The Lonely Eyebrow

So here is a HUGE post showing that I have been developing for the class.   My blog's name was all too apt...  I was assigned to team Roly Poly Princess, which made it through both evaluations!

Initial brainstorming and paradigm shift to a triple stick shooter.

Roly Poly Princess:  Pros: Gender Reversal,   Cons: Name change for gender norm flip.  Playable core mechanics, tilting etc..

Do this!! 2 games to compare to Princess.  Rock of Ages, Portal,    Super Monkey Ball/Four Swords  with upwards tower level system.  2d vs. 3d.  Example Puzzles.  Elements for puzzles.    

Puzzle main areas of mechanics Stage, conditional, player, and ???
A vs. mode where color trails follow the player, the player with the most color at the end wins? 

Mario Galaxy inspired fall into the stage, to reduce failure frustration/open puzzle possibilities.  This with dual-sided stages.

Staking inspired characters are puzzle hints???  (Mechanics?)

Procedural gen: fall off rooms, two attacks at once, levels in a tower/dungeon,

·      Roly Poly Princess is now top-down shooter with procedural elements!

·      Controls are: dual shooting using the two sticks (one for each princess and a button to switch the two active princesses) and movement using the tilt sensor. 
Castles generated procedurally, enemies and room types change per castle to keep the game balanced/interesting.  (Possible puzzle, NPC rooms, and non-castle levels can be added, if we have time!)

·      Four princesses gathered per game, unlock from those for your player character for future games (one or multiple princesses per game. Around 10-15 total?) after all are gathered, then fight the dragon!

·      Gathering princesses is done with cutscenes showing their actions against the dragon. (All will be very active marshaling troops, attacking enemies, stealth kills, etc.)

·      Between each castle a player chooses between two random castles (villages, forests, etc. If we have time.) for the next level.  

·      Each princess has unique attack style. (and a special ability, if we have time.)

·      Unlockable attack items will appear in game and will be usable that game Mastering an achievement (Burn 10 goblins with the firestaff, etc.) for that item will let you use it to start with. (15 or so needed.)

·      (Endless battle arena suggested, along with extradimensional princess, and a possible tribute princess for Kyle’s game.) 

·      BRING UP!!! Realm of the Mad God.

Princess Ideas:

·      Princess Princess: The “vanilla” character, has a moderate range moderate damage attack.

·      Stealth Princess: Has a short range medium-high damage attack, moves quickly.

·      Warrior Princess: Bonus HP, moderate range, slower attack rate, high damage.

·      Mage Princess:

·      Cleric Princes:

·      Druid Princess:

·      Knight Princess:  Heavy armor

·      Paladin Princess:

·      Archer Princess:

·      Strategist Princess: Special: State a weakness of an enemy onscreen and double damage against that enemy for (time).

·      Kung Fu Princess:

·      Necromancer Princess:?Evil types?

·      (How many fantasy tropes???  New spins or stay to the storybook?)

Enemy Ideas:

·      Goblins should throw other goblins at the player.  Because that would be fun, for the goblins.

·      Ogre (mini-boss) should leave dents in the ground that slow player movement. 

·      Dragon needs variety of attacks and time off-stage, but not have a weakpoint cycle.  (weaker to various attacks, maybe some group element leads to a weakness??)

Hp and stats should be simple, maybe 10 for a average player character.  Enemies should damage 1 at a time, except special attacks/large enemies.

About here the game shifted directly back to a puzzle game, because of input from the women's center.  Also there was a emphasis on non-combat solutions to problems because of their advice, so combat is not present in the elements list.  

Design notes.

·      4 Swords:  Destructible environment with minor rewards/recovery items.

·      Seen areas that are unreachable without puzzle solving.

·      Items create mini-puzzles by granting temp. abilities.

·      Formations allow for co-op by having specific abilities per formation.

·      Collectables lead to eventual power-up.

·      Fading on collectables. Makes player concentrate on the collectables.

·      Enemies provide variety and act as obstacles.

·      Some abilities have time limits and show those when active (diving, etc…)

·      Extra health is temporary, granted by pick-ups.

·      Darkened background to offer hints for pushing objects.

·      Hidden paths behind movable objects.

·      Switches used for creating objects to progress/opening doors/creating treasure chests.

·      Throwing others of your group is part of the group mechanics, attacking with them is also possible.

·      Formation shortcuts after pressing the formation button, tied to the directional controls.

·      Appearing maze, if we use a maze.

·       

Game Element list for Roly Poly Princess: (Bolded seem more fun at this point and emphasize the tilt mechanic.)

·      World:

o   When the player falls off the level flip to a maze on the back of the level, with hidden elements. 

o   Need some optional collectable with rewards…  (Hints?)

o   Non-combat combat system?  Conversational combat?

·      Floor-based elements:

o   Ramp/Slope

§  Needs 2-5 grades.

§  Also stairs for single level to next higher/lower level.

§  Elevator/spring platform thingy. (Bouncing level to same height level/Travel to higher level.)

§   

o   Speed changers:

§  Colored floor (Portal 2’s gels)

§  Dimensions (Heavy, Light, etc.)

§  Ice/mud/grassy tiles

§  Rough/sandy floor to slow down.

§  Wind

§  Water

§  Carry-able objects.

o   Movement changers:

§  Teleport

§  Ropes

§  Rubber bands

§  Catapult

§  Cannon

§  Pushers that push in the direction the player is tilting (Maybe a globe of influence?)

§  Throw characters?  (Princesses or NPC?)

§  Floor panels that tilt opposite to the player’s input

§  Transport for “Dropped off” characters?  Moving sidewalk-like, train-like, etc…

§   

o   Obstacles:

§  Walls

§  Doors

§  Appearing Maze

§  Enemies?

§  Chased by enemy levels?

§  Projectors that launch boulders/fireballs/stuffed animals (depending on the player’s input?)

§  Race levels?

§   

o   Chain of events elements:

§  Switch?

§  Movable with tilt elements

§  Buttons that need to be hit at a high velocity/With a certain number of characters.

§  See-saw

§  Light beams/projectors/mirrors

§  Weighted Platform

§  Slide puzzle

§  Movement of colored objects to match? (Create next element in puzzle, remove them from the puzzle, etc?)

§  Bowling/billiards inspired puzzles?

§  Swaying elements (Plants, etc.) that move when hit/with input?

o   Special Abilities:  (Base each around a mini or micro game?)

§  Elemental??

ú  Fire

ú  Light

ú  Poison?

ú  Etc…

§  Profession: (Non-combat more so…)

ú  Blacksmith

ú  Fletcher

ú  Crier

ú  Merchant

ú  Clerk (Librarian/knowledgeable character)

ú   

§  Utility item?

ú  Lantern

ú  Hammer

ú  Spyglass

ú