GAME DESIGN DOCUMENT
STEAMPOWERED STILLNESS
HENRI MUSTONEN
ADULTA LUOVAT ALAT/Keuda
PELIKOULUTUS
Core Idea ..........................................................................................................................3
Alternative....................................................................................................................3
Failsafe plan .....................................................................................................................3
Theme ..............................................................................................................................4
Interactivity & Level Design ...............................................................................................4
Storyboard & Plot ................................................................................................................5
Scheduling............................................................................................................................8
Postmortem ..........................................................................................................................9
Gameplay .....................................................................................................................9
Planning .......................................................................................................................9
Scope ............................................................................................................................9
5 Good things .............................................................................................................10
5 things to Improve ....................................................................................................10
5 things Learnt ...........................................................................................................10
Personal principals of this project ......................................................................................10
2
Original Plan
The goal is to make a Gothic steam punk church. The player is directed challenges and
events according to the storyboard. The player must fight ether demons with his/hers
illuminating weapon that shoots light and lights the environment.
Player model would be nice although not compulsory
Production emphasis:
3D assets
Particle effects
Level design
Small puzzles
The play area isn’t big although the church might be.
Core Idea
Goal:
Create an interactive steampunk church with Level design elements.
Half Life style puzzles inside a church, shooting demons. The church keeps changing
form as the player proceeds forward.
Alternative
No brainer single player map. Painkiller and Serious Sam as a reference.
Failsafe plan
If issues arise to get these working properly, we will create a Myst type adventure that
lets the player wonder around and see what happens. Perhaps in the footprints of
BitSpace, the previous school project in Adulta(by me, Antti & Sami).
If everything else fails, we will bring everything produced and create a showcasing
“gallery” within the church. This is the current state.
3
Theme
Gothic steam punk cathedral that changes as the player proceeds in it with the help of
strings, dampers and cylinders. Different levels of the church maneuver when certain
events are triggered.
This all takes place as a colosseum styled massive church with gothic construction hints.
The level is build in a way that makes the player feel small and the church massive. This
kind of approach works well on World of Warcraft.
Interactivity & Level Design
Player will start from the rightmost corner. The walls are scaling away from each other to
create the feeling of space and awe.
4
Storyboard & Plot
The player is cyborg designed to protect the church. He awakens from the security room
after seeing a vision of the main villain who is attacking the church. After that he finds
clues what is happening as he repairs the church and chases away the demons. Player will
be given subtle hints to solve the puzzles. We do not have resources for a grand finale, so
the game will result in a bell tolling and a flash, which vacuums all the demons.
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A gameplay blueprint can be seen on the following page. The player is elevated from the
security room to the altar. Camera control: demon will drop a chandelier to the metal fan
on the center. There the player will hear a scream and a demon dragging a monk to the
crematorium. Camera control return: The door is blocked and the player needs to take an
elevator. In the crematorium there is a level that unlocks other layers of the church. Once
the player goes back up, this time using the stairs, there is a ray of light casting to the
metal fan. Once the player stands on it, pillars will activate and one by one they will
create stairs.
During the elevation, player will see demons destroying the church. This will keep him
occupied and looking at the visuals. At the top there is a set of organs with a sign that
informs if the organ is damaged, an alarm will be triggered. There are maintenance bots
flying in the air. Near it is a sign that shows how maintenance bots explode if handled
improperly. The player shoots down a bot and places it near the organ the blast doors
open as a result. The player will then travel to the highest peak of the church and ring the
bell.
6
7
Scheduling
We will complete the most essential tasks first and see how they fit and what kind of mix
can be created with them. This is the place where scaling and re-evaluation of the project
is done. (How much more is needed, is it profitable to start that kind of version etc.)
More complete version can be found on
Aikataulu.xls
Aikataulu_late.xls
8
Postmortem
Theme stayed somewhat the same. Perhaps more of steampunk elements could have been
added to all assets.
Gameplay
Gameplay had to make way to a more polished big picture.
Planning
Plans went through enormous shifts during the way and I found it compulsory to map the
progress and possibilities regularly.
Scope
Scope was altered many times. It resulted in Failsafe –mentioned before:
“If everything else fails, we will bring everything produced and create a showcasing
“gallery” within the church.”
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5 Good things
There was space and room in the deadlines
Good image reference archive is essential. Loads of images were gathered during the way
and they resulted as a large and inspiring library.
The plan was good enough to stick to, changes were naturally made.
The scope had enough space for change
Platform was familiar
5 things to Improve
Allocating mental and physical resources for work and school
Improvement in the visual side, design and the use of space
Technical improvement (More practice with highpoly ao + normal baking)
Finding the emphasis where the focus is enjoying what you’re doing and the actual doing
is secondary.
Limiting the project to an even smaller whole that is more easily controllable and where
the best skill can be shown. Too big of a piece was taken with this project perhaps.
5 things Learnt
The most important thing is to give plans space to change as well as yourself to change
with them
It is important to map the project regularly investigate where you are at
Concepts and reference images are essential in any project
Valuing spare time to maintain creativity and clear decision making skills
It is vital to find the balance between thinking and doing
Personal principals of this project
I wished to be employed by as a environment artist
I wanted to create a polished production
I wanted to concentrate in improving and showing my current skills
I wanted to be sure the production is right
I wanted to be sure the production works
I wanted the production to be the best I can produce
I wanted to try new things
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