Thread: My Project Proposal.

I am to write a proposal for a video game design (my college course being Video Game Development and Animation), which I won't post completely here (I can't give away the full storyline, the gameplay elements however, I will share), but I will show you guys.

Eventually I'll be posting sketches of my characters, the world, and a bit of background.

Please give me constructive criticism, and share your thoughts. If you have inquiries on anything about me or my proposal, feel free to ask. Also if you want to be my friend, go ahead, I'll be updating my profile after I post this.

Percentages done:
Intro to game story: 5%
Description of Characters: 0%
The Game setting: 100%
Main Objective:100%
Reward System:100%
Punishment System:100%
Scoring:100%
Different Levels of Game:100%
Win/Lose Situation:100%
Sketches:50% (I have to find a scanner xD)

Notes:This is only a general idea of what it'll be like. This game is meant to be simple but deep at the same time, all the lore, unit data, etc, is available in an in game encyclopedia.

Title: Terminus Adventi Solis Occidens (Latin, Translated to:The Advent of Dawn's End)
Type: Turn Based Strategy, Role Playing Game
Physical Tools of the Trade: The PC, my lucky sketchpad, various pencils, erasers, coffee, water, and my brain.
Virtual Tools: C++, Photoshop CS2.
Inspirations: Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem.

Proposal
The proposal for the game project should include a brief discussion on the
following topics using power point slides. (Obviously since this is only a rough idea of what my proposal will be like, it will not be a full fledged power point presentation).

1. An Introduction to the Game Story:
"The world is changing.... The skies have darkened, the seas are in turmoil, and the land quakes in pain...
The stars and hopes of our forefathers are fading, our hope now rests in the sons of our father, Aetheron. The world is changing..." - Emperor Balethorn IV


2. Description of the Characters in the game

3. The Game Setting
The game takes place in the world of Yvindal (pronounced I-ven-dale), a land that has been in conflict from the time man could walk. It is a savage land in which Men, Mir, and Beastfolk are common, on rarer occasions, the Undead, Dragonkin, Daemons and Lizardfolk.

To make matters worst, the Thoralean Empire (humans) has been in a state of civil war for the past 50 years, while bandits roam freely taking villages for their own greedy causes.

The Yvindril (Elves) the second race to walk this world, have forgotten their allegiances, concerned only with protecting their immortality, their attunement with nature, and the forests of their homeland, Svilnera.

The Dwarves of Mesiltar cowering into their mountain fortresses, face extinction as their once mighty Empire has fallen to the savage Y'fril (Frost Giants).

Talk of the new race of Orcs, warmongering and savage, has arisen from the south, though constantly in conflict with themselves, when rallied, they are a fearsome force that not many armies can stand against.

Rumors of the dead coming back to life in the cold north, where many wizards and sorcerers were exiled for the studying and using of forbidden magic. Wishing for revenge, the Necromancers conjure up vast armies to conquer the Thoralean Empire from which they were exiled.

In the many jungles and swamps surrounding the Thoralean Empire, live the Sarcile (Lizardfolk), worshipers of the Serpent god Resar the Cunning, their goal, is the conquest of Yvindal in Resar's name.

Amongst all the races, the Beastfolk are divided as mercenaries and slaves. They range from the noble Iver'eons, born with the heads of eagles, the bodies of man, and great wings; the guileful Elyv'rit, creatures of catlike appearance, ranging from the Lion-headed, the Panthers, and various other forms; and the loyal Ral'fiir, dog or wolf-like creatures who stand proudly on two legs and are attuned to the wild. The Beastfolk are all sentient, but often feral, with distinguished traits and similarities to animals.

Once the rulers of Yvindril, the Dragonkin are the first race to walk on her lands, fly in her skies, and strike fear into mortals. They have Draconic heads and wings, but humanoid bodies, are covered in scales, and are adept at all forms of combat. The exceptions are the Low blood Dragonkin, who take on human appearance but can transform into Full blooded Dragonkin temporarily, or if trained hard enough, permanently. They are powerful, intelligent, and brutal, now acting as the guardians of the world, as their race has chosen to live in the deepest hearts of the land. Their appearance signals a greater threat to the world of Yvindril.

Finally, the race of Daemons, or Demons in common tongue, are creatures of immense powers, not of the same plane. Born in the vast and fiery plane of Al'Martath, they are the corruptors of races, the scourge upon the world, and the ancient rivals of the Dragonkin. In this time of total conflict, the arise from the pits of Gar'gol Marath to corrupt Yvindril and to spread a reign of eternal suffering.


4. The Main Objectives in the Game:
The main objectives in the game vary depending on the campaign or game setting.
For example, playing the multiplayer or skirmish modes will require you to fill objectives for a single level. Achievements for making certain criteria on multiplayer and skirmish modes can be unlocked.
In the various campaigns however, will range depending on which race is being played, and which paths you choose in the game. Completing certain secondary objectives may influence the ending of the campaign you're playing.

5. Reward System:
Based on the scoring system, the rewards you earn at the end of a level are determined by your skill, the time you took to finish the level, and the tactics you used. Players may also find treasures hidden in some levels, as well as finding loot in storage devices (chests barrels, coffers, etc) and on enemy/allied corpses.

6. Punishment System:
If a primary character dies in a level, you must revert to the start of the last turn, or start the level again. Also if your secondary characters die, they are gone forever, and cannot be revived. Failing to do certain secondary objectives can effect how hard certain levels may be, or how hard a future level may be.

7. Scoring:
The game features no scoring, it focuses rather on player skill, time taken per level, and tactics used. It balances these to allow the player to receive bonus rewards for the next mission.

8. Different Levels of the Game:
The levels chosen are from several concept campaigns:
~1.The Black Wolf Amongst Men: This is the first level of the Human Campaign. Here you play as Freanwulf "Black Wolf" of Thoralea, an outlawed soldier and his men. During this level a small army of Orcs lead by Kol'Gav the Mighty attack a nearby village, while Bandits see this as an opportunity to attack the other villages. Depending on weather you fight off the Orcs or the Bandits, Freanwulf's story will advance in two paths.

~2.The Fate of Many or One: You are Captain Daleth Orin, a soldier in the employment of the Dwarves of Mesiltar. Your initial mission is to quell an uprising of Dwarven citizens in the small fortress city of Mod Dur. When Daleth arrive there, you and your men notice that there are no citizens at all. When Daleth's men go to investigate, a Necromancer, and an undead army of all kinds (be they Dwarven, Elven, Orc, or Man), ambush Daleth and his men. The necromancer sees great potential in Daleth, and asks Daleth to join him and sacrifice his mean as a blood pact. At this point, you can either choose to defend yourselves against the undead, or sacrifice your men and join the undead.

~3.Tomb of the Dwarven Emperor: You are Malek Alveron, a young mage studying the Dark Arts of Necromancy under the Lich Anthilos Livere. Your first test is to reanimate the long forgotten Dwarven Emperor. However, there are many obstacles along the way, traps, Dwarven contraptions and golems all guard the Emperor's Tomb. This is one of the few campaigns featuring a linear starting level.

~4.Flight or Fight:You are Jerard Gander, a professional outlaw, master of thievery, extortion, murder, and pillaging. You and your band of outlaws decide to raid a village, but when you get there, you find Orcs already burning the village to the ground. You can either flee from the Orcs, abandoning the loot, and shamefully running like the Outlaw you are; or you can slay the orcs, take whatever the orcs have taken, and be proclaimed heroes by the villagers who survived. Will you stay a bandit, or become the Robin Hood of Yvindal?

~5.To Rend the World:You are the Sarcile Shaman Ras'Rel, on a mission to summon your god, Resar. Initially, you are facing off against an alliance of Beastfolk who wish to stop you from summoning Resar. Their Oracle, Der'Ku'Tat has an amulet that will give you the means to summon Resar. Alternatively, you can avoid the Beastfolk and try to call on the Demons instead, in which case the Dragonkin will become your enemies and attack you along with the Beastfolk.

9. Win/Loss Situations:
~Winning occurs when:
*You finish the primary objective
*Your main characters survive
*You complete the campaigns with a neutral or good ending.
~Losing occurs when:
*You fail a level's primary objective
*You lose a main character
*You make a bad choice in the campaigns, leaving you with only the bad ending.

All characters, Races, Places, and Lore in General© of Me.

Is this an MMORPG type of game? Or the normal console RPG game? Anyway, the game sound so final fantasy like but i like to hear more it anyway since I'm a fan of final fantasy series myself. I can help u with ideas if u want as well.

o.O I suddenly thought of Cabal, or Pristontale II. But I digress.

Interesting game setting. And it is all in the in-game encyclopedias, like in KH as Ansem's reports? Or learned while on the go (i.e., revealed through NPC or situation)?

Are these subsequent levels, or different levels that you may choose to take? And do these levels have their own sub-level?

Maybe my criticism is bad because of this, but I didn't even get past the title, it's pompous and over stated like a concept car.

Hmmm... you're making the same basic mistake that I find a lot of new video game designers (especially those that come from writing or art) making. Do not mix up story with gameplay. From what you've posted so far, I see a lot of details about the lore and the setting, but very little about the actual gameplay.

Of course, this could be because your project or course requirements focus on this aspect (it's probably what your poly syllabus is teaching...), so it's not entirely your fault, but you need to be aware that 90% of real game design is not about story, it's about statistics (especially for an RPG/TBS game). It's items 4-9 that will constitute your game design, not items 1-3. And I see very little detail on those points.

For example:
4. The Main Objectives in the Game:

The main objectives in the game vary depending on the campaign or game setting.
For example, playing the multiplayer or skirmish modes will require you to fill objectives for a single level. Achievements for making certain criteria on multiplayer and skirmish modes can be unlocked.
In the various campaigns however, will range depending on which race is being played, and which paths you choose in the game. Completing certain secondary objectives may influence the ending of the campaign you're playing.

Okay, so what are the possible primary objectives? And list down all the secondary objectives. How will these secondary objectives influence the ending? Exactly how many modes of play do you actually have, and which ones are associated with which campaigns or setttings? Don't leave things so vague. What are the criteria for getting those achievements, and what are the achievements?

5. Reward System:
Based on the scoring system, the rewards you earn at the end of a level are determined by your skill, the time you took to finish the level, and the tactics you used. Players may also find treasures hidden in some levels, as well as finding loot in storage devices (chests barrels, coffers, etc) and on enemy/allied corpses.

Okay, so what exactly are these rewards? Are they exp points, or items? If they are items, which items are they? Do you have a list of all possible items in the game? How do you select which ones to reward the player with - especially if some are more valuable/useful than others? Do you want a completely random-choice system which may cause the most powerful item in the game to be found by a newbie player? If not, then how will you classify the items and assign them at the right time to the player?

If they are exp points, how do you determine how many points to award the player? Do you have a formula to calculate the amount of exp, or the value of the items, to give to the player, based upon the stated factors of "your skill, the time you took to finish the level, and the tactics you used"? Is there a table of values that shows me the difference in rewards if I use Tactic X instead of Tactic Y? In order to have a complete game design, you will need to include all of these formulae, or at least tables of values. Similarly for treasure chests as well.

6. Punishment System:
If a primary character dies in a level, you must revert to the start of the last turn, or start the level again. Also if your secondary characters die, they are gone forever, and cannot be revived. Failing to do certain secondary objectives can effect how hard certain levels may be, or how hard a future level may be.

Okay, but more details needed. How many secondary characters can you have? If they can die, how can you get more? WHICH secondary objectives will affect WHICH levels, and by how much?

7. Scoring:
The game features no scoring, it focuses rather on player skill, time taken per level, and tactics used. It balances these to allow the player to receive bonus rewards for the next mission.

"Time taken per level" is inconsistent with turn-based tactical systems, unless you're planning on something like speed chess. How are you going to measure player skill? Or more precisely, how will the computer recognise the player's level of ability? And how to identify tactics he/she is using? Do you have a list of pre-defined tactical formations which the computer will recognise if the player uses them? Or will it be like Romance of the Three Kingdoms, where "tactics" are actually a player's action/skill? Again, even if there is no score shown to the player, you must have some sort of internal score which you use to measure how well the player did, in order to receive bonus rewards. So how is this internal score calculated, and how does it correspond to the amount/type of rewards?

8. Different Levels of the Game:
The levels chosen are from several concept campaigns:
~1.The Black Wolf Amongst Men: This is the first level of the Human Campaign. Here you play as Freanwulf "Black Wolf" of Thoralea, an outlawed soldier and his men. During this level a small army of Orcs lead by Kol'Gav the Mighty attack a nearby village, while Bandits see this as an opportunity to attack the other villages. Depending on weather you fight off the Orcs or the Bandits, Freanwulf's story will advance in two paths.

Ignoring the setting (which is easily interchangeable with any generic fantasy adventure), give me the structure of the campaign. How many levels will there be? What new gameplay challenge does each level offer to the player? Where are you going to have the branching path point - is it at the first level, or later? If it's at the first level, why not just two separate campaigns? How do the paths differ from each other? Do you have sketches of the level layouts/maps, to show interesting gameplay choices (eg. chokepoints, traps, inaccessible/dangerous areas, concentrations of enemies here and there, locations of treasure chests, etc.)? At least show me something like the diagram below:



Repeat for each level of the campaign, and for each and every campaign you want.

Remember, game design comes down to the details. Ideas are worth nothing without implementation. As a game designer, your job is to design the blueprints (with all relevant measurements and statistics) for all the game systems and objects/characters. In short, if you really want to make this game, you will need (at minimum):

- A list of all items and equipment in the game, with all values associated with them (price, damage done/reduced, weight, type, element, etc.) You can include sketches of these as well.
- A list of all types of units/characters and relevant statistics (strength, agility, HP, MP, movement, initiative, etc., recruit price, recruit location, job/class, weapon types equippable, armor types equippable, accessories equippable, etc.) Again, concept art and sketches, or actual models.
- Campaign structures for all campaigns in the game.
- Level layouts for all levels in the game. (If you've been taught 3Ds max or Maya, these can be very quick prototyping tools to lay out your levels. Then just take screenshots)
- Sketches for all environment objects in the game (rocks, trees, snow, grass, etc.)
- Interface layout for all game screens (menus, inventory, start screen, save/load screen, character status screens, main gameplay screen, battle screen, etc.) and screenflow diagram showing how they all fit together.
- List of all controls / buttons and what they do.

...

However, if you're forced by your project requirements to only include the items you mentioned above, and to present it in powerpoint as an artistic game concept, rather than an actual working game design, then I suggest you focus on thinking about how to make things innovative. What's different about your game's style from the 99% other fantasy-based turn-based tactics/RPG games out there? Do your characters and races have unique skills not seen in previous games, which can change the way you fight battles? (eg. Is your world circular, and you spend most of your time mixing items to destroy enemies in order to bring about the end of the world (OdinSphere)? Do you constantly switch back and forth between the real world and the spirit world, and control two characters at once (The World is Not Enough)?) Even if you want to stick to variations on typical fantasy RPG/TBS, at least try to come up with more innovative uses of the campaigns and races. Is there a Day/Night cycle that enhances some units and weakens others (WarCraft III, Wesnoth)? Can you create an aerial battle using the Inver'eons and the Dragonkin, or an amphibious campaign for the Sarcile, instead of the standard two-land-based-armies-fighting-on-a-plain? What about a game of siegecraft and sabotage, fighting from fort to fort?

Generally-speaking, you just need to put more thought and details into items 4-9, and come up with specific examples that you can actually walk the player through, if necessary, not just vague ideas like "There will be 6 characters, and 6 races... oh, and um.. 10 swords, and a bunch of job classes. Oh, all of these races and items and classes will come from standard fantasy. I'll just copy them from all the other games I've played."

Since you're taking a full course in Video Game Design and Animation, and have asked for feedback, I presume you're serious about entering the games industry. Even if your course doesn't fully prepare you for what's really required of a game designer/animator, it's up to you to show that you have the potential and dedication to go beyond what's required coursework and do the actual necessary work of getting a game design out... even if it's just background work that will never be presented in your project proposal. That's what employers will be looking for... excellence above and beyond what your teacher wants from you, and strict attention to all the nitty-gritty details. (Though, of course, we're likely to lose you to the army for 2 years anyway... so I guess employment isn't a big thing as yet.)

-Dizzy-