My game design document is due next week, but I’ll write up some things I’m going to put on it. The document is going to be at least 7 pages including pictures and diagram. I’m going to do my first game idea.

Overall description: A puzzle game focusing on using tablets to control the environment. There will be various stands around the map with movable controls that will move other objects like a large boulder. I want to focus on making the game challenging and making sure there is enough clarity for the player to understand what they need to do. I will draw up a picture of how the mechanic should work and some puzzles.

Character: The game’s going to be first person. I don’t plan to have the player see themselves, but I will probably need a basic human model so create a shadow with light sources. I think I prefer to focus on the puzzle instead of the aesthetics, so I will leave the model til the end. The controls will be wasd and mouse and will be my first objective. I will use a capsule as the player until I get to the end.

Story: There isn’t really any. If I were to write a gameplay narrative, it would be something like: “the player moves towards a stand with a tablet. On it, there’s a button that the player can move. When they move it to the right, a large boulder in front of them moves to the right revealing a bridge.” I will need to expand on this with more verbs than move. I want the tablets to do different things like push and pull.

Art and sound: I have very little clue where I want this to go. I don’t mind using Unity’s engine to model everything. Though I how things can sound, I don’t know how I’m going to make any good sounds that fits with my game. This is going to hurt the clarity of the game, I’m going to try and take notes of what I need sounds for.

I just submitted my game ideas. For my first 2 ideas, I had a puzzle game and horror game in mind. I’m really interested in my puzzle game because it’s more concerned with design and interactions of objects. The main focus is being able to influence the the environment with smaller controllable tablets. For my 3d modelling class, I was planning to do a horror animation so I felt I could try and mix my classes together for a better workflow if I made a horror game. The gameplay is more about exploration and finding out what the monster does. I didn’t have a third idea, but I wanted to focus on design and puzzles like my first idea, so I decided on a puzzle platformer. It focus on solving intertwining puzzles.

I made this blog.