2014
Refinery
TREATMENT FOR A CASUAL GAME VENOM GAMES
MICCIOLO MATTHEW (MMICCIOLO) AND CHRISTOPHER
DOWDING (CJDOWDING)
Title: Refinery
Logline: Get rich quick.
Summary:
Refinery is a 2D mining game in which the player has a limited number of moves. The
goal of the game is to make as much money by the end by mining different ores that have
different values. The player will use onscreen arrow keys to control the mining machine. There
will be 6 different types of ores, iron, bronze, silver, gold, onyx and diamond. In order to get to
these different ores the player must dig through dirt which isn’t worth anything. After the
player has reached the move limit, their performance will be evaluated. They will then move
onto another level with a larger amount of moves than the previous level.
Feature List:

Movement with arrow keys

Movement with finger swiping

Scrolling Levels

6 different types of mineable ore (with point values)

Number of moves limit

Level performance evaluation

Vibrant colors

Appealing visuals
Target Audience:
Our game will be targeted towards people who have touch screen compatible device and that
need something to do that can be interrupted easily.
Experience Goal:
We want the players to have to strategize on where to go in order to get the most amount of
ore in the least amount of moves.
Mockup Screens:
The player begins at the top middle of the screen. This is where the player must begin to
plan out his moves to collect as much money’s worth of ore as he can. Diamond (cyan) is worth
more than onyx (black), which is worth more than gold (gold), which is worth more than silver
(light grey), which is worth more than bronze (orange), which is worth more than iron (dark
grey). Dirt (brown) is not worth anything, but still costs movement. The player will move using
the arrow keys or by swiping in the direction they want to move on a touch screen.
In this screen, the player has begun to dig into the ground and mine ore. When the
player mines through a block of ore or dirt (and is thus cost one blocks’ worth of movement) a
drilling sound effect plays before it is turned a dark shade of brown. The player then moves into
the space he just mined from. The dark shade of brown indicates which blocks the player has
already mined. If the player retraces his steps by moving through the already mined blocks, he
is not charged movement cost.
In this screen, the player has dug all the way to the bottom of the map, running out of
moves in the process. In some levels the user can move scroll down multiple screen and end up
at the bottom digger further down than what is picture. At this point, the player’s performance
will be evaluated in the status bar, before he is taken to a new level. This mockup also
illustrates the importance of planning out moves; because the player is mining down, he is
unable to mine or retrace his steps upward toward the surface. As a stretch goal, a feature may
be implemented that generates more of the map as the player digs downward.
Program Flow and Play Description:
1. cover.html is opened in a web browser
2. Cover image is displayed
3. The user clicks the cover image to being the game
4. The first level is loaded
5. The user uses arrow keys for input and to mine ore
6. Every time the player moves one spot, their move counter is decremented.
7. When they player is out of moves, their performance will be displayed
8. The user will be moved onto the next level
Project Plan:
Matt:

Setup the Perlenspiel project

Add the project to our website

Program level display

Program input

Program other misc. game logic
Chris:

Cover screen (toy title and graphics)

Color Scheme (colors of the tiles)

Graphical Design (misc.)
Color Scheme:
The color scheme is designed to quickly and effectively communicate which ore is which. For
example, the gold ore is colored gold, and the onyx ore is colored black. The color of each ore was also
chosen to ensure that each ore looked sufficiently different from the others. For example, the actual
color of diamonds is a white or light grey. However, because that color is already taken by silver ore,
diamonds were assigned a vibrant cyan color. Furthermore, the color of the blocks the player has mined
through is a darker brown than the brown color of the dirt. This is to communicate a hole being dug in
the ground as the player mines throughout the map. Finally, the background color is a sky blue to
simulate the sky in the background, contrasting the mostly underground map, and giving the game
context.
Survey:
Changes:
1. Assigned Point Values
2. Removed Keyboard arrow key movement (which may be implemented later)
Feedback from Play Testing and Survey:

Added physical arrow key movement (removed on screen)

Added movement by swiping

Added scrolling

The user is no longer charged a move point when moving back through already mined
dirt

Going to add obstacles such as bed rock and lava

We intend to add power ups as well such as movement bonuses

Considering adding glyphs to ore to make their point value more clear

Intend to have random level generation