BA4: Game Design Document #03

Design, Story and Gameplay Questions

My group and I keep coming up with so many good ideas and theories behind the concept of our game that we sometimes become a little lost in what we are doing. I said to my group that perhaps it would be a good idea to formulate some questions to answer in relation to our game. This would give us a better understanding of our own game and Fatal Frame II. 

Why is this going to help? Well, all of you gamers out there will have once been asked by a friend “oh what's that game about the?”, “what’s the story behind it?” and “what type of game is it?” (the list goes on). You reply to these questions with fairly short (depending on the type of game I guess) and precise answers so that your friend knows just what they are in for if they choose to play the game. For us, we often found ourselves deep in discussion about gameplay, thoughts/ideas, genre, combat etc that we would become lost in the concept and find it hard to pin point the exact theories we want to put across in the design document. 

These questions will serve as a precise was to determine certain aspects of our game concept so far. We can explain and describe the game without going mental and ensure that the reader doesn’t get confused. With every game you play you should be able to answer questions like these and give a clear description of the game. With my group, we get too lost in description, so hopefully this task will prove incredibly helpful. We can also refer back to the questions and update them as the design process moves forward. 

Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

First of all I will apply my questions to Fatal Frame II so that we can establish a well rounded view of the game. 

Question 1: What genre is the game?

Survival Horror 

Question 2: What is the plot?   

It’s about twin sisters who visit this old place they used to play in when they were young. One of the

twins is beckoned by the crimson butterflies and falls under a spell leading the other sister to follow her. The game follows the story of the crimson sacrifice ritual which failed years ago causing loads of ghosts and tormented souls to roam the village which the sisters are led to. 

Question 3: What does the player do in the game?

You play as one of the twin sisters who is trying to save the other sister from being use in the new ritual. You find a camera early on in the game and it is your main source of weaponry against the tormented souls and ghosts who roam around the game trying to capture you for the ritual. You will also solve puzzles. 

Question 4: Who is the main character/protagonist in the game?

The game has two main characters, twin sisters Mio and Mayu. You play as Mio and there are sections of the game where Mayu is playable and also follows you as an AI character. 

Question 5: Does the game have multiplayer/co-op?

No, Fatal Frame II is a single player experience. 

Question 6: Are there NPC’s?

Fatal Frame II has only a few NPC’s who are found during gameplay such as original sacrifice twins Sae and Yae. There are also ghosts throughout the game who communicate and can be considered as NPC’s but ultimately, you are alone. 

Question 7: What sort of gameplay is there?

Fatal Frame II is a classic example of survival horror. You will do a lot of puzzle solving, specific object finding as well as exploration/searching and back and fourth gameplay in order to progress to the next playable area where you will often learn more about the story through cut scenes or have to rinse and repeat the puzzle element. I have seen versions of the game where you play in first person perspective and others from a third person perspective. There are often areas you can interact with which will prompt text on the screen such as clues, tips and information regarding the story.

The game features a  map the player can access to view the position as well as an inventory under the guise of a photo album where the player can view all the photographs they have taken of ghosts. 

Both you and the twin sister have a health gauge and if either of them runs out it is game over. Combat is dealt only through the use of the “camera obscura”, a camera in which players can “shoot” ghosts and exorcise them. This is the only way to defeat enemies. Ammunition is in the form of camera film and different lenses cause different types and amounts of damage. Spiritual orbs are rewarded upon defeating enemies and you can use these to upgrade your camera. 

Mio is only ever equipped with a flash light and the camera obscura to use. Red lanterns are scattered throughout the world to save your game progress. There isn’t really any combat in the game as the fighting is done through the camera. 

Question 8: How is the game presented?

Fatal Frame is a very dark game which is presented through a series of cut scenes and static cameras are used when playing through the game.

 

Question 9: What sort of emotions is the game trying to evoke in the player?

Fatal Frame II is trying to make the player feel constantly watched (by the ghosts) as well as confused with a hint of curiosity towards the crimson sacrifice ritual. The game has a dark path and will purposefully try to scare the player. Fear, nervousness, unsettled, terror and suspense are all forced onto the player.

Question 10: How is the game world visually represented?

The game is purposefully dark in terms of lighting and colour schemes don’t seem to venture out of the brown/grey/black/monochrome areas. 

Some cut scenes are in black and white while others are represented with a static TV picture quality paired with flashing sudden images. All very creepy. 

Question 11: How is this game different?

When Fatal Frame II came out it was still in the true survival horror time frame (before action seemed to dominate all games no matter what) which means that I we cant really say “its different because its true survival horror”.

ANYWAY, it WAS different because of the combat style. Using the camera was a unique way to combat your enemies. The use of different films causing different damage and effects to the enemies made you really think about your technique (rather than going in rambo style and shooting anything that moves like nowadays). 

 

Applying the Questions to our Concept, ‘Museum’

Answering those questions with a small bit of visual stimulus was really helpful. I further understand the game now which will help us when designing ours. Our working title right now is “Museum” and we do have a fairly realised idea so far. There are a few areas that wont fit together yet but we are working on them.

Question 1: What genre is the game?

Survival Horror

Question 2: What is the plot? (Note: This section is still heavily under concepts and we aren't final on ideas yet!)

A young female photographic journalist is sent out on a job for NYC Today (New York's main and most popular newspaper) to photograph the latest exhibition showing at New York’s largest and most popular museum. The exhibition covers the Crimson Butterfly Ritual myths; a subject she has followed and been interested in since she was young.

Whilst photographing the exhibition and learning more about what happened during the ritual period she begins to notice strange elements to her photographs, distortions of colour, figure and subject, extra figures appearing, inconsistent lighting errors around the exhibition; but only through her camera. No one else appears to notice anything wrong with her images. 

Her almost obsessive interest with the Crimson Butterfly Ritual myths and strange incidents with her photographs causes her to tamper with one of the exhibition pieces, the Camera Obscura, accidentally releasing a crimson butterfly into the museum. Shocked and intrigued she follows the butterfly, which no one else seems to see, until she gets knocked unconscious.  

The girl wakes up in the museum when it appears to be shut with no real idea what she  has actually done by tampering with the camera obscura. Equipped with only her modern digital camera, she is left to explore and attempt to figure out what has actually happened when not all is not as it first appears. 

 

Question 3: What does the player do in the game?

Similarly to games such as Fatal Frame II, Resident Evil 1, 2 & 3 and Silent Hill 1, 2 & 3 the player will face a series of puzzles combined with story. The player needs to explore the areas thoroughly and collect objects in order to solve puzzles for objective based gameplay. 

Based upon Fatal Frame 2, the camera is the players best friend and they must use it to aid their exploration and help discover new parts of the game as well as to beat enemies. 

Question 4: Who is the main character/protagonist in the game?

The female photographic journalist who we haven't named or designed yet. All we know is that she is a female.  

Question 5: Does the game have multiplayer/co-op?

Nope, we have flirted with the idea of putting co op in this game in various of new and unique ways but ultimately they all drew away from that rich, and dynamic single player experience. To heighten the horror and terror, we have decided multiplayer/co-op just isn’t the way to go. 

Question 6: Are there NPC’s?

We think there will be some NPC’s throughout the game, maybe trapped souls in the museum, people who are weirdly facing off against the same creepy alternate museum world as our photographer lady but who are just plain weirdo’s (like Eddy in Silent Hill 2, he is there, but never helps). 

Question 7: What sort of gameplay is there?

As a group we have focused on story a lot so far so we haven’t made a definitive decision regarding gameplay. My opinion is that, even though I love the idea of modern static camera, it just wont work. I like the idea of maybe having areas that call for static camera in a sort of “paying respects to survival horror” sort of way and I think if done right and executed well, this could be fantastic. But again, its just my idea, my group needs to discuss it.

Another thing we need to decide upon is whether this will be a first or third person experience. Many modern horror games use third person (Dead Space 1 & 2, Alan Wake, and AMY for example) but there are also successful modern survival horror games which use first person perspective and it causes greater fear such as Amnesia.  Again, another thing I need to discuss with my group.

Combat is another element we need to finalise and crack down on. My main area of focus within the project is combat and I have an idea roughly how I want it to look but I don’t do anything without discussing it within the group so we can better our ideas. So far I want this to be true survival horror. The photographer doesn’t go in with a weapon closet FULL of guns and ammo. She is pulled into this scary world on her own with nothing but her camera and bag. I like the idea of modernising true, old school, survival horror weaponry like the baseball bat, crowbar/pipe and anything else the player can get a grip of to protect themselves. I also like the idea that the player can never truly beat anything, its about survival and learning the story; not the action gained through combat. 

As I am focusing on the combat and gameplay aspects of the project I will of course come back to this point armed with research and ideas to back up my thoughts and obviously talk  more about it but one week into the project getting the story seemed most important and that is what we have done! :D

Question 8: How is the game presented?

The game will have current gen graphics, triple A worthy to make it a proper modernisation of the Fatal Frame series. Not sure on platform yet, group discussions inbound. 

Question 9: What sort of emotions is the game trying to evoke in the player?

Pure fear, terror, and horror. Pulling from different areas such as being musically scary and “make you jump” sound effects (Silent Hill, Dead Space, Amnesia). Physically haunting characters which will genuinely scare you to look at similar to the effects players got when facing necromorphs in Dead Space. Phobias will play a large part, evoking claustrophobia and other adverse phobia effects. We want the game to be psychologically screwed up so that the player feels confused and haunted. 

 

Question 10: How is the game world visually represented?

Dark and incredibly atmospheric. Deep, dark colour tones with flickers of colour to highlight key areas and important parts of the game perhaps incorporating the camera flash in there somewhere. 

Question 11: How is this game different?

This is where we are priding our ideas and concepts. We want to bring survival horror into the modern generation of gamers. We don’t want some gun clad shoot ‘em up with tons of ammo. We want strategic fun with tons of scares, genuine atmosphere and puzzles. We are going to do enough design and research work to back up the theory that this CAN and WOULD work in the modern gaming world. 

I plan on doing a lot of research in the next few days to back up our ideas and make them work taking small snippets from games and formulating our own coherent game concept so that it works :D

All images are screenshots taken from a Fatal Frame II play through on YouTube from user SplitPlaythru