Rhyming Design

Whilst creating the Game Design Document there were certain design choices that had to be made. The game play aspects of the game were set and we weren't planning on changing them very much. Due to the GDD being more detailed and containing everything needed for development of the game; we had to finalise story, in-game menus and music and audio. This was good because it got us thinking more about the actual development of the game and we could start working towards that now. This mind set helped us to put ourselves in a good position at the end of this milestone and give us something solid to build upon.

So, one of the first things we started thinking about was the narrative of the game. The game's story takes a back seat to the game-play but it is still important to give the player a goal to work towards. I wanted the story to compliment the game in a way that it enhanced the enjoyment of the player but didn't steal focus from the game-play. The first question we asked ourselves is, how can we deliver the narrative to the player? We had already decided that most of the dialogue between characters would be delivered as on-screen text, accompanied by recorded chatter for each character so the player knows who's talking. This was fine and we agreed that this was the most economical way of doing things so that we didn't have tonnes of voice recording to do. We also decided to use still frame cut scenes rather than animated ones due to our lack of artistic talent. However, it was Phil that made the breakthrough when he suggested that we have a narrator who tells the story by using rhymes like a children's book. This fitted the themes and feel of the game perfectly but we knew that we needed to make the story more suitable for an older audience. This is when we decided to add a darker and more mature twist to the plot. Here is Phil's opening cut scene that he wrote to show me his idea. I made a couple of changes for the GDD but his original idea is mostly untouched and will be used for the final game.

Not too long ago, in a bedroom filled with joy,
There unfolds a story, of Edward and his favourite toy.

T’was his bunny named Hop, whom he’d swing and he’d spoon,
He brought jealousy to the other toys that lived in Ed’s room.

Especially wizard Walden, who devised a cunning ploy,
To get rid of little Hop, so that he’d be the favourite toy.

He cast an evil spell, meant to banish Hop forever,
Walden thought to himself, “Hahaha, I’m so clever!”

But when Ed came to notice, that his little Hop wasn’t there,
His other toys were no comfort, he really didn’t care.

So Ed searched and he searched, for days and then weeks,
All the while Walden’s rage, was about to reach its peak.

Meanwhile little Hop fell a very, very long way,
He felt he’d been falling, for an entire day!

Then he crashed into the void, where no-one laughs nor sings.
Hop now finds himself, in the realm of all lost things.

He awoke from his slumber all broken and sore
and frantically scooped his insides up from the floor

As he rises from the ground, without a whimper or a cry,
Hop then speaks his first words: “Where the bloody Hell am I?!”

That's all for now, I'll cover more design choices and wrapping up the GDD in the next post.