The biggest wizard battle of the century!
GZ Games © 2009
Project Contributors:
Travis Hunter – Programmer
Edward Corlew – Programmer
Matthew Bacon – 2D Artist
Julian Volyn – 2D Artist
I. Our Philosophy:
People have a certain fascination with the realm of fantasy and magic, as proven by many movies, games, books and the popular card game (Magic). However, the experience rarely involves realistic user interaction; we are never given the chance to grasp a wand and cast a fireball or summon an angel from the heavens. Therein lies the motivation behind Arkana. We want to immerse the player into a truly fantastic and imaginative world.
Arkana will surely appeal to a diverse audience. We intend to have an easy learning curve for new players but offer expandability for more complex strategies for more advanced players. Arkana falls between the casual and hardcore fighter experiences, affording a vast demographic of players highly dynamic and engaging gameplay.
II. Predecessor or previous games/ distinctive factors in this genre
To our research no game has used advanced gestures with the Nintendo Wiimote. However, a lot of the mechanics behind the game were inspired by a card game called 'Magic: The Gathering'. Furthermore, many other fighting games have been developed over the years, but we see this as a branch from that genre. Arkana can be described as an interactive fighter, binding the player to his wizard avatar through an ergogenic medium.
III. Target Audience
The imagined Arkana player is something of a middle ground between casual and serious gamers. The game should attract an interesting combination of gamers, from the hardcore player of fighting games like Street Fighter to the fantasy-seeker, the RPG-player. Because it contains some mature content, i.e. violence, it would be marketed to a mature audience, i.e teenagers and above.
IV. Story
“In the land of Arbitaan, the townships flourished with mighty warriors, skilled artisans, and brilliant alchemists. But these common men were all governed by one group- the Arbiters. With the ability to harness the power of Arkana, the Arbiters' vigilance brought years of peace and prosperity. Over time, some of the Arbiters grew tired of using their powers to heal and protect, and began using their powers to destroy. As more Arbiters defected, the commoners became fearful and contemptuous of their rulers.
Underground factions formed with the intent to assassinate Arbiter renegades. These factions gained
momentum, culminating in a large-scale uprising. Much blood was shed in the resulting battles. The eldest Arbiter, Valdiere, became furious at his subjects’ insolent revolution. He sought revenge for their crusade against his brethren, raining fire upon the commoners' villages and massacring their population. The desperate commoners, sensing defeat on the horizon, were then approached by a renegade Arbiter, Marick. He claimed to have powers as great as those of the elder. He offered to defeat Valdiere, in return for sanctuary. Warily, they agreed, and he set off in search of Valdiere, finally encountering him on a precipice on the outskirts of the kingdom.”
-The Narrator of Time
A screenshot of the “Storybook”
V. Social/Cultural Project Impact
Arkana is not expected to project into culture much. Rather, players should enjoy a novel form of interaction with a fighting game. Rather than mashing button sequences, they will perform graceful, wizard-like gestures. Hopefully, players will find this fun and engaging, or novel at the very least.
VI. Delivery System & Requirements
Project management and deliverables are hosted on www.hosted-projects.com. It includes a Wiki containing all game-related information, as well as a repository for source and a bug-tracking & milestone system.
VIII. User Interaction
User interacts with the game through use of the Nintendo Wiimote.
IX. The World Layout
The world is 2-dimensional, with the characters occupying the foreground of the space. The player, as a result, focuses only on controlling the characters attacks, counters and blocks. Movement is limited, i.e. the wizards are fixed, eliminating melee tactics and reinforcing the need for counter strategies.
X. Level Design:
The levels mimic something straight out of a J.R.R Tolkien novel. In each level, the two wizards must be separated, leaving only their magic to defend and attack. The level design is simple; the characters are separated by some vacant space so that they can strategically perform moves in reaction to their opponent’s attacks.
XI. Visualization- characters, flow charts,
In the character design process, models were rotoscoped to achieve the level of detail in the character’s movements that we were looking for. They were drawn/colored digitally and then matched stylistically to fit the level and the overall feel of the world that we were looking to create.
XII. Music/ Sound Design
The music and sound effects of a videogame are meant to accentuate and enhance gameplay without seeming an incongruous or disparate element. The level music will be actual orchestrated original compositions. Sound effects accompany every aspect of the game with the same intent of giving greater resolution to the project. This extends to all 20 spells, e.g. explosions, fire, thunder, rushing water, counter, etc. Most spells have two sounds: when they are cast and when they hit. Other sounds include attacks being nullified (cancelling each other out). Finally, wizards have voices for dialogue to accompany battles, i.e. victory cries, but also grunts for getting hurt and casting a spell.
XIII. Rules and Gameplay
Casting Magic:
Magic can be cast at any point in the game as long as the following hold:
1. The player has enough mana
2. The player does not have an enchantment disabling him from casting magic of that type
3. The spell is not "cooling down"
4. The player performs the correct gesture (with enough accuracy) to perform the spell
Types of spells:
There will be four classes of spells designated by color: red, yellow, green, and blue. Each class contains four spells corresponding to one of four gestures. There are several types of spells that contribute to an interesting strategic dilemma: counters, enchants, forward projectiles.
XIV. Program Structure
See class diagrams at the end of the document
XV. Technical Specs: Physics, Rendering System, Lighting Models
Game Engine - HGE
Advanced gesture recognition system - Wiigle
Language - C++
File sharing - SVN
Content Creation - Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator
XVI. Implementation
The scope of our project is to have a working demo that showcases the main features of Arkana; consisting of all of the basic spells, a level, two characters, and the backstory. The game is intended to be projected on a large screen at 1280x720 resolution.
XVII. Production Timeframe
ARTWORK (chronological order)
Concept sketches
Level design
Character outlines
User interface
Level
Spells
Fully colored characters
Menus
Poster
XVIII. Research
Related Media-
Lord of the Rings, Street Fighter, Super Smash Bros., Magic the Gathering
Program Structure - Class Diagram