Charles DriscollGame Design Document for:Twilight Plague“Darkness is a sickness”

1. Table of Contents2. General Game Overview

a. Theme/Setting/Game Genre – JRPG style game The Norse continent of Midgard Mythology Based Story game

b. Target audience – Twilight plague is designed for those ages 10+ due to

sexual themes and mild violence Twilight Plague will attract players who enjoy games such

as Fire Emblem and Visual novel games such as the Fate series

Mobile gamers looking for a more story-based experiencec. Elevator Pitch –

i. Twilight Plague is a tactics RPG, players will guide the cast of characters as they travel the continent of Midgard to gather allies to confront the mad king Fenrir. With turn-based combat and character interactions VIA a visual novel, the player will flesh out deep and meaningful relationships throughout the story along side exciting combat scenarios.

d. Project Description (Detailed)- 1 pagei. What is the game? Should answer the question “what are you

working on?” Twilight plague is a slower story driven game, appealing

to those who enjoy reading a good story and games such as Fire emblem and Final fantasy.

The nostalgic graphic style appeals to console, pc and mobile gamers. Making it versatile and easy to market

Twilight plague breaks the mold of a traditional tactics role playing game in several ways through unique character development and storyline

Through relatable characters and real struggles, the human element of twilight plague will captivate its audiences

The nostalgic art style and simple gameplay will attract veterans of the genre as well as newcomers seeking to learn more about the tactic’s role-playing game genre

ii. Where does it take place? Describe the world, help frame the reader’s mind with a few sentences. General look and feel. Details will be in a later section.

Twilight Plague takes place on the continent of Midgard. The continent is divided into seven kingdoms each of which the player will visit on their journey to recruit allies to defeat the mad king Fenrir who resides in the capital Asgard. With beautiful stone cities and heavily wooded wilderness, the player will experience a wide variety of environments both in combat situations and visual novel chapters.

iii. What do I control? The player will control their army which is comprised of all

the units they have recruited a total of 9 units throughout the game

iv. Single player? Multiplayer? Coop? Single player

v. How many characters do I control? (design dependent) Players will control one unit at a time once selected and

up to nine total characters in their armyvi. What is the objective? What is the player supposed to achieve?

The goal of the game is to traverse the continent of midgard recruiting allies to face Fenrir the made king and eventually confront him and the dark force that twisted him.

e. What sets this project apart? Why create this game?i. Reason 1: The genre has a stale trend of “Prince saves princess,

then saves world” this game looks to buck some story telling trends of the genre

ii. Reason 2: The game looks to attract a female audience using strong female leads and flawed male characters

iii. Reason 3: By invoking the nostalgia associated with pixel art, we also appeal to older players looking to recapture their love of tactics RPG’s

f. Core Gameplay Mechanicsi. Core mechanic 1- Combat

Players will direct their units to attack enemy units during the player phase, this can be accomplished by walking the user character up next to an enemy and selecting the Attack option from the menu.

The attack option will display all possible options based on the user’s weapon type and abilities.

Once the desired action has been selected the player will see a combat animation play out, the damage the player

deals will be based on the units ATK(attack) stat minus the enemies’ DEF (defense) stat if the unit uses a physical type weapon and RES(resistance) if the unit uses a magic type weapon. Damage will be subtracted from both unit’s health after combat has resolved.

All these rules apply the same for enemy phase combat, with the exception that the player cannot chose to activate any abilities during enemy phase

ii. Core mechanic 2- Leveling up Each character will start at 0 experience, entering combat

with an enemy will reward them with experience based on how the combat resolves (if the player does more damage or kills the enemy they will get more experience and less if they are beaten by the enemy unit)

Upon reaching 100 experience, the unit in question will level up. This gives the unit a chance to increase each of its stats based on a random number generator. Their growths determine the chance each stat has of going up, each stat can only go up one point per level up

The level system goes from 1-10 and resets when a unit gets promoted into a new class tier.

There are three class tiers, with only the main three characters having access to a third-tier class.

iii. Core mechanic 3- Supports Between levels the player will have the opportunity to

view conversations between all the characters they have recruited thus far

These support conversations will reveal the characters backstory, likes and dislikes and maybe even foreshadow how they will act in later in the game

The more conversations you progress through, the higher the support level will be between those characters and when the highest level is reached, a special conversation will unlock

Each character has two support partners that they can grow with but can only reach the special conversation with one of the two

3. Story and Gameplaya. Story (Brief) -

i. Twilight plague follows the journey of Sigrun the warrior queen and her quest to defeat her husband Fenrir. Fenrir was cursed by some unseen black magic and has gone mad as a result and is turning all his subjects into Lycan drones. Sigrun journeys to each of the seven fiefdoms of the Kingdom that she once ruled,

in order to recruit the other members of her order of Valkyries to dethrone King Fenrir and save her people.

b. Story (Detailed) - As much detail as possibleThe game will be divided into 11 chapters, a prologue, nine playable chapters, and an epilogue.

Prologue “The Eve of disaster”Sigrun has taken her family out to the countryside near

Castle Asgard for some training exercises. She is attempting to teach Ceo to wield a sword but is as inept as he is stubborn, claiming that muscles and swinging swords makes you a brute. Insisting that he can defeat any foe he encounters with his magic alone. His sister jumps in to tease him and assert that having muscles does not make you a brute, but a strong warrior who can protect their family. King Fenrir chimes in and tells his children to knock it off and that they are both right. Telling them that it takes a well-rounded monarch to rule a kingdom and they should each learn from the others expertise in order to better the kingdom in the future. Ceo scoffs at the idea of Hrist being able to use magic like he can, and an argument ensues. Sigrun senses a bandit approaching from the trees and jumps between her children and the attacker. Battle ensues, once the player has defeated the bandits the family reconvenes and makes up, they all head back to the castle with Ceo making an ominous statement about things to come.

Chapter 1 Flight!Sigrun dashes into her children’s bedroom, spattered with

a foul-smelling blood, she urgently wakes them and tells them to take what they can carry, for the castle is being overrun with monsters and they must escape immediately. Both children frantically gather their belongings and flee the castle with their mother, they travel for about a day to the Fiefdom of Heinmork. This is the smallest fiefdom of the kingdom and word has not traveled that the king has fallen prey to a black curse, causing him to turn his subjects into mindless werewolves. Sigrun seeks out one of her old allies and a member of the Valkyrie’s named Olrun. Olrun being not only a loyal subordinate but also lifelong friend of Hrist immediately agrees to help the Royal trio to gather an army and attempt to free the king from the curse that has befallen him. As the group is preparing to leave the city, an

ominous fog rolls into town, accompanied by the howls of blood hungry beasts. The group rushes to the city gates to see a small horde of Werewolves charging into the town in search of them. The group manages to defeat all the wolves with the Help of Olrun, but not without the town being ransacked by the mindless rage of the King’s minions. With heavy hearts the group departs the town to journey to visit another of Sigrun’s Valkyries.Chapter 2 A reason to fight!

Sigrun and her crew arrive in Appeldal, due to its central location in the kingdom it is a hub of trade and culture for the entire kingdom. The family enjoys some much-needed rest and relaxation after a hard week on the road. While her underlings recover, Sigrun seeks out an audience with Herja, the red bull. The Daughter of the commander of the king’s guard, she possesses a dogged loyalty to the crown and upon hearing what has befallen the king she sheds a tear but also agrees to leave with Sigrun. The group enjoys one more night of comfort, where they all commune on the memories they have of Fenrir and how great of a king he was. They all agree that they must fight in order to preserve the king’s great memory and all that he worked to achieve and protect in the kingdom. The next morning, they set off to journey to the coastal city of Korpin, during the group’s first night camping on the road they once again feel an ominous fog roll into the area and hear the howls of the weretouched. They are ambushed by the side of the road, and a bloody and desperate fight ensues. The group manages to best their attackers, but not without Ceo suffering a grievous cursed wound that worries the rest of the group greatly. Time flashes forward a week and Ceo is being carried into the city of Korpin by his mother, barely alive and shivering.

Chapter 3 The countessSigrun and her party immediately demand an audience

with the Countess of the region, Katerina. Also, one of the Valkyries she is unique in that she is not tied to a lord or other ruling figure, she both rules her own Fiefdom and serves the Valkyrie. This has always made Sigrun suspicious that Katerina is power hungry and looking to play games. But she knows that she is a powerful Sorceress and is the only one who can save Ceo. The countess initially bristles at being barged in on no

matter how prestigious the company, but upon seeing Ceo clinging to life she softens and takes him into her chambers to tend to him. The healing process takes the better part of a week where no one can see Ceo or Katerina as she labors to heal him. Sigrun takes the time to teach her daughter and Olrun of the ways to the Valkyrie and improves her relationship with the two in the process. Ceo emerges from Katerina’s chambers healed and with a burning desire for vengeance that concerns Sigrun. Katerina without being prompted offers her full support to the party and even to join them herself. So, with a full company of soldiers and another Valkyrie in tow, the party readies itself to depart for Vuono, the great mountain city. Upon arriving they see the city burning and the inhabitants being slaughtered by the Weretouched sent by Fenrir. Full of grief and rage Sigrun leads the charge to take back the city, many civilian casualties cannot be avoided and they must be put down in order to prevent them from turning, as Sigrun goes about the grizzly task she reflects on her early years with Fenrir giving us insight into how the two met and what he was like as a young man.

Chapter 4 Funeral PyreThe population of the once great mountain city of Vuono

has been reduced to a fraction of what it once was, so a mass funeral is held at the foot of the mountain that holds the massive city. It is here that Sigrun sees that the Valkyrie of the City Roma is still alive. She goes to Rota to express her condolences and asks if there is anything that she can do to help. Rota is a foreigner who was bought as a slave and rose the ranks of the family that purchased her through ruthless combat prowess and became a Valkyrie. She expresses a deep seated hurt and anger, for her adoptive sister perished in the fighting and she believes that the king must know justice for committing such an atrocity, cursed or no, and agrees to join Sigrun’s cause. Sigrun reflects on what Rota has to say and contemplates if the time ever came, would she be able to kill her husband. With the survivors of the Vuono tragedy joining her ranks, Sigrun leads and ever-growing army to the nearby Fiefdom of Vartungen, also known as the City of the Great Lake.

Chapter 5 Blood stained lakeAs Sigrun and her company reach the opposite shore of

lake Vartungen, she notices that the waters of the lake have taken on a deep maroon color. Upon inspecting the lake, itself she determines that the water had been cursed by the king’s

servants, causing it to turn into a magical poison that has been turning those who drink it into weretouched. Naturally this has devastated the region with the lake being the only source of fresh water for miles. Sigrun’s company is haggard and demoralized due to the constant attacks by weretouched while they traveled and cannot afford to continue without supplies. She sees that the city is being overrun with weretouched and must make a split decision that could save them all or get them killed. She sends Ceo and Katerina to combine their magical abilities to break the curse on the lake, while herself Hrist, Olrun and Rota to attempt to break into the Castle and rescue the royals and the Valkyrie Eir. As they drop into the courtyard, they are immediately surrounded by weretouched, and one of Fenrir’s generals steps out into the courtyard holding a knife to Eir’s throat. He states that they have already killed the royal family and demands their surrender in exchange for the life of Eir. Sigrun’s rage that a human would side with beasts boils over and she slaughters the ambush party nearly single handedly, covered in blood and with her companions looking at her with a mix of awe and fear she bends to pick up Eir and turns to carry her out of the City. The defeat of the General seems to have broken the will of the weretouched and the remaining ones flee the City. Sigrun carries Eir to the top of the wall and props her up so that she may watch as Ceo and Katerina purify the blood red waters. As the waters return to their usual deep blue, Eir smiles and faints and Sigrun carries her back to their camp to get her healed and to prepare to depart for the city of Kilpi.

Chapter 6 The bull of the northAfter allowing for Eir to heal and her army to rest and

gather supplies. The company sets out to recruit the last of the Valkyrie, Herja is a formidable and aggressive warrior. With her unique quirk being that she rides a giant red bull into battle that she has raised since she was a child. After a monthlong journey north Sigrun and her host are met at the gate of Kilpi by what appears to be a fully martialed army. Herja rides out to meet Sigrun in the middle of the two great hosts and declares that she wishes to duel Sigrun, for a leader who cannot protect her people is unfit to lead the army of their redemption. Sigrun knowing Herja’s ambition and fortitude accepts with trepidation. Their duel lasts for over an hour, both parties panting and sweat pouring down their faces. Sigrun knows that she must end this soon for she cannot afford to spend and more time out in the

open where they could be ambushed at any moment. So, she reveals the magical ability of her holy sword Gram and uses it to defeat Herja without killing her. Herja remarks that it takes a great leader to choose mercy for those who challenge them and pledges her forces to Sigrun’s cause. Despite needing time to recover from the strenuous duel, Sigrun and her now mighty host continue north to the great Frozen library of Karlaburg in hopes of finding a way to reverse the curse and freeing her citizens and husband without having to kill them.

Chapter 7 Fire and IceSigrun and her great host have traveled for a week

through wind, snow and wolf attacks, leaving the army starved and low on moral. To make matters worse they arrive at the monastery city of Karlaburg to see it already in flames, with most of it burnt to the ground. With corpses of men and Wolves strewn about Sigrun orders her men to put out the fires and rescue who they can. She and her Valkyrie hurry to the main library to see if any bits of knowledge have been spared, to their delight the permafrost that covers the outside of the great stone library protected it from the fire and all the sacred knowledge within has been preserved. The party begins searching frantically for any information pertaining to the curse used to twist Fenrir. A scream and loud explosion is heard from one of the wings of the library, Sigrun goes running to investigate and sees a chunk of the library had been blown off by magic, Ceo was standing there panting and supporting Katerina in front of a smoldering corpse. They had discovered a book that pertained to the curse that afflicted Fenrir, but Ceo and Katerina claimed to have been attacked by a weretouched that had been hiding in that room to prevent anyone from finding the information, the explosion was a result of Ceo release an enormous blast of magic out of fear. He stood there panting holding one scrap of parchment from the book, claiming it had been destroyed in the explosion. He then broke down crying saying that he had doomed them all and cried himself into a stupor, believing he had just killed his father.

Chapter 8 March of the dammed

After taking time to recuperate and gather supplies Sigrun’s army began the long march to the capital, they were amazingly unbothered by weretouched as they had been in the past and Sigrun began to grow uneasy the closer they got to the capital. They arrived at the valley that serves as the entrance to the capital and made camp there for the night. While they slept Sigrun had nightmares of her coming confrontation with her husband, she woke with a start at the sound of howls and screams. She rushed out of her tent to see Katerina and Ceo being dragged from their tent’s unconscious by a group of weretouched lead by non-other than Fenrir himself. With the camp surrounded and the odds against them The Valkyrie fought tooth and nail to retake the hostages but to no avail. The fight ends when Sigrun defeats the last weretouched, only to fall to her knees as Fenrir himself marches up to her, and with all the authority of death itself blasts her with a wave of dark magic sending her flying into a nearby wagon. He then takes his leave and his prisoners with him, without saying a word he and his weretouched melt back into the night like nothing ever happened. Hrist and her remaining Valkyrie carry Sigrun into the center of the camp and beg for the gods help in saving her. Just as she is about to pass into the void, a beam of light splits the gloomy sky and strikes Sigrun lifting her into the air and turning her hair as white as the snow she treads on. She landed gracefully on her feet, eyes ablaze with a righteous fury. She turned to her daughter and said “Come, it is time to kill a mad King” and the scene fades as they turn towards the looming castle in the distance

Chapter 9 He who bears the crownGiven new power through divine intervention, Sigrun cuts

down all who stand in her way as she marches to the throne room, she once occupied next to her husband. With each step memories of her past life with Fenrir dance through her head, but her certainty that he must die never waivers. She blows the doors to the throne room open with a blast from gram and issues a deafening challenge to the king. He rises from his dark throne, surveys those who have assembled to defeat him and begins his deadly assault. Fenrir was a powerful monster deep in the clutches of dark magic, and that magic used him to taunt and torture Sigrun and Hrist as he mercilessly tried to slay them. He caught Hrist off guard by pretending for a moment to be her true father once again. And as he raised his hand to deliver a death blow, the holy sword gram burst through his chest in an

explosion of white light and fell back into his wife’s arms. With the black magic that had been his life force draining away he briefly regained his sanity enough to say goodbye to his wife and daughter, and as he was about to reveal who cursed him Ceo walks into the room and buries a dagger in his fathers heart, killing him instantly. Katerina walks in behind him clearly delighted and gives Ceo a kiss, proclaiming that he would be the savior king of the land and she would be his queen. Sigrun looks at her son with a growing horror as all the events of the past months began to make sense. With tears dripping from her eyes she levels her blade at her son and asks, “Why did you do it?” The entire party looks around stunned to Ceo for answers, who bursts out laughing in an inhuman and twisted fashion. Staring down his mother he begins to tell the tale of how he cursed his father in order to gain the crown for himself, and when Katerina discovered his plot, she joined him. He destroyed the library on purpose in order to prevent the curse from being broken before he could kill Fenrir himself. He relates that he had always felt belittled and small next to his mother and sister, and he used this as motivation to put himself above them all. Hrist upon hearing of her bother’s betrayal, awakens immense magical power in a fit of rage and attacks her brother and Katerina along with Sigrun. Ceo pulls the same trick that Fenrir had used on Hrist on his mother, pretending to come out of a stupor and act innocent and bewildered. In her blood rage Hrist forces him to his knees and decapitates her brother. His head bounces to the feet of Katerina who picks it up with tears of rage in her eyes and prepares to cast a spell to end them all. As she is finishing her incantation and Hrist and Sigrun have resigned themselves to the void the same beam of light that saved Sigrun appeared all around the party. Sigrun looked up to see an angel in the form of her now dead husband with his arms wrapped around them with tears in her eyes she embraced her daughter and prepared to die. The massive explosion rocked the entire continent, but the magic of Fenrir’s angel saved the Hrist and Sigrun. So, they pick themselves up, take one last look at the bodies and destroyed castle that was once their whole world and turned return to the main city to begin resorting peace and order to the continent.

EpilogueSigrun goes on to restabilize the kingdom and see over a

golden age the like of which had never been seen before. With Hrist by her side leading the new order of Valkyrie they ushered

in an age of prosperity and peace the continent had never seen. They never do forget the sacrifices they made to protect their people and nation, and their people respect this in kind and serve them with a fanatical loyalty. The game ends with Sigrun Crowning her daughter queen of the land after stepping down from the throne, she passes in her sleep the next night and is greeted at the gates of Valhalla by the husband and son she loved so and is whole once more.

c. Gameplay (Brief) - 1-2 paragraphsi. Gameplay is centered around two main parts; each level will

have a combat portion where the player will use their units to defeat enemy units. Using a variety of characters and attacks the user will attempt to route the level of all the mindless Lycan drones, and then kill the boss of the chapter in order to advance to the second section of the chapter.

ii. The second section of each chapter will consist of a visual novel scene, where the player will be introduced to the new character that they are recruiting that level and get a briefing on the events that occurred and what the plan is moving forward. The user will also have the option to view several side conversations or support conversations between characters. However, the player can only select one support conversation per unit per chapter and this makes it so that each unit can only max out one support.

d. Gameplay (Detailed) - As much detail as possible, if you don’t have a lot here, is the game worth making/playing?

i. What the player will be doing moment to moment? Gameplay is split into two categories

a. Visual Novel Scenes: This phase of the game will be used for story telling moments and when the player starts support conversations. They will have player art and a background based on where the player is.

b. The second phase of gameplay is Combat maps where players deploy the units they have recruited thus far (characters join due to story reasons the player doesn’t have to do anything) to fight the weretouched minions of Fenrir.

i. Combat is split into three phases-1. Player phase: The player may select

his units and move them as many tiles on the map as is equal to their MVT stat. If the player has an enemy within attack range of their unit, they may select to attack a unit through the in-game menu. They may attack at melee range or at a distance depending on the weapon your character has. They may also choose to use an item, heal another character if they have the ability, and simply choose to wait on a tile.

2. Enemy phase: Enemy phase is where the AI that controls the enemies will direct them to attack, use items, and other actions. The player may counter

if attacked on enemy phase, but they may not move. The player can only counter if they are in melee range as a melee unit, ranged units can only counter at range. They will attempt to wipe out your army

3. Other Phase- At some point in the game for story reasons. You will fight along side units that are friendly to you, but you do not control them. They act in the same fashion as the enemy AI only to aid you instead

4. Once the player has routed the map of the weretouched minions, a short visual novel scene will occur, and the boss will enter to fight the player units

5. Bosses are many times stronger than weretouched minions and will take multiple player characters to kill in one turn.

6. Once the boss has been killed the player will go back to visual novel scenes until the next combat map

Tutorials?a. Each time a new character is introduced, the player

will see a character sheet displaying their abilities and stats along with a short quote.

b. Each time a boss character is introduced you will see a character sheet detailing their abilities

c. Each time a new mechanic is introduce a tutorial menu option will pop up and the player will have the chance to watch a short cutscene showing the player how the mechanic works.

d. These can all be accessed via the menu at any point for reference

If gameplay changes from start to middle to end of game, give examples of gameplay at each stage.

a. Gameplay will get progressively harder as the game goes along, each chapter there will bill more enemies, enemies will have higher stats, and the boss character will also have higher stats based on their randomized level and growth rates.

Mention your game mechanics from above section again and how they tie into gameplay. Give examples.

a. The core mechanic of combat is present in the combat maps where players confront enemies in order to clear the map

b. The core mechanic of Leveling is present in the player gains exp based on how the combat goes and the level of the player character relative to the enemy killed

c. The core mechanic of supports is present in the dialogue the player will see that flashes over the screen with a visual novel type layover of the combat map.

Combat system?a. The exact combat system used in fire emblem path

of radiance. Units stats are compared and influence a random number generated combat where units have a %chance to hit(based on speed also some weapons have a bonus to accuracy) %chance to critically strike for 3x damage(based on luck or abilities some weapons also have critical strike boosts) and strength plus the damage bonus on your weapon is offset by the enemies defense or abilities that nullify damage.

Character AbilitiesSee character pages

Power upsa. The only form of power ups in this game are

leveling up a character, where the gain 100 experience and a random number generator rolls to see what stats get a +1 based on their hidden growth rates.

b. And Gaining a new class, gaining a new class gives you +2 to every stat you have except MVT which is just +1 and HP which is +5. Some classes also give the character new abilities these are third tier classes and are only available to the holy trio and are unlocked by story events.

Customizationa. Players will be able to implement their own

strategies to clear every map, as well as choose what relationships to further delve into via the support system.

Weapons/Armor/Itemsa. Each character comes with preset weapons and

abilities, the player may give each unit items such

as a healing item or a ring to increase a stat but not change the units weapon or abilities.

Puzzlesa. The puzzle of the game is in seeing all the different

angles of each character the game provides many playthroughs will be needed to know the full story of each character in the game

AIa. Enemies? Friendlies?

i. Enemy AI will control the weretouched and the enemy boss units. The AI will attempt to kill the player units at all costs, only boss units will attempt to heal themselves, weretouched will attack even if it means killing themselves.

b. Descriptionsi. You will be able to select enemy units via the

menu to view their character portraits and stats and abilities

c. Abilitiesi. Only enemy boss AI will have abilities,

Friendly “Other” AI will also have abilities if they are important story characters.

EconomyThe only economy is enemy drops, the player has no gold or bonus experience

Dialogue systema. During visual novel scenes dialogue will play out

across the bottom of the sceneb. During combat maps players will have small

dialogue boxes pop up on the screen and show conversation between the boss units and player units

Player choicesa. Players choose how to act during player phase, who

to attack or heal or use an ability on. b. Players choose what support conversations to view

with what characters in order to increase their support level and learn more about them.

Game modes (generally for multiplayer)a. Story mode is the only game mode in twilight

plague Approx. length of gameplay, length of a level, length of a

quest/mission

a. Each chapter which consists of visual novel cutscenes and a combat map should take the player about one hour to clear successfully

b. One beginning to end run of the game will currently take about 12 hours

c. The game will expand in length as DLC are added to expand the story and support options

Replay ability,a. The support system and continued updates to the

app adding new story mode content will keep replay ability high through a steady stream of content and options for the players to pursue

Save Systema. The game auto saves after each level, if a member

of the Holy trio dies you get a game over and revert to the start of the combat map

Controlsa. The user will use taps to initiate menu commands

based on the object they tapped, the user will tap a player unit they wish to interact with to move by tapping a tile on the map within the units MV range, initiate an attack, or use an item.

b. The user may tap enemy units to view their character profile, stats and abilities.

Cheats and Easter Eggsa. none

Help Systema. Help will be provided with tutorials that can be

accessed via the menu options.

ii. Game World Overview Key locations

a. See world map Travel? How do you move around?

a. Travel between fiefdoms will occur automatically after clearing a level as a story function in the visual novel

Scale of world? Map?a. The world is the mythological Norse continent of

Asgard Objects? Interactive things?

a. Enemy’s will act as player interaction objects and bosses and some random units will drop items when defeated.

Weathera. It will vary to all seasons and weather based on the

location she is traversing a continent Day or Night?

a. both Time? Does game time pass quickly? Or in real time?

a. Time in the game is measured in days and weeks as the story progresses, but the player will have been playing for merely hours

Camera system - 1st person? 3rd person? Does it change?

a. The camera is a 3rd person point of view, as a participant in the telling of a story

Levelsa. Number of levels

i. There will be 11 total levelsb. Level examples

i. See chapter writingsc. Training levels?

i. The prologue is used to introduce the player to the game

4. Arta. General Art Overview

i. 2d or 3d? A 2d art style will be used

ii. Art style s Pixel art will be predominant during combat sections of

the game where visual novel portions of the game will be more of a painted scene

b. What makes this different from other games? What other games is this like?

i. This game is different from traditional tactics RPG’s or visual novel games because the art styles are mixed. All the art for this game is a unique style attributed to our artist that takes inspiration from anime style characters with pixel versions of each character.

c. Art examples (can be examples from other games, movies, etc.)d. Environments

Maps will be composed of rectangular tiles which represent distances, each square takes one MVT to traverse. The background will change based on location to a field/mountains/lake or the inside of a building

e. Weaponsi. See character pages

f. UIi. Menu system

Players will interact with allies and enemies alike view menu options selecting a unit will bring up their corresponding menu options

ii. Dialogue Trees Dialogue will auto play, the player has no impact on

dialogue

iii. HUD

iv. Inventory The player inventory will consist of healing items and

special equipmentv. Customization

There is very little customization of characters themselves 5. Sound

a. Sound design detailsi. Each level will have unique music, made to fit the theme of the

level. During visual novel scenes music will play that also fits the mood of the conversation that is occurring

ii. Menus and actions will all have a unique corresponding sound effect

iii. Unique animations such as a critical hit or a spell will have unique sound effects as well. This extends to selecting menu options as well.

b. Music typesi. Orchestral music will compose all the game soundtrack

c. Voice acting/dialoguei. There will be no voice acting and all dialogue will be read.

6. Monetization - How will this game make money?a. The game will be a one-time purchase for the base app and original

story, b. Each ensuing story expansion will have a one-time cost to the user in

typical DLC fashion7. Targeted Platforms - Mobile8. Risk Analysis

a. With Twilight Plague being a story-based game, replay-ability is a concern. To address this the game is being targeted as a mobile release. Following a similar model to Fire Emblem Hero’s new story expansions will be released as patches, to the game.

b. With the art style of the game being a more simplistic pixel style, combat interactions will be rather basic, in order to hold the user’s attention during combat we must provide eye catching animations.

c. Units will each have unique abilities and weapons throughout the game, balancing each unit and their individual abilities will provide choices for the user that will customize the units to the user’s strategy. 

d. The game currently only has one type of enemy planned, outside of boss characters. Due to the story mechanic by which the enemies came to be there cannot be much enemy variety, figuring out ways to diversify the combat experience will go a long way towards improving gameplay.

e. Twilight plague looks to avoid some stereotypes as far as the genre’s story telling is concerned in hopes of attracting a new demographic. This means that we must strictly adhere to tried and true mechanics of the Tactics RPG genre in other areas in order to appeal to the player-base we are targeting