Oi fags,
This is a document of the features that Ryan wrote up for the game. Gonz; you need to go through it and judge whether it will all be possible to do as a programmer and… stuff. Dan; there is a lot of stuff in here for the user interface, you can split it up between your guys so that one person does background concepts and crap, one person does monsters and enemies, and one person does the UI. The rest of your stuff should be NPC’s and Characters.
Cheers,
Richard
Yo,
This is the template for last year’s project that got 100%, so if you aren’t completely sure what you are meant to be doing for the documentation, have a look at the headings and write stuff accordingly. Remember, you need to submit 20 pages (at least) in the end to have a CHANCE of getting a distinction. Any less and we can only get a credit mark or lower. I don’t know about you, but I think a distinction looks better on a transcript than a pass or credit.
Cheers,
Richard
Art department:
by WEDNESDAY 3rd October at the latest i want to have a concept outline from each of you. this outline should be one page long and should give a written description of what the class will look like. send it to me via email or upload it here.
ROB: I want you to do the concept description for the Knight class (read documentation)
DAVID: i want you to do the concept description for the Sorcerer class (read documentation)and guys, no later than wednesday because we have alot of work to do in the holidays.
I STILL havnt gotten the 2nd stage concept design from you rob for the rogue class, i want that now. it’s 3 days overdue. scan it in and send it to me.
and david, you need to find a way to scan your necromancer picture in and send it to me too asap.
catch up guys, keep to the schedule.
Arthur & Myles
What i need from each of you preferably a few days before we go back is a 3 page (and really try for 3, you lose a pinky for every page short you are) document on:
1: the engine and its features as well as a description of these features (Arthur = idTech 4, Myles = CryTech 1.x, Gonzalo = Unreal 2.0)
2: the price
3: all the pros and cons of the engine
4: a final comparison or weigh up of these pros and cons as well as why this weigh up has influenced our decision as to whether or not we use this engine
oh and bye the way the order of engine preference goes Unreal, idTech then CryTech.
ok men you have your orders now fly!
These are the features I’ve come up with. I apologise for the late post, but I tried to post one on Saturday, and it didn’t work.
Features:
Multiplayer – “Chosen” has the added feature of multiplayer co-op quests; whilst they are not essential to the story, they do enable the player access to other parts of the map in single player mode.
The multiplayer mode allows the player full unrestricted access to the whole story/quest “pool”, i.e. multiplayer mode is able to incorporate the whole single-player game, but with support for co-operative activities.
In multiplayer, the players will play with a hero of their choice (eg a sorcerer), and use it to complete the story and quests that are available. These heroes will be the player’s character for the whole multiplayer mode (i.e. they cannot change their selection half-way through the game).
The host player will have the option of ‘kicking’ other players who are lagging or not ‘pulling their weight’ so that everyone else’s online experience is not ruined (i.e. players who stand around and let others do all the work). This makes for a fair and competitive co-operative game as such, as players may try and resort to stealing their ally’s kills (i.e. kill-stealers).
NPC Interaction – “Chosen” allows the player’s character to interact with NPC’s they will encounter during the course of the game. NPC’s will regard the player in the perspective of his/her personality scale i.e. an evil player is less likely to receive useful info from an NPC than a positively-aligned player.
The NPC’s will react to the player’s character upon the basis of which Demon brother the player is currently aligned with (e.g. the Brother of Hatred will adversely affect the aggressive tendency that NPC’s will display in regard to the player).
In multiplayer, there will not be as many NPC’s populating the map, as it would be presumed knowledge that those participating in multiplayer would already have a firm grasp of single player mode, and not need the benefit of subtle hints from NPC’s.
The characters that NPC’s can appear as range from other character classes (eg nomads, knights, monks, etc) and normal peasants to members of the demonic army that have joined ‘the Prophet’ and ‘the Prophet’ himself.
NPC’s will ultimately ‘give’ the player(s) quests that can be completed and, as they are not mandatory, this enables the player to decide whether they want to do all the quests, just a couple of quests, or none at all and finish the storyline and, ultimately, the game.
NPC’s will not be able to attack the players, regardless of their personality alignment, as they are only able to dictate quests that they want completed. This adds to the gameplay value, purely because it is unfair to receive a quest from an NPC, only to be attacked by it soon after.
Some of the quests that NPC’s hand out enable the player(s) access to other parts of the level that they cannot access previously e.g. completing a quest whereby you scout through a forest, ultimately unlocks that part of the level.
Personality Scale – “Chosen” features a personality scale, whereby the actions of the player’s character can determine the level of interaction with NPC’s during the game, as some quests/actions are seen in a good light, whereas others are purely malevolent.
The personality scale also affects the level of co-operation that the demon brothers will display towards the player, as a more heroic character that is positively aligned on the scale will be seethed and despised by the brother he is working with.
In multiplayer mode, the personality scale also affects the way fellow players can react to you, i.e. an evil character will find it harder to gain assistance than a nicer character. This can adversely hamper the player’s ability to complete co-op quests, as no-one will be convinced to work with the player “for the sake of the human race”.
Different endings to the game may be shown depending upon the player’s personality alignment (i.e. a positively aligned player will unlock the good ending; a negatively aligned player will unlock the evil ending, etc.)
The personality scale will also reward players, in that they will be gifted items after completing quests that are of more use to them, based upon their location on the personality scale (i.e. an ‘evil’ character will be more likely to receive a demonic/satanic weapon/item than a holy weapon/item).
Genders for Characters – In “Chosen”, the player is able to choose a gender for their class-based character, which adds to the realism of the game, as there was both male and female humans in the medieval era. This also helps in making the player feel they have been able to re-create themselves in-game.
In multiplayer this can help in deciding which player’s strengths and weaknesses are of the most use to the current quest (e.g. a female sorcerer will be of most use in trying to seduce a male necromancer than a female knight; a male knight will be better suited to leading the party against a strong demon fiend into combat than a male rogue, not necessarily because of gender, but more likely due to the necessity of the role needed).
Combat System – The combat system in “Chosen” allows the character’s abilities to be assigned to user-defined hotkeys, which helps in allowing the player to reduce action time in the heat of battle, as opposed to manually clicking the mouse cursor on the ability they wish to use.
In multiplayer, the combat system will be more like the party-based system in the Final Fantasy series (3 characters participate at any one time; other players will be in reserve, and can be switched during battle).
Third Person Perspective – “Chosen” is played in 3rd person view, which allows the player to see their character at all times, which makes combat a lot less stressful, as the player can visibly detect where enemies are, and how far they are away from the player’s character, as well as ‘predicting’ what ability their enemy(ies) are about to use.
In multiplayer, this helps each player actively see where their party are, and can ultimately assist players in making decisions about what course of action to take (“Are there allies in range that I can heal? Will my co-op party possibly wind up worse off if I use this ability?”).
There will also be the capability to zoom in/out so the player can see more or less of the level as well as see the location of their allies, which can help to prepare before a battle situation, so the player gets to plan the tactics they intend to use to plan out how they will approach the battle situation.
Also, to cater for the potential loss of true sight the player may encounter (e.g. their view is hampered by other characters/scenery), there will be a mini-map displayed on-screen that allows the player a chance to see whereabouts they are, respective to the level.
3rd Person also allows the player an all-around panoramic view of the game/level, which can show all the scenery, NPC’s, and enemies/coffers that populate the level.
Holy/Evil Items, Weapons and Armour
In “Chosen” the player can purchase, receive and collect/loot items, weapons and armour for use in the game.
Certain weapons/armour may have a shadow cost involved, as well as being of more use to characters on a certain point of the personality scale (e.g. a Spirit Mail may absorb holy elemental attacks, but is weak to darkness, or slows the player’s action time; a Satanic Spear may inflict damage based upon the darkness element, but it reduces a positively-aligned players personality every time they use it, etc.)
There are certain items that may be of greater importance based upon the personality scale as well; an example of such may be a potion, which heals health for a certain amount – this works in reverse for an undead enemy/ negatively aligned player, who will have to use a more demonic-style item to recover health or mana, as potions/ethers are holy-based.
Certain weapons and armour can be fully customized
Ryan Madden – Lead Game Designer
Art Department, this is the requirements for next week September 27th.
Rob & David:
You both need to produce stage two conceptual designs for the Necromancer (David) and Rogue (Rob) classes. You have both done the first stage design and they are going nicely. The second stage concepts need to be improved upon based on what we discussed in class today and they also need more detail in them since it’s a stage two design. You’re not limited to doing one concept picture for the class(es), but you MUST have at least ONE (new) concept picture for your class by Thursday.
Like I discussed with David concerning the Necromancer class, he might look better with a different head style etc so David (if he has time) will create a second (or more) concept pictures based on these different features. This would be better than having just one, and don’t forget to put your own ideas into the design, you don’t have to follow just my conceptual outlines!
This gives you seven days to do the design, I want a progress report from you both on Monday as to what you’re up to with the designs so bring in any work to class on Monday so I can review it please.
Myself:
I will be further developing the conceptual outlines for the Necromancer and Rogue class as well as starting research on other artwork to do with the game other than classes. But I will also write up some concept outlines for a few other classes by our next meeting.
Art Department, forecast (September 27th and beyond)
Over the holidays I will get getting you both to do more designs and then to start bringing them into the computer environment and create at least one Photoshop design for your classes. This will be discussed in further detail when I figure it all out myself next meeting.
And remember to E-Mail me any questions or ideas you have. I don’t want you to go just off my designs, I want to see initiative!
-Dan Churchill, Lead Artist.
After our first general meeting, you should all have work to do that must be completed by next thursday (the 20th). FAILURE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!!!
Also, all hardware/software specifications need to be emailed to Nick by monday at the latest. Your lives are at stake.
Welcome to the Chosen game design blog. Use this to post any progress reports, queries, or topics of discussion regarding the development of our game.
