Id

Id

Game Design Document

by Thomas Grasman

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this document is to describe “Id”, a 2D side-scrolling game. This game will be developed to gain a better understanding of game development and 2D game programming techniques and hopefully to produce a piece of software that will be somewhat enjoyable to play.

TECHNOLOGY

“Id” will be developed for Windows using McKilla’s Gorilla game engine, which is a bare-bones engine developed by Richard McKenna for rapid prototyping 2D games. DirectX will also be used. Artwork will be done using Adobe Flash, an iPad as a drawing tablet and my girlfriend chained to a desk.

BACK STORY

People in Id’s home town rarely cause disturbances but recently people have been falling into very deep sleeps. Our hero Ego has been blacking out and ends up in places not remembering how he got there and he starts getting the feeling that he is in two places at once. He has flashes of memories of the town he is living in but somehow darker and more surreal.

OBJECTIVE

Time may be running out for the people. In this small town there is one man who may have an answer to the mysteries. Ego makes it his mission to get to his lab and make sure he is safe.

The people in the town have been acting strangely and have been very destructive. Ego’s subconscious, “Super Ego,” travels in an alternate reality beside him and must guide him through a series of puzzles. He only has the ability to control one at a time and must use both in order to get to the lab.

GAMEPLAY

This game will be a side scroller with two separate planes for each controllable character. These two planes will overlap one another and slide from right to left on their own without influencing one another. Ego can control only one of his identities at a time but needs both to get through the town.

In his normal body, Ego can interact with the normal environment around him such as flipping switches and will take damage from dangerous things in the environment. He will also have the ability, when overlapping with Super Ego, to pull Super Ego to the same position as himself in his world.

Super Ego can jump much higher than Ego. He is invulnerable to damage from objects in the natural world. He also has the ability to knock dangerous townspeople unconscious by attacking their unconscious beings. He can only be damaged from direct light.

CONTROLS

This game will be played using a keyboard and mouse. Once started, use the following:

• A - Move Left
• D - Move Right
• LEFT-ARROW - Move Left (same as A)
• RIGHT-ARROW - Move Right (same as D)
• E – Action Button. Actions change relative to the environment. While controlling Ego, This button will flip switched, open doors and pull Super Ego to Ego’s location.
• SPACE - Jump
• SHIFT – Swap control between Ego and Super Ego.
• LEFT MOUSE CLICK – While controlling Super Ego this will shoot balls of darkness toward other subconscious beings in order to subdue their conscious selves.
• ESC – This will pause the game and bring up an in-game menu overlaying the game.

GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE

• Title Screen – The splash screen will display the game title and press enter to start along with an image of Ego and Super Ego. When the user presses enter, the screen Ego runs off to the right then Super Ego flashes and disappears.
• Back Story – Immediately following the splash screen, this will show a short, comic book style animation explaining the lame back story.
• In-Game Menu – The in-game menu will pop up over the game screen when the user presses the escape button.
• Continue – This will resume the current came.
• Controls - If pressed, the game will display an info screen that includes a description of all game controls.
• About - If pressed, the game will display an info screen with information about the game author and artist.
• Exit - If pressed, the game program will exit.

• In-Game GUI - At the beginning of each level Ego runs from left onto the screen then pulls Super Ego onto the screen. Ego and Super Ego will each have their own health bars displayed on the top of the screen. The direction and distance relative to the selected character will also be displayed and will switch each time the user swaps characters.

All of the objects represented in Ego’s world will be drawn overlapping everything in Super Ego’s world. When the user swaps control to Super Ego, the overlapping of worlds will swap from one to the other. 

ARTWORK

All artwork in the game will be original. The following needs to be created:

• Ego and Super Ego- We will only draw each once, then change colors from earth tones to deep blues and blacks to create Super Ego. Each will require animations for:
• Walking Right
• Walking Left
• Jumping Right
• Jumping Left
• Jumping Up
• Taking Damage
• Dying

• Everyone Else – Other characters will be drawn doing very simple actions.

• Lamps – Non animated drawings of different light sources:
• On – Beams of light impassable by Super Ego
• Off

• Ceiling, Floor, & Wall Tiles – Lightly colored earth toney tiles will be drawn for Ego’s world and dark tiles will be drawn for Super Ego’s world.

• Background Images – Two repeating images will need to be drawn for the background. These images will scroll at different speeds and will create a sense of depth. 

 Story Board

1. Title Screen: This is just a first draft of the title screen that will be used in the game. 

2. Walk-in and gameplay: This short clip quickly demonstrates the characters walking onto the screen then it attempts to highlight the independent scrolling and one of the possible interactions between planes.