Color the dreary gray world of Groundless with NEON
Groundless Game Design Document
- Created by Carsten Gedrat, last modified by Max Freytag on Aug 27, 2020
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Introduction
Color the dreary gray world of Groundless with NEON as you battle your way through monsters and overcome challenges. Jump down into mysterious depths to find new identities and defeat vicious bosses in this 3D Action-Platformer Roguelike.
Choose your identity before the run by choosing a mask that offer unique abilities to experience combat in a new way. Get stronger and unlock them all to head for the bottom of the world!
Short Description
Note
In a few paragraphs or a page, describe the game to the readers as if they are the players. Use the second-person perspective -- "you." Try to make this section an exciting narrative of the player's experience. Encompass all the key elements that define the core game play by describing exactly what the player does and sees. Avoid specifics such as mouse-clicks and keystrokes, but don't be too vague. You want the readers to become the player's character. Hover your detail level right above the GUI interaction. You would say something such as, "You scan your tactical radar and pick up two more bogies coming up the rear," instead of "You click on your tactical radar button and the window pops up revealing two bogies coming up the rear." The description section should make the content and entertainment value of the game obvious and convincing.
You find yourself in an overgrown mountain pass. The only way forward is to jump down into the misty depths. Once you land on something stable, you start to see walkable paths and traversable gaps within the dark frosty air.
TODO
You want to jump down because the areas provide challenges that get progressively harder and reward you with new abilities and stats. Whenever you die you lose all your temporary progress which is fed into your mask to make you stronger in the next attempt.
Moment-to-moment challenges define the core gameplay (combat, timed puzzles, movement segments).
TODO
Add more info in general and rewrite paragraphs
Unique Selling Points(USP)
- A 3D platformer about jumping down and fighting enemies in contrast to usually jumping up in platformer games
- A Combination of 3D-Platforming and Roguelikes, which no other known title has done
- Colorful NEON elements in a dreary world gives it a spellbinding look
- Every new Mask will offer a new way to fight and overcome challenges
Genres
3D Action-Platformer Roguelike in a fantasy/sci-fi world
Target Platform
PC, Single-Player
Controller-focused, also controllable with Mouse+Keyboard
Target Group
Our target group are players that like to:
- Overcome challenges
- Have fast-paced action
- Explore worlds
- Get all collectibles
MoSCoW Analysis
Must have |
|
Should have |
|
Could have |
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Won't have |
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Gameplay Loops
Core Game Loop
Meta Game Loop
Map Design
After jumping down from the base the player lands in the actual play area. This map is designed mostly in vertical space. Starting high up in the mountain the player makes his way downwards to the boss area. On his way he encounters enemies and platforming challenges.
The map consists of islands of different size and look. Bigger islands are connected by smaller ones or other platforming elements like rope bridges or jump pads.
Combat
Platforming
Equipment
There are three kinds of equipment in groundless, masks, items and consumables. While items reset each run, masks are kept and can be improved to provide long term progress. Consumables can be unlocked and upgraded at the item shop located at the base.
Masks and items share a categorization:
Category | Color | Icon | Stats |
---|---|---|---|
Offense | Red |
| |
Defense | Green |
| |
Fortune | Yellow |
| |
Neon | Violett |
| |
Utility | Blue |
|
Each mask has only two of the stats shown in the table above per category.
Masks
Masks in groundless change the game-play in a similar way like character classes do in most other games. Each mask has special features that make the player play in a certain way. Some have special abilities, some distribute the passive stats in a new way. Masks can be acquired while playing in two ways. Either by finding fragments in hidden places and combining them once a set is complete or by defeating a boss. Before each run the player can decide which mask to wear and therefore what play-style he wants to use. A simple example would be selecting between a defensive mask with high HP and low ATT and an aggressive mask with low HP and strong ATT. The benefits and drawbacks of a base level mask always even out.
Mask progression
Masks progress in two ways:
Upgrading
Masks can be upgraded by defeating enemies. Each defeated enemy provides a certain amount of XP. Once a set amount is reached the mask upgrades to the next level. Each upgrade gives the mask better stats, the drawbacks stay the same.
Feeding
After finishing a run the player can feed the gathered items into the mask he used depending on their category. Every item provides a set amount of progression points based on its rarity. For example, if the item is categorized as "defense" and is of "legendary" rarity he can feed 10 progression points into HP and shield. Each point improves the stat by a set amount. The player can also choose to not spend the points and keep half of them as general points to spend them on any stat of any mask later on.
Mask Tiers
Masks have different tiers, the higher the tier, the harder it is to play.
Tier | Description |
---|---|
T1 | Easy To Play, no need to read the mechanics of the mask |
T2 | Small mechanic details worth reading and thinking about while playing |
T3 | In-depth mechanics whole character is based around. The player needs to fully understand and think about it while playing. |
T4 | Extremely challenging builds which combine high risk and high reward game-play with a high skill ceiling. |
Example
(ICON) | Devils Skull (Tier 1) |
---|---|
Base level | (+) Increases the Damage of your Character throughout the run and burns enemies when damaging. This effect does only stack whilst being in-run. (-) Enemies can steal your Stacks on-hit. Killing those will restore your stacks. |
Lvl. 1 | Killing and enemy increases your Attack Damage by 1 |
Lvl. 2 | Killing an enemy increases your Attack Damage by 1. Hitting enemies applies a burn effect that deals 10 Damage each second for 2s |
Lvl. 3 | Killing an enemy increases your Attack Damage by 2. Hitting enemies applies a burn effect that deals 10 Damage each second for 10s. |
Category | Stats |
Offense |
|
Defense |
|
Fortune |
|
Neon |
|
Utility |
|
Items
Items can be found during runs by either killing enemies or finding them at hidden places. The player starts the save game with a rather small pool of items to not confuse him and give him something to look forward to as he can unlock more items by playing. An item can be unlocked by completing small challenges. Less complex items demand easier challenges like “deal 1000 damage” or “die 20 times” which can be unlocked by simply playing a lot. More complex items have harder challenges like “beat boss 1 in under 2 minutes”, “kill a boss with less than 1% hp left” or defeat 5 enemies simultaneously”. Besides visual information like names and icons items have following attributes:
1. Effect and stacking effect
Every item that the player finds will give him bonuses on his stats. If a player finds more than one copy of an item in a run, its effect gets stacked up to a maximum of 3 copies which improves its effect. If an item is found 4 times it evolves to an advanced version with an additional effect. In this example the stacking effect is “Attack heals +1 hp”. Apart from the empowered version, the improvement is linear. With each stack, the item is worth 1x, 2x, 3x, ... the amount of progression points.
If the player gets an item a 5th time it will be the base version which can be stacked again.
2. Upgraded Item
Items can be permanently upgraded to provide more end-game possibilities, strategies and a feeling of greater power. Upgrading is expensive and can be done at the upgrade station at the Hub.
TODO
What stats do these upgrades give
3. Description
Each item has a short description that explains the effect of the item in simple words.
4. Rarity
Items can have the following 4 rarity levels which can be found on islands of different difficulty:
Rarity | Progression Points | Effect of Rarity | Can be found on... |
---|---|---|---|
Common | 1 | The higher the rarity the better are the stats it provides. | Easy and medium islands |
Uncommon | 3 | Medium and hard islands | |
Rare | 5 | Hard and Boss islands | |
Legendary | 10 | Boss islands and hidden places |
5. Active/Passive
Active items can be used by the player by pressing the assigned button while passive items passively boost the stats of the player in many different ways. Active items have an activation cost which stands for the amount of neon it consumes on use. While active items consume neon, passive don't. The player can loot and stack as many passive items as he wants, active items are limited to one at the time. Active items can be stacked and empowered like passives. The player can decide to swap his active item for another but he will loose all stacks he collected during the run.
Finding Items
Items can be found when defeating enemies or completing platforming challenges. Each drop has 3 Items whose category is random, the rarity depends on the difficulty of the island. For example, if the island is a medium hard one, most likely all three items have uncommon rarity. Occasionally one or more items are of one grade higher rarity (rarity+). The player then has to choose one of the items to keep.
Example
Name | Bulwark |
Active/Passive | Passive |
Rarity | Common |
Category | Defensive |
Activation Cost | none |
Effect | Max HP +30 |
Stacking Effect | Max HP +30 |
Empowered Effect | Max HP +150 and a chance to root the enemy |
Description | The bulwark improves the players max HP |
Consumables
The player can take one consumable per run with him. Consumables are kind of active items with a passive effect, like restoring HP. Consumables have a cooldown-time.
Difficulty Scaling
Base
The base is the area where the player hangs out between runs and manages his masks and items and tests abilities.
The Fountain is the spring of neon all tech and masks at the base are fed from.
Found Masks sit on pedestals at a temple-like structure. The player can select which one to use for the next run and apply progression points at the middle of the platform.
Defeated monsters can be found as statues in a garden. Statues have signs which can be read for more information like weaknesses and attack moves.
Information about items can be read at the Item Codex.
The Shrine opens once the player found all masks. Inside is an altar where map modifiers can be applied.
At the Shop the player can buy upgrades for the base and map.
At the Item Upgrade shop the player can upgrade items so he directly finds empowered versions of it. Or buy a chance to directly find empowered items. Also he can unlock and upgrade consumables.
Tutorial
Groundless has a tutorial where a 'first-time-player' can learn the Core Gameloop and basic mechanics. When starting the game for the first time the player sees a splash screen which requires him to continue. After that he finds himself in the tutorial.
World
Terminology:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aliquam fermentum vestibulum est. Cras rhoncus. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Sed quis tortor. Donec non ipsum. Mauris condimentum, odio nec porta tristique, ante neque malesuada massa, in dignissim eros velit at tellus. Donec et risus in ligula eleifend consectetur. Donec volutpat eleifend augue. Integer gravida sodales leo. Nunc vehicula neque ac erat. Vivamus non nisl. Fusce ac magna. Suspendisse euismod libero eget mauris.
Ut ligula. Maecenas consequat. Aliquam placerat. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Nulla convallis. Ut quis tortor. Vestibulum a lectus at diam fermentum vehicula. Mauris sed turpis a nisl ultricies facilisis. Fusce ornare, mi vitae hendrerit eleifend, augue erat cursus nunc, a aliquam elit leo sed est. Donec eget sapien sit amet eros vehicula mollis. In sollicitudin libero in felis. Phasellus metus sem, pulvinar in, porta nec, faucibus in, ipsum. Nam a tellus. Aliquam erat volutpat.
Sed id velit ut orci feugiat tempus. Pellentesque accumsan augue at libero elementum vestibulum. Maecenas sit amet metus. Etiam molestie massa sed erat. Aenean tincidunt. Mauris id eros. Quisque eu ante. Fusce eu dolor. Aenean ultricies ante ut diam. Donec iaculis, pede eu aliquet lobortis, wisi est dignissim diam, ut fringilla eros magna a mi. Nulla vel lorem. Donec placerat, lectus quis molestie hendrerit, ante tortor pharetra risus, ac rutrum arcu odio eu tortor. In dapibus lacus nec ligula. Aenean vel metus. Nunc mattis lorem posuere felis. In vehicula tempus lacus. Phasellus arcu. Nam ut arcu. Duis eget elit id eros adipiscing dignissim.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aliquam fermentum vestibulum est. Cras rhoncus. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Sed quis tortor. Donec non ipsum. Mauris condimentum, odio nec porta tristique, ante neque malesuada massa, in dignissim eros velit at tellus. Donec et risus in ligula eleifend consectetur. Donec volutpat eleifend augue. Integer gravida sodales leo. Nunc vehicula neque ac erat. Vivamus non nisl. Fusce ac magna. Suspendisse euismod libero eget mauris.
Ut ligula. Maecenas consequat. Aliquam placerat. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Nulla convallis. Ut quis tortor. Vestibulum a lectus at diam fermentum vehicula. Mauris sed turpis a nisl ultricies facilisis. Fusce ornare, mi vitae hendrerit eleifend, augue erat cursus nunc, a aliquam elit leo sed est. Donec eget sapien sit amet eros vehicula mollis. In sollicitudin libero in felis. Phasellus metus sem, pulvinar in, porta nec, faucibus in, ipsum. Nam a tellus. Aliquam erat volutpat.
Sed id velit ut orci feugiat tempus. Pellentesque accumsan augue at libero elementum vestibulum. Maecenas sit amet metus. Etiam molestie massa sed erat. Aenean tincidunt. Mauris id eros. Quisque eu ante. Fusce eu dolor. Aenean ultricies ante ut diam. Donec iaculis, pede eu aliquet lobortis, wisi est dignissim diam, ut fringilla eros magna a mi. Nulla vel lorem. Donec placerat, lectus quis molestie hendrerit, ante tortor pharetra risus, ac rutrum arcu odio eu tortor. In dapibus lacus nec ligula. Aenean vel metus. Nunc mattis lorem posuere felis. In vehicula tempus lacus. Phasellus arcu. Nam ut arcu. Duis eget elit id eros adipiscing dignissim.
Story
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aliquam fermentum vestibulum est. Cras rhoncus. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Sed quis tortor. Donec non ipsum. Mauris condimentum, odio nec porta tristique, ante neque malesuada massa, in dignissim eros velit at tellus. Donec et risus in ligula eleifend consectetur. Donec volutpat eleifend augue. Integer gravida sodales leo. Nunc vehicula neque ac erat. Vivamus non nisl. Fusce ac magna. Suspendisse euismod libero eget mauris.
Ut ligula. Maecenas consequat. Aliquam placerat. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Nulla convallis. Ut quis tortor. Vestibulum a lectus at diam fermentum vehicula. Mauris sed turpis a nisl ultricies facilisis. Fusce ornare, mi vitae hendrerit eleifend, augue erat cursus nunc, a aliquam elit leo sed est. Donec eget sapien sit amet eros vehicula mollis. In sollicitudin libero in felis. Phasellus metus sem, pulvinar in, porta nec, faucibus in, ipsum. Nam a tellus. Aliquam erat volutpat.
Sed id velit ut orci feugiat tempus. Pellentesque accumsan augue at libero elementum vestibulum. Maecenas sit amet metus. Etiam molestie massa sed erat. Aenean tincidunt. Mauris id eros. Quisque eu ante. Fusce eu dolor. Aenean ultricies ante ut diam. Donec iaculis, pede eu aliquet lobortis, wisi est dignissim diam, ut fringilla eros magna a mi. Nulla vel lorem. Donec placerat, lectus quis molestie hendrerit, ante tortor pharetra risus, ac rutrum arcu odio eu tortor. In dapibus lacus nec ligula. Aenean vel metus. Nunc mattis lorem posuere felis. In vehicula tempus lacus. Phasellus arcu. Nam ut arcu. Duis eget elit id eros adipiscing dignissim.
Legend of The Cyanide Mask:
It says that 30.000 years ago, the oldest god fell from heaven, right down into the deepest depth. He was the strongest and most respected gods of all time.
Deep downhill the giant waterfall in the old ancient glacier. On the very LAST depth, there shall be his body - right beside his mask.
Since then, humanity tries to reach their lost god. Its power is told to be immense and its known to be the first godlike relic.
Of course people are curious, but the old waterfall is very dangerous. Powerful monsters live in these depths. Also human hunters attack others of their kind to make sure nobody reaches the last depth before them.
Player will find the mask eventually on the last depth, completing the base game. Player can use the Mask in NG+.
Overview
Action | Controller | Keyboard+Mouse |
---|---|---|
Controller
Keyboard
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aliquam fermentum vestibulum est. Cras rhoncus. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Sed quis tortor. Donec non ipsum. Mauris condimentum, odio nec porta tristique, ante neque malesuada massa, in dignissim eros velit at tellus. Donec et risus in ligula eleifend consectetur. Donec volutpat eleifend augue. Integer gravida sodales leo. Nunc vehicula neque ac erat. Vivamus non nisl. Fusce ac magna. Suspendisse euismod libero eget mauris.
Ut ligula. Maecenas consequat. Aliquam placerat. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Nulla convallis. Ut quis tortor. Vestibulum a lectus at diam fermentum vehicula. Mauris sed turpis a nisl ultricies facilisis. Fusce ornare, mi vitae hendrerit eleifend, augue erat cursus nunc, a aliquam elit leo sed est. Donec eget sapien sit amet eros vehicula mollis. In sollicitudin libero in felis. Phasellus metus sem, pulvinar in, porta nec, faucibus in, ipsum. Nam a tellus. Aliquam erat volutpat.
Sed id velit ut orci feugiat tempus. Pellentesque accumsan augue at libero elementum vestibulum. Maecenas sit amet metus. Etiam molestie massa sed erat. Aenean tincidunt. Mauris id eros. Quisque eu ante. Fusce eu dolor. Aenean ultricies ante ut diam. Donec iaculis, pede eu aliquet lobortis, wisi est dignissim diam, ut fringilla eros magna a mi. Nulla vel lorem. Donec placerat, lectus quis molestie hendrerit, ante tortor pharetra risus, ac rutrum arcu odio eu tortor. In dapibus lacus nec ligula. Aenean vel metus. Nunc mattis lorem posuere felis. In vehicula tempus lacus. Phasellus arcu. Nam ut arcu. Duis eget elit id eros adipiscing dignissim.
Art Style
The art style of groundless will be stylized PBR with hand painted elements.
Pipeline
Concepts
aaa
Saving System
A saving system will be required to load the players current game progress. Managing multiple saves and starting a new game instead of loading a save should be possible. Saving should only be possible when the player is grounded and is standing still.
Following information will be required to restore a valid game state:
- List of unlocked areas
- Currently equipped mask with stats
- List of known enemies
- List of known items
- List of unlocked secrets
- List of unlocked masks with stats
If the option to save while attempting a run is required, following additional information will be necessary to restore a valid game state:
- Current level number
- Current player position (Or Platform position the player is close to)
- Current player HP
- Currently equipped items
- List of completed platform IDs this run
After loading the game state, all passive item effects should be applied before setting the current player HP.
Software
Game Engine | Unity 2020.1 |
Version Control | Perforce hosted on Amazon Linux AWS |
Programming | Visual Studio Community 2019, Visual Studio Code |
Programming Tools | ReSharper, Visual Assist |
3D Modelling | Blender, Maya |
Texturing | 3D Coat |
Texturing/2D | Adobe Photoshop, Substance Painter |
Audio Middleware | Wwise 2019.2.5 |
Project Management | Miro |
Documentation | Wiki, G Suite |
Communiacation | Discord |
Unity Tools | Odin Inspector, Kinematic Character Controller |
3D-Models
a
Animations
Characters:
- idle
- walk loop
- run loop
- attack1
- attack2
- attack3
- use special
- jump
- mid air loop
- land
- stagger
- die
- hurt
Player-specific:
- talk with NPC
- pickup item
Sound
World:
- Atmosphere
- Item drop
- Combat music
- HUB music
- portal entry
- portal ambient
- Wasserfall atmo
- Wasserfall impact
Characters:
- idle
- walk steps
- run steps
- attack1 swing
- attack1 hit
- attack2 swing
- attack2 hit
- attack3 swing
- attack3 hit
- use special
- jump
- land
- stagger
- die
- hurt
Player-specific:
- talk with NPC
- pickup item
- use item
- dash
- ground slam start
- ground slam impact
User Interface:
- Confirm Option
- Back/Cancel
- Navigate
- Start Game
Item Effects:
- NEON explosion
- Neo orb spawn
- Neon wave spawn and travel
- Neon Sphere roll
- Neon chain connection
VFX
World:
- Atmosphere
- Item drop
- portal entry
- portal ambient
- Wasserfall
- Wasserfall impact
Characters:
- walk steps
- run steps
- attack1 swing
- attack1 hit
- attack2 swing
- attack2 hit
- attack3 swing
- attack3 hit
- get hit
- use special
- jump
- land
- stagger
- die
- hurt
Player-specific:
- pickup item
- use item
- dash
- ground slam start
- ground slam impact
- get healed
User Interface:
- Confirm Option
- Back/Cancel
- Navigate
- Start Game
Item Effects:
- NEON explosion
- Neo orb spawn
- Neon wave spawn and travel
- Neon Sphere roll
- Neon chain connection
Project Plan
Blocking
Concept
Asset List
Lighting
VFX
Characters
Environment
Items/Props
Polishing
UI
Characters 2
Environment 2
Characters 3
Environment 3
Items 2
Proof of Concept
Beta Iteration
Bug Fixing
Audio MVP
UI Foundation
Items/Abilities
Items/Abilities 2
Items
Alpha Iteration
Movement and Combat
Game Mechanic Concepts
Level Design Concepts
Item Design Concepts
1st Level Design
Team
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Student ID | 2549017 |
---|---|
Responsibility | Programming |
Strengths | Lots of gaming experience |
Weaknesses | Not a morning person |
The content of this macro can only be viewed by users who have logged in.
Student ID | 2547857 |
---|---|
Responsibility | Creative Direction / Concept VFX/Particles UserInterface |
Strengths | Idea finding, Iniative |
Weaknesses | distraction |
The content of this macro can only be viewed by users who have logged in.
Student ID | 2548474 |
---|---|
Responsibility | Environment Concept 3D Environment Project Management VFX |
Strengths | Structured |
Weaknesses | Presentations |
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aliquam fermentum vestibulum est. Cras rhoncus. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Sed quis tortor. Donec non ipsum. Mauris condimentum, odio nec porta tristique, ante neque malesuada massa, in dignissim eros velit at tellus. Donec et risus in ligula eleifend consectetur. Donec volutpat eleifend augue. Integer gravida sodales leo. Nunc vehicula neque ac erat. Vivamus non nisl. Fusce ac magna. Suspendisse euismod libero eget mauris.
Ut ligula. Maecenas consequat. Aliquam placerat. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Nulla convallis. Ut quis tortor. Vestibulum a lectus at diam fermentum vehicula. Mauris sed turpis a nisl ultricies facilisis. Fusce ornare, mi vitae hendrerit eleifend, augue erat cursus nunc, a aliquam elit leo sed est. Donec eget sapien sit amet eros vehicula mollis. In sollicitudin libero in felis. Phasellus metus sem, pulvinar in, porta nec, faucibus in, ipsum. Nam a tellus. Aliquam erat volutpat.
Sed id velit ut orci feugiat tempus. Pellentesque accumsan augue at libero elementum vestibulum. Maecenas sit amet metus. Etiam molestie massa sed erat. Aenean tincidunt. Mauris id eros. Quisque eu ante. Fusce eu dolor. Aenean ultricies ante ut diam. Donec iaculis, pede eu aliquet lobortis, wisi est dignissim diam, ut fringilla eros magna a mi. Nulla vel lorem. Donec placerat, lectus quis molestie hendrerit, ante tortor pharetra risus, ac rutrum arcu odio eu tortor. In dapibus lacus nec ligula. Aenean vel metus. Nunc mattis lorem posuere felis. In vehicula tempus lacus. Phasellus arcu. Nam ut arcu. Duis eget elit id eros adipiscing dignissim.
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