Akumu
Introduction
The game is: A fast-paced, perilous ninja platformer.
It is based around a ninja. His goal is to escape the ever encroaching screen, using the series of platforms laid out before him. This basic platformer has the added twist of the screen pursuing you, increasing in speed with each passing second. You need to outrun this while navigating across the platforms. If you go too slowly, you will be caught and lose a life, equally going too quickly and leaving the screen will kill you. Then the obvious missing a platform and falling will also leave you with the loss of a life also.
The ninja will have 3 lives, giving the player three attempts at going through the level. He will be able to run and jump, but that is the extent of his actions. There is only one level, and it will continuously loop until the player loses. The platforms will be set to random positions, to avoid a direct loop. Some of these platforms will be spiked, which will lead to death if making any contact with.
There will also be collectable items to slow the movement of the screen. These too will be set to random positions, at specific points along the loops so that the speed of the screen never drops below 0. Some of these items may be impossible to obtain and simply be there as a trap for the player.
The target audience is teenagers of all ages, mostly aimed at males - ideally looking for a short and easy to play game.
This is to be developed for use within the Scratch Program on the PC.
The game has a number of unique points that could be used for its sale, such as:
1. The unique back story, behind such a basic game.
2. The fact you are not opposing enemies, but the very screen itself.
3. Scoring relative to time alive as well as number of items picked up.
4. The unique death animations dependant on how you die.
5. The spiked platforms appearing at random in the place of ordinary platforms, creating further trouble for the player.
Game Mechanics
The game’s controls are as follows:
|
Action |
Response |
Display change |
|
Player presses up |
Ninja jumps upwards |
No Change |
|
Player presses left |
Ninja moves left |
Ninja changes which leg is forward |
|
Player presses right |
Ninja moves right |
Ninja changes which leg is forward |
These are rather basic controls that most platformers will need to operate. The actual change of display will only have 2 positions however, so that it flows naturally even when in the air. The jump command can be used up to twice in succession for a double jump feature though.
The scoring system will be dependent on how long the user stays alive within the game, each of the 3 lives. The time will be kept as a total time played, rather than keeping the individual times.
It will also include a set score for each item collected throughout the game.
There is no direct way of winning the game. The only objective is to keep alive, however as the screen speeds up it is evident that it will end up that you cannot outrun it forever. The losing conditions being if you touch the edges of the screen, be it the bottom due to missing a platform, the top due to jumping too high, the right by going too quickly or the left by going too slowly. There is also loss by hitting into spiked platforms. Each of these contributes to a single lost life. If all 3 lives are lost it is game over.
Dependant on how you die (aka what side of the screen you hit), there will be different death animations of the character.
There will be a single stage in the game which will be designed with a fairly basic background, to fit the setting of the game’s plot that will repeat in the background continuously. Platforms will be at random positions over the background, some containing spikes to prevent the player using them. The actual completion of the level is the same as the failure of it; it is simply the end of them level. There is no goal to reach, you are simply to last as long as you can, and get the best score.
A poorly done Sketch of a scene from the stage, with indicatiors of each items position and status is:
The colours are open to change however, as the program used to create this sketch is fairly limited in choice. This does cover the basics of the stage though, while the colours of the grass and hills will likely contrast less.
Story and Characters
The Rapture Fields were once a place of joy and happiness, but that time was long past. One side of the grand plain stood the Empire of Aland. On the opposite end is the Janin Faction. An inevitable war emerged between the two factions, and in the face of this the land between was torn asunder. The skilled warriors of Janin pushed the Empire back however, and to keep themselves from being overcome their sorcerers corrupted the war torn fields with dark magic, under the command of the Gorg. The corrupt land still has pieces of the path and some of the traps that lay on the ground, however they are all broken apart and become near impossible to navigate. The corruption itself prevents any from touching the surface without a painful death. This in essence ended the war.
This was not the end of it however, the remnants of the Janin forces on the fields at the time of corruption were taken prisoner by the Empire. This though was one lone ninja, he went by the name Karasu. He was imprisoned for years, as the empire, unwilling to accept they were defeated train their men in ways to cross the fields and in combat so they would not befall the same outcome as previously.
Not long before their invasion, they decided to test if the training had paid off, and released Karasu to battle against one of their best warriors. Being weakened by his captivity he simply uses this opportunity to flee, being pursued by the Empire forces. With nowhere else to turn, Karasu must escape over the Rapture Fields and escape the oncoming enemies.
Karasu – The main character of the game. He has no actual name revealed, and is referred to as Karasu, meaning Raven.
The Gorg – The main antagonist of the game. The character is refered to not by name, but by his title. The Gorg refers to the ruler of the Empire.
Visual Style
The style this game will use is a simple 2D style, in the same sort of style Mario is in, except where Mario was a very bright and colourful environment for the most part, this is intended to be a darker atmosphere. To fit with the setting of the game, the images will all be dark, even down to Karasu himself, who, being a ninja, wears entirely black. While being a dark setting though, it is not going to be too bland, as there will be some red and brown colours, not simply black and shades of grey.
For such simple aims, the graphics required to be processed will be minimal, and about any graphics card not too old should be sufficient.
Example sketches of the screen and other visuals are as follows:
A sketch of the character sprite
A sketch of the Item pickup sprite
This is just a sketch of course, and will be edited for the actual game, it will likely appear smaller and less rough, but that is the basic design of it. It is intended to show a shuriken.
A sketch of the Main menu screen
This would actually be a better image of the character, and the background would likely not be simply white, however that is a basic sketch of the main menu. The actual setup of each object there is in question, but it would not be a whole lot different. However, the Plot Summary may go seperate, as a loading screen after selecting Start Game, depending on if the above set up seems to work with the actual images.
A sketch of the Game Over screen
This will use a better quality image in the background and the background itself will have a different colour based around that, however this is the basics of the screen. It will likely use the head of the image from the main screen as the background.
A sketch of the Controls screen
Audio Style
There will not be a lot of audio within this game. There will be sound effects if you die. There will also be sound made as you jump, however, there will be little else. This is of course besides the background music, which shall be decided later in development.
There will be no narrative, or dialogue within the game, as all within those shall be done through basic text displays.
Gavin Reid
B00188753
