Game Design Document

Introduction: Our game is a third person text-based adventure game where Terrible Jack is offered a chance at redemption in the afterlife. The choices of the player will ultimately decide Jack’s fate.

Main Objective: Our player encounters Terrible Jack, who is recently deceased and living in the Underworld, a place between the light and the dark. This is where Jack meets the devil and is given an ultimatum: either do the devil’s bidding or spend the rest of eternity in hell. It is the player's objective to guide Jack on his journey to redemption. The player will collect points from each decision they make and the best decision to make is not always obvious and straightforward. In the real world, some of our best decisions have unintended consequences or effects that we cannot possibly predict, and we want our game world to include situations that are ambiguous and difficult. We want to challenge the player to think about the impact of these decisions on the player, the NPCs and the game world.

Genre: Decision-making single player cause-and-effect game. (choose your own adventure)

Platform: This is a text based game created using Twine.

Intended Audience: PG-13. Adolescents to young adults. Possible profound language and/or adult themes. Our game is directed towards the teenage crowd. Players will be presented with scenarios and challenges.

Players: One Player

Character: This gameplay progresses in the third person perspective. The main character is Jack, a twenty something man who has led a self-centered and self-serving life. He rarely considers the feelings of others or the consequences of his actions. Depending on the player, Jack could be complex and internally a good person. He could also be empathetic and kind. It is the players decision to decide what kind of character grows within Jack.

Story

The story begins with Jack walking down the street. He carelessly throws his pop can on the sidewalk, and as he does so, drops his wallet into the road. Suddenly, a truck flies by and Jack is killed instantly.

The screen gradually goes dark as Jack fades from existence.

Jack wakes up with little memory of what has happened. He is in a strange place that’s full of fog and dust. He calls out into the emptiness and as his voice echoes, he hears a faint laughter.

“Hello? Who’s there?” asked Jack.

A large hulking man with red skin, horns, a goatee, and a full black tuxedo appears. He is instantly recognizable as the devil himself.

“I’ve been expecting you” says the devil. “Never have I seen a man more worthy of my attention.”

Jack falls backwards at the sight of the devil and begins to cry at the sheer horror of his situation.

“I am going to enjoy making your existence hell for all of eternity” the devil exclaims.

Jack begins to plead “Noooooooo…….. There must be something I can do.”

The devil gives Jack an ultimatum. “Do my bidding and I may spare your soul.”

The game begins with the player’s first choice. Do the devil’s work or spend eternity in hell.

The player is then tasked to return to the world of the living and ruin the lives of complete strangers. It is up to the player to decide whose life to ruin or if they should ruin the strangers' lives at all. Of course, each decision they make will in fact have consequences for them as well as other characters in the game.

Dramatic elements: The player will be challenged with decision making that will affect gameplay and Jack. Some situations will be emotionally-charged and provoking. Since we are creating a text-based game, we will use dramatic colours, background images and videos, sounds and music to build the world. There’s a theme of light and dark, and sometimes grey, when Jack is presented with a choice. The colour of the background will change as a progress indicator for the game and a mood change of the character. The player will have to base their decisions on this element of game design, as well.

Challenge: Some decisions the player will make are difficult and they must be able to tolerate ambiguity and make decisions based on the narrative, a specific scenario, a NPC, and Jack’s backstory. There are NPCs that will lead the player astray from the objective of the game.

Procedure: In the game, the player will play as Jack and make choices when encountering NPCs or events. The player may or may not collect points based on the consequences of the choices they make. The points collected from each decision can be either positive or negative and will be scored accordingly. Depending on the amount of positive and negative points scored, there will be various endings.

Starting Action

Explained it in the story. Jack’s accidental dying will be the beginning of our game. Our decisions can start with simple clear cut tasks such as the devil will ask the player to unplug an alarm clock or move a plant close to a ledge. The player will not yet know the significance of these tasks but it will be rewarded in completing them. This could be the basics of gameplay and a lesson for the player that they can interact with objects in the game to manipulate the storyline.

The game starts with Jack returning to the living world. He tries to interact with some people on the street but they completely ignore him. He then tries to grab a woman’s hand to get her attention but his hand passes right through the woman. In frustration, he kicks a garbage can which swiftly falls over. He soon discovers that he cannot interact with the people of the living world but has limited abilities to manipulate objects.

Progression of Action

After a certain amount of choices, we will have cut scenes of Jack remembering pieces of past events in his life slowly revealing more and more about the plot of the game and glimpse into Jack’s life. Each task the player completes, whether successful or not, will earn the player points. There will be an onscreen counter that will keep track of the player’s points as they progress.

Resolving actions

As the player progresses through the game, there will be cut scenes that show more information about Jack’s life slowly revealing more about the purpose behind the tasks that Jack is performing.

The points in the onscreen counter are not the true points. The true points will be revealed at the end of the game. The player does not yet know the purpose of the game. They think the point is to help the devil do his work in order to receive salvation. As more and more information is revealed about Jack’s life, the true nature of the game will reveal itself. It is up to the player to figure this out and proceed accordingly. If the player does not discover this in time, Jack will come to an unfavourable outcome at the end of the game.

Near the end of the game, the player’s true points will be revealed. The true points were obtained when the player chose not to help the devil but instead chose to better the lives of those they were tasked with destroying. The true points are what will actually lead them to salvation.

Rules: There will not be an immediate lose situation. The player can choose to do any amount of good or bad deeds as they wish. The points will just either add up quicker or slower. The rules are simple: make your choices and receive points accordingly.

Play: The player will meet Jack and is in control of the Jack’s path and decision making. There will be NPCs and events that prompt the player with decisions to make that will cause the Jack to perform good or bad deeds. Points will be awarded based on the impact the decisions will have. There will be situations that are ambiguous and it may be hard to distinguish between good and bad decisions. If possible, we would try to randomize events as is the case in real life. Seemingly unimportant small decisions could change the course of the game in small ways or in ways that result in devastating consequences for the player or NPCs. In certain circumstances, the devil will try to persuade/manipulate our player into choosing the wrong path, and once on that path, there will be less chances for the player to earn points.

Resources: A collection of good deeds and bad deeds results in a point total. There will be an inventory of cut scenes that will help the player piece together the true plot of the game. The cut scenes will contain information and clues that could be used to solve puzzles and to gain a deeper insight into Jack’s backstory helping to progress gameplay.

Time: An average game will depend on how many choices we have developed. We have not decided on this factor yet but should range somewhere from 15 - 45 minutes per game.

Conflicts: The dilemma of choice is the major conflict in this game. Choosing between good and evil, the player must realize the goal of the game. It is up to the player to decide if they will play against the devil by choosing to do good or bending to the devil’s will by performing bad deeds.

The player will have to face conflicts that deal with:

• Grief

• Fear

• Attraction

• Pride

• Friendship

• Family bonds

• Loss

• Empathy

• Sacrifice

• Love

• Revenge

• Loneliness

• Emotional abuse

• Power

Boundaries: In the text-based game, the world is not really open for exploration in the traditional sense. The world experience will depend on what decisions are made. Our storytelling decisions impact the overall narrative structure of the game and will create logical boundaries as each decision will limit the player’s future choices.

Win Condition: The win condition is when Jack obtains salvation and gets to go to heaven.