Prismatic: Design Document
Prismatic Design Document:
Game Idea
You are a being of light, attempting to restore color to a darkened land. To this end, you must find your way into the center of a cube, where you can release a part of the color spectrum that has been locked into the cube. In order to reach your goal, you must change color to utilize the different-colored surfaces throughout the level; but, sometimes in order to do this, you must rotate slices of the cube.
Detailed Plan for Game
General Design
You are an avatar that platforms through a level, trying to reach the end. Throughout the level you will encounter obstacles, harmful and neutral, that block your path. The player goes through levels sequentially, with the levels generally getting harder and introducing new features.
Avatar Controls
The avatar is affected physics, namely gravity and collisions. The player controls the horizontal motion of the player using the A and D keys. To jump, the player presses SPACE. If the player wishes, they can use the arrow keys instead of the A and D keys to control horizontal movement. The F key allows the avatar to interact with objects in the environment.
Air Movement
When the avatar jumps when moving, it can influence its direction in the air, but not perfectly.
Changing Colors
The avatar can change colors by moving through color portals. Color portals bestow their color to the avatar, and each color bestows a different power to the avatar. Each color also has a method by which is lost. Portals do not disappear when they are used.
Color Powers
White
- The default color
- When other colors are lost, they turn white
- White cannot be lost
Red
- Double Jumper
- Lost by timer
Green
- Anti-Gravity Bouncer
- When a player moves through a green portal, they continue to move in that direction in regardless of gravity, and elastically bounce off of any walls they encounter.
- Lost by timer
Blue
- Special Platformer
- Blue platforms throughout the level only turn opaque/appear when the player is blue
- Lost by timer
Level Design
Levels will take place on the faces of a cube. The player will mostly be on the vertical faces of the cube, where the main gameplay takes place. The goal of the player is to reach a hole in the cube that allows them to find the color in the center, at which point they will rise through a shaft to the top of the cube and escape.
Rotations
The cube can rotate (like a Rubik’s cube) horizontally. This allows for dynamic level changes, and potentially increases platforming difficulty. These rotations are triggered by switches scattered throughout the level.
Switches
Time freezes when you activate a switch. Switches are destructible: once used, they disappear. They can be activated mid-air, or on the ground, by pressing the interact key.
Checkpoints
Checkpoints save the player’s position, color, and cube rotations. When a player dies, they return to their last checkpoint.
Goal
The goal is a particular hole in the side of the cube. This hole leads to the center, where the color that you are trying to free is bound. Once you free it, you move to the top of the level where you escape using a prism.
Level Select
The player will be able to choose between levels. The levels will be grouped by color, and may be locked until the player completes previous levels.
Feature Set Targets
Feature Set: Low-bar
- Avatar movement
- Death
- Camera
- Level design: basic environment
- Level design: level 1
- Color portals/color changing
- Color powers: red
- Color power: blue
- Color power: green
- Cube rotation/switches
- Win condition
- Art design: avatar
- Art design: environment
- Sound effects: avatar
- Polish: Improved particle effects
Feature Set: Expected
- Everything in Feature Set: Low-bar
- Level selector
- Level design: level 2
- Level design: level 3
- Checkpoints
- Art design: environment
- Art design: UI
- Music: level background(s)
- Polish: win animation
- Polish: scripted camera animations
Feature Set: High-bar
- Color powers: others
- Sound effects: GUI
- Music: level selector
- Polish: fade between levels
- Polish: level selector
- Polish: glass effects
- Level design: levels 4+
- Level design: level importer
Timeline
Week 1: 10/22 – 10/28
- Avatar movement
- Camera
- Color portals/color changing
- Level design: basic environment
- Setup SVN repository
Week 2: 10/29 – 11/4
- Level design: level 1
- Cube rotation/switches
- Death
- Win condition
- Color power: red
- Color power: blue
- Color power: green
Week 3: 11/5 – 11/11
- Level design: level 2
- Sound effects: avatar
- Checkpoints
- Art design: avatar
Week 4: 11/12 – 11/18
- Level design: level 3
- Level selector
- Polish: scripted camera animations
- Art design: environment
Week 5: 11/19-11/25
- Art design: UI
- Polish: win animation
- Music: level background(s)
Alpha
Feature Set
- Avatar movement
- Camera
- Color portals/color changing
- Level design: basic environment
- Level design: level 1
- Cube rotation/switches
- Death
- Win condition
- Color power: red
- Color power: blue
- Color power: green
Discussion
We chose these features to focus on mechanics before polish: play-testing gives more useful feedback on gameplay than on polish. We do want to have one real level for the play-testers to play in, which is why that feature is included. We included at least 3 color powers in order to show how they will interact and allow the user to switch between them.
The key feedback we hope to glean from play-testing is how the avatar controls. Another element we want feedback on is how the cube-rotation mechanic and our platforming mechanics work together. Finally, we hope to hear about how our color-changing and power-gaining work within the game.
Brainstorms
Color Power Brainstorm
- Double jump
- Dash
- Wall jump
- Float
- Slide
- Anti-gravity
- Super speed
- Super jump
- Bounciness
- Slow time
- Wall clinging
- Laser
- Invincibility
- Phasing through walls
- Generating platforms
- Flying
- Destroying things
- Special Platformer
Features
- Avatar movement
- Camera
- Death
- Color portals/color changing
- Color powers: red
- Color powers: blue
- Color powers: green
- Color powers: others
- Cube rotation/switches
- Win condition
- Checkpoints
- Level selector
- Level design: basic environment
- Level design: level 1
- Level design: level 2
- Level design: level 3
- Level design: levels 4+
- Level design: level importer
- Art design: avatar
- Art design: environment
- Art design: UI
- Sound effects: avatar
- Sound effects: GUI
- Music: level background(s)
- Music: level selector
- Polish: fade between levels
- Polish: level selector
- Polish: win animation
- Polish: Improved particle effects
- Polish: glass effects
- Polish: scripted camera animations
- Polish: environment effects
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