1. Research

RESEARCH FOR THE STORY

Storyline.

You play as a fisherman who has just returned from a trip with his boat, and as he comes back to the village he only finds an empty street and the whole valley filled with monsters. Not only is the valley filled with giant monsters blocking the sun and turning the water acid and green, it also killed all the giant friendly fish that once inhabited the blue valley in morbid ways, spilling their guts all over. Wanting nothing more than to fish in his once oh so blue valley, the fisherman goes on a quest do get rid of the giant beasts. With strange mechanisms that the fisherman can interact with, he defeats and weakens the ancient beasts once and for all. First getting rid of that beam blocking the way, before activating the eye of course, enough damage has been done to the valley... he didn't want to contribute more to it by blasting the village with an active water beam... then running through mush filled dark caves - and turning the last mechanism - or so he thought... To finish off the beasts once and for all he turns the first turning mechanism on again to activate the beam inside the beasts head - freeing the valley of all evil and restoring it to it's former glory with the help of the ancient goddess statues that gave water along the quest, always being by his side. Finally, he gets to fish again - and the sun is clear and free from any ancient beast blocking it - but maybe one day the villagers will come back, and inhabit the beautiful blue valley again.

RESEARCH FOR VISUALS

The legend of Zelda Skyward sword

Spyro

Fall guys

Slime rancher 2

As I'm a big fan of classic platform / puzzle games, I always wondered what it would look like if I gave a dark twist to those games. I didn't want to just make an environment that would fit in one of these games - mainly taking inspiration from the aesthetic and the way they lay out their puzzles - but figuring out how to give my own twist to it in a cute horror esque way. Of course not fully embodying the horror, but staying in the stylized style with giant versions of regular things such as the mushrooms in the legend of zelda, and the giant pillars from Spyro. I love creating a feeling of the character being big - but then the beasts being a thousand times the character, with this in mind I went designing and came to the conclusion I wanted to make a cute stylized environment with horror elements staying in the style I work with (stylized, cute) and adding a legend of zelda style puzzle.

With the style in mind I went and circled a lot of things on a moodboard in Miro, looking at what kind of things interested me and would later inspire my further iterations of the environment such as:

big and small comparison
silhouette, something being covered
guts and bones
towney feeling, but something is wrong
magical beasts

My moodboard was inspired by a lot of different games and genres, but mostly being inspired by the mythical beings and how this is incorporated into a game.

I quite quickly went on to sketching an idea that has seen a few iterations since making the game and the blockout - but sticking to the original idea nonetheless.

To make sure I could completely convey my artstyle and what I wanted to showcase in my environment I decided to do a quick sketch and blockout in maya of some of the ideas I had that I could use for a blockout of my sketch, basic enough that I could change them if I had to at any time - making sure that none of the work I did was lost in the process so I wouldn't have to start over again, but knowing I work in this style I had decided to continue in this regardless of changes. Later during this process it exagerrated more, bringing me out of my comfort zone - but still being able to use the basic houses, so wasting absolutely zero time.

RESEARCH FOR PUZZLE MAKING SURE THAT IT WOULD FIT THE STORY / ENVIRONMENT

IDEA 1

A turning mechanism that can turn the giant beasts that are all looking in the wrong ways, the player is introduced to the mechanic after the town. The player can turn the mechanisms and the eyeball will turn, if player correctly turns the eyeball in the right position a laser will shoot out. After all three lasers are activated, a cutscene appears with the water turning blue

IDEA 2 WITH ITERATIONS AND FEEDBACK

3 different turning mechanisms. One that turns the water beam on and off, one that activates the eye and one that rolls the eye back into the head of the beast. The player first has to deactivate the water beam with the first turning mechanism, turning off the green sludge coming from the monsters and is rewarded with one of the three fountains turning blue with fresh water. The player is shown one full water fountain and two empty ones, indicating that there are still two puzzles to be completed. After completing one of the turning mechanisms, the ground stops glowing, and the interact button disappears indicating that this part of the puzzle is done. By guiding the player through visual stimulation such as turning objects on and off, cutscenes and lights - the player is guided all the way to the final mechanism but with a cutscene and the light turning on, and another object spawns blocking the way back the player is forced to jump down to the first mechanism - which again has the light shining underneath it with vfx - indicating that this needs to be turned again. Then the player can interact with the first mechanism again now turning on the waterbeam inside the head of the beast, defeating it and restoring the valley back to its former blue glory. The final cutscene also shows the valley with blue water again, the beasts gone - and the fisherman (the main character) in his boat again with the camera panning to the sun that is no longer blocked by the monster.

If done correctly the player has first turned the water beam off, then turned the eye (in this order because the water beam is visibly blocking the way to the next mechanism - with a green beam of water, indicating toxicity)

The first idea for the mechanic

The mechanic in game with added vfx

the interaction with the player

interaction with the player and the puzzle

LEVEL ABSTRACT

Context introduction

Setting location

mystical valley
dock
acid water
giant beasts small towney village

Theme

stylized / cute with horror elements.
hand painted textures

Environment themes

ancient beings
valley
big and small comparison
mystical and fantasy esque

Intro mechanic

Main challenge

free the valley of the beasts

Player challenge

turn the water blue again using the mechanics and solving the puzzle

Obstacle

toxic water beam blocking the way, lillypads covering the water to jump onto

Cutscene

introduction to the turning mechanic
shocasing part of the puzzle being solved, leaving the rest open showing the player there needs to be more done
turning the initial beam off from the beasts no longer blocking the player in their path able to move forward

Obstacle

platform over the lilypads onto the next mechanic that was previously blocked by toxic water beam
platform onto guts
platfrom from guts only platform before puzzle
up the stairs onto the puzzle platform

Puzzle / exploration

Interaction

2nd part of the puzzle being presented to player
interacting activates the eye to move forward to the next puzzle

Cutscene

player is shown the next cutscene showcasing the 2nd part of the puzzle being done after completing the 2nd turning mechanic.
eye lifts up, 2nd water statue turns on with blue fresh water.

Player goal

player is presented with a dark cave that they can only go through (linear way)

make your way through the dark cave by navigating with the mushrooms

Main goal / puzzle

player sees water still coming out of statues indicating not done yet

Obstacle

a small monster blocking the way by popping up and down into the ground
a small platforming puzzle towards the last turning mechanic that the player can see

Interaction

player can turn the last mechanic again until its correct
player audibly hears that it's being turned

Cutscene

the player is shown that the toxic water from the beast no longer pours out of them
the player is shown the eye rolling back into the skull
the camera pans towards the first turning mechanic that is once again glowing indicating further interaction

Obstacle

the way back is now blocked by a rock, the player has to find a way down
the way down is highlighted with a bright light and familiar arch

Reward / conclusion

Interaction

player goes down the ramp after seeing the light shine onto the first mechanic
player interacts with the first mechanic turning it again

Reward / cutscene

player is rewarded with a cutscene of the beast going down
after the beast is shown going down change camera
the water is now blue, all the beasts are gone
the camera flies through the town and shows the player sitting in a boat fishing
the camera pans towards the sun that is no longer being blocked by the beasts and ends the game.

Continue to 2. start of the game.

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