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Producer comments added to page 18.4.2010
Especially noteworthy things (clarifications, details of importance and ideas) from the designer are marked in red.
1. Theme
As the butler in a haunted hotel your job is to keep the ghosty visitors happy!
2. Backstory
The background story is presented right at the beginning of the game before the player enters the main menu. The story is presented in storybook -like slides - very much like in the very beginning of the intro sequence for Super Mario Galaxy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2BQeRLbC8g). A full illustrated script of the intro sequence is to be added...
Deep in the backwoods lies a small town of Wyrmavia. Despite their undeniably peculiar customs the folk of Wyrmavia are kind and peace loving people.
Life is good.
However everything is about to change when the local gravedigger finds a strange looking chest buried in dirt. A mere look at the ominous object is enough to send shivers down the gravedigger's spine yet he still can't resist the temptation to take a peek inside. Little does he know that the small chest was in fact a doorway to the Land Of the Dead!
The chest drops down on the ground and an swirling ethereal vortex appears out of thin air!
The townspeople flee as a horde of gruesome spectres leave the vortex and flow to the streets. In a matter of minutes the whole town is completely overrun by ghostly creatures!
Days pass. As people are afraid of leaving their homes Wyrmavia turns into a ghost town - in a truest sense of the word.
However all hope is not yet lost! The local hotel owner - a peculiar man named Bruno McMaggot comes up with an idea.
McMaggot: "Listen Winston, I've been thinking of this whole ghost problem..."
Winston the butler: "Yes sir?"
McMaggot: "I just might have a solution!"
McMaggot: "You do know that the hotel business hasn't exacly been flourishing these days and we are knee deep in debt, right?
Winston the butler: "Yes... I'm afraid we are, sir."
McMaggot: "And because of those ghoulish creatures outside no one dares to enter this town anymore. Which means we might not have any new customers in a long while, right?"
Winston the butler: "I'm afraid so, sir."
McMaggot: "Well I just realized something! I say we offer those ghosty creatures a bed and breakfast! Think about it! They must have been wandering around the land of the dead for a good while now. They must be dead tired, right? Ha ha!"
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The game begins in the hotel lobby stationed bottom-left of the screen. A luggage bag appears on the reception desk. Hostile NPCs and mobile environmental objects such as the elevator start moving. Player is give ncontrol of the main character. However the timer does not begin the countdown until the player picks up the first luggage. This moment of peace is there to give the player some time to take a good look at the level, take notice of the enemies and obstacles he's about to face and plan his route a bit ahead before plunging into frantic action.
During this time a "Pick up the luggage to start the timer!" -text is shown on the screen to indicate that the actual timer won't start until you pick up the first delivery.
>>Producer comments: Should there be some kind of indicator to take bag to start timer? like ghost yelling where is my bags?! Don't make me angry you punk.
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This infoscreen is displayed when the player succesfully completes a level.
Elements on the infoscreen:
Large text
"Level clear!"
Level time
The time the player had left in the timer when the level ended.
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If the timer is allowed to reach zero the "game over"-overlay appears. The overlay is basicly just a large "game over" text. A player is given the choise of either retrying the level or exiting to the main menu.
Noteworthy things about items:
-The next item will not appear until the item the player currently posesses has been delivered. This way it is always a surprise which color the next item is going to be.
-Once an item has been picked up there is no way to drop it. The only way to get rid of an item is to deliver it to the appropriate door.
-There can be only one item in the item slot at a given time.
Colored Bags
There are three different colored bags in total. The bags appear one at a time. The spawn location for the bags is on the center of the reception desk in the lobby. The bags appear in random order. A new bag appears only after the previous bag has been succesfully delivered to a door.
Note
(It is possible to have more different colored bags in the future but for now three bags is enough. The challenge is gradually created not by increasing bags but by increasing NPCs, obstacles and more challenging rooms overall. This way the player never spends too much time on one level to become too frustrated. The action should be kept fresh all the time.)
5. 5. Rewarding the player
In order to uphold fun and enjoyably game experience the game rewards the player periodically for accomplishing certain tasks. -... information about rewards to be added
Most of the rewards are visual e.g. "eye candy". Examples to follow...
6. Handling damage and failure
If When Winston gets touched by a hostile NPC (possessed cabinet, ghost...), an environmental hazard (falling skull, swinging chandelier...) or falls down the heights of two rooms (or more) he gets knocked out and momentarily stunned for three seconds.
Getting stunned - Animation frames
State 1: Winston is in idle stance, hostile NPC is just about to touch
State 2: Winston is hit and is flying backwards through the air.
State 3: Winston is on the ground, knocked out.
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There is no concept of health in the game so Winston can never die. The only way to fail the game is to allow the timer reach zero.
Noteworthy:
The wandering ghost is an exceptional NPC. Instead of knocking Winston unconscious it kicks him around the level or can even throw him all the way to the rose bush (beginning location of the level). This The behavior of this particular NPC is explained in detail later in detailthis document.
7. Controls
Winston is controlled entirely by keyboard.
Left: Moves Winston left
Right: Moves Winston Right
Up: Jump
Space: Action key - Talk to friendly NPCs etc. (at this stage there's no use for an action key but it may be implemented later on)8. Mechanics
Game world physics
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