Game World Dimensions

Physical

1. Does my game require a physical dimension? What is it used for? Is it an essential part of gameplay or merely cosmetic?

   • The game has a strong physical component as its main feature is gravity reversal. The players must reverse gravity to solve puzzles and defeat enemies. The physics in this game has much more than a cosmetic role and has a major impact on gameplay. Elements move either up or down depending on gravity. The main character, Major Dom, is a special case, as they always move in the opposite direction of gravity.

2. Leaving aside issues of implementation or display, how many imaginary spatial dimensions does my game require? If there are three or more, can objects move continuously through the third and higher dimensions, or are these dimensions partitioned into discrete “layers” or zones?

   • The characters move in a normal world with three dimensions, but the game is displayed in 2D from a side view. No additional imaginary dimensions are required.

3. How big is my game world, in light-years or inches? Is accuracy of scale critical, as in a football game, or not, as in a cartoon-like action game?

   • Our game world plays on an alien planet roughly the size of the earth. The levels are represented as caves, corridors, or tunnels. The length of the levels varies. Scaled to the characters, the levels are a few hundred meters long.

4. Will my game need more than one scale, for indoor versus outdoor areas, for example? How many will it actually require?

   • The game world and characters will retain their size and scale throughout the entire game.

5. How am I going to handle the relative sizes of objects and people? What about their relative speeds of movement?

   • Irrelevant due to fixed scaling.

6. How is my world bounded? Am I going to make an effort to disguise the “edge of the world,” and if so, with what? What happens if the player tries to go beyond it?

   • The world consists of defined levels with a clear starting and ending point, and there is no way for the player to leave these boundaries. The limits are the floor and ceiling of the cave. At the end of the level, there is a gate/portal to exit upon completion of the tasks. The level’s starting point also has a closed entrance.

Temporal

1. Is time a meaningful element of my game? Does the passage of time change anything in the game world even if the player does nothing, or does the world simply sit still and wait for the player to do something?

   • Time is a meaningful element in our game. The players have to solve each level in a specific time, depending on the amount of enemies and side quests they will be confronted with. If they do not solve the level, they will have to start the level from the beginning. This creates the effect of tension in solving the problems in a specific time. The in-game time works simultanously to the player’s time in the real world.

   • Therefore a timer will be implemented in the UI.

2. If time does change the world, what effects does it have? Does food decay, and do light bulbs burn out?

   • There are day and night levels. Night levels turn down the field of view, which means that darkness appears. Moot, the slimy alien, starts to glow, so both players can see their next few steps.

3. How does time affect the player’s avatar? Does he get hungry or tired?

   • The avatar won’t be hungry or tired.

4. What is the actual purpose of including time in my game? Is it only a part of the atmosphere, or is it an essential part of the gameplay?

   • It creates the feelings of being thrilled, fascination and tension inside the players.

5. Is there a time scale for my game? Do I need to have measurable quantities of time, such as hours, days, and years, or can I just let time go by without bothering to measure it? Does the player need a clock to keep track of time?

   • We can measure time for statistics like “How long does a player with standard gaming abilities need to solve the tutorial level?”. We can use this information to modify the game balance.

   • A timer will be implemented in the UI.

6. Are there periods of time that I’m going to skip or do without? Is this going to be visible to the player, or will it happen seamlessly?

   • From level to level it switches day and night, depending on the current level context of the game. The player will recognize it.

7. Do I need to implement day and night? If I do, what will make night different from day? Will it merely look different, or will it have other effects as well? What about seasons?

   • There are day and night levels. Night levels turn down the field of view, which means that darkness appears. The colors will be darker or even black. Only Moot, the slimy alien, starts to glow by the center of his buddy (because he swallowed a lantern. By glowing Moot, both players can see their next few steps they can take.

8. Will any of the time in my game need to be anomalous? If so, why? Will that bother the player? Do I need to explain it away, and if so, how?

   • No.

9. Should the player be allowed to adjust time in any way? Why, how, and when?

   • No.

Environmental

1. Is my game world set in a particular historical period or geographic location? When and where? Is it an alternate reality, and if so, what makes it different from ours?

   • It plays on an unknown planet. No references to the real world are made meaning the players themselves can decide if it plays in our or an alternate universe.

2. Are there any people in my game world? What are they like? Do they have a complex, highly organised society or a simple, tribal one? How do they govern themselves? How is this social structure reflected in their physical surroundings? Are there different classes of people, guilds, or specialised occupations?

   • The players meet an unknown civilisation and try to talk to hem. This goes wrong forcing them to fight for their survival. Throughout the gameplay the players vaguely discovers the hierarchy of the enemies and can read extra “Lore” on stone tablets scattered in the levels. The players do not discover the exact population or classes/ occupation the civilisation has.

3. What do my people value? Trade, martial prowess, imperialism, peace? What kinds of lives do they lead in pursuit of these ends? Are they hunters, nomadic, agrarian, industrialised, even postindustrial? How does this affect their buildings and clothing?

   • The folk Major Dom belongs to are traditionally a very peaceful tribe, however they are in dire need for a second home plant since their population count is increasing too much for their home planet. This is why the Space-Rangers are set to explore the universe to find a suitable planet. Because of their peaceful nature Major Dom first tries to communicate with the unknown civilisation, which ultimately ends in failure. Major Dom’s tribe is very intelligent developing technology way above the understanding of humans, e.g. the Anti-Gravity.

4. Are my people superstitious or religious? Do they have institutions or religious practices that will be visible in the game? Are there religious buildings? Do the people carry charms or display spiritual emblems?

   • Major Dom’s folk used to believe in a plethora of Gods, however since a few millennia most people stopped believing since they started to explain everything through science. The unknown civilisation are religious which can be seen by the players while they are travelling through a temple.

5. What are my people’s aesthetics like? Are they flamboyant or reserved, chaotic or orderly, bright or subtle? What colors do they like? Do they prefer straight lines or curves?

   • The Space Rangers have a strongly highteched space suit, clean and elegant, the colours of the suit are dark with only the highlights being in a brighter (orange) color.

6. If there aren’t any people in the game, what are there instead, and what do they look like and how do they behave?

   • NULL

7. Does my game take place indoors or outdoors, or both? If indoors, what are the furnishings and interior decor like? If outdoors, what is the geography and architecture like?

   • The players start by travelling out in the open but in following levels they go through cities, caves, etc.

8. What are the style and mood of my game? How am I going to create them with art, sound, and music?

   • The game is supposed to be peaceful, both in design and music. The music changes according to the level.

9. How much detail can I afford in my game? Will it be rich and varied or sparse and uncluttered? How does this affect the way the game is played?

   • The games design will be a high Resolution Pixel-Art

Emotional

1. Does my game have a significant emotional dimension? What emotions will my game world include?

   • The emotion of solidarity is the core emotional component in this game. Only together you will be able to solve the challenges of the game.

2. How does emotion serve the entertainment value of my game? Is it a key element of the plot? Does it motivate characters in the game or the player himself?

   • As the key element of the plot, you can not play the game without having a second player you communicate and cooperate with.

3. What emotions will I try to inspire in the player? How will I do this? What will be at stake?

   • “You can only be strong together!” - this is the core inspiration value of our game. Challenges are not solvable by a single player making the game unique for the “friendship”-like character!

Ethical

1. What constitutes right and wrong in my game? What player actions do I reward and what do I punish?

   • Punish: Players can either fight against enemies or run away from them. If they ignore them they receive damage and their character might die.
   • Reward: Players can fight enemies, collect collectibles, find so called "Easter Eggs" in the game (e.g., the Storyteller-Alien) and complete the level far under the expected time. Then they get rewards in terms of new items and gadgets.

2. How will I explain the ethical dimensions of the world to the player? What tells him how to behave and what is expected of him?

   • The storyteller alien appears in the first level and in every following level. It will explain the story behind the planet, the characters and how to the players can finish the level. It tells them "how to behave on the foreign planet".
   • In the tutorial level, each type of enemy is introduced. The player can choose whether to fight or run away from them.

3. If my game world includes conflict or competition, is it represented as violence or as something else (racing to a finish, winning an economic competition, outmanoeuvring the other side)?

   • Violence: In each level there are conflicts between the players and inhabitants of planet Ra. These enemies openly show hostility to the players, forcing them into self-defense.
   • Racing: Time is ticking. That means, that each level need to be completed successfully in a specific time. In combination with sound design (ticking alarm clock) it creates pressure and players start to rush through the game.
   • Economic Competition: A world ranking list lists the best teamplayers. The best team deserves rewards.

4. What range of choices am I offering my player? Are there both violent and nonviolent ways to accomplish something? Is the player rewarded in any way for minimising casualties, or is he punished for ignoring them?

   • The game is mainly about the team building part and the successful completion. If the team completes the level in shorter time than expected or lose less lives than expected, they get extra rewards.

5. In many games, the end—winning the game—justifies any means that the game allows. Do I want to define the victory conditions in such a way that not all means are acceptable?

   • Winning the Game is not tied to the ethical choices the players make. Theoretically they could go through the game killing only the [2] enemies from the tutorial level or do not shift gravity once. It is about the creativity to complete the game on their own way.

6. Are any other ethical questions present in my game world? Can my player lie, cheat, steal, break promises, or double-cross anyone? Can she abuse, torture, or enslave anyone? Are there positive or negative consequences for these actions?

   • Players can only steal parts for their spaceship. There are no consequences other than enemies attacking them.

7. Does my world contain any ethical ambiguities or moral dilemmas? How does making one choice over another affect the player, the plot, and the gameplay?

   • Ethical ambiguities: The characters have crashed their spaceship on an alien planet, expect the native aliens to be happy about it, fight those aliens, and get help from another outcast native alien.

8. How realistic is my portrayal of violence? Does the realism appropriately serve the entertainment value of the game?

   • For example, fighting against enemies is more like a cartoon-style fight, without any blood.
   • When violence happens (e.g., a box pops on a characters head) the character lights up with a red border (as an indicator for pain).