Page contents
Tagline............................................................................................................ Tristan
Back story and context..................................................................................Tristan
Synopsis..........................................................................................................Tristan
Plot points.......................................................................................................Tristan
Characterisation and attitude.......................................................................Tristan
Scripts..............................................................................................................Tristan
Tagline............................................................................................................ Tristan
Back story and context..................................................................................Tristan
Synopsis..........................................................................................................Tristan
Plot points.......................................................................................................Tristan
Characterisation and attitude.......................................................................Tristan
Scripts..............................................................................................................Tristan
Tagline
"Memories are special moments that tell our story"
Back story and context
We have all experienced those turning points in our lives. When a decision or event re-defines and shifts the course of our life. Never underestimate the smallest event.
A priest once saved a four year old boy from drowning, that boy was Adolf Hitler ( warhistoryonline.com 2015 )
The ones we choose are usually exciting and filled with anticipation: a wedding, a new career, a family started, a move made. All change the course of events in our lives from that day on and we step willingly into them.
It’s the other events that haunt us, the life changing events that we are plunged into without choice or warning. Individual crisis that most everyone eventually gets a turn at. The call that a loved one is dying, an accident that changes life forever, a diagnose, a breakup, a job loss all change the course of life from that moment on and we find individuals forging on in places they have not stepped willingly.
We can either keep on cruising on the same old track, or we can veer off path and forge our own trail. We re-define our future and write a brand new script for our life ? Sometimes you will never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory. Because in the end all you really have is memories.
.
A priest once saved a four year old boy from drowning, that boy was Adolf Hitler ( warhistoryonline.com 2015 )
The ones we choose are usually exciting and filled with anticipation: a wedding, a new career, a family started, a move made. All change the course of events in our lives from that day on and we step willingly into them.
It’s the other events that haunt us, the life changing events that we are plunged into without choice or warning. Individual crisis that most everyone eventually gets a turn at. The call that a loved one is dying, an accident that changes life forever, a diagnose, a breakup, a job loss all change the course of life from that moment on and we find individuals forging on in places they have not stepped willingly.
We can either keep on cruising on the same old track, or we can veer off path and forge our own trail. We re-define our future and write a brand new script for our life ? Sometimes you will never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory. Because in the end all you really have is memories.
.
Synopsis
The intention is to create a multiplatform game (mobile phone, tablet, desktop, console) where the player creates/explores a life story through a series of senarios. These senerios/minigames/events are based on Jungian archetypal events: birth, death, separation from parents, initiation, marriage, the union of opposites; And are categorised into the following storyline paths: Leisure, Family, Study, Relationship, Friendship and Career, which reveal and build the players story.
The game is structured around seven stages of life , toddler, child,highschool, young adult, adult, midlife, retirement/old age . It follows/creates the life story of a male character.
In addition to these senarios., each stage of life has a list of random events that have the chance of occuring after each choice is made which further enriches the story generation. These are generally events that would be out of the players control such as the birth of a sibling, parents seperation, sibling/child/parents death, getting fired from work etc.
During the course of the game players select from a possible list of 6 scenarios, one from each life path, depending on which stage of life they are in. After selection of a scenario a window opens where the player is presented with either a video OR an interactive scene. The number of possible selections is limited for each stage of life: 2 for toddler, 4 for primary school age, 6 for high school age, 10 for young adult/adult, 2 for midlife and 4 for retirememt age. The final scene at the end of retirement is the death bed, this is a variable scene where the player is shown with family and friends. Tho thoughout the course of the game the player is not required to make friends, fall in love or have children. So potentially the final scene the player could be alone.
This game takes place in 2015 in the real world, almost as though time has frozen, even tho the events are taking place throughout a life time. What this means is that all technology and locations for all the stages of life in the game are from present day Australia.
The game is structured around seven stages of life , toddler, child,highschool, young adult, adult, midlife, retirement/old age . It follows/creates the life story of a male character.
In addition to these senarios., each stage of life has a list of random events that have the chance of occuring after each choice is made which further enriches the story generation. These are generally events that would be out of the players control such as the birth of a sibling, parents seperation, sibling/child/parents death, getting fired from work etc.
During the course of the game players select from a possible list of 6 scenarios, one from each life path, depending on which stage of life they are in. After selection of a scenario a window opens where the player is presented with either a video OR an interactive scene. The number of possible selections is limited for each stage of life: 2 for toddler, 4 for primary school age, 6 for high school age, 10 for young adult/adult, 2 for midlife and 4 for retirememt age. The final scene at the end of retirement is the death bed, this is a variable scene where the player is shown with family and friends. Tho thoughout the course of the game the player is not required to make friends, fall in love or have children. So potentially the final scene the player could be alone.
This game takes place in 2015 in the real world, almost as though time has frozen, even tho the events are taking place throughout a life time. What this means is that all technology and locations for all the stages of life in the game are from present day Australia.
Plot points
There are several plot points in the narrative that are fixed. These plot points are based on the players age and acts as transitions between the life stages, for example:
Its important to note that the opening scene varies in who you parents are ( one or two parents and older siblings) and the ending scene changes dramatically depending on the choices you made throughout the game. The young adult and adult transition scenarios vary depending on the choices made leading up to them. The young adult phase has two main paths leading into it, either completion of high school and graduation OR if they left school and took up a trade it will be them completing their traineeship. Also the adult life stage is accessed by either getting married OR by having a child.
Its important to note that the opening scene varies in who you parents are ( one or two parents and older siblings) and the ending scene changes dramatically depending on the choices you made throughout the game. The young adult and adult transition scenarios vary depending on the choices made leading up to them. The young adult phase has two main paths leading into it, either completion of high school and graduation OR if they left school and took up a trade it will be them completing their traineeship. Also the adult life stage is accessed by either getting married OR by having a child.
Characterisation and attitude
This section will describe specific characters and key personalities in the game/ main story.
The key personalities/characters are based on Jungian archetypes : great mother, father, child, wise old man, wise old woman, the trickster, the hero etc
The family dynamic is generated at the beginning of the game, with a possibility of One or Two parents and or one or two siblings and the set of grandparents at the players birth. There is also a possibility that the parents will get divorced as part of the random events.
If you have both Mother and Father
Stereotypical hetronormative relationship, father is working man (his job is never revealed) wise and calm, stay at home mother (motherly and calm).
if Single mother
Mother works late, but is still always there in times of need.
Older Brother
heroic type, stereotypical jock. Super enthusiastic, above average inteligence, rugged good looks.
Older Sister
Vain , bimbo who only cares about herself, this increases in her teen years and when reaching adult hood she becomes bitter and distant
During the course of the game there is a random event chance up until you are a young adult that a younger brother or sister can be born.
Younger Brother
He strives to play the role of the joker, always getting into trouble, seeking attention and putting himself and others at risk
Younger Sister
Very quiet, she manages to slip under the radar. But shes a genius, always achieving in intellectual persuits.
The best friend
Always happy, satisfied with the simple things in life. He gets picked on at school and as an adult is content in the 9-5 life. Getting married and having kids then grand kids. He is living the australian surburban dream
Love of life .. girlfriend or wife
Your meeting is by chance and sparks fly at first sight. Shes firey and full of life. Creative and ethincally exotic. Shes happy in the home with the kids and surrounded by family and friends.
First child
Takes after you older brother
Second child
Takes after your younger sister
The Boss
Ruthless and arrogant, but driven by some deep down need to succeed. You either want to be him or you hate him.
The key personalities/characters are based on Jungian archetypes : great mother, father, child, wise old man, wise old woman, the trickster, the hero etc
The family dynamic is generated at the beginning of the game, with a possibility of One or Two parents and or one or two siblings and the set of grandparents at the players birth. There is also a possibility that the parents will get divorced as part of the random events.
If you have both Mother and Father
Stereotypical hetronormative relationship, father is working man (his job is never revealed) wise and calm, stay at home mother (motherly and calm).
if Single mother
Mother works late, but is still always there in times of need.
Older Brother
heroic type, stereotypical jock. Super enthusiastic, above average inteligence, rugged good looks.
Older Sister
Vain , bimbo who only cares about herself, this increases in her teen years and when reaching adult hood she becomes bitter and distant
During the course of the game there is a random event chance up until you are a young adult that a younger brother or sister can be born.
Younger Brother
He strives to play the role of the joker, always getting into trouble, seeking attention and putting himself and others at risk
Younger Sister
Very quiet, she manages to slip under the radar. But shes a genius, always achieving in intellectual persuits.
The best friend
Always happy, satisfied with the simple things in life. He gets picked on at school and as an adult is content in the 9-5 life. Getting married and having kids then grand kids. He is living the australian surburban dream
Love of life .. girlfriend or wife
Your meeting is by chance and sparks fly at first sight. Shes firey and full of life. Creative and ethincally exotic. Shes happy in the home with the kids and surrounded by family and friends.
First child
Takes after you older brother
Second child
Takes after your younger sister
The Boss
Ruthless and arrogant, but driven by some deep down need to succeed. You either want to be him or you hate him.
Scripts
At this stage of development the story has been constructed through the creation of the senario lists for each stage of life and the random event tables.
The following is a link for the downloadable excel spreadsheet which contains the outline for user story development
/uploads/6/3/7/6/63762205/story_line_continued.xls
BELOW ( CLICK IT TO INTERACT) : To view this story outline described in the above file you can dynamically interact with the below window (NOTE: The graphics are for test purposes only and are in no way represent the final product or art style )
RECOMMENDED To view full screen click here
The following is a link for the downloadable excel spreadsheet which contains the outline for user story development
/uploads/6/3/7/6/63762205/story_line_continued.xls
BELOW ( CLICK IT TO INTERACT) : To view this story outline described in the above file you can dynamically interact with the below window (NOTE: The graphics are for test purposes only and are in no way represent the final product or art style )
RECOMMENDED To view full screen click here
ABOVE: click the "path" icons to proceed with the story, when a single option is given this indicates a key event OR a random event.
When you click on a "path" icon a larger window opens, the window currently only describe the scenario type ( which was inspired by the "Game of Life" action cards) some of the scenarios have further details regarding actions that can be made. These can also be found in the 'Storyboard' and 'User journey' sections of this website.
When you click on a "path" icon a larger window opens, the window currently only describe the scenario type ( which was inspired by the "Game of Life" action cards) some of the scenarios have further details regarding actions that can be made. These can also be found in the 'Storyboard' and 'User journey' sections of this website.
Page contents
Multi-platform form..........................................Tristan
User journey.......................................................Tristan
Interface ............................................................Tristan
Multi-platform form..........................................Tristan
User journey.......................................................Tristan
Interface ............................................................Tristan
Multi-platform form
This game will be designed for mobile, tablet and desktop/laptop in landscape mode, this will be achieved through responsive architecture. The final game will support for windows, apple and andriod compatability. The controls for the games menus, timeline navigation and scenarios are point and click, with keyboard directional buttons and ESC enabled for desktops and laptops. On mobile devices the menu will be accessible by pressing the back button or function button.
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User journey
The following is a diagram which figuratively demonstrates a playthrough of the game storyline prototype from start to finsh with accompanying notes.
RECOMMENDED: view the playthrough in full screen, click the link below: http://artworkprocess.net/interactivestorytelling2015/playthrough/_
RECOMMENDED: view the playthrough in full screen, click the link below: http://artworkprocess.net/interactivestorytelling2015/playthrough/_
Interface
This section is a simple visual description of potential unique elements of the interface, including the thinking behind UI (user interface) and how this influences the design planning. These include the UI for the:
MAIN MENU (UI)
ABOVE: the main menu is kept as simple as possible, when "begin" is clicked that menu fades to black, and the "birth" scene/scenerio for the game begins. When credits is clicked, this menu fades to show only the background image and text.
Credits (UI)
BELOW: this window stays open for 10 seconds then fades back to the main menu, names are listed alphabetically
Credits (UI)
BELOW: this window stays open for 10 seconds then fades back to the main menu, names are listed alphabetically
Ingame menu (UI )
ABOVE:To access the ingame menu, press ESCAPE on a keyboard , START on a game controller OR the back button on mobile or tablet devices. Selecting CONTINUE will remove the menu, selecting QUIT TO MAIN MENU will return the user to the MAIN MENU (UI)
Scenario selection screen/timeline (UI)
The aesthetic of the timeline and scenario selection screen is inspired by neurological pathways. Each decision and choice is creating/accessing a new pathway.
BELOW: Once the player clicks 'begin' on the main menu , a short "birth" video is played at fullscreen, which then fades to show the timeline scenario selection screen
ABOVE:To access the ingame menu, press ESCAPE on a keyboard , START on a game controller OR the back button on mobile or tablet devices. Selecting CONTINUE will remove the menu, selecting QUIT TO MAIN MENU will return the user to the MAIN MENU (UI)
Scenario selection screen/timeline (UI)
The aesthetic of the timeline and scenario selection screen is inspired by neurological pathways. Each decision and choice is creating/accessing a new pathway.
BELOW: Once the player clicks 'begin' on the main menu , a short "birth" video is played at fullscreen, which then fades to show the timeline scenario selection screen
Timeline (UI)
ABOVE:At any point while the timeline is viewable ( before scenario selection) the player will be able to scroll backwards and forwards to the choices that they have previously made.
Scenario has been selected (UI)
Below: Once a scenario has been selected, which is done by clicking on one of the four "blobs" in the center of the screen, a window will then open up in the middle of the screen where the player will be able to interact with or watch the scene. The type of interaction will depend on the scenario. The below is an example of the "primary school age" life stage, and "fun with family" scenario from the family path. Some scenes have no limit to how long you can stay in them, others are time dependent. This includes random events
ABOVE:At any point while the timeline is viewable ( before scenario selection) the player will be able to scroll backwards and forwards to the choices that they have previously made.
Scenario has been selected (UI)
Below: Once a scenario has been selected, which is done by clicking on one of the four "blobs" in the center of the screen, a window will then open up in the middle of the screen where the player will be able to interact with or watch the scene. The type of interaction will depend on the scenario. The below is an example of the "primary school age" life stage, and "fun with family" scenario from the family path. Some scenes have no limit to how long you can stay in them, others are time dependent. This includes random events
End game scene
BELOW: Once the player has moved through all of the scenario screens, they are presented with a final screen, the players death bed. The characters in this screen will depend on the choices they have made throughout the game. IE family members( children, grand children, spouse) friends. There is also the possibility that they will be alone.
On this screen there is also the "social share" button located at the bottom of the screen. Once pressed the image in the center of the screen will be posted to the relevant social network, along with a brief description of their end game. Mostly statistics such as number of children, grand children, things they chose to do such as sports or if they focused on career etc. Its basically an obituary that gets posted to the social networks.
"PLAYER will be remembered... ("for living a long fun filled life" "successful career" "by his many children grand children" "as a family man" "as the life of the party" etc)" the write up will depend on the choices they made during the game. This feature may be removed in the final version of the game
BELOW: Once the player has moved through all of the scenario screens, they are presented with a final screen, the players death bed. The characters in this screen will depend on the choices they have made throughout the game. IE family members( children, grand children, spouse) friends. There is also the possibility that they will be alone.
On this screen there is also the "social share" button located at the bottom of the screen. Once pressed the image in the center of the screen will be posted to the relevant social network, along with a brief description of their end game. Mostly statistics such as number of children, grand children, things they chose to do such as sports or if they focused on career etc. Its basically an obituary that gets posted to the social networks.
"PLAYER will be remembered... ("for living a long fun filled life" "successful career" "by his many children grand children" "as a family man" "as the life of the party" etc)" the write up will depend on the choices they made during the game. This feature may be removed in the final version of the game
Page contents
Design aesthetic........................................................................................... orson
Branding and design guidelines introduction.................................................... orson
Storyboard and Wireframes................................................................................................ tristan
Style guide, colour and font specs...........................................................orson
Media design styles..................................................................................... orson
Full assets list....................................................................................... orson
Design aesthetic........................................................................................... orson
Branding and design guidelines introduction.................................................... orson
Storyboard and Wireframes................................................................................................ tristan
Style guide, colour and font specs...........................................................orson
Media design styles..................................................................................... orson
Full assets list....................................................................................... orson
Design aesthetic
The visual aesthetics of this game is to create a well designed paper-cutout diorama boxes. It should look like a very neat adult had created this world for children, but that's what it should just look like, not necessarily what the content actually contains (it can be quite mature content).
The memories in this game will be made of a style of dioramas, the reason for this is it allow the game designers to add depth to the memory scenes, a key element in creating interesting worlds the player can enjoy looking at. One of the key elements that can make simple games look great is by giving foreground and background. If I didn't have the option to create a diorama there would be very little in the way of creating a foreground and the background and the scene's would look flat.
The characters in this game are designed very similarly to scribble-naughts or south park style characters in the sense that these figures could be animated traditionally with paper cutout pieces and stop motion. Instead of stop motion programs that use key frames similar to after effects can be used to speed up the process of animating. The reason we went with this character design is that we have to animate a lot of scenes quickly, that the player will only be able to experience a portion of these scenes unless they choose the game+ mode. So in this sense having to animate a large number of scenes, we had to make them as simple to animate as possible. These paper cutout models are by far the easiest and quickest to animate as it doesn't require you to redraw anything (most of the time), instead all you have to do is simply rig these characters and then you should be able to animate them quickly using keyframes or some similar style of animation.
The time this game is set in is 2015 from beginning to end, we don't necessarily want the game time period to change as this would cause a complex number of scenes to change over time.
The memories in this game will be made of a style of dioramas, the reason for this is it allow the game designers to add depth to the memory scenes, a key element in creating interesting worlds the player can enjoy looking at. One of the key elements that can make simple games look great is by giving foreground and background. If I didn't have the option to create a diorama there would be very little in the way of creating a foreground and the background and the scene's would look flat.
The characters in this game are designed very similarly to scribble-naughts or south park style characters in the sense that these figures could be animated traditionally with paper cutout pieces and stop motion. Instead of stop motion programs that use key frames similar to after effects can be used to speed up the process of animating. The reason we went with this character design is that we have to animate a lot of scenes quickly, that the player will only be able to experience a portion of these scenes unless they choose the game+ mode. So in this sense having to animate a large number of scenes, we had to make them as simple to animate as possible. These paper cutout models are by far the easiest and quickest to animate as it doesn't require you to redraw anything (most of the time), instead all you have to do is simply rig these characters and then you should be able to animate them quickly using keyframes or some similar style of animation.
The time this game is set in is 2015 from beginning to end, we don't necessarily want the game time period to change as this would cause a complex number of scenes to change over time.
Branding and design guidelines introduction
Branding throughout the game will be implemented by creating a unique and recognisable art style. This project will mainly be done on a low budget to no budget scale so all branding will have to be done for free.
Branding personality, we want this game to have a consistent tone throughout that everyone who played this game can recognise. The aesthetic we want this game to have is to look like a child designed the game while the games content can be very mature content at points. This contrast is to help evoke an innocence we all yearn for that is pushed by the reality of the world. The target market for this game is university students of QCA, having such a specific target audience will make targeting our audience a lot easier. For instance, we know that to spread the game through word of mouth we simply need to situate ourselves around QCA campus to get the best coverage. Also, spreading our game through social media will be extremely beneficial in advertising our game, and for free. |   |
Storyboard and Wire frames
This section is designed to be an extension of the user journey. The artwork style is not indicitive of the final product, but instead is to illustrate the functionality of the scenarios, which when the game is brought up to prototype level, will act as a guide for how they are intended to function. The pace and functional aspects of each scenario vary, with the intention to evoke emotions from the player. For example the high school award scenario is intended to evoke awkwardness, as the player is trying to shake hands and take the award at the same time. Every scenarios in the game has been designed to work across all of the platforms taking into consideration commonality of the "click/touch" function.
The following is a gallery of the scenarios which cover some of the choices available from beginning to end, this is not an exhaustive gallery, and is intended as part of a working project. Each frame is described with a line or two covering how the menu, navigation, functional boxes and clickable areas work as well as their placement.
click on the thumbnail to enlarge:
The following is a gallery of the scenarios which cover some of the choices available from beginning to end, this is not an exhaustive gallery, and is intended as part of a working project. Each frame is described with a line or two covering how the menu, navigation, functional boxes and clickable areas work as well as their placement.
click on the thumbnail to enlarge:
Style guide, colour and font specs
The style of this game is monochromatic black and white the majority of the time, this is too help insinuate that these events had already happened and you are simply playing out a person's memory. To help insinuate that these are memories, old photography film grain could be added. On occasions color can be used in a similar style to Frank Millers Sin City 2005. Examples of when to use selective color would be when clubbing light shades of neon blue and purple can be used, to give the player's partner gold hair to maker her more recognizable from all the other n.p.c.'s.
The Fonts that would work for this game are simple ones, either fonts like Arial, Arial Black or Cambria would work as suitable fonts.
The Fonts that would work for this game are simple ones, either fonts like Arial, Arial Black or Cambria would work as suitable fonts.
Media design styles
Visual Assets
The visual assets (both characters and environments) used with in this game would entirely be created using digital painting and/or 3d modelling. The reason for this is to allow both a swift turnaround on environments and to give the game a distinctive style unique to itself. To help give the environments style and depth without blowing the amount of time spent creating them, the scenes have to fit into a holo-cube, which is pretty much a diorama box. If the environment would extend past the box's walls, the rest of the background can be painted onto the diorama walls.
Music and Audio
The music in this game is to be subtle and not too noticeable, almost ambient sounds instead of music. This is to help allow the player feel their own emotions as feelings towards certain moments may differ between players, if the music had to evoke some sort of feeling, the best one to aim for is curiosity.
Sounds with long decays and echos would be used when the character is walking between event (in the brain neurons). This is to help give depth to the scene around (as the neurons go on forever into the background). One way to emphasise this depth is to design the players footsteps to have long delays while walking through the brain, it gives the scene a feeling of depth and endlessness.
However, when the player enters a memory, the depth is immediately compacted down, the ambient music will usually be drowned out by the atmos noise presented in the scene (an office will have phone calls and printers while a bar will have noisy drunks and dance music). This helps momentarily break the character from the brain world and quickly set themselves in the memory world they've abruptly been placed in.
The visual assets (both characters and environments) used with in this game would entirely be created using digital painting and/or 3d modelling. The reason for this is to allow both a swift turnaround on environments and to give the game a distinctive style unique to itself. To help give the environments style and depth without blowing the amount of time spent creating them, the scenes have to fit into a holo-cube, which is pretty much a diorama box. If the environment would extend past the box's walls, the rest of the background can be painted onto the diorama walls.
Music and Audio
The music in this game is to be subtle and not too noticeable, almost ambient sounds instead of music. This is to help allow the player feel their own emotions as feelings towards certain moments may differ between players, if the music had to evoke some sort of feeling, the best one to aim for is curiosity.
Sounds with long decays and echos would be used when the character is walking between event (in the brain neurons). This is to help give depth to the scene around (as the neurons go on forever into the background). One way to emphasise this depth is to design the players footsteps to have long delays while walking through the brain, it gives the scene a feeling of depth and endlessness.
However, when the player enters a memory, the depth is immediately compacted down, the ambient music will usually be drowned out by the atmos noise presented in the scene (an office will have phone calls and printers while a bar will have noisy drunks and dance music). This helps momentarily break the character from the brain world and quickly set themselves in the memory world they've abruptly been placed in.
Full assets list
Adult person will consist of detachable limbs, The list of all limbs include:
As can be seen in the concept sketch, there are small black dots that represent the joints/anchor-points/pins that represent where the pieces are attached together, these pins can either be added to the final art style or left out.
These Limbs are quite easily designed and are interchangeable so it can allow for a large and quick creation of body assets that can be implemented seamlessly. This can allow for two main advantages, one, it will be quick and easy to create other people, and two, it will not be entirely difficult to make the character change just as easy for instance, if the character gets a promotion at work, then maybe his shirt can turn into a suit jacket. only the worse asset would have to change. Scene List: This is a full list of diorama boxes that need to be created, as there is so many scenes, it would be quite advantageous to create a bunch of filler assets, for instance, the office (where you work scene) and the scene where you have to vote could be done in the same room but with different filler assets, e.g. the office is in a grey room with desk cubicles while the voting scene is in the same grey room but with red curtained boxes for people to vote : Character Lists: General Asset List: These are general items that art designer can drop into scenes or onto characters so that they don't have to make everything from scratch. Interchangeable colours mean the assets will have to be easily programmed so the general colour can be changed with a minimum of a few clicks). |
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