Titan Team’s Design Document for: Alternate Universe Prepare for the battle of a lifetime "PRIDE, RESPECT, SKILL"TM All work Copyright © 2003 by Titan Team Written by Christopher Wilson Version# 1.00 Table of Contents Game Overview Philosophy Philosophical point #1 Philosophical point #2 Philosophical point #3 Common Questions What is the game? Why create this game? Where does the game take place? Who do I control? How many characters do I control? What is the main focus? What’s different? Feature Set General features Multi-player Features Editor Game play The Game World Overview World Feature #1 World Feature #2 The Physical World Overview Key Locations Travel Objects Day and Night Time Rendering System Overview Camera Detail #1 Camera Detail #2 Game Engine Overview Game Engine Detail #1 Water Collision Detection The World Layout Overview World Layout Detail #1 World Layout Detail #2 Game Characters Overview Creating a Character Enemies and Monsters Weapons Overview Weapon Details # 1 Weapons Details #2 Single Player Game Overview Single Player Game Detail #1 Single Player Game Detail #2 Story Hours of Game-play Victory Conditions Multi-player Game Overview Max Players Servers Customization Internet Gaming Sites Persistence Saving and Loading World Editing Overview World Editing Detail #1 World Editing Detail #2 Game Overview Philosophy My Game Design Goals #1 Alternate Universe will be trying to revolutionize Multi-player fighting games online and offline with fresh characters , the “Fighting emotion engine”, the “Pride, Respect, and Skill” system, and the maximum of 8 players in one battle. My Game Design Goals #2 The game will only run on a home console (if the game was made now, PlayStation 2), The reason for the console market is that it’s growing especially online which makes it an obvious pick. But a shareware version is being planned for the PC. Common Questions What is the game? Alternate Universe is a multi-player fighting game but can either be 1 on 1, 2 on 2, 3 on 3, or even 4 on 4 depending on what the player chooses. I’m working on a Handicap Battle type mode for the game, but I don’t know if that will be a multi-player feature. AU will also be a sort of an online fighting guild, tournaments will be held but after them players can do their own things and fulfill their own agendas. To sum it up AU will be an online fighting RPG.(more on that in the Multi-player features) Why create this game? Because I love fighting games plain and simple, I also want fighting games to be taken more seriously with the social aspect online. Where does the game take place? In three different Universes the normal one(the one we are in now no explanation needed), the parallel universe which is the designated battle and training grounds, and the all important alternate universe which is sort of dream world but more of a reality because it’s a mirror of the normal universe. What do I control? A human character of your choosing but online you can select from the parallel universe’s monsters after clearing certain challenges. How many characters do I control? You can control up to four with co-op play in story mode but you can still choose 1 on 1 matches, some circumstances may force you to play a certain amount of characters. The character can be CPU controlled also. What is the main focus? The alternate universe is a sought after world that many people want to take over, but the AU has defenders, chosen defenders. The elements Fire, Water, Earth, Wood, Metal, Wind, Darkness, and Holy are all important parts of any universe. The Universe Beasts reflect this if they destroy the NU they have the power to create a new NU. What’s different? Alternate Universe is different from other fighting games because of the level of interaction between the characters, and the Online features. General Features Huge Worlds and Arenas Human characters as well as monsters and legendary beasts 3D graphics 128-bit color Multi-player Features Millions of Players Easy to find battles and dojo’s Great way to interact with your friends and make new ones E-mail Can chat with headset Three different worlds to play in(Available online and offline) Create a Fighter(Available online and offline) Editor Comes with dojo editor Download designs and materials from the internet Editor is easy to learn and use Game-play 3-D over head camera view Fluid and responsive controls Battle/Round system Fast-paced mayhem fighting “Pride, Respect, and Skill” system “Fighting Emotion Engine” The Game World Overview Basically a regular city at the beginning but you move on to arenas and bigger worlds. The world is all 3-dimensional and nearly anything is accessible. Roaming During the game you will not be pressed to stay in one place, during tournaments you can talk to other competitors or train. In the AU and PU you can fly and you can have air battles or even explore. Destructible elements The game also allows fighters to pick up objects and throw them at their opponents. AU will also allow a character to use a weapon of his or her choice. And if someone is knocked into the wall or surrounding area expect a big dent or running spectators. The Physical World Overview The physical world is a very free and open place giving the player tons of possibilities and options. The key locations in the normal universe would be Menifee, California and Kyoto, Japan where the Martial arts tournament is held. The key locations in the Alternate universe are Menifee, The AU Highlands, Ultima’s Island, and the Universe Holyland. There are no key locations in the PU. There are three types of travel walking/ running, flying, and astral projection. There is no flying in the normal universe. And astral projection can be used on and offline and online with a unique soul transferring system. Objects can be found such as money, weapons, health regenerators, and technique cards. Technique cards can be earned after winning fights but can be found during and outside of battle the ones found in the world outside of battle are the hidden ones Weapons may also be found. See the “Objects Appendix” for a list of all the objects found in the world. Weather would not be a big issue but there are people who can control elements but in terms of in game there is no weather. Day and Night modes will be in the game and is essential to travel to the AU. Day and Night will also be present during online play to promote realism. Time will work off of the console’s realtime clock which is how Day and Night will appear. Rendering System Overview A 3d rendering system will be used here in full 3d. 2D/3D Rendering 3DFX with Direct X Camera Overview The camera will be overhead 3D with scrolling if a player gets knocked far away. Camera Detail #1 The camera will not move very often during 6-8 person matches. But the camera will scroll around more often when 2-5 players are playing. Camera Detail #2 During Universal Finishers the camera will mainly follow the character performing the technique. The same applies for a Team Barrage, when a Universal Tag combo is performed afterwards the camera will scroll 180 degrees. When a Clear Out move is performed( The player gets knocked across the arena) The camera scroll 360 degrees. Game Engine Overview The Game engine during the “free movement mode” will be three dimensional and interactive depending if other characters or objects are present. The fighting engine will also be 3d but the camera will be controlled by certain events during battle. Game Engine Detail #1 During “free movement mode” found items will be kept track of such as technique cards found and health regenerators. During a fight the players percentage of damage dealt will be divided by how much taken, how many attacks the player blocked divided by how many the opponent blocked and 10 will be added and kept track of and will be known as “SKILL SCORING”. During Team battle the same elements will be present except that the team will be rated on, how many players are left at the end of the battle, team work(How many Universal Tag combo’s are pulled off). Time will not be weighed in the score, Here is a sample: Chris, Tonya, Daraun, and Anna are the winning team Damage Dealt: 100 Damage Taken: 40 Attacks Blocked(player):23 Attacks Blocked(CPU or opponent)23 How much of team is left: 3 Team work: 3 Total: 19.5 Pride: 6.5 Respect: 6.5 Skill: 6.5 (Online you can customize where all your points go, offline you can control 8 of them.) Blood Blood will be present and will look realistic and stain on the ground and remain on the ground. Blood will only be shown during Critical Hits and KnockOuts . Of course Blood can be turned off. Collision Detection The Game Engine will handle collision with a blue hit effect if and will be identifiable. The World Layout Overview The world is an interactive area where Objects can be found and certain people can be spoken to. The world (depending where you are) can either be a city, open battle field, or an arena. World Layout Detail Certain circumstances can occur in the world during “free movement mode” in which a certain task may need to be carried out to find out more about the story. For example before a fight during a tournament you can talk to other fighters to gain information if you ask someone about your opponent they may provide you with some background or even give you some real useful scouting facts. Game Characters Overview The main characters are human but Alternate Universe contains Element Beasts and the Universe, every other character is human. Creating a Character Creating a Character during AU is not complex, the player may choose between male or female, the player can customize skin color, hair color and style, fighting glove color (if any selected), shoes, gi(uniform), clothing in general, elemental(can be left out), fighting style, and name of course. Online the player may also choose one of three sides Good, Evil, Neutral(basically you do good or bad what ever you choose). A character may not be created for Story Mode, All-Out Battle Mode, Fighter Mode(Vs Mode), Tournament Mode, or Free for All Mode until the Parallel Universe Saga part of Story Mode is finished on any difficulty. Enemies and Monsters Enemies vary but the Elemental Masters come first (SwitchFire, Gaeshi, Gyro, Kyu, Dan, Jing, Chigau, Ultima, and Denki(Gabriel) who joins during the Gods Saga. All the Elemental Masters are human and are encountered during the Elemental Masters Saga in small tournament. The Gods(Alpha/Omega, Beta, Zeta, Delta, Gamma, and Epsilon)are also humans they were experimented on and cryogenically frozen. The Gods were encountered when they attacked the Alternate Universe during the Gods Saga. The Universe Beasts(Salamandou, Triplex Unda, Dryad, Shade, Hikage, Core, Metallo, and Ten Ken) are not human and represent animals that embody their elements. Elemental Beasts are only present in the Parallel Universe and Online they of course represent each standard element. Weapons Weapons can be used during the game and can also be assigned to a Created Fighter. Weapons include Swords, Whips, Axes, Javelins, Maces, Throwing Knifes, Daggers, Staffs, and Tridents. Weapon Details #1 Weapons are customizable and can be upgraded via weapon training. Some characters are best with their respective weapon i.e. Kris with his ryu-to(Sword) Weapons can be bought from Black or found during “free movement” mode. Weapon Detail #2 When weapons are used during battle they can be separated from the player or even used by an opponent. Weapons may also be thrown(mainly because Throwing Knifes are one of the selectable weapons. All weapons are not available at the start of the game. Single Player Game Overview The Single Player Mode is an interactive fighting experience with RPG elements. Objects can be found and the main character can be imported to the Online Multi-Player Mode. All-Out Battle is another single player mode which does not follow the AU story and the opponents are random, the RPG elements and cut scenes are removed. Single Player Game Detail #1 The Single Player Game begins with main character selection, after this the character may select a partner the main character will then fight against his/her potential partner to acquire their services. The player may recruit other characters(a maximum of 4 on a team including you), This mode also allows another player to play with you through story mode(co-op). Single Player Game Detail #2 Certain situations will force the player to play with a certain amount of characters or even fight alone. All-Out battle does the same but again does not follow the story. When a Saga is beaten all characters that the player fights against will be unlocked for Story and other various game modes. Story Can’t really describe the story here because it’s massive for a fighting game I did that because I thought people would wonder about the story. So if you have read or even looked at the Alternate Universe Plot Guide ver. 1.0 then proceed. If you haven’t then visit the Writing for Games forum at GameDev.net and take a look(don’t try to read the whole thing like the battles in stuff unless you’re truly interested). Winning Conditions I don’t think that I really need to go deep into this one, Alternate Universe is a fighting game you beat your opponent senseless until his health bar goes down(KnockOut). Wins are not awarded for the Time running out. Sudden Death Mode is initiated when the players have a draw game. Sudden Death is a mode where one clean hit kills the fighters, projectiles do not count. Multi-player Game Overview I will breakdown online and offline features for Multi-player games in Alternate Universe. Max Players There are eight maximum players aloud in a match online and offline Servers The server will be peer-to-peer mainly because the online mode will play like a massive online multi-player RPG. Customization The player may create a player for the online experience or just use it for fun during Fighter Mode etc. The Dojo editor will be available for players who are experienced and truly ready to become the leader of a fighting style and will be outlined in the Dojo Editor section. The player may choose their side(outlined earlier), element, weapon, players may also customize the color and mystical power of their weapons. Modes There are a few multi-player modes I will point out which is online and which is offline. “Fighter Mode”- My rendition of Vs Mode, grab a controller and get 6-7 friends and get it on. It includes 1 on 1, 2 on 2, 3 on 3, or 4 on 4 matches. This is an offline Mode but these match formats can be used online. “Tournament Battle”- Up to 16 players can participate in this tournament the format can either be 1 on 1 or 2 on 2 or both. When both are selected players are randomly selected to be on teams and later are subject to fight against each other in later 1on 1 matches. Only pick both if you want a more exciting tournament. Offline mode, during tournaments online the both format is used no matter what. But if you host your own tournament in your dojo the format can be freely selected. “Free for All”- Self explanatory, in this mode players can play every fighter for themselves in a wild and very melee like mode. Be warned only play this mode if you a really know how to play the game well and you can survive. Offline mode. “Online”- The Online Mode is more like a big fighting guild(isn’t that every mans dream to run around an kick ass all the time). The mode plays like a multi-player online RPG like mentioned before and players can chat, challenge, host tournaments, and even train and protect those god awful newbies. Saving and Loading Players online may save their progress at one of two places an INN or their respective DOJO. The player may come back and start from the location he or she saved at. Dojo Editor Overview The dojo editor is for players who have enough money and RESPECT and or SKILL points to lead and teach a group of students. BE WARNED A DOJO CAN BE ATTACKED OR EVEN DESTROYED. Dojo Editor Detail A dojo can be customized and shaped to the style and liking of its sensei. The wall color and ground color can be customized. Choices be Classic, Modern, or Japanese style Dojo’s can be selected. Players may also draw signs for their Dojo’s(must be approved) and get them scanned for use online, Players may also choose if their dojo will be a good, evil, or neutral one. Player can also choose the color for their dojo’s gi so everyone can know who studied under them.

Since you didn't told us what you wanted to do with this, I'm gonna guess you just want feedback and critiques

First I think the common questions shouldn't be there..they were a pain in the ass for me, so much that I deleted the 2+ pages I was writing about your design. Also I think you forgot to talk about music and sounds. And this sounds a little ambitious also.

Check if there's nothing missing and then, say every detail of every little bit of the game. Then have a friend that knows nothing about this game to you read the design. If he's confused about anything you have to work that about your design.

[edited by - Coz on April 21, 2004 11:19:09 PM]