now takes it upon himself to set out and find the anchors which maintain this magic in order to destroy them and save his race.
Genre: RPG, Action,
Target Audience: Players who enjoy an engrossing, lengthy story will enjoy this game. As well as those who enjoy fantasy based genres and a variety of quests which allow player progression and upgrades.
Competition: Skyrim, Dragon Age,
This game shares elements with games like Skyrim and Dragon Age, also both these games have Dragon's in some form, but never as a playable character. This is where Dragon Tale is different, it put's the player in control of the mythical beast.
Unique Selling Points: Take the massive world of an RPG and explore it in a way only a Dragon can. Take flight and discover the world of dragons.
Target Hardware: PS4, XboxOne, PC
Visual Style: A colorful slightly cartoon based visual style will be used in Dragon Tale. The world is full of mystical forests and woodlands with a variety of colorful plants. However there are also ancient ruins and sky temples to explore.
Gameplay features: The aim of this game is to create an experience which truly allows the player to feel like they're in control of a dragon with a whole world to explore.
Idea 2
Hunter X Hunter
Set in the world of Hunter X Hunter, this is an MMO in which you create your own Hunter, select his/her class and live the life of that Hunter. As a Hunter, it is your job to discover new lands, creatures and maintain balance within the world. You will be able to take on a range of quests at your discretion and as your Hunter Rank increases you may even be sent personal requests from Hunter HQ.
Genre: MMO, RPG, Action
Target Audience: Fans of the Hunter X Hunter manga and anime adaption. Also players who enjoy creating their own experience from a variety of choices offered to them within a massive established world. Ages 12 and up.
Competition: Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, World Of Warcraft, Runescape, Monster Hunter
License: Hunter X Hunter Manga/Anime
Unique Selling Points: A game based on the world of the manga/anime, Hunter X Hunter. The player is given the opportunity to live the life of one of 4 classes of Hunter. A Bounty Hunter, A Gourmet Hunter, A Beast Hunter and an Ancient World Hunter. Create your own Nen based techniques and raise your Hunter rank in order to discover the mysteries of the Hunter X Hunter world.
Target Hardware: PS4, XBox One, PC
Visual Style: Making use of cel-shading, the visual style imitates that of the 2012 anime adaption of the Hunter X hunter manga.
Gameplay Features: Create your own character, choose a Hunter class and learn your Nen based techniques. Using gear and items adapt your combat style to your situation and take part in a variety of quests and tournaments.
Idea 3
The Hunger Games
Overview of the Game:
The Hunger Games, An online multiplayer game based on the Hunger Games
event which takes place within The Hunger Games film series. The player creates a character and
then chooses a district to represent; they then enter a death match event akin
to the films.
Player Motivation: The
player is motivated by the competition, they are paired up with one partner
from the same district, and both players are then entered into a death match
against the remaining 11 pairs. These matches take place on massive maps in
which patience and strategy are key.
Genre: Online
Multiplayer, Action
License: This
title will exploit the license of The Hunger Games film franchise. The
franchise originally started out as a book series, however after receiving a
large amount of popularity, it was recognised by film makers and now has two
movies based on the book series of the same name.
Target Customer: Ages
16 and up. Fans of the Hunger Games books and /or film series. Players who favour
stealth, strategy and teamwork over free for all action.
Competition: The
Last of Us, this game employs a similar mechanic in which finding and crafting
items is key to survival.
Unique Selling
Points: A new kind of death match brought to the player, one in which
survival and strategy take priority over a high kill count. In the Hunger
Games, the last pair standing are the only winners.
Target Hardware: PS4,
XBoxOne, PC
Visual Style: The
visual style aims to replicate those found within the films, aiming for a
realistic, yet fantastical world.
Game Play Features: This
game emphasizes stealth, strategy and team work. Just like in the films, the
player must either find one of the few weapons made available to them via
grabbing a pack and risking early elimination, stealing them from deceased
players or crafting them from materials found around the map. Players are also
able to find and craft protective, as well as medical based equipment. Players
can also earn items by gaining favour. Players can gain favour from performing
impressive actions, such as stealth kills or using your environment to dispatch
or escape from an opponent in interesting ways. Pairs are also able to share
items and heal each other, team based actions are also a good way to gain favour.
This helps encourage good team work even among players who don’t know each
other previously.
Idea 4
Grav-Racer
Overview of the game: Set in a futuristic galaxy, resources are scarce. The most valuable resource is Grav-Tron. Every 10 years 4 different worlds send their personal Grav-Racers to compete in a grand tournament in order to win a large amount of this resource. This game changes up the racing genre to make it more action packed with a variety of new and unique modes.
Player Motivation: This game allows the player to represent a galaxy after being selected for that galaxy with a quick personality test at the start of the game. They are then able to enter this tournament and through online features compete with the remaining 3 galaxys in a world wide tournament. As the player progresses, he/she is able to customise and upgrade their Grav-Racer.
License: N/A
Target Audience: Ages 16 and up. Racing fans and action game fans.
Competition: Racing games with an emphasis on action.
Unique Selling Points: This is a combat racing game which introduces a host of new game modes and rules. It abandons the traditional racing genre and trys something new and innovative.
Target Hardware: PS4, Xbox One
Visual Style: This game is set in a futuristic galaxy, however I was influenced a lot by Tron when coming up with this idea. Therefore I can imagine it being very metallic with a lot of neon lights.
Visual Style
The visual style within video games makes up the visual representation of a video game. Visual styles can vary greatly between games, classic 2D to 3D and also graphics wise, from ultra-realistic to a cartoon based style. It is important for developers to achieve the correct visual style for their intended audience, as even though most gamers will agree that; "It's not about the graphics" they're the most direct method of showing a game off and a bit of eye candy never goes amiss.
World (Terrain, architecture, objects): The environment of a game, the landscape and the objects which inhabit it. This can range from foliage to trees and buildings. The world of the game houses the various elements of the game and is what the player will traverse throughout.
Character models: A virtual model used to represent a character in-game. These models can be made up from a range of different methods, the most common in games as of 2013 would be polygons, the more polygons which make up a character, the more detailed it can become.
Another method comes in the form of sprites, this was initially used in older games to fool the eye into seeing movement where there really is none. Instead a sprite consists of a number of pixel based images which display one after the other.
Gameplay models & Gameplay features
The models and features of gameplay are made up of a variety of things, they can include the avatar you play as, the narrative of the game, how you play a game and even the mode of game your playing; Single player, multiplayer etc...
Narrative: A video game narrative is used as a basis to give the player a reason to do whatever they are meant to be doing in the game, in most blockbuster games today, the narrative of games tends to be set up much like that of a film and in some cases, such as with Heavy Rain and Beyond Two Souls, the gameplay it's self plays backup while the narrative takes the lead.
Game Setting: The setting of the game is made up of numerous factors, from environmental aspects to the emotional. It all helps build up the world which the development team have envisioned in order to deliver the intended experience to the player. In the case of The Last of Us by Naughty Dog, the intention was to put the player in a foreboding, high tension situation, but also to put emotional focus on two characters which ultimately allows hope into a seemingly hopeless situation.
The Goals, Challenges and Rewardsof a video game are all closely related, let me give an example to prove my point. Goal: Reach the radio tower. Challenge: Defeat the armed soldiers in the way whilst avoiding deadly traps. Reward: Reach the radio tower and receive that shiny new assault rifle. See where I'm going with this? Each one of these are used in order to keep the player engaged, to start the player obviously needs a goal, but without the challenge, reaching the goal wouldn't hold any interest, then there's the reward at the end, which makes the challenge worth while.
This concept doesn't just factor into games either, it's something used to motivate people in almost any situation. Athletes could be used as another example, their goal could be to become a world champion cyclist, their training and eventual competition would be the challenge with the reward being a medal at the end.
The Rules, Difficulty and Mechanics
An age old notion in the realms of games is that they always have rules, these rules determine what the player can and cannot do whilst playing the game. When it comes to video games, these rules tend to be hidden behind control schemes and hidden parameters, but wherever there are rules, there are ways to break them.
Some players have found ways to exploit the games rules in order to achieve an unexpected effect, then there are others who just straight up mess with the games code. In most cases this is used to either make the game easier, more convenient or just to have a laugh, which brings me on to my next point; Difficulty.
The difficulty in games is a difficult thing to judge (No pun intended, but hey I'll take it), as all players have differing experiences when it comes to video games, not everyone is willing to put them selves through what may be considered a gruelling experience, on the other hand, those that are more experienced want to be challenged and won't appreciate the games ai (Artificial Intelligence) pulling it's punches. This is why in most games these days, you'll find you are able to determine the difficulty you play at.
These usually consist of the difficulties; easy, normal and hard although some games will also add, very easy and very hard. The main difference between difficulties tends to be a simple change in parameters at the developers discretion, ex: change in health, change in damage to enemies, differing instances of item drops, etc.. However, some games go the extra mile and will even reward players with extra content for attempting the harder difficulties, such is the case with the Kingdom Hearts series which adds new enemies and items and also provides a secret ending for beating the game on the hardest setting.
The mechanics behind games basically refer to how the game runs. Why does Crash Bandicoot spin to attack while Nathan Drake takes down his enemies with a pistol? It's because both games have their own unique set of mechanics. I purposely used two games from the same developer there to prove my point. Even though they were both essentially made by the same people, they are both played very differently
I'm going to explore that submarine!!... In the middle of a jungle?
I'm gonna go jump on those boxes... At a beach?
Mechanics factor into more than just controls or how the character behaves, they factor into almost every aspect of the game. How a player scores points, how inventory is gained and used, what the goal of the game is in the first place.
Crash can score points via collecting Wumpa fruit, Drake can rack up a score by performing special feats; 100 headshots, 50 stealth kills, etc... Crash can collect masks for increased health, Drake can pick up new weapons for bigger booms. Crash beats a level via reaching the end of the stage, Drake beats a level via reaching the end of a stage.. Wait what? That's another thing, mechanics used in games aren't always unique to that game, nor do they need to be. Mechanics get reused and refreshed all the time, if something as simple as an end of stage goal wasn't reused, games would be lacking a lot of incentive.
The next point on my list is video game addiction. As with all things people can enjoy, video games can also take over peoples lives. Even though I've never personally felt I've had a video games addiction, I simply enjoy them for what they are and play them when I can. I did have a friend who let the MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) game; World Of Warcraft take over his social life. He literally spent every day from waking up to going back to bed playing the thing all summer. Now while I'm not going to harass the guy and say he should have been doing something else with his time, I personally feel he was kinda addicted to the thing.
Video Game Genres
A video game genre is simply a means of categorising a game by it's theme. For example an action game is probably going to have more explosions than a puzzle game and therefore the player will have a very different experience between each genre.
action
fps
tps
racing
RTS
TBS
Adventure
Role play
Simulation
Puzzle
Interactive Story Telling Techniques Cinematic: A method of advancing a video games narrative through the use of animated CGI scenes.
Cut-scene: A method of advancing a video games narrative through the use of in-game models and dynamic angles.
Triggered events: A scene or event triggered by the players actions, an example of this can be found in the Kingdom Hearts series. Once the player has defeated the final boss, secret bosses can be found upon visiting certain areas.
Full Motion Video: A scene filmed using live action performers. This isn't used often in video games, however it is fairly popular with video game trailers.
The Three Act Structure: A common story telling method which involves a beginning, middle and end.
The Hero's Journey: A story telling method consisting of 12 steps. Generally it consists of the hero starting off uneasy with his/her situation, then they gain more confidence with a discovery of latent ability or via meeting a mentor, finally they return with something to make it all worth while at the end.
Episodic: A story structure which spans across multiple episodes, usually three. This can also be found within video games too, such as with the Sonic 4 episodes, the Walking Dead episodes and the George Washington DLC from Assassins Creed III.
Setting: The place, time period and situation which characters within a narrative find them selves in. Narratives basically run on how characters react to the setting they have found them selves in.
Conditions: Generally a narrative must contain a beginning, middle and End, lending it's self to the three act structure.
Representation and Emotional themes in Story telling
Characterisation: A method of creating characters for a narrative. The characters created can be presented through various methods, be it their actions or thoughts.
Stereotypes: A widely believed behaviour of a distinct group of people, gender, race, groupies, etc... Whilst stereotypes are commonly believed, they are not always accurate and are often exaggerated.
Symbolism: A method of influencing a characters actions via a symbol or strong belief. An example of this can be found in the Assassin's Creed series, in which both the Assassin's and Templar's fight each other tirelessly for their individual beliefs.
Emotional Themes: A theme based on emotional state. You could say games such as Dead Space and Resident Evil are made to inspire fear, whilst games such as Kingdom Hearts and Pokemon inspire hope or happiness. The idea here is to inspire these emotions in the viewer/player via the narrative.
Writing Strategies
Pre-writing: This consists of various methods both common and unique among writers in order to aid in creating a good narrative. Common methods include; brain storming sessions, mood boards and spider diagrams. However just like the narrative it's self, this process is only limited by the imagination.
Drafting: This part of the process usually consists of experimentation. At this point the author will usually have a working title in place and a few branching paths of where the story may or may not go. At this point the ground work is set, but anything and everything can still change.
Revision: The final process of writing a narrative. At this point the author and most likely a publisher will review the final work and begin changing odd details here and there, correcting plot holes or simply rearranging or even removing parts of the story.
The
Ordinary World – Norman. A young man of 23 years, living in the city of Hull,
modern day. Simple job as a retail operative at Tesco’s, yet he feels there is
something missing in his life.
2.
The Call
to Adventure – The Norse God’s have their immortality stolen by a
mysterious thief. They call upon Norman as the son of Thor in order to send him
on a quest to bring the thief to justice and recover their immortality.
3.
Refusal
of Call – This being the first time Norman has ever learnt of his heritage,
or even heard from his true father, he refuses the quest. He feels no need to
help his father as Thor never once concerned himself with the well being of
Norman.
4.
Meeting
With The Mentor – Norman is attacked by a wild beast, not of his world. He
almost loses his life to the beast when the Norse God Thor himself comes to his
rescue via a human vessel. He informs Norman that without the influence of the
Gods, more of these beasts shall infest his world. They are unable to interfere
themselves due to the loss of their immortality which is making it impossible
to travel between realms. Using this
vessel, Thor offers his knowledge as a mentor to Norman and Norman hesitantly
accepts.
5.
Crossing
The Threshold – With the tutelage of his estranged father, Norman learns of
his abilities as a Norse Demi-God. With the power of thunder/lightning on his
side, Norman manages to defeat a number of beasts. Whilst Thor informs him that
much more powerful beats await his wrath, Norman gains a confidence which has
been locked away since his birth.
6.
Tests, Allies
& Enemies – Upon learning all that Thor has to teach within such a
limited time, Norman is introduced to his allies. He finds out that he is not
the only Demi-God who suffered the same treatment at the hands of the Gods and
a sense of loneliness was lifted. However the third of these allies, Larry
reveals himself to be the thief, the son of Loki. He pleads with the other Demi-Gods
to join him and become the new Gods with the immortality of their parents.
After finding solace in each other and sharing a hate for the parents who
abandoned them, the remaining demi-gods, including Norman have a difficult
decision to make, between what is right and their own justice, the latter
meaning the destruction of the mortal realm.
7.
Approach –
Whilst Norman and his fellows understand Larry’s feelings, they ultimately
come to the same decision that the world is worth more than getting back at
their parents. They attempt to calm Larry down, he was slowly coming around to
the idea when Odin orders the Demi-God’s to kill the traitor. Larry flees with
the immortality in hand, leaving his fellows with an even more difficult
decision to make.
8.
Ordeal –
Larry consumes the power of immortality, however whilst his body was now
immortal, his heart remained mortal. Larry went crazy with power, attacking his
new found brothers without mercy, believing them traitors who sided with the
God’s. After a long vicious battle, Norman manages to send a lightning bolt
straight through Larry’s heart, killing him instantly.
9.
Reward -
Norman was distressed after being forced to kill his new-found brother, but
took solace in the fact that the world was now safe. The Gods bestowed to their
children right of passage to the Godly realm in order to finally meet their
parents.
10.
The Road
Back – Upon meeting the Gods, Norman and co soon realized that something
was strange, the immortality which had been stolen had not yet returned to the
Gods. The power still lay with what was left of Larry, however without his
human heart, only a monster could remain.
11.
The Resurrection
– Norman and his fellow Demi-Gods returned to the mortal realm to find it
in shambles at the hands of Larry’s immortal hatred given the form of a beast. The
only way to stop the hatred was to use a vessel to contain it, another mortal
heart. Norman offered up his own heart and took on Larry’s hatred, separating it
from the immortality. So much hatred within a single heart was too much for any
mortal and Norman ultimately passed on from the realms of mortals.
12.
Return
with the Elixir – The immortality cleansed of hatred returned to the Gods,
who restored the mortal realm to it’s former state of peace. However Norman and
Larry could never return there after losing their mortal hearts, instead their
immortal souls were granted passageway to the Godly realms, finally permitted
to be with their parents.
