RAz - Demo
Games Design 1
The aim of RAz is to eat as much from the house as you can in the given time. You must try and eat the most expensive items which bring you more points; prioritising items by which will bring you more points. This is just demographic of how the game should look and feel and was designed just to demonstrate how the game should run.
Brief
Concept
The playable character is RAz. RAz is a tall blue (punch-bag shaped) creature that eats anything that he can. With anything that he eats it gets teleported to a warehouse run by evil scientist Dr.Findernickle (Scary name huh?). RAz was created to go into houses and steal as much as he can from the houses. The enemies will be pretty basic and go with the same art style the game uses, (a colourful cartoon game that will hopefully entice both adults and children to play the game, giving a wide audience) There will be different types of houses that RAz has to steal from, starting out in a bungalow to a mansion as the game progresses.
A long term idea for RAz was that as he gets further through the game he could get bigger which would then leave the game open for more playability in that as they complete the game they have to start eating not only the items in the house but houses, and eating streets and cars, statues, shops and banks which would keep the audience playing RAz, enjoying the game for much longer.
The humorous theme should be kept throughout the whole game, such as if there is a person or dog that is going to be eaten then it should be kept to a simple throw to the back of the throat with maybe a belch afterwards, no blood or any type of violence as this would limit the users that could play the game.
Special items will be available in harder to find places, these will be able to be seen back at the lab, however they will be hidden however if all the special items are found then something could be unlocked, such as a secret level, cheats or just more costumes.
As RAz’s energy depletes and he runs out of items or just cannot eat anything else then the teleport inside his stomach sucks him back to the lab.
Controls
The controls for the game will be pretty simple.
Up = Move character up
Down = Move character down
Left = Move character left
Right = Move character right
Mouse click = Grab/Eat
Keeping the controls simple and to a minimum allows anyone to play the game and with the idea of the game been a fairly simple idea, it allows (I hope) anyone to be able to play the game.
The Lab
The lab will be the main menu for the story mode, in here RAz can see what special items he has received
Obstacles
The main obstacle in the game would be energy; RAz requires energy to make the teleport in his stomach bigger in order to digest the food. Energy can be picked up by eating certain items. The more energy you have the bigger the item you can eat. If you try to eat an item too big then you will lose energy, so the main idea is like snooker, aim low to get the chance to shoot big. However as time goes on RAz loses energy so the user must try to quickly eat as much as possible which is training for the online game mode.
Character
RAz, a humorous, blue, punch bag looking character that has Rayman style hands that aren’t attached to his body. As the game carries on the character RAz will be able to purchase new elastic items of clothing, just to customize the look and hopefully make the user want to play on to try on all of the costumes. Final ideas for 100% completion would be a costume that RAz could wear of “The Dancing Banana” (Peanut Butter Jelly Time).
Online
If the game was to be used on a console then costumes would be a must, this would show the online community how much a user has completed of the game and how experienced he/she is. The online game would consist of rounds to see who could eat the most items, and the most expensive items before the other players.
Another online game mode would be that the user has to try eat the hot air balloon floating over the city, however to do this you must start in a house, go outside, and eat people then try to eat slightly bigger things such as trees and other plantation, to lawnmowers, and small cars until eventually you can eat houses, mansions, flats until eventually you can reach the hot air balloon floating over the city.
Extras
I think if there was a shop that allowed you to buy things, such as if you win an online game then you get paid 500c(redits) This can then be used to purchase little extra items, such as an energy bar that when used online gives you a ‘significant’ boost too allow you to get to the bigger items first.
Costumes could also be bought from the online mode, and achievements to ensure long time playability of the game, such as come first 10 times, find the 3 secret online items. The costumes will show the achievements the player has got, so when the player completes the first level he maybe gets a basic costume, with RAz been a very basic shaped character, costumes are going to be very easy to add to RAz yet gives the player a sense of achievement
Music
Due to time restrictions I have figured that using music from Newgrounds would be appropriate, the music uploaded is on a creative commons license which would set the idea for the demographic however if the game is ever to be published for any money making purposes the music could then not be published along with the game (without the authors consent)
Tutorial
Although this is aiming to be a casual game, the times I have played a game and thought ‘What do I do?’ I always see a tutorial as the most important part of the game. The tutorial should explain ALL the features, such as how the game is played to where to buy extra costumes or other additional items.
Credits
Credits should be given where appropriate, for any help given towards the game whatsoever, credit should be given this provides a fair option for anyone hoping to get involved, even slightly, to get some credit for what they have done.