Over the past few days I have been idea generating for a possible game I would like to work on during Masters. I had already decided on wanting to create a light RPG. Now it was time to write down my idea and maybe get a basis on what I might decide to do for masters. If I decide to pursue this idea I will be researching various rpg's and looking into how development on those games started, what the designers focused on, and what trials they went through to get to their finalized vision of the game. I may use my findings to figure out how to begin development on the game. This is all subject to change though of course.
Bear in mind I won't be able to create EVERYTHING here. I've written the design write up as if it were to be a full game to be released on steam greenlight or via kickstarter. Then if I begin development I will have a document to refer back to. If I decide to pursue I would like to create "Chapter 1" of the game for my practical side of masters.
Note: If I can start development on this game for masters I will create quick sketches to accompany this large wall of text. No point doing this large write up AND sketches only for me to change my mind later.
Curtis Pitman: Potential RPG Game Design Document
Game Title: The Forbidden Joke
Introduction
The Forbidden Joke is a Role Playing Platformer set in the world of Carnivalhalla, a dream world where the circus is always in town and it's citizens are always smiling. However, with the arrival of a corrupt, powerful force known as "Master Funny" Carnivalhalla's life force is being slowly drained. Both it, and it's inhabitants will soon be left as lifeless husks. Play as a cast of varied characters and use various circus acts and special abilities to battle Master Funny's goons and put a stop to his nefarious schemes.
Setting
The game will be set in the aforementioned
Carnivalhalla. A world split into continents, each of these continents compete with one another every year to see who can hold the best circus performance during the Annual Big Top Show. Each continent has their own Ringmaster, a king or queen type figure who is in charge of the yearly shows. The continents all have different styles and looks to them that distinguish them from one another. These continents are:
Midnight Domain: A strange world where the sun never rises. Street signs and constant ongoing parades light up the city streets, whilst the glowing plant life populate the quiet grassy fields. The inhabitants here style their circus shows on the weird and wonderful, mixing various objects to create performances that cannot be seen in any other continent.
Phantomine: This haunted continent is filled to the brim with ghosts, gravestones and spooky mansions. Not to mention their famed amusement park, a huge landmark that helps pull in their daring tourists. The ghosts here pride themselves on acts that the living cannot perform, dazzling and shocking audiences with death defying stunts, ghostly possession magic and their biggest star, ghostly strongman "Bognor" the magnificent
Rustopolis: A capital city inhabited by robots. One side of the city is polished and new where the upper class rule. The other side is a rundown city for the working class, pubs litter the streets and constant rough housing plague the alleyways. Despite their differences, a group of young, upper class and working class bots have formed to create a special organization to be in charge of the Rustopolis circus, where they excite the audience with their handmade, mechanical set design.
Monochrome Zone: Legend has it that this land used to be full of colour and life, until Master Funny became king. The continent has become a popular place for aspiring mimes to meditate and train themselves, for some reason they feel a strong connection to the black and white environment. Master Funny used to be the ringmaster of his own circus a long time ago, but not much is known about the show or why it suddenly stopped.
Polytoon Kingdom: The Polytoon kingdom can easily be recognized by its weirdly shaped environments and residents. Randomly materializing one day and connecting to the other continents, the strange beings of this land easily cemented themselves into Carnivalhallas culture, quickly establishing a circus of their own. Their circus specializes in audience interaction, alongside really strange plays that somehow spark intense emotion to the viewers.
TekTok: A Technologically Advanced Utopia. Hover-boards, flying cars and all sorts of futuristic tech can be found here. Word has spread that the scientists of TekTok have discovered how to time travel, but they will not share their secret. TekTok have their own circus, and like to show off their latest and greatest gadgets during their show.
Brief Opening Storyline
The game opens up on a calm night setting, the quiet atmosphere is soon broken when the camera pans to a nearby circus tent. The cheers of an audience can be heard and the bright lights inside the tent illuminate the surrounding areas. Inside the tent a fabulous circus performance is taking place. Soon after, a shady, caped figure takes to the arena. Before the audience can comprehend who or what this figure is, a swish of the unknown figure's cape turns the whole circus arena into a starry observatory. The audience is entranced by the images of shooting stars and swirling galaxies that they are blissfully unaware of the large, looming cloud of darkness hovering over the circus tent. The cloud gets closer and closer until finally engulfing the circus tent, the audience are left in complete darkness, and then they gradually begin to laugh uncontrollably. The laughter goes on for a while, until the laughter turns to screams of terror, and then turns to silence. The dark cloud, now pulsing with strange energy, detaches itself from the tent, and drifts away into the sky. Back at the circus, it's silent. Circus posters, popcorn and candy floss tumbleweed through the wind. The tent is ripped in multiple locations. Looking inside reveals an arena completely void of colour. The audience still occupy the seats, their eyes glowing red, motionless, and mumbling to themselves. In the center of the arena, stands the cloaked figure from earlier. He looks around at the arena of death and begins to manically laugh to himself as the camera fades to black.
Enter: Bean the Clown
We fade into a dressing room, a figure can be seen fidgeting behind a curtain. A characters voice can be heard coming from a speaker outside of the dressing room. Emerging from behind the curtain is a small man, donned in a full clown get up. Through a title card, this character is revealed to be "Bean" the clown, the first playable character in the game. Two taller clowns enter the room, a male and a female. They are Bean's parents, endlessly supportive, they encourage Bean to do his best in today's practice show. Bean enters the circus arena, the practice show begins. (This section will function as a tutorial)
After the show, Bean checks out the rest of the circus and interacts with the other circus team members, and helps them set up for the big show tonight. The time arrives and the show begins, it's going great until the great human cannonball act. Bean waits patiently inside the cannon as the fuse counts down until he notices a shady figure walk from back stage into the arena. Passing it off as nothing, he readies himself once more to hit his target, until at the corner of his eye he see's the shady figure swish his cape. Heavy winds form which spins the cannon off course, it's too late for Bean to climb out. The cannon fires and Bean is sent flying far away as he tears through the circus tent. Dark clouds are seen closing in on the circus left behind him and the weather takes a turn for the worse as a storm manifests the surrounding area. With a loud crash, Bean lands in a nearby forest, knocked unconscious, a few hours pass.
Upon awakening, Bean begins to make his way back home, battling the aggravated wildlife along the way. Bean finally arrives at his destination, but the wasteland left behind can no longer be called home. As Bean approaches the destroyed circus tent, he breaks down as he sees the lifeless husks that were left behind, alongside his zombified parents. After composing himself, Bean searches for clues on what happened whilst he was gone. He discovers posters for different circus performances by the various continents of Carnivalhalla. With this being his only clue, Bean sets out on a quest to find out who caused this destruction, and if there is any way he can bring his parents back to life.
Main Characters
Bean the Clown: An upcoming star, Bean is a clown who is extremely passionate about his job. Nothing satisfys him more than dazzling his audiences and making his friends laugh. A master of the circus craft, Bean has an astounding ability to naturally adapt and learn new circus tricks with relative ease. His dream is to become the most recognized clown in Carnivalhalla by expanding his abilities and leaving his mark on the world. Ever since losing his parents, his light may have dimmed a little, but nothing will keep this clown down for long.
Trumpton the Salesbird: Trumpton is an old fashioned, British salesbird from the Midnight Domain. Argumentative, short tempered and constantly complaining, Trumpton spends his days on the streets trying to sell his homemade items to try and pay off a huge debt he owes to someone. He is a bit of a loner, and has a hard time trying to meet people who will put up with him. If you get past his outer bitterness you will find on the inside he has a heart of gold. He just needs to find a friend who will bring out the best in him.
Verdigris the Robot: Verdigris or "Verdi" for short is a bubbly, smart mouthed and free-spirited robot girl from Rustopolis. Verdigris uses her natural initiate and positive attitude to pull her circus team together. She is very loyal to her friends, never failing to stand up for them or comfort them when they are down. Don't let her outer appearance fool you though, Verdigris is no pushover when it comes to taking care of herself. She is a demolitions expert, one false step and she will blow a fuse, then you can say hello to her trusty custom made rocket launcher she calls "The Show Stopper"
Bogner the Ghost: An egotistical, ghostly strongman from Phantomine and star of their show. Bogner doesn't waste any time of the day to show off his huge pecks at any given opportunity. He is a determined and strong character, but tends to act too cocky, which regularly gets him into trouble. A little slow at times, Bogner can have a hard time understanding certain things. He is sensitive when it comes to his intelligence. He takes huge offense when being called stupid or being patronized and will go to extreme lengths to prove his intelligence. Considering himself a "Hero" he will always help out those in need, even if it is only to boost his own ego, but at least he is helping right?
Tilly the Clown: Tilly is a young, kind, soft-spoken clown. She is always thinking of others more than herself, and is always caring for others feelings and well-being. She has a low tolerance for other people's rudeness; even the thought of others being dishonest can cause her dismay and make her upset. Tilly seems to have a small crush on Bean. He initially gained her attention after she saw his fabulous circus acts, and has been secretly swooning over him since. Tilly is an expert in first aid, always rushing onto the scene whenever a fellow performer gets injured. In her spare time she likes to practice her own private comedy act, but she is far too bashful to show it off publicly.
Mooky the Mime: A TekTok science experiment gone rogue, Mooky is a mime of tradition, he never speaks, and instead prefers to convey his emotions through actions. Through being experimented on by Tektok scientists, he received the ability to form invisible objects at will. So when Mooky is miming, he isn't REALLY miming, because he actually has the object, it just can't be seen by the human eye. After escaping the TekTok science lab, he took on the role of a bounty hunter to hide his identity from his pursuers.
Master Funny: An ominous, masked man that is causing chaos across Carnivalhalla. He interrupts circus performances with his various magic tricks, distracting the audience while he slowly drains their life force. Corrupt and selfish, the master believes that his shows are the pinnacle of entertainment, forcing people to watch his magic shows. When met with criticism, the critic is usually found later, formed into a hideous, slimy monster. Master Funny seems to be gathering life force for some sort of nefarious scheme, what that scheme is, is anyone's guess.
Gameplay
There will be two types of gameplay styles in The Forbidden Joke. These gameplay styles are referred to in game as "phases" these phases are the field phase and the battle phase.
Field Phase
Field Phase are the parts of the game where the player will
have full control over the party leader in a top down, isometric perspective. They
will be able to explore the game's environments by running around, jumping, interacting with objects,
speaking to NPCs, solving puzzles and using party character’s unique abilities
to help progress through the environment. The player can find treasure chests, items and other various goodies by thoroughly exploring the environment and discovering secrets. Individual character stats will not effect field phase gameplay at all.
A gimmick of the field phase will be that the game will naturally transition into different camera angles upon
reaching certain areas that change up how the game will play. For
example, the game will be top down, but upon crossing a bridge and entering a door, the camera will
naturally move into a position that faces the player character from a side
angle. This will change the field phases' movement mechanics to be more like a 2D
sidescroller, and will give the player abilities they may not of been able to
perform in the top down style of gameplay, such as different movement mechanics
like being able to jump higher, wall jumping, dashing or sliding as a few
examples.
During field phase, you will encounter enemies that aimlessly wander around until they notice the player character. Players can initiate battle with the enemy by simply walking into them. However, players can start off a battle with a preemptive strike by either attacking the enemy with their melee weapon or ranged weapon, this will automatically give the player the first attack in a battle. Some enemies are invulnerable to certain types of attacks, so it's up to the player to assess the enemy and decide whether to strike with a melee attack or a ranged attack. If the enemy spots the player, they will rush towards them and attack, if this happens, the ENEMY will gain a preemptive strike, leaving the players party vulnerable during the first turn of battle.
Battle Phase
A Battle Phase is self-explanatory, this is the part of
gameplay where the party will get into their combat positions and prepare to
fight. Battle Phase is activated by either attacking an enemy in field phase, walking into them, or by them attacking you. Sometimes battles are initiated through dialog, and cannot be avoided.
The game will transition into a battle arena based on the players
current location in the world, where the player characters will be on the left
side of the screen and the enemies will be on the right side of the
screen. The player takes turns with the enemy to perform actions. Character and enemy turn order is decided through a speed stat, however there will always be a visual queue showing who's turns are coming up. The player will be able to strategically plan their actions by analysing the turn queue.
During a players turn they will have a variety of actions to choose from. They will choose their action through an on screen user interface menu by cycling through the options and selecting their choice. The actions players will have access to are as follows:
Attack: Selecting this option will make the character strike an enemy with their currently equipped melee weapon. During the attack animation there will be a visual prompt to press an action button, (usually right as an attack impacts the enemy) If the player successfully presses the action button they will be rewarded with an extra damage bonus. (When there are multiple enemies, the player must select which enemy they want to strike)
Shoot: Selecting this option will make the character draw their ranged weapon, and will then be able to fire a certain amount of bullets at their selected enemies. You can hit multiple enemies with one use of a ranged weapon, however because of this, the ranged weapon will naturally be weaker than a melee attack.
Special Act: Selecting this option will open up the current characters special ability list. These special acts are character exclusive performances that can heavily impact a battle. They can range from heavy damage dealing attacks, buffs and debuffs, healing abilities and more. Like normal attacks, special acts will have timed action button prompts to power up the ability. Due to special acts being more useful in nature, these button prompts will be more complicated than a normal attack button prompt. Special Acts will require Act Points (AP) to perform, the stronger the act, the more AP they will require.
Defend: Once the player selects this option the current player character will defend themselves from an attack. When an enemy attacks a defending character, that character will not take as much damage as they would if they weren't defending themselves.
Run: If a player has trouble during a battle, or they simply want to avoid an accidental encounter, they can choose to run away. After selecting this option, the party will start running from battle. Players can increase their chances of running away by mashing the action button. If the player successfully runs away they will drop some currency and the game will return to field phase, where the enemy will now be temporarily immobilised, giving the player a chance to escape from the enemy. The player can fail to run away if they don't mash well enough, or if an enemy is too fast for them. When this happens, the whole party will trip and fall over, leaving them all vulnerable to attack for one turn. During important story battles the run button will be disabled.
Enemy turns will usually involve them attacking the party in some way or another. Some enemies fly solo and will have one attack pattern. Others will work as a team, helping each other out by combining attacks or healing each other. Each enemy in the game will have a different way of attacking the party, no two enemies will be the same.
Character Status, Weapons, Gear & Battle Stats
Levels & Stats
Each playable character will have a variety of stats that will effect how they perform in battle, these stats can be viewed in a "Status" pause menu screen. In the Status menu, players will be able to check out a characters current level, their individual stats, abilities and currently equipped performance enhancing gear.
Characters and enemies have numbered levels to indicate their stage of progression. When defeating enemies in battle, party members will gain experience points. Once a character receives enough experience points they will level up and all of their stats will increase. At certain level milestones characters will also learn new abilities and attacks. At the beginning of the game Bean will start at Level 1. As the game progresses enemy levels will get higher, upping the difficulty of the games battles. When new party members are recruited they will have a higher starting level to reflect the current difficulty of the game. (For example, Verdigris, the third party member is recruited, current enemy levels are 15, Verdigris will start at level 15)
Here is a list of the types of stats and how they will effect a character's performance:
Health Points (HP): Health Points are an indicator on how healthy a character currently is. A characters current HP count can be raised or lowered during battle. When damaged by enemies a character's HP count will go down, whereas if a character uses a healing item their HP count will go up. Once a characters HP drops to 0 they will be knocked out and will be unable to battle until being revived automatically at the end of battle or by a revive healing item. *Each character has a max HP count, this is increased by levelling up, equipping gear or by using special items.
Act Points (AP): Act Points are used as a required currency to be able to use each character's Special Act abilities. Each character has a max AP count, and that count will go down when a character uses their special acts. If a player doesn't have enough AP for a special act, that act cannot be performed. AP is replenished by using consumable items. *A characters max AP can be increased by levelling up, equipping gear and using special consumable items.
Power (Pow): This refers to a characters attacking strength, the higher the number, the more damage the character will deal to enemies. *This stat can be increased through levelling up, equipping gear, using special consumable items and through temporary buffs during battle.
Defense (Def): Defense refers to how much a character can take a hit. The higher the defense stat, the less damage the character will take. *This stat can be increased through leveling up, equipping gear, using special consumable items and through temporary buffs during battle.
Speed (Spd): Speed refers to how quickly a character can move. The speed stat on each playable character decides the order of turns in battle. Characters with a higher speed stat than others will have their turn first, whereas characters with a lower speed stat will have their turn later. The combined speed stat of the party also dictates how hard it will be to run away from battle. A higher speed stat gives you a better chance of running away, whilst a lower speed stat may raise the difficulty of running from battle. *This stat can be increased through leveling up, equipping gear, using special consumable items and through temporary buffs during battle.
Luck (Lck): A character's luck can effect how often they deal critical hits in battle. A character with a high luck stat has a higher chance of dealing a critical hit. A critical hit is an attack that deals way more damage than usual. Luck also effects how vulnerable a character is to negative status ailments. A higher luck stat will mean a character will have less chance of being effected by these negative status effects whereas a character with a lower luck stat will have a higher chance at being effected. The luck stat is the only stat that has a use outside of battle, the luck stat effects how much of a discount that character will get from stores when buying character exclusive items and gear. *This stat can be increased through leveling up, equipping gear, using special consumable items and through temporary buffs during battle.
Weapons & Gear
Weapons are divided into two categories. Melee weapons and ranged weapons. Each party member has a different kind of melee and ranged weapon to help distinguish themselves from one another. Party members start off with their base weapons, but as the player progresses through the game, they will be able to purchase upgraded weapons that enhance a characters stats or give their weapons special properties. These are the types of melee and ranged weapons each character has access to:
Bean the Clown: Mallets & Pies
Trumpton the Salesbird: Claws & Eggs
Verdigris the Robot: Metal Fists & Rocket launchers
Bogner the Ghost: Dumbbells & Punching Bags
Tilly the Clown: Trampolines & Balloons
Mooky the Mime: Imaginary Swords & Imaginary Guns
"Gear" are items of clothing or accessories that can be equipped by all party members to enhance their stats, give them new abilities, negate certain status effects and more. Gear is categorized by Facepaint, Torso, Gloves, Shoes and accessories. One of each of these types of gear can be equipped onto a character. New gear can be found by either finding treasure chests, defeating special enemies, completing challenges or purchasing them from the shop.
Control Scheme
Menus
Controller: Xbox Controller
Move Cursor - Dpad or Left Analogue Stick
Confirm/Select/Advance Dialog - A
Cancel/Back - B
Keyboard
Move Cursor - Up, Down, Left and Right arrow keys or W (Up) , A (Left) ,S (Down) , D (Right)
Confirm/Select/Advance Dialog - 'Enter' key
Cancel/Back - 'Escape' key
Field Phase
Controller: Xbox Controller
Move - Dpad or Left Analogue Stick
Interact - Y Button
Jump - A Button
Attack - X Button
Shoot - B Button
Dash - Right Trigger (Hold)
Switch Party Leader - Left Trigger
Open Status Screen - Start Button
Keyboard
Move - W (Up) , A (Left) ,S (Down) , D (Right)
Interact - Up Arrow Key
Jump - 'Spacebar'
Attack - Left Arrow Key
Shoot - Right Arrow Key
Dash - Down Arrow Key (Hold)
Switch Party Leader - 'Q'
Open Status Screen - 'Enter' Key
Battle Phase
Controller: Xbox Controller
Move Cursor - Dpad or Left Analogue Stick
Confirm/Select/Action Button - A
Cancel/Back - B
Keyboard
Move Cursor - Up, Down, Left and Right arrow keys or W (Up) , A (Left) ,S (Down) , D (Right)
Confirm/Select/Action Button - 'Enter' key
Cancel/Back - 'Escape' key
Game Aesthetics
The game will have a mixture of 2D and 3D elements. Characters, enemies and NPCs will be pre-rendered sprites, whereas the environment and certain character items and props will be 3D models. I will try to make the game look pretty, but I'm no good at texturing so opps, haha. As long as I get the game's worlds and characters all looking aesthetically different and make it look semi decent, we're gravy.
End of design document, will come back to it if I've missed anything
