Game Design Homework 14

(see assignment here: http://fsugd.blogspot.com/2010/10/homework-14-reality-is-state-of-mind.html)

• What about the real world is modeled by the game? 

Simplified, but generally real-ish layouts of real rooms, realistic physics, lighting... do houses really get haunted?

• Give some ideas on how you will control the Challenges versus skill graph 

As you travel through the mansion and visit more rooms and whatnot, more and more objects will become haunted, making the game more difficult as you progress.  You will also find additional useful items further into the game, allowing for more choices in how you deal with situations, which should also help to keep the game from getting to monotonous or difficult.

• Where in the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs does your game lie?

Primarily we're appealing to the 2nd tier's need for safety/security by making a game in which the player is trapped and needs to fight for survival.

• List some of the objects of your games 

 Chars, tables, sofas, TVs, refrigerators, beds...

• For these objects, list their attributes For 5 attributes, create a state diagram (following pacman example) 

 The general state diagram for an enemy in our game looks something like...

• What is the space of your game? Discrete? Continuous? What is its dimension? 

 Continuous in 2D and semi-3D through limited jumping.  Boundaries in the form of separate rooms, etc.

• Will players see all game data, or is some of it secret? 

 The information given to the player will be minimized.  We hope to convey some useful information through sounds and things like lighting... but a lot will be left vague to increase suspense and fear.

• List some of the operational actions in your game 

 Movement (Forward, back, left, right, turning), Jump, Spring, Attack with whatever weapon, flashlight on/off

• List a few anticipated resultant actions in your game 

Approaching objects slowly and backing off quickly to check if they're aggressive, Perhaps using the flashlight as a way of detecting haunting, if such a mechanism can be implemented (we're already having lighting troubles), fleeing through rooms already cleared to avoid angry enemies

• List some verbs that apply to your game 

 Run, jump, hit, rest, hide...

• List some rules for your game (you’ll change these later ..)

 Laws of physics (don't walk through walls, can only jump so high, etc.), You can kill anything that can kill you, and visa-versa (and on the other hand, you can't destroy anything that's not a threat to you), you can only hurt The Potato with the Holy Peeler.

And with that, here's a nice picture of the box of one of the best games ever, that had a heavy influence upon my childhood: