High Concept Document - Restricted - Sem Cloosterman Game Concept

HIGH

CONCEPT

‘RESTRICTED’ Sem Cloosterman 589717 GAME DESIGN 2019 Jeff Cook

DOCUMENT

CORE CONCEPT Looking for a way out of a metaphysical, sentient library by completing stealth combat encounters and other tasks through exploration in trepidation.

CORE AESTHETICS MAIN AESTHETIC: FANTASY SECONDARY AESTHETICS: DISCOVERY, NARRATIVE Fantasy as a core aesthetic means that my target audience will value the experience of being in a setting that can't exist in real life. They will also be able to do things that are not possible in real life. The player is experiencing new things in a world that look similar to real life, but have a different set of rules attached to it. The way the player is going to find out about these new rules is through Discovery. The game is designed in such a way that the player can experiment and try different things without too much of a penalty.

I also want to enforce a strong Narrative that players can get excited about. The player should feel a connection between the game world and its characters. Even though the game wholly takes place in a fantasy world, the player should feel like they are acutally there and that they are feeling what the main character experiences.

With these 3 aesthetics I hope to convey a meaningful and memorable experience to the player.

The Bartle Player Type of Explorer will be most at home in my game. There are multiple differently themed areas that the player can roam through. This type of player can also explore different mechanics at their own pace, since you can always try to beat a certain area again after you fail a challenge.

Killers and Achievers will also be able to enjoy becoming better at the stealth/combat parts of the game. For example, these player types can strive to remain undetected for the whole game or never get caught during the whole game.

SETTING An extensive library with multiple curated and themed sections of genres, after closing time. Through magical events the player sees the environment change according to their actions.

The game takes place in present-day. No earlier paranormal events have occurred prior to the events in the game.

STORY You are Govan, a young boy crunching for his exams in the library. During his studying he falls asleep on his books and notes. When he eventually awakes, the library is closed. Not a person in sight.

He looks desperately for a way out but can't find one. It's strange that they just left him there. Did no one notice him sleeping there?

Slowly the library seems to notice he's there after closing time too.

The game title 'Restricted' alludes to the 'restricted' section in some libraries. These sections usually contain rare items, adult material or irreplaceable items.

The concept and name is inspired by the restricted section of the library described the Harry Potter books and movies.

MAIN GAMEPLAY In the library the player will have to look at various ways to escape. Moving in a linear fashion between different sections of the library will present the player with the secrets the library has to offer.

Each section has a sneaking challenge to get through where you have to avoid enemies. You hide behind bookcases and other objects around the sections of the library to do so. Upon getting through this sneaking challenge the player will be rewarded with an empty book. This book grants you the ability defeat the

enemies, all the while staying undetected. If you get detected here, you have to run, because the enemies have to be standing still for you to capture them. If you outrun the enemies, they will be more alert but you can resume capturing them. If you get captured the enemies will take the book from you, put it back in a different place than before and you will have to get the book again. The amount of enemies you captured already will remain captured.

Failing to stay undetected in the different sections throughout the library will lead to a chase where the enemies try and catch you. Getting away leads to the enemies being more alert. If you get caught you need to try the level again. The book will be in a different position then, so the player will have to approach the challenge differently.

The player will cycle through a set of mechanics like walking, sneaking and running as the game modes change and the player has to make choices. If the player fails they will get to try again, and get to discover more way to try and succeed the challenge. With every new thing that happens the player will experience a new sense of discovery and fantasy. They will find out new ways to hide from the enemies or new tactics they can employ to capture them. Eventually, continuing to try again, discovering how the mechanics work and beating the challenges can make the player better at the upcoming challenges, thus enforcing the Glee motivation dynamic. Every challenge in itself is partly the Goods motivation dynamic, since there is an object to collect that will help you advance through the game.

Strange things start happening around you as you complete more objectives. Audio and visual hallucinations start happening, making you want to leave the library as fast as possible.

USP The setting of a sentient library, presenting various stylized environments the player can traverse through which offer different game modes.

TARGET CUSTOMER 16-35 years old, interested in a meaningful, mystifying game with thriller/horror elements that offers varying game styles and challenges.

As described by Bartle in his Player Type diagram, the player type that would be interested in this game is predominantly the Explorer. They are likely to explore the mechanics and their respective possibilities.

PERSONAS

J.P., 23 years old

Favourite games: F.E.A.R., Black & White 2, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Likes the experience a game can give, how meaningful games can be, and the feeling of constantly being challenged or provoked is a great motivator.

E.H., 24 years old

Favourite games: Super Mario Galaxy, Subnautica, Bioshock: Infinite Prefers a game with captivating visuals and varying difficulty of challenge and strong narrative. Doesn't mind skipping parts of the game when possible because they may be too difficult and doesn't mind lowering the difficulty if a game when possible.

TECHNOLOGY This 3D game is viewed from a third-person perspective centered on Govan. The game will be developed in Unity. My first choice is to develop the game for PC, but a console release for the PS4 or Xbox One is possible. The game will have keyboard controls but full controller support as well.

SEED •

• • •

SCP stories, in particular this one: ‘SCP-2602, which used to be a library’, http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2602 This story, to me, conveys the mystery of this library I want to achieve. It’s otherworldy, inexplicable and incomprehensible.

The ‘Restricted Section’ scene from ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’.

Imagery of cryptids; https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EEJ8kO6XkAA6RGF.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EDZXlcIXYAMfwp9.jpg Own artwork:

FEEDBACK During the course I received feedback from Jeff Cook, who said that, among other things, I should play Myst and read Lovecraft to get a better understanding of what kind of mystery and tension I want to create in the game world and to know how to reinforce my chosen aesthetics. Jeff also mentioned the fact that my USP wasn't that unique and that I needed to add more of the features my game has in the USP. With this feedback I changed my USP to be more specific to my game and what it has to offer.

I also played Myst. I was already familiar with some of Lovecraft's work and the Cthulhu mythos, so I decided to look into games that are described to be Lovecraftian or otherwise inspired by his works. I chose one game to play which was directly inspired by Lovecraft's ‘At The Mountains of Madness', called Conarium.

Myst was a beautiful experience to have. I had already purchased the game a while ago but I never played it until now because I was daunted with its precedence and mystery. I played the game without any guides or tutorials, as you would back in the day. I didn't finish the game, but I played long enough to travel in time to another island and got stuck there. The sense of mystery, its eerie atmosphere and the charm of the dated graphics did pull me back into the game, even when I kept being stuck.

Conarium gave a very different experience. It's a first person horror game that uses the Lovecraft novella as its inspiration. There are a lot of mystifying things that happen to the player to make them feel altered and weirded out. These things also allude to the grander, cosmic horror that is present in Lovecraft's work. Huge alien structures, strange creatures and bizarre locations are clearly presented to really make you feel like you walked into the novella. At times it was nerve-racking, at other times it felt obstructing and frustrating.

The main thing I learned from playing this type of game was that it was linear and that every player would have more or less the exact same experience. I did not feel this way when playing Myst, which also seemed grand and bizarre at times.

Playing both of these games gave me insight into how I wanted my game to be experienced. I want the feeling of wonderment from Myst and the terrifying situations from Conarium. Both games felt abundant with charm and were memorable to me. That's also something I want a player to retain from playing my game.

Classmate Luuk Raaphorst gave me the feedback regarding my first version of the High Concept Document.

I didn't explain my aesthetics in great detail and I needed to describe how these aesthetics fit in to my game concept. He also mentioned the setting needed more depth; where was library situated, what time period does this game take place in, what does the world look like outside of the library and does it change with this alternate reality? It helped me see that the concept needed more depth and clarity. With this feedback I improved upon describing the setting of the game.

In a second, more final version of my High Concept Document I let Luuk read it again and he found there was nothing really to be improved on.

In turn, I gave Luuk feedback on his document as well. I told him he should think about adjusting his Core Concept to be more concise and direct, because what he had written down was more of a short story synopsis. I also mentioned that his USP wasn't really that unique and that I could think of at least two other games that did exactly what he described, Spore and No Man's Sky. I gave these examples to him so he could maybe think of how his game is different from at least those two.

In the second version of his High Concept document I hinted that maybe he should add the fact that his game has a retrowave soundtrack in combination with space exploration to his USP, because I couldn't think of another game that does this.

I also asked a student that took the GAME minor last year, Milan Kessels, to give feedback on my High Concept Document after I improved it with Luuk’s and Jeff's feedback. He mentioned the fact that I didn't talk about the point of view in the game and the technology used to create it, and for what platform the game was going to made. I personally didn't think this was of importance to my game concept, but when he said this I felt it actually was important to mention anyway. To have the way my game is made and presented clear could be very important down the line, especially when presenting it to a team.