Moonhaven
A turn-based, dialogue-driven RPG for portable devices
Theme
Moonhaven is a RPG for portable devices such as DS, PSP or the upcoming PS Vita. The game is heavily
inspired by Japanese RPGs and allows the player to take on the role of a teenage Witch who, together
with her coven of fellow teenage Witches, team up with male Vampires in order to defeat the forces of
the Underworld; horrific monsters from folklore and myth. You select your group from several girl
witches and boy vampires, who all have specific attributes and skills, then move around an adventure
map to complete quests and defeat enemies in combat. The combat is turn-based and focuses heavily
on tactics, much like traditional JRPGs for portable devices such as Final Fantasy Tactics and Radiant
Historia.
The game focuses heavily on dialogue and allows the player to create friendships and romances with
their fellow witches and in particular the vampires. Aside from the adventure map and battles, the game
consists of different scenes where dialogue is the main focus, as NPCs will approach you for
conversations that allow the player to role-play their preferred character. Depending on how you decide
to play your character in the dialogues with your companions, it will influence their personality and
unlock new abilities that you can make use of in combat, as well as determine which one of the multiple
endings of the story you will experience.
Moonhaven combines themes from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural and Twilight with gameplay
from previously mentioned JRPGs, alongside story elements from games such as Mass Effect. It is
designed to be lightly emergent and re-playable, as players should want to explore all the different
romantic possibilities between the Witches and the Vampires, as well as the different tactical
approaches (based on your party development) that you can have to all the battles in the game.
Target demographic
The game seeks to take advantage of the fact that stories containing supernatural creatures such as
vampires or demons in contemporary settings, especially high school and college environments, are very
much pop culture right now. This game is for anyone who is into TV shows and movies such as Twilight,
Supernatural, Vampire Diaries and True Blood. More specifically, the target audience is teens between
14-25 years and primarily female. This female demographic consists of young women who are moderate
to hardcore gamers that enjoy more recent RPG’s such as Dragon Age, specifically the story and
dialogues. Most likely they enjoy a select couple of anime series that they watch frequently. No matter
the exact IP, they are prone to “fannish” behavior as compared to just your regular consumer: the play
their games and watch their movies over and over, while still finding the activity meaningful. Some of
them probably dress up in costumes for specific game or movie launch parties. Several of them will likely
attend Comic Con and frequent forums for their TV shows where they might discuss stories and publish
fan fiction.
Background
The city of Moonhaven was once an idyllic place to live, until it turned out it was located directly on top
of where the Gates of the Underworld are about to open. Moonhaven was once a place of old pagan
worship, where magical rituals were undertaken to keep the forces of evil at bay, although not always
successfully. The history of the old families still living here stretches back hundreds of years, and part of
that history is dark, foreboding, and filled with tales of neighbors and old friends feasting upon one
another in their thirst for blood.
Magic is strong in this place, and if the omens are just right whenever a child is born, that child is said to
possess magical abilities. You were one of these children, as were several other young girls that were
born that year. Together, you have created a coven in your high school with help from your librarian,
who is one of the few that knows part of the dark history of Moonhaven. Together with your fellow
Witches, you travel the city at night to keep your neighbors safe when dark forces roam the streets and
seek to further the opening of the Gates of the Underworld and herald the impending Armageddon.
As you combat the demonic forces of darkness, at one point you are aided by a group of older boys that
seem undaunted by the creatures that befoul Moonhaven at night. They claim to have once lived here,
long ago, and have returned to set right the mistakes of the past. You realize these boys are Vampires;
strong, agile, immortal, dangerous but oh so attractive. Together you fight back the forces of the
Underworld, but whether or not you can actually trust your new-found allies remains to be seen.
Environment
The primary gaming world and their characters will be drawn in anime and should consist of a smaller
city at night, when foul creatures roam the streets and fog and fire cloud the vision of anyone that find
themself unlucky enough to be out at that hour. This is the time when our Witches meet up with their
Vampires and go out to fight back the forces of evil. Typical battle scenes will be taking place in remote
locations in the city such as graveyards and parks, or in places that are typically closed at night, for
example the school gym or the grocery store – all of them dark, deformed and overrun by evil.
Between quests and battles, the group returns home or to school to recharge and prepare for new
battles. In stark contrast to the city at night, these scenes will be drawn as a bright, American high
school, with lockers, libraries and classrooms.
Monsters
The enemies you encounter will be supernatural in nature and based on myths and folklore, such as
ghouls, zombies, spirits, demons, revenants, familiars, black dogs, wendigos, shapeshifters, werewolves
and demi-gods. These are all connected to the impending apocalypse hovering over the city. Many of
these encounters are connected to quest mechanics that the player will have to complete in order to be
able to defeat the monster, for example by finding the heirloom belonging to the spirit, located in a
different part of the city, in order to banish her permanently.
Camera
The camera angle will change slightly depending on what scene you are currently in. When navigating
the city on the adventure map, the game will be shown from an isometric view in order to give an
overview of potential interactions nearby, much like Final Fantasy Tactics. When switching to a battle
scene, the camera will be showing all the combatants from the side, much like Radiant Histora, to bring
the player closer to the action. Whenever we step away from the action side of the game and enter the
dialogue mode, such as when checking the library, your locker or your room, the game will be in 1st
person view, showing only the backdrop and potential characters you can speak to.
Dialogue
Whenever the player talks to someone, a talk bubble will appear next to the character you are speaking
with. The mechanic follows a traditional dialogue tree where you select from a list of options what you
want your protagonist to say. Much of the dialogue, especially the ones with your companions, will
affect your relationship with them and their opinion of you. Also, your responses to them will affect how
their personality develops, allowing you to explore multiple aspects of a character each time you play
through the game. Through dialogue, the player will be able to explore different romances with any of
the vampire characters, who will all differ in personality, how they treat you, what they ask you to do
and what you in turn can develop them into. Furthermore, many of the themes and topics in the
dialogues deal with issues that teenage girls go through; such as identity issues and other emotional and
philosophical subjects. Rather than confronting these straight up, many real life issues will appear as
metaphors in the game. Examples could be magic addiction as a metaphor for drug abuse, fear of
demonic influence a metaphor for homosexuality, a vampire losing his soul after sleeping with the
protagonist could be a metaphor for guys “turning into monsters” once they get what they want, etc.
As a way to encourage players to go through all the dialogue in the game, when you get to know more
about a companion by talking to them or by completing quests they ask for your help with, you will be
able to unlock abilities that you can make use of in combat. Depending on how you complete the
dialogues will affect in what way these abilities take shape, for example if you are encouraging a
character to hurt instead of forgive someone that has done them wrong, their resulting abilities might
end up being more aggressive and darker in nature. Each one of these specific abilities may be used in
combination with other companions’ abilities, creating different effects depending on which ones are
combined. Furthermore, depending on how you treat a character will change their personality, which in
turn changes how they are matched up with other party members and how their abilities combine.
Effectively, part of leveling up your character and your companions is to get to know them and unlock
their abilities. Part of specializing your party dynamic is by exploring the different ways you can
influence a companion’s personality and figure out how to combine them with other party members,
effectively creating a matchmaking mechanic.
Navigation
Adventure Map
Certain places and quests will only be available to you
during night, but this is also the time when demons and
undead are roaming the land. As you maneuver the
isometric map and make progress through each part of the
city, monsters and other objects such as quest items or
NPC’s that you can talk to will be visible on the map. Quest
items can either be collected or used in combination with
other items you already have collected and are carrying on
your person. Dialogues will either be connected to the quest you are currently on, or give storyline hints
of the greater story arc. At times these dialogues will lead to combat, but it is also quite common for
your companions to offer up their opinion on what just went on, and how you handled a situation.
Library
The library is where your group gathers between quests, and also where a majority of your quest are
either started or continued. It is possible for the player to read up on the background information of the
city and the places you intend to travel to before you do so, as well as to get tactical hints of how to best
combat difficult monsters by revealing some of their strengths and weaknesses.
Lockers
Whenever the player visits their locker, sometimes an NPC will be
waiting for them there. This can either be a companion that wants
to talk about their problems and thoughts, depending upon
previous conversations with the player, and enables the player to
explore different storylines specific for each companion with
multiple possible endings available. At times the lockers can also be
a place for other NPC’s in the game to give you quests or
challenges, which usually requires you to visit the library to
continue on with the quest and eventually ends up with you going out on the adventure map to
complete it.
Room
The protagonist’s room is a place for rest and secret conversations. By resting here after each trip out
into the night, the player will regain health and magic. Furthermore, this is where most of the romantic
conversations will take place, as the player will be visited by vampires who will be interested in learning
more about the player or talk about themselves and others. Each one of the vampires will be possible to
flirt with and even start a relationship with, depending on your dialogue choices. However, vampires are
vain and jealous creatures who will insist on the player staying away from all other vampires aside from
themselves (which will be very difficult considering that every other vampire will be trying to get the
player to like them).
Battle
Rules
Whenever a player engages in battle, the game will
change into a battle scene where you will see your own
group members, the enemies you are up against, as
well as any terrain that you can make use of in battle, all
placed on a grid. All combat is turn-based, where
players are able to take their actions whenever their
meter has reached full. It is possible for a group
member to opt for waiting when their turn is up to
allow another character to perform their action before
they will in order to set up combinations. Your
movement and your action meter are all dependent on
your class and your skills. You perform an action with a character by selecting it on a panel that appears,
displaying traditional options such as attacks, spells or items.
Companions and abilities
The group constellation and its dynamic varies depending on what combination of characters you are
using for your party. Overall, each Witch is a ranged spell caster that can be specialized in several
different ways of casting spells. For example, a summoning Witch can conjure minions that help out the
party by attacking enemies, a dark Witch uses hexes and curses to lower the attributes of enemies in
order to make them weaker in combat, a white Witch knows healing spells, a time Witch can manipulate
time and space during battle, granting additional actions to the party and allowing them to redo
previous actions, while a thunder Witch can create elemental effects on the grid, affecting enemies on
them.
Vampires are usually more melee focused, using either their fists or weapons to defeat the enemies. For
example, one vampire will be able to fly around the grid and charge enemies with his spear, while
pushing them away from where they want to be. Another vampire is able to cloak himself in shadows,
disappearing and reappearing behind enemies to surprise and backstab them. Yet more vampires will be
able to go toe-to-toe with foes, using their tremendous strength to swing a large sword at them, while
another vampire prefers ranged combat and throws knives at the enemies.