Unify
Game Intro
Unify is a side-scrolling platformer. The player assumes the
role of Charlie, a child whose parents have recently divorced. Designed as a
commentary on uniting North and South Korea the player must do what they can to
re-unite the mother and father. Charlie begins by talking to the people in the
town, the villagers seem distant, unconcerned, perhaps brainwashed, many are
distracted believing their problems are greater than Charlie’s. The player has
to pander to each by completing a quest or request, rewarding Charlie with a
memento from their parents’ past.
Character Bios
Charlie
(Player Character): An
androgynous character and should never be directly referred to as either male
or female. Similarly the visualisation of the character will be ambiguous on
this subject also.
Charlie is a selfless
character devoted to equality and greater good as many children are, but may
come across as naive as a result of living in the sheltered village society.
Mom and Dad:
Charlie’s parents who have gotten a divorce.
These two characters – although featured heavily in the narrative – do not
appear in game very often. They are featured during the premise of the game,
but for the majority of the playthrough will be elusive, either away, missing,
sleeping or locked in their house.
The
Villagers always talk about the parents as if they have only just become
unavailable (before Charlie came home they were available), and will relay
messages from them, adding to the layer of suspicion gathering in the player’s conscience.
Villagers: The villagers make up the majority of the game’s population and although
each character is unique many hold similar traits – they are conceited and
selfish. Many even deny that Charlie’s parents were ever together. Whilst some
of the villagers do empathise with Charlie none offer to help without Charlie
fixing their problems for them first.
The majority of
characters are not to be portrayed as assholes, but instead hold the same
naivety the whole village seems to drip with.
Wise Old
Man: This is the only
character in the game that seems to be on the same wavelength as the player,
who talks sense and empathises with Charlie. The character is initially
introduced as creepy, mysterious and avoidable, but the player will gradually
realise they have been misled.
The Wise Old Man is also
the only character who can be found outside of the village, the player will
bump into him sporadically throughout the game. The Wise Old Man is used as an
exposition tool to further players’ curiosity
Plot Overview
4-6 paragraphs. With as little backstory as possible, describe the game
from start to finish. Include a rough breakdown of what is cutscene, what is
gameplay, etc. With each part of the plot, it should be obvious how it will be
presented in the game itself.
(Unknown premise of
the game) Charlie is a North Korean child growing up in a village of rural
North Korea. Charlie’s parents get a divorce (symbolising the division of North
and South Korea), the villagers are brainwashed and naïve, many denying the divorce
ever happened, some claiming reasons totally fictional.
Charlie’s parents divorce. Leaving Charlie upset, confused,
and lonely. Charlie realises it’s up to them to make things right
Parents’ divorce -> Charlie decides to take matters into
their own hands and re-unite the family -> Charlie talks to townsfolk for
advice and help -> but no-one is 100% happy with the idea, want minor
problems solved first, naïve about the whole concept -> Charlie must
complete quests for each of the townsfolk -> Charlie collects parent’s love
letters ->
The Narrative of the game
is designed to culminate to an end-point where a slight twist is introduced
revealing the metaphor behind the game. This point is reached by collecting the
parents’ Love Letters.
Gameplay Description
1-2 paragraphs describing each distinct mode of gameplay, starting with
core gameplay. For instance, Half Life 2 would first describe general running
around and shooting, then twists on the core gameplay (such as the gravity
gun), then vehicle sequences.
Inspired by the efforts
of Okhwan Yoon, Charlie must travel the world to re-unite their parents. Gameplay
starts in the Village which serves as a central hub, from here Charlie can
access each of the 6 areas. Most quests will originate from the Village and
Charlie will have to return to the Village each time they need to travel to a
new area or turn in an objective. Charlie’s core functionality includes moving
left and right, jumping, and interacting with switches, people, items, and
doors etc. – The staple ingredients of any platformer. Movement will be aided
at times throughout the game with the inclusion of moving platforms, ladders,
springboards, ropes etc. By collecting and equipping mementos Charlie can
access new abilities allowing them to reach new areas.
The Mementos add an extra
dimension to the game each granting the player a different new ability, these
are used to reach new areas, traverse puzzles quicker/easier and ultimately to
reach the Love Letters. Each Memento fits to a socket on Charlie’s structure,
gloves going to hands, hats going to the head. More than one of these can be
equipped at any one time, however each socket can only hold one item at once
for example Charlie cannot wear two hats at once.
Players are recommended
to use a gamepad especially for the harder platforming/movement based elements.
Artistic style outline
2-3 paragraphs describing the artistic style and feel. Cover actual
in-game art, UI and menus and sound. Mocked up screenshots are preferred, if
not, reference art.
Unify is presented in a
pixel art format. The game has no HUD and dialogue is presented as pixelated speech
bubbles, Unify has a 1-hit health system but players respawn at checkpoints
which are evenly spaced throughout the levels.
The Korean Villagers and
the Village environment are lower in pixels, showing them as simple minded, as
the levels progress more and more detail is added.
Systematic breakdown of
components
A rough outline of what systems will be required (for example, ones that
will show up on most lists: 2D and/or 3D renderer, state machine, save/load
system, UI system, collision system, particle system, etc). Include special
features that, while they may not have their own system, will still need to be
accounted for when creating systems (ie. day/night cycles, sound affecting
gameplay, etc). If you will be using an API/SDK for a system, note it down -
you'll still have to do some work learning/integrating the foreign system.
Unify is a 2D pixel based
game built in a 2D renderer.
Unify saves the game at
each “level complete” screen or when Charlie goes to bed in the Village. The
game always loads to Charlie’s room, but all sections of the game are easily
accessible from this point.
Unify has no HUD,
dialogue is presented on-screen using pixelated speech bubbles (advanced by
player prompt). Charlie has no health but can die; the use of a 1-hit health
system is accompanied by having checkpoints evenly spaced throughout levels,
allowing the player to rest on their laurels.
By pausing the game the
player can: resume, access the settings of the game, or quit. The player can
also view their objectives, Mementos and Letters by bringing up the alternate
menu. This provides the player with a quick refresher of what they have, what
they can do and where they should go.
Sound design in Unify is
used to create pleasant atmospheres with light and emotive background music.
Sound effects are on the subtler side and help fill out the beautifully
aesthetic locations.
Letters to a Loved One: The narrative of
Unify is progressed by collecting the parents’ love letters which are scattered
accross the world. The letters pull the player into the mysterious narrative
keeping them ever, the letters aren’t specifically organised, however the flow
of the game encourages them to be discovered in a rough order. These letters
amount to an epiphany “wow moment” ending.
- Mementos: By completing the quests set by the townsfolk Charlie can collect mementos from their parents past. These can be equipped in-game each granting a different bonus, and can be used alone or in combination. These are used to reach new/secret areas, granting access to more letters. Abilities include, inverting gravity, strengthening usual abilities, smashing through certain elements, lighting up dark places, revealing hidden ladders/platforms, parachutes and grappling hooks amongst others.
Asset breakdown
Similar to the System Breakdown, but for visual assets, text and sound.
Art Assets: List each major area of artwork (Player, Enemies, Worlds,
UI/Menus, HUD, Effects), specifying roughly how detailed animations and states
will be, and however much you know at this point about the pipeline/programs
used.
Text Assets: Identify major areas (tutorial, tips, scripted
dialogue/quests, dynamically presented dialogue, narration), and attempt to
gauge the amount of effort required on each section.
Sound Assets: Similarly, the major areas (In-game sound, UI/HUD feedback
sound, music, voice) should be detailed and described.
Characters
Worlds
The world of Unity
encompasses 7 distinct areas:
The Village, The Arctic,
The Jungle, The Grassland, The Desert, The Coast and The Mountains
Suggested Game Flow Diagram
The intent of this section is to lay out, step by step, what the player
experiences from as soon as they turn on the game until the end. While this can
be generic and use a lot of loops (ie. Start Game -> Cutscene -> Tutorial
-> loop(Cutscene -> Level -> Results Screen) -> End), it's probably
a good idea to attempt to envisage how your game might be able to break up the
monotony that is evident in that design.
The great thing about this section is it gets you really thinking about
what your game is and how it is presented, as opposed to the amalgam of
disjointed ideas in your head. The deeper you get into this Game Flow Diagram,
the more confident you will be about what your game is precisely made up of,
and what the experience of playing it will be.
Suggested Project Timeline
Here's where we get to the part where hearts break and tempers are lost
- laying out a rough schedule for the game's development that utilizes the
breakdowns that were made earlier in the document. Schedule aggressively, but
be realistic - you're probably not going to get all of your menus in and
working in a day. You don't have to be specific about where and when - the most
important information to end up with here is the number of man hours per team
member required, and exactly who will be responsible for what.
Additional Ideas and
Possibilities
This final section is a bit of an amalgam of everything that didn't fit
in the sections before hand. It's an appendix of all of the things that you
didn't think were necessarily core to the game, but you'd like to consider
along the way. It's also for alternate possibilities - for instance, if you had
two main characters in mind, put the better one in the main document, and then
the alternate here. Finally, if you have any ideas that you're not sure about,
but would like to prototype, then this is the place for that stuff as well.
