Game Design "Rough Conecpt" Research Phase

Project: Anchorman
The main concept for my game is going to be that of an undersea 2D platformer, similar to the likes of the Super Mario and Donkey Kong Country games. There will be a system of levels, and each level can be replayed.



The main character is going to be an deep sea diver with an anchor that fell to the bottom of the ocean floor, and wants to get back to the surface. His ship was destroyed in the storm, so his equipment is scattered throughout the levels. These pieces of equipment can serve as checkpoints for the levels, as the levels are going to be challenging. If players can collect all of the pieces of equipment in a level, they can unlock a power-up for the character. The character's anchor will be used as a short range attack, but can be upgraded to help move faster (ie. slams anchor into ground then pulls himself to charge forward.) These power-ups are not necessary to complete the game, but add a sense of necessity when the levels get more difficult later on, considering that they can make the game easier and the pieces serve as checkpoints.

There are also systems of air and pressure in the game. The character loses air naturally, and will have to pick up either O2 tanks or air bubbles to restore it. As you go farther down, the background and scenery becomes darker, and you lose air faster and potentially may not jump as high. However, in these lower sections you are more likely to find the upgrades, as they will be hidden down in the depths. This provides a sufficient challenge in getting the upgrades, but having that upgrade assist your future explorations and having it potentially change the character model, (or possibly just the color in a similar fashion to Mega Man,) will give a sense of accomplishment to the player. The game will be designed so that they are not completely necessary to beat the game, but they can help greatly. They also may give tips into the characters background.

Enemy placement is also something that will be looked at carefully. Enemies may not necessarily need to hurt the diver, but can impede his progress or trap him, or cause him to lose air at a faster rate. An octopus could squeeze him and snare him, or a turtle could be a temporary platform that could cause him to fall if he stays on it for too long.

The scenery is something that will be fun to experiment with. You can go from the pitch-black depths in the beginning, to give a sense of danger and despair that you may feel at the beginning of the game, to bright fluorescent backgrounds later. This will tie in with the progression of the game. You go from having no idea of where you are or what to do, to being able to navigate the ocean freely and beautifully, and the scenery will reflect that. This is also a fun concept for me because too many platformers follow the cliche "go to the end of the level, but if you go up high you'll get secrets and upgrades." This design is the antithesis of that, as you'll get nothing from simply going up high, other than beating the game. The real satisfaction will come from retrieving all of your belongings, and rebuilding the status of the expert diver you once were.