Narbacular Drop
Game Design Document
Nuclear Monkey Software
DigiPen Institute of Technology
GAM400-B F04 Version 1.0
09/17/04
Instructor: Michael Moore
Narbacular Drop Copyright ☺ Digipen 2004 2
Table of Contents
Narbacular Drop Copyright ☺ Digipen 2004 2
1. Introduction 3
1.1 High Concept 3
1.2 Target Demographic 3
1.3 Target Platform 3
1.4 Purpose 3
1.5 Minimum System Requirements 4
1.6 Project Risks 4
1.7 Product Competition 4
1.7.a Adventures of Lolo 4
1.7.b Stretch Panic 4
1.7.c Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker 4
1.7.d Ico 4
1.8 Example of Play 5
1.9 Manpower Allocation 5
1.10 Technical Features 5
1.11 Milestone List and Budget 6
1.11.a Milestone List 6
1.11.b Budget 6
2. Story 7
2.1 Setting 7
2.2 Characters 7
2.3 Plot 8
3. Game Mechanics 8
3.1 General Mechanics 8
3.1.a Room Progression 8
3.1.b Player Death 8
3.1.c Saving 8
3.1.d Hints 8
3.1.e Player Movement 8
3.2 Controls 9
3.2.a Cameras 9
3.2.b Walking 9
3.2.c Creating Portals (most details occur in section 3.3) 9
3.2.d Menu Controls 10
3.3 Portals 10
3.3.a Properties 10
3.3.b Practical Uses 10
3.3.c Limits 10
3.3.d Conventions 10
3.4 Game Tasks 11
3.5 Impy Mode 11
3.5.a Overview 11
3.5.b Block stealing 11
3.5.c Portal Blocking 11
3.5.d Wall Climbing \ maneuverability 11
3.5.e Reverse Button Pushing 11
3.6 Game Objects 12
3.7 Menus 13
3.7.a Main Menu 13
3.7.b Level Select 13
3.7.c In Game/Pause 13
3.7.d Configure Menu 13
3.8 Room Outline 15
3.8.a Polishing Up 15
3.8.b Boulder Dash 16
3.8.c Hallway to Hell 17
3.8.d Ledge Ladder 18
3.8.e Fire With Fire 19
4. Descriptions 20
4.1 3D Models 20
4.1.a No-Knees 20
4.1.b Wally's Mouth 20
4.1.c Demon 20
4.1.d Lava Turtle 21
4.1.e Impy 21
4.1.f Metal Crate 21
4.1.g Button 21
4.1.h Boulder 22
4.1.i Wall Torch 22
4.2 Textures 22
4.2.a Room Geometry 22
4.2.b Particles 23
4.3 Audio 23
4.3.a Music 23
4.3.b Sound Effects 23
4.4 Special Sequences 24
4.4.a Credits 24
5. Sign-Off 25
Narbacular Drop Copyright ☺ Digipen 2004 2
1. Introduction
1.1 High Concept
Help a princess escape an evil wizard by using magic portals that open doorways thorough a trap filled dungeon.
1.2 Target Demographic
This game's simplicity will attract kids to young adults who casually download and play short 30 minute games. It's selling points will draw in hardcore gamers who appreciate and form cults over quirky gimmick games. Fans of the action puzzle or environment puzzle genres will find the game very accessible. The setting will reach out to those who are fans of Tolkien and D&D fairy-tale fantasy. ESRB rating 'E'.
1.3 Target Platform
Our target platform are Windows 2000/XP PC computers.
1.4 Purpose
To create a simple and complete portfolio piece that stands out mostly because of it's uniqueness. To contain the entirety of the gameplay in one 15 minute play session. To win acclaim that spreads the game and our names far and wide.
1.5 Minimum System Requirements
1050MHz Processor
512MB RAM
32MB 3D Accelerator Card, nVidia or ATI supported.
300MB Free Hard Drive space
1.6 Project Risks
Complicated puzzle designs could lead to a bloat of necessary technical features. There is no guarantee content will be fun, and level design plays an important part in making the game amusing and unbreakable.
1.7 Product Competition
1.7.a Adventures of Lolo
This puzzle game for the Nintendo Entertainment System is similar to our game in puzzle design. Aside from being 2D, this game has similar puzzles and success scenarios to Narbacular Drop. Our advantages over this game are the 3D environment and the portal system.
1.7.b Stretch Panic
Stretch Panic has a similar puzzle mechanism to Narbacular Drop. The character in Stretch Panic cannot jump. She can only interact with the environment through four-directional movement and a 'scarf' which pinches the world geometry and bends it.
The advantages we hold over stretch panic are that portals are more appropriate and intuitive to a 3D environment. Furthermore, the scarf pinching is fairly limited in its uses. Portals can be used for several means of interaction and allow for more robust puzzles with multiple ways of solving them.
1.7.c Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker
While not a puzzle game, Windwaker has puzzle elements which could be seen as similar to the puzzle design in Narbacular Drop. The Hook-shot and Rope swing puzzles used the 3D environment as the puzzle, which is identical to the structure of Narbacular Drop's Puzzles.
The advantage we hold over Windwaker is the open-ended puzzle structure. The puzzles in Windwaker and most other 3D Zelda games have one solution. The puzzles in Narbacular Drop will have many possible ways of finishing the puzzle.
1.7.d Ico
Ico is an environmental puzzle game in which you are a boy who guides a girl through a large castle by solving a series of puzzles. The relation to Narbacular Drop is the one room, one puzzle format environmental puzzles. The plot is also similar, as the evil queen who owns the castle in Ico is analogous to demon in Narbacular Drop. Ico also has a minimal interface and simple controls, similar to Narbacular Drop.
Narbacular Drop's puzzles are superior to Ico's puzzles in that they are open ended. We also have action content which is directed towards the puzzle solving, where the action content in Ico is unrelated to the puzzle solving.
1.8 Example of Play
The player places the Narbacular Drop CD in the tray and closes the drive. A splash screen pops up and takes window focus. The options presented on the splash screen are:
· Install
· Install Direct X
· Install Worldcraft
· Quit
No-Knees is trapped in a cage in the corner of a large rectangular room. Inside are three red buttons, situated in a row in front of the large metal exit door. Further in the room are two shiny boxes. The player fires a portal at the north wall across the room and the second portal at No-Knee's feet. This causes the princess to fall through the floor and shoot out the north wall.
No-Knees plays her falling animation, then rotates to her feet and resumes her idle animation. The player moves No-Knees to the center of the room and observes the boxes and buttons. The view from first person is found to be limiting, so the player hits the '3' key to switch to fixed view camera. This changes the player's view to the north east upper corner of the room, from which the player can see all three buttons, both boxes, and No-Knees standing in between them.
The player depresses the left mouse button, to see a highlighted area of where a portal would appear were he or she to fire one. The floor in font of No-Knees lights up with a white glow, so the player adjusts the mouse to center the white glow under a box. No-Knees fires the portal by letting go of the left mouse, moving the portal that was in her cage to underneath the box.
The box then falls through the floor and out the north wall. The player realizes the buttons must be pressed with the boxes. The most obvious way to do this is to place a portal on the ceiling above the buttons, and let the box fall through.
The fixed-camera view gives a poor view of the ceiling, so the player presses the '1' key to return to first person mode. The player uses the right mouse button to fire a portal on the ceiling above the east-most button, and uses left click to fire the other portal below a box located behind No-Knees. The box drops through the floor, though the ceiling and lands firmly on the button, depressing it. Text appears on the screen, and Wally's synthesized voice moans a series of syllables cued up to the text.
“That's it! Just press the other two buttons and the door will open.” The player quickly uses the extra box to press the west-most button. No boxes remain to press the center button, so the player uses the last mobile object in the room: No-Knees herself. The button presses and a chime plays signifying the opening of the door to the next puzzle. The door slides and the player runs through.
1.9 Manpower Allocation
Producer, Technical Director, Product Manager, Designer and Art Director
4 General Programmers (also filling above hat roles).
4 Artists.
1.10 Technical Features
1.10.a A Level
Aim Target Cursor – A cursor is projected on to surfaces, showing where the player is aiming. This shows up when the mouse button is depressed, and the portal is actually fired when the mouse button is released.
Component Mesh – The character's head needs to look at where the player is aiming.
Level Editor – Creates room geometry and placement of objects. Light and static camera placement. Event triggers between objects.
Newtonian Physics – Simple Newtonian physics model. All objects have mass and velocity and are moved by forces. Boxes can be stacked. Sliding objects have friction.
Portals – Can see through a portal to where it connects as a seamless transition. Objects behave properly when partially through a portal. Objects handle orientation changes between portals properly.
1.10.b B Level
Advanced Physics – Rigid body motion for lava, and character's handcuff chain.
Animated Mesh – Characters have animations appropriate to what they're doing.
Bump Mapping – Bumpy shadowy walls look cool, especially by pseudo-firelight.
Camera Systems – Over the shoulder camera that switches to first person when the character is backed into a wall or nears a portal. Static camera that rotates to keep the player in the center of the screen. Choosing appropriate static camera positions based on the player's position.
Rotational Inertia – Boxes can rotate and fall when stacked carelessly.
Rigid-body Lava – Lava that flows and hardens like real lava, simulated with a rigid body physics simulation.
1.10.c C Level
Particle Systems – Cool graphical effects.
Shadows – Project silhouettes onto flat surfaces based on lighting.
1.11 Milestone List and Budget
1.11.a Milestone List
· 11/19/04 – Engine Proof: Worldcraft level loader, Camera system, Basic physics, Animated meshes. Portals partially implemented. First level partially implemented.
· 12/10/04 – First Playable: First level fully implemented. Box, button and boulder game objects implemented. Portals fully implemented.
· 02/08/05 – Pre-alpha: Success conditions, two functional levels with puzzles fully implemented. All game objects implemented except lava.
· 03/15/05 – Alpha: All five puzzles at least partially implemented. AI is functional for Impy and Demon but not finalized. Lava implemented. Vertex and Pixel shaders implemented.
· 04/06/05 – Beta: All five puzzles fully implemented, AI for Demon and Impy fully implemented.
· 04/20/05 – Gold: All five puzzles complete and fully tested. AI is robust and interesting. Graphics are fully completed. All art content is in.
1.11.b Budget
1 Producer / Art Lead / Programmer - $70,000.00
1 Technical Director - $70,000.00
1 Product Manager / Programmer - $60,000.00
1 Designer / Programmer - $60,000.00
4 Artists - $50,000.00
Computers and Software - $40,000.00
Total Cost: $500,000.00 over eight months.
Cost Per Unit: $2.60 ( CD & Quick Install Leaflet )
Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price: $29.99
Units needed to be sold to break even: 53,215 (at 40% MSRP)
Units expected to ship: 100,000
Expected Profit (At 100,000 units sold, Taking Cost into affect): $439,600.00
Minimum sales forecast:
· 40,000 units sold
· $124,160 Lost
Best-Case sales forecast:
· 1,000,000 units sold
· $8,896,000 Profit
2. Story
2.1 Setting
The entirety of the game takes place in a dungeon. This dungeon is carved into the earth with dirt walls and wooden supports. Metal shutter doors separate rooms of the dungeon and are usually operated by metal buttons. Some parts of the dungeon have metal paneling, bars, and chain link fences. There's also an abundance of large boulders, metal crates, and lava in the dungeon. Outside of the dungeon is left up to the player's imagination.
2.2 Characters
2.2.a No-Knees – The princess of the land, who has been locked away in the dungeon. She has knees and her hands are not bound behind her. She simply wants to escape the dungeon. Her name is only for reference in the document as it's not revealed to the player.
2.2.b Wally – The godlike entity that possesses the Earth that the dungeon is carved into. It is unhappy with its evil owner. Wally can open magical portals in it's walls, ceiling, and floor. These openings are like its mouth. So when Wally speaks the portals flap. Its name is only for reference in the document as it's not revealed to the player.
2.2.c Demon – The antagonist who carved his dungeon into Wally. He's an evil fire demon and probably is doing evil things to the outside world that's never mentioned. While No-knees cooperates with Wally's earth element, Demon is associated with the lava and metallic structures in the dungeon. His name is only for reference in this document as it's not revealed to the player.
2.2.d Impy – The janitor of the dungeon, Impy keeps the puzzles clean. Impy appears on the first puzzle. Also, he appears in Impy Mode,(see section 3.5) where he makes attempts to annoy the player on every puzzle. His tactics include blocking portals with his body, or carrying away blocks and boulders the player may be trying to use.
2.3 Plot
No-knees has been captured and is hopelessly trapped in a dungeon by Demon. The dungeon, Wally, is alive and doesn't like Demon making his home inside it. It wants you to escape and destroy him. It can open two magically linked portals in any of it's walls, ceiling, or floor. It grants her the power to tell it where to open these portals in order to aid your escape. It explains all the controls for portals.
Through the course of the game No-knees uses these powers to navigate, solve puzzles, and defeat/avoid enemies. When she's is in a rut, Wally gives her advice on how to proceed. In the end, she defeats Demon. Wally is satisfied and opens a portal for her to escape into the outside world.