Art Style - Final Comprimise

I quite like this, it doesn't have all of the outlines but it does enough of it to create an effect. This is how I picture the game to look like:

Art Style - Possible Comprimise

After some thought and fiddling around with the Toon Shader in Unity, I am beginning to think that the Japanese painting style may take up way too much time or might not be possible within Unity. Although apparently its possible to script the Shader to work in a particular fashion, once again this may take too much time and might be too difficult with some of the models.

The alternate Art style I propose however would still be 'toony' but not to the point of outlines, rather the amount of detail could be limited instead along with the textures and colors. Noticeably lesser poly models could be implemented to also emulate this as well.

Storyline + Enemies

I have given some thought into the actual story line and found that its a bit ironic. The hero appears after the world has been mutilated, the natural life within the world have become deformed in different ways - making even the most harmless creature seemingly deadly. The hero's task is to restore balance, discovering what cataclysmic event caused all of this mutation on the way along with defeating the dark figure which seems to be orchestrating everything. Its pretty standard and common, except for the fact that the main character is probably the most unnatural being in its universe.

I put some thought into what the world would look like, whether it should reflect Earth or should it be a completely different universe along with the fact that I want that Japanese painting style. I needed the player to see that obviously the creatures that the Godai was facing was unnatural and if it was a completely new animal then that would be rather difficult without making it particularly grotesque.

Below is a picture of what I thought would be nice, considering that its a good example of something that shouldn't really be a threat. Its a 'Fire Chicken', the idea is it to run around crazy leaving behind flames - kinda like a standard, patrolling enemy. This is however based on the "Basan" - A Japanese Legendary creature which is actually a fire chicken.

This one represents the Mizuchi, which is another Japanese Legendary creature which is a snake which controls the rain. I figure this creature would be a good one as an obstacle which just slithers on around at the top, dousing out any flames that are below it.

A Short Video of Godai's Transformation

The Video above shows off how the Godai would change into its different forms along with a few of the abilities the Godai would possess using these different forms. Here is a run down of what happens within the video:

The Air Element strolls along and passes through objects, using the force of its momentum to create wind and knock over a rock on a boulder. The next rock that falls over however smashes another rock, causing sparks to fly and ignite a fallen branch creating a fire.

The Godai moves through the fire and becomes a tornado of flame. The tornado lights everything in its path on fire, sucking in loose leaves and wood from trees and growing in size because it starts to fade out. The Godai increases its size, creating a larger cyclone which pulls in another branch therefore fueling it some more.

The Godai passess through a waterfall and takes on the water form which allows him to douse fires, move through small gaps and eventually take over animals. The Godai freely controls the bird and flies through a small gap in a mountain face which otherwise was impassable.

However the bird's liquids begin to drain and the Godai reverts to its air form before arriving at mud and therefore takes on the earth form.

Then the Earth Form absorbs loose stones from the boulder, which increases its arm size, and promptly destroys it to open the way.

The Side scrolling view is actually in more favour now as it would probably be better to make it more simple that way, allowing more focus on other areas.

Task Break Down

This is an estimate, some things may take considerably more or less time depending on whether or not some factors are significantly more easier or difficult than imagined. Should I be working on this alone, the scale of the game such as levels and the introduction of enemies may or may not exist.

I would imagine that the time it would take to make this would probably exceed 3-4 months but its a rather large commitment and scaling it down from it would probably be wiser. Should the project seem to much of a task to handle, several things can be dropped:

Enemies
Path-Finding
3-Quarter View (Replaced with a side-scrolling view using 3D models in Unity)

Should the Side Scrolling be the path to take then the implementation of enemies would be simpler and there would be no need to path-finding whatsoever.

However if not, then all should be going to planned.

VERY BASIC Level Layout

Above is a very basic level layout which introduces some of the aspects of gameplay:

1. Player enters the level and notices that the path is blocked by a stone slab. The player notices there are areas surrounded by mud and moves through the level to find a room filled with stone debri. Entering the mud, the player take the form of the Earth and then moves toward the room of stone thus taking on the Stone Giant Form.

2. Moving between each area surrounded by mud, the player maintains his form and moves toward the much more smaller stone slab and easily destroys it.

3.The player notices a bush on fire within the room and that the next exit has been blocked by vines. The fire form burns through fuel way too fast for the player to try to rush toward the vines and thus notices the vines have grown throughout the whole room. Taking the fire form and igniting one of the vines, the fire burns all the way toward the door and takes out the vines leaving the gateway intact.

4. The player returns to his basic form and moves toward the exit, completing the level.

This details of how a very basic level would appear, an example of a complex level using the same level layout would be the player would have to find a way to create the mud puddles in order to create his form using water sources or having to find a way to ignite the fire within the room.

Animation Detailing an Example of Gameplay

Above is a small Flash Animation detailing of how the game will be like should the player be using the Earth Godai to solve a puzzle. To set this video into context, the player is blocked by a massive boulder and needs to destroy it to get past. Using the Earth Element the player absorbs any form of earth, should it be dirt, stone or metal and absorbs it to create a more powerful form.

As the obstacle is stone itself, it can be absorbed just be being near it. Each different type of 'earth' the player absorbs increases an attribute of the Godai. Stone increases the mass of the 'arms', wood with the legs and metal with the body itself. Stone increases the force and momentum of the Godai's attacks, which allows him to easily destroy the stone in his way.

Hopefully I will be able to conduct a visual aid to show how the Godai changes and creates ways to change into different forms.

Art Style In-Game

This is an example of how I would imagine the game would appear in the 3-Quarter view. Most of the objects and world would have an outline around them and the world itself would appear as if on parchment. Details would appear as outlines also but the world would still possess some form of shading and color, depending on the object.

I wanted to reflect the Japanese art style by creating a sort of 'Cell-Shaded' effect upon the game world.

I will attempt to create a small puzzle by more visual aid.

Art Style Perspective

After some thought about the design and appearance of the game, I am yet to consider what the game's perspective would be.

Ideally I would rather have the game to be in a permanent Three-Quarter view, however reflecting this within a 3D environment would be tricky. My experience with Cell-Shading in general is minimal however with the addition of the Toon-Shading of Unity it could be achievable.

The alternative is the side scrolling perspective which would make the game play much more simple and would allow the art to extend to the background which would allow the art style to be reflected far more easily. Using Unity would also achieve this, Adobe Flash would also work but I would rather not use it.

The other alternative is a 'free-perspective' where the camera can look everywhere with the player centered on the screen. I was trying to avoid this as this may complicate with the art style.

As of now, I am vouching for the Three-Quarter view. The Toon shader pulls off the job well however the particle effects may need a bit more tinkering.

Art_Style

Just a quick image of how the world will appear. Reflecting this in a 3D environment would be have some changes, which in the next post I will cover.

Concepts of the Godai

Below are the concepts I created for what the Godai will look like during each 'elemental phase'. However this doesn't reflect the actual art style I wanted, the actual art-style - which will be in the next post, is more of a 'Japanese calligraphy' type painting.

Godai - Water Element

Godai - Earth Element

Godai - Fire Element

Godai - Air Element

Godai - Pitch

Godai

Genre: Action Puzzler

Core Game Mechanic: Elements

Pitch

Story:

The game is currently called 'Godai', which stands for Element in Japanese and it is a action-puzzler which has a huge emphasis on knowing one's environment and assessing it. The reason for the Japanese title is due to the fact that I wanted to explore the 'demons' and myths of the culture. A few of them involve elemental factors like lightning and fire, although in the strangest forms such as a demon chicken which wields fire and a snake which controls the rain.

The world is set in a fantasy realm where it is void of human contact and is in a perfect natural order, that is until a certain dark figure rises and stands to mutate and defile everything it touches. The world is beginning to fall into chaos and animals have become monsters, reflecting the worst of their nature into hideous forms. Our story begins with the rise of another creature, one that comes to restore order.

The creature's name, like the title, is Godai and it is essentially a ghost taking its natural form of a misty-gas-like creature with a single glowing orb, which acts as its eye. The Godai however is an ever changing creature and depending on what it touches or where it is, it changes form into something entirely different. Should the Godai come into contact with fire, its form changes into one of a tornado of flame which sucks in anything flammable or should the Godai enter into a place of high humidity, then its form turns into more of a slithering body of water.

Game Mechanic:

This is the game's core mechanic, the ability to change into certain forms using the environment the player is currently within. The form that the Godai takes however is unnatural and needs to be 'fueled' in order to be maintained. A 'Flame' form needs a constant source of fuel such as oil, wood or gas while the earth form needs stone, soft sand or moss. Should the Godai stray too far from fuel or runs out of energy to preserve its form, it returns to its natural gas-like form. The Godai uses his abilities to restore balance by restoring each 'area' of its fundamental element.

Each element has its own unique advantages and disadvantages, along with certain traits which may or may not aid the player in solving puzzles:

The ‘Mist’ form is the Godai’s natural and basic form, turning into this form offers no abilities except for invulnerability. The form however, needs a constant and massive amount of oxygen which cannot be found within small areas such as vents. The form is stuck to a low level to maintain a high level of oxygen while higher altitudes are too risky to move toward. The form allows the player to 'push' objects in a direction by moving through the object, effectively moving it slightly in a direction depending on the speed of the Godai.

The 'Flame' form, The Pyre Storm, naturally burns anything that the player touches but it also gives another passive ability which is the 'suction' power of its twister form. The player could increase this suction strength by increasing the amount of fuel it is using, which would help the player pull toward them an object or enemies. Fire however is also the form which consumes the most fuel and at a faster rate than any of the other forms, especially if it grows to a larger size.

The 'Earth' form, The Stone Tyrant, is naturally incredibly heavy, strong and almost impenetrable but it also grants the player its own 'center of gravity', which allows the player to pull loose stones toward the player and attach onto their body, allowing the Godai to grow incredibly larger and much more powerful. The Godai's appearance and abilities change depending on which form of earth it absorbs. If the Godai absorbs stone, it gains larger 'arms' increasing its destructive abilities but it it absorbs trees, it actually grows taller.

The 'Water' form, The Hydro Serpent, is naturally a flexible form which allows the player to move through gaps which would otherwise be impossible however it also allows the ability to control beings by entering into their system. This allows the player to use that creature’s abilities to their own advantage, such as flight and climbing. The form however is limited to the amount of moisture within the immediate environment and the Godai will lose its form quickly should no source of moisture or water is around it. Controlling a creature drains it of its moisture, leaving nothing but an empty and dry husk.

By utilizing these elements and their strengths, the Godai will be able to overcome both the environmental challenges as well as the enemies which stand in its way.

Example:

The area is deep within the jungles, plenty of fallen trees as evidence of a recent struggle. The exit, which is a tiny hole in the face of the mountain, is covered by thick vines, fire seems the only solution to get past. The area has suffered a recent heavy rain, puddles of water scatter the ground and there is no present fire in the area. There is however a cluster of stones and dirt which has somehow been untouched by the rain.

Solution:

The Godai absorbs the stones, becoming the Stone Tyrant, and then moves toward the scattered trees. Using its slam move, the Stone Tyrant creates sparks which light the tree on fire and starts a steady flame. The Godai then touches the flame and becomes the Pyre Storm, igniting and using the remaining trees as fuel, the Pyre maneuvers past the puddles and toward the vines. Touching the vines, they burst into flames and leaves the hole intact. Returning to one of the puddles, the Godai becomes the Serpent and then seamlessly moves through the exit.

This is just an example of a puzzle involved within the game. I will put up a visual reference of this later on.

About Me

My name is Anderson Szu-tai Hsu.

I am a 3rd year student at Griffith University, studying a Bachelor of Games Design. I am adept at both 3D modelling and programming however the latter is my strength. I have knowledge of ActionScript, Javascript, Java and of C# along with basic knowledge of C++.

For my LinkedIn Profile: http://au.linkedin.com/pub/anderson-hsu/38/22b/492 

Hope you enjoy what you see.