Design Document

 

Walk Through

 

Start Screen:

The player will begin the game at an animated start screen. From there they can press “Enter” to start the game.

 

 

Introduction:

Before the player enters the world of the game, a series of slides plays to progress the storyline and let the user know about the world that they are entering. When the slides finish, the game begins and the player can begin to explore.

 

 

UI:

When the player starts the game, they will encounter their controls. The player will be equipped with a paintbrush and palette. When a player wants to choose a color, they can bring the palette to the center of the screen and choose from there. In front of the paintbrush, there is an indicator that alerts the user that they are close enough to paint an object by changing from a paintbrush to a paint splotch. Both the tip of the paint brush and the paint splotch will change color when the player chooses a new one.

 

 

To start the game: press enter

To walk: press any of the arrow keys or WASD

To turn: move the mouse

To jump: press the space bar

To paint: left click the mouse when the paint splotch is present

To call up the palette: press Q (you can select a color splotch by left clicking on it)

To call up the magic ball: right click the mouse

 

 

Puzzle/Level Design:

After pressing “enter” from the start screen, a series of still images will play displaying the storyline. The player enters a forest full of a variety of colorless fauna and wildlife. There will be in-game puzzles; for example, players are not able to cross the river without the aid of a tree or platform, whose different movements can be utilized by painting warm and cool colors.

 

 

Hints:

There will be in-game hints. When the player initially enters the world, there will be textual hints that educate the player about the controls of the game. These hints are an interactive part of the world that can be painted.

 

 

Objects and Animations:

Here are some objects and their animations that we currently have implemented

• Trees: grow with warm colors, shrink with cool colors.

• Trees (a different kind): straighten with warm colors, bend with cool colors

• Insects: become active with warm colors, lethargic with cool colors

• Circular platforms: move up with warm colors, down with cool colors

• Square platforms: move forward with warm colors, backwards with cool colors

• River: flows faster with warm colors, slower with cool colors

• Flowers: blossom with warm color, shrink with cool colors

• Obstacles: jump right with warm colors, jump left with cool colors

• Grass: grows tall with warm colors, shinks with cool colors

• Flower bushes: bump together with warm colors, separate with cool colors

 

 

Win State:

When the player successfully paints everything in the world, the sky will react according to the ratio of warm colors to cool colors used throughout the game. An appropriate animation will play, indicating to the player that they have won the game.

 

 

Plan for Further Implementation

 

In order to further develop this game, we would create more puzzles and different worlds for players to explore. We currently have a forest, and we would add to that by expanding our world by creating a tundra, a desert, an underwater level, and other natural scenes as backdrops for our painting and puzzle challenges.

 

 

Creation Timeline

 

Concept:

The idea of Colorless came from the desire to virtually explore a world while being able to change it at whim. It began with the idea that one could enter a painting and be able to change the colors, almost like an immersive coloring book. The idea grew with the concept of adding puzzles and challenges, so the player could have a more rewarding gaming experience in our world. The final result is that the player enters the world, is tasked with coloring every single thing encountered, but can not succeed without harnessing the way objects interact with warm and cool colors. This is the world of Colorless.

 

 

Team Roles:

Daniel: project manager and code assistant

Jonathan: lead coder

Tamara: modeler and animator

Jihan: modeler and animator

Griva: screens and game designer

Erin: writer, music and sound effects, initial slideshow, playtesting

 

 

Instantiation #1:

Our analog playtest was the first iteration of our project. We decided to utilize clay, paper, and markers to convey our world to our peers. People generally responded positively to playing around with little model figures and coloring different aspects of the world with markers. It was hard to convey the interactivity we had in mind, but our group did our best to imitate what we imagined would happen. Through this playtest, we were able to observe how a player would interact with the world we imagined, and thus got new ideas for level designs and puzzles. When a playtester used a tree to cross a river, we decided that was a good idea and implemented it in to our game.

 

 

Instantiation #2:

For our second playtest, we had an early version of the mechanics of our game. Though the world was in the very early stages of development, the player was able to color everything in the world. Certain things would move a certain way when warm or cool colors were utilized, thus conveying the puzzle mechanic of our game. Though the overall reaction was positive, many problems with our design were made known and we received a lot of ideas for improvement. Some of the major problems dealt with the platforms; players were confused as to which ones would move horizontally and which would move vertically. Players also had a hard time with the platforming aspect, as several got stuck and frustrated in the rut that we designed as a puzzle. Because we had not implemented a win screen yet, players expressed disappointment in the lack of validation of an ending. It was not clear when or how a player could paint an object; we had implemented models for a paintbrush and palette, but there was no indicator of when a player was in range and was actually able to paint things. Aesthetically, players wanted more muted colors, and the combination of many bright colors became hard to look at as painting progressed. They also wanted different shading that made the colorless objects easier to see.

 

 

Instantiation #3:

We made many usability changes to our game in time for the third playtest. Two of the most important changes were implementing an indicator in the form of a paint splotch that lets the user know when they are able to paint an object, and adding a magic ball that serves as a hint indicator to lead the user through the world. These made overall gameplay much easier for our playtesters. The toon shader we applied made the objects easier to find and color, and we implemented animations to every element of the game except for the walls and floor. Because we still had not implemented our models at this point, the aesthetic quality was not at its full potential. Our main comment for improvement was to add models to create the world and implement more complex animations. Playtesters still had trouble figuring out exactly what each object was meant to do, and suggestions for making platforms and helpful elements more obvious were made, as they desired more instruction to help figure out the game.

 

 

Final Game:

For the final product we have implemented all models, making our world into a magical forest that the players can explore. Textual hints are displayed hovering next to objects to assist players in understanding the controls. As players explore and paint trees, insects, and rivers, the world will come to life as each element reacts to the warm or cool color it is painted. When the entire world is painted, the sky will react based on the ratio of warm to cool colors, and the player will be directed to a win state. All aesthetic elements will be finished and polished, including models, colors, shading, animations, and sounds. With the help of our feedback, gameplay will be smooth, easy to figure out, and rewarding.