Design Document

Butler! Hotel Winsto Game Trouble (workname)

Design Document v1.2
Teemu Huhtiniemi
19.4.2010

Especially noteworthy things (clarifications, details of importance and ideas) from the designer are marked in red.

Producer comments added to page 18.4.2010

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!"

Somewhat surprisingly McMaggot's plan is a success and the halls of the hotel are quickly populated with all kinds of undead folk. Dreaming of the fame and wealth his undeniably brilliant plan is going to bring along to him, McMaggott grins happily.
McMaggot: "I knew even the undead couldn't resist a free buffet!"
What McMaggot didn't know is that the undead can be quite grumpy and demanding customers. Winston the butler needs to work a lot more than a few extra shifts to keep the new ghosty inhabitants happy.

Luckily he has you to help him!

3. Objective

The player controls Winston, McMaggot's trusted Butler on his mission to keep the ghosty hotel visitors happy. This happens by delivering certain items the ghosts wish for to the appropriate hotel room doors. All of the items must be delivered before time in the on-screen timer (2 mins in the first level) runs out. If all deliveries are made in time the ghosts are happy, the level is cleared and the player is given access to the next level. If time runs out the player fails as ghosts leave the hotel and take over town.

>>Producer comments: Certain items = bags? Door indicator = particle glow? how many bags delivered at first level? In wich order bags emerg (random? not same one in a row)?

Gameflow cycle

The simple core cycle is explained below. Even though along the way the player might have to accomplish certain tasks to reach the goal the overall flow is always the same.

Gameplay in detail

Pre-action overlay infoscreen

Before the action starts a overlay infoscreen is shown on top of the ingame view.

Elements on pre-action infoscreen:

Level name and number
for example "Level 1 : "The adventure begins!"
Objective
Info text explaining the objective of the level (same as illustrated in "core cycle". Usually unchanged)
Keys
Info text explaining the ingame movement and action keys. The controls may also be
explained via pictures.
Best time
The highest time the level has been beaten
Pressing any key leaves the overlay infoscreen and the game is set in motion.

>>Producer comments: make sketch (check production plan)

A moment of calm

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.

Picking up the luggage

The player uses the movement keys to direct Winston to the luggage. As soon as Winston touches the luggage it disappears from the game environment and appears in the item slot in HUD. The player is now carrying the luggage. At the same time a white glow appears around the door the player is to take the item.

The color of the item always defines the color of the door the player is to take the item. For example if the briefcase is red the target door is also red.

The journey to the door

The player now starts his journey to deliver the luggage to the appropriate door. There are usually more than one route to the marked doorway and the player is given the freedom to choose which route to take. Some routes are slightly faster than others so there's a bit of strategy involved.
On his way he'll most likely run into obstacles such as hostile NPCs or environmental hazards. The way these obstacles affect the character is explained in further detail later in in this document.

>>Producer comments: is there really multiple routes? how does single path journey affect the game play experience? (This is major thing to think trough)

Delivering the item

When player reaches the door marked by particle glow the item is automatically dropped down on the floor in front of the door. The arrow above the door and the item in the item slot disappear. A small animation plays to signal the delivery of the item (the door opens revealing a ghosty lookin guy in the doorway, the door closes and the item is gone).
Hooray, the item is now delivered!

>>Producer comments: check door indicator. These has to be added to production plan. (The end animation requires extra work from artist and programmer). To consider: All time at once and the amount of bags shown versus short time and bags to deliver (This is core game play information and has to be easily understood). I would recommend showing how much time you have and what you have to do in that time (exeptions power ups adds more time). Lets talk this in person.

Returning to lobby

After delivering the item a new item instantly appears in the lobby downstairs. The player must now hurry down to fetch it. Once again the route to take is entirely for the player to decide.
At this point the gameflow cycle starts basicly from the beginning.

>>Producer comments: What other things happen than bag appears in lobby? where in the lobby it does appear? Requires sounds, animations?

Winning the game

On each level there are three different colored luggage bags to deliver. The player wins the game when all luggage is delivered before the timer reaches zero.

>>Producer comments: Does the challenge scaling communicate well enough? Every level 3 bags to deliver? haw about bags to deliver (5xlevel: lvl 1 = 5bags, lvl 2 = 10 bags etc)

Level-end overlay infoscreen

When all deliveries are made in time the action stops and a infoscreen containing the level stats appears. Windston does a cheesy victory dance in the game screen as particle confetti rains down from the top of the screen.

>>Producer comments: Does winston dance in infoscreen or? in the game screen? more specific design

Level-end overlay infoscreen

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.

Best time

If the broke the best time record there will be a text congratulating the player.

>>Producer comments: some additional scale showing the speed like rank 1 to 4 stars or nick name like speedy conzales etc.

Game Over-overlay

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.

Colored Bags and doors

There are three different colored bags in total: Red, green and blue.
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.
Noteworthy things about bags:
-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.

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. Rewarding the player

In order to uphold fun and enjoyably game experience the game rewards the player periodically for accomplishing certain tasks.

Most of the rewards are visual e.g. "eye candy". Examples to follow...

6. Handling damage and failure

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 him.
State 2: Winston is hit and is flying backwards through the air.
State 3: Winston is on the ground, knocked out.

Winston is stunned on the ground for 3 seconds. When Winston regains conscience he is invulnerable for 3 seconds. This is to give players some time to get out of harms way and to avoid a scenario where Winston gets hit time after time. Invulnerability is expressed by a blinking player sprite (much like in classic arcade games). When the invulnerability runs off Winston is once again vulnerable to attacks.

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). The behavior of this particular NPC is explained in detail later in this 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. Note: at this stage there's no use for an action key but it may be implemented later on)

8. Mechanics

Game world physics

Collision handling

9.The Level

Levels in the game consist of different shaped rooms (for now only two basic shapes are used for the rooms)

Rooms
Room type 1
Standard sized room. Can contain 4 doors but only one obstacle and one NPC at max. See "level wireframe".

Room type 2
A long corridor filled with different colored doors. The long corridor is usually rich with obstacles and hostile NPCs. See "level wireframe".

The Lobby
The lobby is always positioned at the bottom-left corner of the screen. The lobby is the location where the player returns time after time to pick up his next item. Thus the lobby has a central part in gameplay its significance must be underlined visually so that it always "pops out" in the scenery.

Level wireframe
Wireframe model of the first level. Solid foundations are white. Doorways that Winston can walk through are marked in blue.

Game world measurements

In the game world everything is proportioned by the dimensions of the player character.

Level design for Level 1

10. Means of transportation

The Elevator

The elevator is positioned at the right side of the game area. The elevator moves up and down continuously much akin to the moving platforms in the Super Mario series of games.

The side windows

The side windows are positioned at the leftmost sides of the two upper floors and are the quickest way back down to the hotel lobby. However, after the player jumps from the balcony he must make sure he lands in the flower bush below. If the player fails to hit the bush Winston hits the ground and is momentarily stunned.

Trapdoor

A trapdoor is concealed hatch that flips open when the player walks on top of it. The trapdoors can be used as a fast way of accessing the floor below but they can also be considered as a trap. Visually a trapdoor is presented as a recessed area in the carpet or floorboards. Trapdoors only open downwards so jumping against them from below has no effect.

Trampoline

The trampoline is a static object that can fling Winston one floor up through a hole in the ceiling. As the hole that they player must jump through is relatively small (the width of Winston) some skill is required to jump though it one go. The player may also drop down through the hole, landing back on the trampoline if he wishes to use it as a shortcut to a lower floor.11. Routes - freedom of choice

Most levels have multiple paths to choose from. This feature is there to give the player some freedom to choose the fastest route inside the level. Different routes also keep the game pace consistent by eliminating dull moments in gameplay. The elevator should never be the only tool of transportation to the upper levels. (The very first level of the game may be an exception to this rule)

12. HUD

The in-game HUD elements are positioned at top and bottom of the screen. The positioning of separate elements is illustrated in the screen below.

Timer ( CORE )
Position: Top of screen, center
Displays the time left to complete the level

Item slot ( CORE )
Position: Top of screen, right
Displays the item the player is currently carrying

Amount of objects left ( CORE )
Position: Bottom of screen, left
Displays the amount of objects the player has left to deliver in the current level

Best time
Displays the best time the level has been beaten.
Position: Bottom of screen, right

Level indicator
Displays the number of the level (for exaple "Level 23")

13. Timer In Depth

On every level there's a timer at the bottom of the screen. The timer starts its countdown when the player picks up the first item in the lobby.

Actions that have an effect on the timer:
Picking up "the hourglass" -power-up: 30 secs additional time

>>Producer comments: Check the previous comments on timer design issues.

14. Central Characters

Winston
The main character of the game. Winston has been McMaggot's trusted butler for many decades. Winston uses his sharp wits quick feet to get out of trouble's way.

Bruno McMaggot
The slightly peculiar but good hearted owner of the hotel. McMaggot can typically seen only in cutscenes and tutorial screens.

Baldric the Gravedigger
Badric is the one who started the whole dreaded mess. However, opposed to other townsfolk Baldric is not really bothered by the ghosts. This has allowed him to examine their behaviour of the ghost creatures more closely. He might seem dim-witted but he might have some important tips to share!
(Baldric may be encountered later in the game. He's basicly a helpful NPC that provides the player with useful gameplay tips and trivia)

>>Producer comments: How about source for powerups: baldric animation gives powerups and says Pssst.. I have something for you? as he is a little goofy he might gives something bad also.*

15. NPCs

Possessed Cabinet

Possessed cabinets are the simplest form of enemies found in the game. A possessed cabinet jumps up and down in regular intervals. The speed, regularity and height of their jumps may change from cabinet to cabinet. In the later levels the cabinets act more unexpectedly and may change their speed, jump regularity and jump height at any given time.

The Wanderer

The wanderers are grumpy ghosts that insist on pestering Winston whenever they can. A wanderer can fly anywhere in the level - even through walls and floors. The Wanderers have no advanced AI. They simply move from one screen side to the other, much akin to the "ball" in the classic Pong -game.

Wanderers may randomly appear out of nowhere at any given time. They fly around the screen for 20-30 seconds before fading away. In the later tougher levels the wanderers may be there from the very beginning of the level and never disappear.

Ghost dog

The ghost dog runs back and forth the hotel corridors. When encountering a wall or other obstacle the ghost dog changes its direction of movement.

Jumping Ghost Dog

Similar to the regular ghost dog but can jump forward at random times.

Noteworthy:
Even though the ghost dogs can move freely along the corridors they cannot enter elevators or jump off balconies.Crawling Zombie

A zombie with only torso and hands that crawls the back and forth. Similar to the regular ghost dog in terms of movement except for the fact that he moves a bit slower and leaves a trail of green ooze behind him. The green ooze alters the player physics the same way as icy surfaces.

16. Environmental Obstacles

Environmental obstacles are simple shaped objects that the player may have to jump over in order to proceed. Obstacles may be square, T-shaped or L-shaped. The L-shaped obstacle is the most troublesome for the player as Winston cannot jump higher than his own height. This makes it impossible to cross the obstacle from the other side.

Square shaped obstacles: Lunch cart, rusty tricycle, small table...

T-shaped obstacles: Bookcase with bences on both sides, flower pedestals of varying size...

L-shaped obstacles: Bookcase with a bench only on one side

>>Producer comments: Lets decide the objects in next meeting 18.4.2010,

Environmental Hazards

Falling skulls

Skulls fall randomly from the top of the screen.

Swinging Candelier

Certain candeliers swing continuosly from left to right. The speed and angle of the swing can differ from candelier to candelier. Winston gets knocked out if hit by the candelier.

Pool of lava

Some rooms have the floor covered up in lava. If Winston touches the lava he will fly up to a random direction to the air - accompanied by a trail of smoke.

Fire Spewing Fireplace

Fireballs fly out of the fireplace at random intervals and at random directions. If Winston gets touched by a fireball he acts much like when touching lava.

Icy floor

Running on icy surfaces makes the Winston's movement more "slippery"*

17. Power-ups

As soon as the player picks up the first briefcase the power-ups are allowed to appear in the game. They appear at random intervals at random locations around the game world. After appearing the power-up exists 30 seconds before it disappears. Noteworthy: It must be made sure that a power-up only appears at locations where it can be reached by the player (no higher than player's jump height)

Positive power-ups

Hourglass
Adds 30 seconds more time to the timer. This power-up is activated instantly when touched by the player. Time increase is communicated to the player by displaying a floating clock symbol with the text "TIME +30" written on it. This symbol is spawned slightly above the point where player picked up the power-up. The time is instantly added to the timer. A blue particle glow (lasting for 2 sec) appears behind the timer to underline the change.

Running Shoes
The running shoes give Winston the ability to run twice as fast opposed to his normal speed. This power-up is activated instantly when touched by the player. A power-up timer appears in the HUD to signal how much time this power-up has left before it expires. After expiration the power up is gone for good.

Negative power-ups

Inverted controls

Lights turn off

18. Sound Effects

To be added

19. Music