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

L1088509 – Nathan Stead Rise Game Document

Rise Nathan Stead

L1088509

2 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


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


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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


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

.


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:


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.


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.


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.


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:


Alien Planet References

Day


Night


Day


Night


Box Art


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


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.


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-water-

space-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

http://s291.beta.photobucket.com/user/jaydasgupta/media/FutureSamuraiCopyrightProtected.jpg.html

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k853u5RNnOc/TsZ3aNzSkfI/AAAAAAAAB-c/257tj4UlnkY/s400/2710442.jpg

http://www.gamefreaks.co.nz/2012/10/21/viking-battle-asgard-available-pc/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/08/110830-new-planet-found-most-earthlike-life-clouds-water-space-science/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/08/110830-new-planet-found-most-earthlike-life-clouds-water-space-science/

http://hqwallpapers4free.com/space/outer-space-desktop-wallpaper-1133385/

http://forums.gametrailers.com/viewtopic.php?f=784&t=896811

http://uk.ign.com/images/games/demons-souls-ps3-14242310/4fa6cb3acdc388ed13f3ec52

http://www.pushsquare.com/games/ps3/demons_souls/screenshots

http://uk.ign.com/images/games/demons-souls-ps3-14242310/4fa6cb36cdc388ed13f3b3df

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


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

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

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

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