Design Document: Dracula's Castle Part 6

Single Player Game

Overview- The game is an action platformer that takes place in 13th century Transylvannia where the player fights Dracula and other vampires.

Story- Dracula infects Adelbert Zsigmond with Vampirism in an attempt to throw the vampire hnting knights, "The Order of the Dragon," off his tail while he conducts a ritual to reach the apothesis of his dark powers. Now Adelbert must battle against Dracula's minions and the vampire hunters in order to free himself of this dark curse. For more information see the Story Appendix.

Hours of Gameplay Well that's a tricky question, a player could blast through the tutorial levels, and barge his way into Dracula's chambers in as little as four hours if particualrly determined to do so. However if the player actually explores the area and gathers power-ups I'd place the total play time at around twenty to twenty-five hours depending if they go for every power up in the game.

Victory Conditions- The only condition for winning the game is the death of Dracula, and he awaits at his castle as soon as the tutorial levels are over. Whether the player gets  the good or evil ending depends soley on whether they have more good or evil points when they defeat Dracula.

Multiplayer Game

Overview- Two players play as two different vampires, one with mostly good powers and one with mostly evil powers, and are thrust into Dracula's throne room to fight it out. They can work together to take down Dracula, but the only winner is the last one standing, so the player has to decide whether to risk getting overwhelmed by Dracula's forces, or launching a surprise attack against his distracted opponent.

Maximum Number of Players- Two, having too many moving parts during the elaborate Dracula boss fight would be ill-advised, paring it down to two keeps it simple.

Online Play- Online match-making over X-Box Live and Playstation Network are likely additions, although  this feature is built with local multiplayer in mind, so you can curse out your friend, as he backstabs you right before you land the killing blow on Dracula.


Alright, that's the end of our first Design Document, the appendicies will be added to the final Google Doc that'll go up Tuesday.I made the decision to post the appendices seperately, (thus making this installment rather sparse), because that stuff isn't really of general interest to somebody who wouldn't just go ahead and read the document. I'll update this post with a link to the document first thing Tuesday, as well as post a new article. See you then.

Design Document: Dracula's Castle Part 5

Wow, finally all done. It is however rather unwieldy with all the appendices, so I'm splitting it into two different parts. Here is part one of the final installment of Dracula's Castle Design Document, tune in Thursday for the finale.

World Overview
World Map

The City

Dracula's Castle

Game Characters

Adelbert Zsigmond

Ilka Fekete
Adelbert's sweat-heart, although his family and friends are quick to point out that Adelbert doesn't know if she returns the feelings. She recently left her home town for Dracula Manor without much notice, only leaving a short note for Adelbert which he found upon his return. Physically Ilka is a young woman, with black hair and blue eyes, and a good couple inches taller than Adelbert, (pre-transformation). She has a similar build to Adelbert, in her youth she used to explore the countryside with Adelbert, and developed the climbers physique as well, although she also has considerable strength (at least as far as the weakling Adelbert remembers it), as she helped with the harvest and such, although it doesn't really show. Although she grew up working hard on the farm, her features are now quite soft, having spent the last couple of years working the relatively untaxing position as servant to the local noble. She generally dresses in simple work clothes, or a travelers cloak, a practical habit she picked up from Adelbert.

Father Fény
The good hearted churchman that serves as a mentor for Adelbert for the beginning of the game. It is hi wise and caring voice that coaches Adelbert through the tutorial section of the game. The man himself claims to be visiting clergy on his way to the Manor, who offers to help Adelbert to his destination. While Father Fény may be a man of the cloth, he is no fat friar or doubty deacon, the years spent as a traveling priest have kept him fit evidently. Although his white hair and dimming brown eyes indicate that he is of advanced years, he doesn't lean on his ever present walking stick, but rather walks up right, with the pride of a warrior.

Character Customization
Outside of the stylistic changes that come from Adelbert's choosing good or evil there isn't any. Character customization for largely single player games is little more than a novelty in my opinion, (with a possible exception being roleplaying games where making your own character is kind of the point).

Enemies and Monsters

Dracula - The final boss of the game, incredibly fast and strong, and capable of transforming into a monstrous form if pressed. With all these powers he is rather difficult to beat, but even still he is no fool and calls upon any allies that may be around for aid. Very difficult to defeat, it might be in the players best interest to target some of his allies before taking him on. For more information see Enemy Appendix.

Dracula's Three Brides - The sub-bosses of Dracula's Castle, dangerous and deadly in their own right, when working together under Dracula's direction, they are nearly unstoppable. If Dracula is forced into a confrontation he will call upon his Vampire Brides to help him, however outside of Dracula's purview their dislike of one another prevents them from coming to one another rescue. So it would be simpler to face them each individually before attacking Dracula, but if the player has a death wish he may fight them all alongside Dracula in his throne room. For more information see Enemy Appendix.

Undead - Dracula uses these mindless corpses as foot soldiers within his domain, throwing them in waves against his enemies. Dracula has no shortage of raw material, with his victims, the dead Ottoman's from the failed invasions, and not to mention those long buried in the myriad boneyards found around his manor.  For more information see Enemy Appendix.

Wolves - Dracula has some foul power over the wild creatures that roam his domain, in order to keep unwelcome guests off of his territory he often sends packs to hunt and kill those who wander where they should not be.  For more information see Enemy Appendix.

For the rest of the list see, Enemy Appendix.

User Interface

Controls X - Jump

Square - Attack, (hold down longer for stronger attack)

Triangle - Use Selected Item

Circle - Transform into Monster Form  (if Horror Meter is full)

Right Thumb Stick - Camera

Left Thumb Stick - Move

R1 & L1 - Switch Weapon

R2 & L2 - Switch Item

Start - Pause

Select - Map

Health and Other Meters
Health will be displayed in as a red horizontal meter across the top of the screen, that leads into an indicator of which item is currently selected and how much of that item is left, this being the most important meter it is positioned at the top so players know where to look when the situation gets dicey. The Horror Meter is a deep purplish, almost shadowlike color, that fills up the more you character kills things on screen, innocents as well as enemies. When the Horror Meter is full the player can transform into the bestial vampire form.

Pause Menu
A scroll of paper with an option for Map, Display Options, or Sound written on what appears to be old parchment, the current selected item appears to have a drop of blood next as an indication. The players inventory appears below that, and they may scroll down and check their belongings, a little window offering information on the currently selected option appears on the right hand side, so players can easily ignore it if they don't care for the information, but easily find it if they need it.

Map Screen
Rolls down from the scroll if selected from the pause menu, appears to be hand drawn by Adelbert as areas are explored, can cycle through the various areas in the game with the L1 and R1 buttons.

Weapons

Dragon's Hammer - A holy hammer given to Adelbert early in the game by Father Fény, the basic weapon used by the Order of the Dragon to drive stakes into the hearts of Vampires, also doubles as an absolutely brutal war hammer. For more information see Equipment Appendix.

Claws - Who needs the weapons of mortals when you can just manifest bestial claws. The curse of the vampire may leave it's victims damned, but it certainly doesn't leave them defenseless. These rending claws are the primary offensive weapon for the vampires who tread the path of evil. For more information see Equipment Appendix.

For a complete list of Weapons and Equipment see the Equipment Appendix

Musical Score

The score should be heavily instrumental, with lots of deep bass and wistful flute melodies. Sad cello's should remind the player he's all alone in this world, and boss battle themes should sink start out hopeful, then sink into something similar to Bach's Toccato and Fugue, until finally emerging out the other side with a few triumphant chords at the end to bring the player up, before realizing he still has a job to do and he'd better get to it. Some brief thoughts on the themes for the various areas:

The Southern Road
The music should start out low and forlorn, a slow beat with few notes driving home how far away from life the player is. As they get closer to the city the tempo climbs a bit, more note are added to music and the player no longer feels quite so alone, however the music starts to take on a greater and greater aspect of anxiety. So the player must chose, face the isolation in the wilderness, or walk into the dangerous walls of the city. If the player wanders down one of the side paths, the melody gets discordant and alien, really hammering home that they aren't in a natural wilderness environment at all.

The Western Mountains
The mountains should be full of the sounds of struggle, with a hint of danger running throughout. At the beginning of the climb upward, the music should start off with a lot of energy, going in loud and up-tempo. As the player climbs and hits more and more difficult areas to platform across, the music starts to lose it's confidence, slowly parts of the orchestra start to fade out, leaving only a simple tune to comfort the player as the reach the highest parts of the mountain, and even that struggles against the fantastically high altitudes, and dangerous terrain. Finally, when the player reaches the top the music returns full force, although Dracula's will prevents the player from moving any farther beyond, they get the feeling that once they defeat Dracula, and move beyond the mountain pass, better things lie in that direction.

The Northern River
Not many people venture to the lands of the North, so the music should sound a little different than the music elsewhere. Although the music will still have the same themes of danger and isolation present in the other areas of the game it will also have an unnatural flow to it, like the river itself characterizes the music.  The music will also lead to a false sense of security, it doesn't change tempo when danger is afoot, leaving the player feeling vulnerable and paranoid.

Southern Marsh
The music starts out down-tempo, and only gets gloomier from there. It's like the Marsh was trying to warn you to stay away from it just by the ambient sound. As you reach the center of the marsh, the music seems interspersed with what sound like the dying gasps of a drowning victim.

Dracula's Manor - Town
The score seems more natural and familiar, but that doesn't necessarily make it welcoming. The tempo increases as the player approaches other villagers, letting the player know of the increasing tension between the towns people and this outsider. The score may be on more of an even keel in the town, but that doesn't mean it's soothing or up-beat, the music in the city is more harmonious than outside the city, but there is little relief inside the walls of civilization.

Dracula's Manor - Castle
The score inside is a lot more ordered, like a military march, the music should convey the power that Dracula commands. The notes should be loud and almost over-powering, the aura of power Dracula likes to cultivate is less reassuring, and more intimidating, with hints of dark menace in the refrain.

Sound Effects
Combat sound effects shouldn't really be too graphic for the standard attacks against the various enemies, the player shouldn't come to be sick of the constant squish and rip of bodies. However the sound design should turned up a bit when an enemy lands a killing blow on the player, really make the death sound gory and painful, although not too over the top.

The sound effects for picking up power-ups should be a brief up-beat chord, as power-ups should feel like short reprieves from the dangers of the dark world surrounding the player. Although players regaining health by sucking blood from villagers and the like aren't treated to the dulcet tones of the power up sound, but rather the helpless wails of their victims.

Ambient sounds should be harsh and guttural, with wolves howling out in the wilderness, and plodding footsteps following unseen in the city. If a gate needs to be raised the mechanism should scrape, scratch and clank as it is put into motion. Nothing is in proper working order, so doors should squeal on their hinges and floorboards creak underfoot.

Winter Holiday

Hey everybody, I'm going to have to take today off for the holiday, but I'll be back on Tuesday with the last segment of the Design Document.

Happy Holidays from,
-practicallyevil

Creating Conflict: "We're not so different, you and I."

Now I know I should be finishing up this Design Document, but every time I think about posting the finished product, I reread it and see evidence of a concept I want to discuss. So I figure it's best to push it back a week and address the concept so you the readers can appreciate it too, without calling it out inside the Design Document.

This week I want to talk about creating conflict in games, and not in the sense of actual physical combat, but rather in the sense of why each character within the game chooses to fight. I think the conflict in Dracula's Castle is a good example of this, in the sense that it is simple enough to serve as a straight-forward example. Here the basic conflict is that Dracula is faced with a group of vampire hunters, and it is only a matter of time before they find out he is a vampire. He needs someone to take the fall, or at least serve as a distraction, somebody no one knows or cares about, and Adelbert Zsigsimond is a perfect candidate.

This set up makes for great conflict, now everyone involved has a reason to fight against each other. If the players look at why Dracula took the action that he did from his perspective it adds up, when thinking about how to cover up a serious crime, it's not a huge leap of logic to pin it on a lone drifter. From the vampire hunters perspective Adelbert is now definitely a vampire, even if he isn't the vampire that they are looking for, and are therefore duty bound to kill him. From Adelbert's perspective, he has to fight to escape being made a thrall of Dracula, while fighting the vampire hunters in self defense.

Everybody has very clear cut consequences for failing to succeed in their goal: if Dracula fails to shift the blame to Adelbert, he will die at the hands of the vampire hunters. If the vampire hunters fail then a vampire will prey on the innocents of this village on their watch. Finally if Adelbert fails he'll either die, or worse turn into a vampiric thrall. It really helps when your players know what the stakes are for every given faction, and what they stand to lose if they fail.

A player should not only understand the conflicts between himself and his enemies, but also the internal conflict within himself, enemies should be used as metaphors for the internal struggles within the character and the player. For example the player is understandably angry with Dracula, he made him into a vampire and is clearly the bad guy, but there will always be the nagging feeling that they really can't be mad at him too much, because he''s basically in the same situation the player is in. Those vampire hunters are dangerous,and the more they hound the player, the more the player understands just how badly Dracula wanted to avoid being in such a situation. As the game progresses, it will be readily apparent that the player would be lost without his vampiric powers, and if he is ever prompted to call to mind Dracula's situation, he'll realize that Dracula wouldn't have been able to defeat the Ottoman's without those same powers. How can the player be mad with Dracula for doing essentially what they themselves are doing? Villains shouldn't be the complete opposites of the heroes they face, they should share some common ground so the player can relate with them and create a deeper conflict within himself.

Consider also the so-called good guys among the vampire hunters, they are clearly Adelbert's and by extension the players enemies. They attack the player on sight for the mere fact of being a vampire, regardless of his actions, and that's totally unfair. But what about the undead hordes the players has been scything through? Did the player put any more thought into it outside of, "they're undead, therefore it is okay to kill them?" If not, can you really blame the vampire hunters for attacking you? And doesn't this whole conundrum make the player even more sympathetic to his undead enemies?

This is the nature of conflict, one cannot easily grapple with another opponent without seeing something of himself in his adversary creating tension. The more someone battles against a foe, the more they battle against themselves. This is the proper use of conflict in games, a means to get the player to realize something about himself and not just violence for its own sake. When creating enemies, try not to think so much of how they are different from the character, but in what ways they are the same.

Crypto-Cartography: How to Sketch a Map of Someplace That Doesn't Exist

Now that we are back from our regularly scheduled break time, I'm putting the finishing touches on the Dracula's Castle Design Document. While I was doing some quick sketches of the game world I thought that a quick tutorial on how to make map's of fake places might be interesting to our my readers so I'll share with you.

I did this in MS-Paint, quickly doodling for a few hours of free time, while I was caught on a computer that didn't have Adobe Photoshop. If you are going to make map's like this I recommend Photoshop, as it allows you to play with layers, but for instructional purposes Paint is just fine.

First start with a blank canvas, but make the background color something other than white, there is going to be a lot of information in these maps, and pure white space distracts from it. I chose an earthy brown for my map of the environs around Dracula's Castle, observe:

Now that we have the basic area, we need to start with the geography of the region, the change in elevation, and the geological features of the landscape affect everything else in the environment as we shall soon see. I did up the higher elevations in a darker color brown, the big blob to the west is the mountains described in Design Document 2, the one in the center is the sheer cliff Dracula's Castle is situated on, and the third in the upper right is just for fun:

Now we have the cliff for Dracula's Castle, so we know about where the city will be, why not put it in right now? Because as a general rule the most important factor when building a city is its proximity to water, and the local water sources should be squared away before you start adding in any details about the inhabitants. I mentioned the tributary of the Danube to the north, so lets add that right now. Before we go on I'd like to note that I like to use calligraphy brushes for rivers, as rivers are generally thinner when they curve, and widen out in straight lines like a calligraphy brush. They do cause some issues if you want to do a horse-shoe bend, but those are rare in rivers, anyways take a look:

Now the rivers flow may seem arbitrary, but there is a method here. Water seeks it's own level, and as you can see the course of the river seems to flow away from the areas with higher elevation, unless your map encompasses the start and end of a river this handy short-cut will make the flow of a river seem natural.

The first river shoots of the Danube, but another good origin for a water source is to be a mountain spring formed by snow-melt to trickle down from the mountains. If you're looking for a handy water source to supply your quaint little RPG starting hamlet, that's a good place to start. I'll throw in one of those stream just for fun, it's okay to have more than one water source on a map, just don't get bogged down with them. Here is how it looks on the map:

Okay, we have the high elevation and water flow, but there is little indication which way the water is flowing. Let's mark some marshland so you can tell where the low point is:

Now that we have the geography down let's add the city. In modern times cities sprawl out, but in this time period cities are bound by walls or palisades. A common border to a city is a circular wooden palisade, so the black ring around the city represents that, the grey within is the constrained urban spread:

Every city needs roads to go to it. I mentioned earlier that the main road to the city came in from the South, let's add that:

Now a few lesser roads. First a somewhat smaller road leading to the mountain pass for trade, and then an even smaller road leading north to the ill used river crossing:

Finally to flesh out a few details, by adding a small sheep road into the marsh. Then a slightly less dark shade of brown for the higher, but not mountainous elevations. Finally we use a warm green to mark the woods to the South we mentioned earlier:

Now to add some label the points of interest and we are done!

Hope you learned something from this, enjoy!

Character Profile: Adelbert Zsigmond

To get us started with with the new more frequent update schedule I thought I'd start off slow and also take the opportunity to introduce a new segment, where I make a character sketch in prose of a character in the game I'm designing. Hopefully I'll be able to make one for each principle character.

Name: Adelbert Zsigmond

Gender: Male

Place of Birth: Hunedoara, Wallachia

Age: 20

Physical Description: (Prior to Transformation) - Medium build, looks fairly gaunt and somewhat bookish, but also has the air of an outdoors man too him, with a comportment of a climber. He has deep brown hair, a light complexion (we are assuming that the weather in Transylvania is always poor, and people rarely have reason to leave their homes), with light green eyes covered by thin framed glasses. His clothes are well in order and practical, he wears a travelers cloak, (although he wears the hood down even while it's raining because it inhibits his view), over a set of dark, old going on thread-bare formal clothes, an indication of his families failing fortunes. He also carries with him a large pack, which he uses to carry his various effects, and also stow his various gear as he likes to be prepared. His hands are neat and well groomed, the tips of his fingers are however ink-stained from his constant map making. His body language is that of a man out of his depth, in awe of the majesty of the world around him, but quite frightened by the dark shadows the new scenery casts. His voice is slightly nervous, afraid that he's asking too much for you to acknowledge his presence, but with an undercurrent of kindness.

(Post Transformation) - It appears that during the transformation into a vampire Adelbert gained a few inches in height, although that might just be in the way he carries himself now. He still gives off an aura of athleticism, but his feats of climbing seem to come a lot easier to him now, as if they took no effort at all. He still wears the cloak from before, (although he never takes it off, so what became of the clothes beneath is unknown), but wisely decides to hide his face from the public and wears the hood up, giving him a slightly sinister look. The pupils on his eyes become slightly deformed, and now his eyes look like those of a jungle predator, the darker shade of green in them suggesting a deep sense of avarice. His large pack also survives the transformation, although several of the necessities like the bed roll and portable cooking iron have been cast off, as an indication of his detachment from humanity. His body language changes to that of an animal in a new environment, searching the surroundings for some advantage he can gain, but also casting about paranoid glances for larger predators. His voice at times keeps the nervous quality, but now he's more afraid of what he is going to do to other people, not what others will do to him, and the times when his voice becomes calm it begins to sound laden with ill intent.

Recent History: Adelbert has until just recently been away at university in Budapest, learning his letters and picking up the trade of cartography. It is a natural enough business for him to go into, combining his love of books and learning with his love of exploration and travel. He has come home to Hunedoara to find his childhood sweet-heart Ilka Fekete has picked up stakes and left for Dracula's manor without telling anyone. Deciding to take a risk for once in his life Adelbert followed Ilka to Dracula's Manor against the anxious advice of his friend and family, hoping to find Ilka and propose to her or at least protect her from whatever danger she is sure to find herself in, while visiting what is currently an active war-zone. Oddly enough the Count somehow hears of his coming and has sent word by messenger that he'd like to meet with the young man upon his arrival, as visitors are rare in his neck of the woods. The game begins with Adelbert on the last leg of the trade road leading into the city.

Motivation: At first Adelbert's main motivation is to find Ilka and propose, but as he gets farther from the Wallachian border it becomes mostly fear that motivates him to go forward. Adelbert reasons that he's farther in than he is out, and that he should be more worried about the more "real" threat of wolves and bandits that are just as likely anywhere on the path, as opposed to the superstitious tales he has grown immune to during his time at University. After his transformation into a vampire, Adelbert's primary motivation is somewhat up to the player, although we can assume the desire to escape the vampiric curse in the event of a "good" play through, or the desire for power in the "bad" play through.

Personality: Adelbert thinks of the world in stark rigid terms, 'I'm going to march down to Dracula's Manor and propose to Ilka and that will be that", "there are no such things as vampires, end of discussion," etc. After his embrace into the real of the undead, you can see how he might reject every rule he's established with himself, including moral ones as a result of his supernatural experience, or you could see his fight against Dracula as an attempt to reestablish the natural order in the face of this paranormal threat. Adelbert also finds relaxation in drawing maps and likes to explore new places, even if they are a bit scary his curiosity gets the better of him. This will help the players relate to him more, and add some context to the mapping system in game, a player could easily imagine the mini-map in the corner to be Adelbert's "mental map" of the area, and the map in the pause menu can be assumed to have been created by Adelbert himself, possibly with little notes inscribed in the margins giving some insight into his inner thoughts, as he moves along either path of morality. In this way Adelbert reflects a lot of the traits the players themselves will have, giving the character a clear motivation to do what the players are naturally inclined to do anyways.

Site Changes

Hi everyone,

Today's regularly scheduled blog update has been preempted by preparations to change the update schedule. From this point forward the blog will update on Tuesdays. Later starting the week of the 19th I will be updating Tuesdays and Thursdays, and over the course of the winter holidays I will be improving the graphical layout a bit.
,
I apologize for the inconvenience.

Design Documents: Dracula's Castle Part 4

Rendering System
For merely rendering the graphics of the game I'm considering the OGRE system. It's scene focused, which is what the game needs, relatively easy to use and efficient. This game is more about shadows than light, so saving memory load by not going all out on graphics is my objective with the rendering system.
Camera

The Camera controls simply enough, it keeps a wide view of the area around, while automatically scrolling to keep Adelbert somewhere slightly below the center of the screen. Players can control the camera by moving the right thumb stick if they need to look before they leap, or if they are particularly interested in some piece of architecture, they can jump into first person mode by holding down the right thumb stick.

The game will infrequently take over for the player, to let draw their attention to an important element of the environment, or particularly dangerous foe, but will revert back to the players control quickly afterward.

Camera Feature
While outside of buildings, the Camera will always keep Dracula's Castle in the center of the background, and rotate the scene accordingly. Layers of background will be added depending on how far away the player is from the Castle, if out in the wilderness beyond the town, the player will be able to observe the lights in the town beneath the shadow of the Castle.

Inside of buildings, the camera pans out to see as much of the room as possible while still being able to distinguish important features in a fight. The wall closest to the player will be made into a see though "4th Wall," with the other three walls serving as background, although if there is a window it invariably affords a view of Castle Dracula. Within Castle Dracula, the backdrop is always the wall closest to Dracula's Sanctum, with any windows offering a view of the moon to allow players who are on the higher difficulty modes to know how much time they have left.

Game Engine

Ideally the game engine system that would best fit with the game-play of Dracula's Castle would be something similar to the Anvil/Scimitar Engine from games like Assassin's Creed or Prince of Persia. The game is at heart a 3D action platformer, and a good part of the game should be climbing lonely belfries, or scrabbling over the roofs in the village while in Vampire form.

Water
Although Anvil has a pretty good handle on water as it stands, it's not entirely necessary for the game. Thematically, what water their is in game should be deep, dark and stagnant, not really necessitating an advanced water engine. There will be a fair amount of water in the section of the Castle dedicated to Dracula's First Bride, but it will be shallow, an probably not require detailed water physics. Still we should be well covered in the few instances we need to make use of it.

Collision Detection
Collision detection need only be handled in a very general way, simply making sure that projectiles hit their targets, enemies don't run through one another, the environment nor player, and that a player can accurately grab onto edges while platforming. The majority of collision detection should take place between the player and platforming objects, and checking whether attacks hit their marks. However I think the engines available for the project ought to handle the task admirably.

Lighting Models
The lighting model should receive particular attention as creating the proper atmosphere in the game will require shadows for the creatures to crawl out of. Ambient light should be reduced to a minimum, while not leaving the player completely in the dark, merely making the enemies less distinct and harder to focus in on. For instance, we don't want a player too far away from a light source to completely miss seeing an enemy on screen, but it wouldn't be so bad if the player missed seeing the enemy wind up for an attack. Shadows should be long and visible, players should be spooked when they see three shadows move quickly on the wall behind him.

In the Light of Day
Area's of brighter light are generally reserved for areas of the game who are more or less safe, aside from perhaps dangerous platforming elements. Combat on the other hand will take place in darker areas, with foes sticking to the shadows to gain advantage. The engine needs he right combination of light and shadow to put the player at a disadvantage, but not so much so that they can't make out anything that's going on in game.

Design/Philosophy: Plant a Garden, Build a Church

A little change of pace this week, Dracula's Castle will return next week, with what I hope to be a huge installment that will hopefully finish it off. This week I'm going to start to talk a little about my own design philosophy and start talking about how I might start to specialize within my field.

This week I attended the weekly IMGD Speaker Series at WPI, this installment being a video conference with Auriea Harvey and Michael Samyn from Tale of Tales Games. They do great stuff like The Graveyard and The Path, which you can get on their site and heartily recommend. In the talk they did a re-evaluation of their ground-breaking Realtime Art Manifesto which I must admit is the first I'd ever heard of it. Aside from a few quibbles on their opinions of modern art, the entire talk was enlightening and one thing in particular stood out to me.

4. Embed the user in the environment.

This is something I'd long been thinking about, but was unable to put so elegantly into words until I heard them say it. All too often in games it feels like you are outside of your character, going through the actions of the game and the environments are just shifting scenery that just adds a perfunctory back drop to the actions in game. In most first person shooters you could easily switch out any given military base, or warehouse complex for any other and the player wouldn't notice or even have incentive to care. This has got to stop if video-games are going to become a respectable medium.

The one advantage video-games have over other forms of media is that the viewer, or rather user, is allowed to interact with the environment constructed by the author. In films or prose the audience can only see as much of the environment as the author can afford to share with the audience before the balance becomes between detail and plot is lost and the narrative grinds to a halt. In games players control the pace of the narrative, and can look at the little details for as long as they wish, just like in the real world you can examine a particular area for as long as it holds your interest, and depending on how interesting the area you can spend quite a long time in one place if it offers something interesting to do or see. Video-game levels should be like this, interesting places with interesting things to do and see in each one, inviting the player to spend as long as they like there.

However as things stand today levels are not the environment in which the game takes place, merely a container for the game. If you eat some canned fruit, the can itself is not the important part of the experience, it's the fruit inside, the can is merely the container for the experience. Likewise if a game has you shooting some goons in a warehouse, the warehouse is not the experience, it's the container. Why are the goons in the warehouse? For you to shoot them of course!

A good level should be like a kitchen, a place that stores and gives you the means to interact with all the canned experiences, it should be much bigger than the events that take place with in it. The level should be the place where all the experiences originate from, given context and afforded the tools to interact with the experience of gameplay.

Or to use the metaphor of the people who have obviously spent much more time thinking about this than I have, "Game-spaces should be like Cathedrals, not movies. The game experience should surround them and not merely be presented to them." We as game designers have got to realize that players do a lot more in video-games than just overcome the challenge presented to them by the designer. They explore the world and poke at it's edges, and if they find that the facade is only cardboard thick they will loose interest in the environment they are put in.

If at the end of the level, they are just going to be transported somewhere else, by a generic military helicopter, or worse jump cut to another location via cut-scene, why should they care about what happens in one particular place. Why save the hostages in this mission, if they will cease to exist after we defeat the criminal leader? Why is beating the bad guys in that particular warehouse such an accomplishment? If that same fight could have happened anywhere else besides the place it occurred, then the level was not worth making.

Game levels should flow one into the next, with no interruption. The first tutorial should take place within a days ride of the final boss. The townsfolk you saved from drowning should throw you a surprise party at your in game safe-house, after making a climactic escape from the police by jumping off the roof of an office building, you should be able to follow the workers from the office home and ask to come in.

I've got a lot more to say about how game environments should interact with the player, but I think that will come out in future design documents and posts. Suffice it to say I'm thinking of focusing in on level design, and am now committed to studying architecture.

Design Document: Dracula's Castle Part 3

The Game World

Overview: The game world consists of Dracula's Castle, the adjoining manor town, and a bit of the nearby country side. Dracula's Castle is at the center of the game map, atop an imposing sheer cliff, with a winding and narrow mountain road the only way up naturally. The castle seems to tower into the sky, straining to reach the moon in the sky. The rest of the game world radiates out from this center, with the manor town broken up into four sections, with the unoriginal names of North, South, East and West, that form a ring around Castle Dracula.

Beyond that  is the wild Transylvanian wilderness, with a great variation in topography in each of the cardinal directions. To the south of town lies a dark and foreboding woods, to the west, treacherous mountain passes and steep foothills, to the north a deep and dark tributary of the Danube, and finally to the east lies a fetid marsh. Outside of a few abandoned farmsteads there is little sign of human life outside the city, a recent invasion by the Turks have driven the peasants to seek protection within the city.

The Ottomans where unsuccessful in their attacks, although they leave behind ample evidence of their passing, their siege works left in haste, abandoned encampments, their presence felt even in the city where a few catapult rounds have damaged the walls and the buildings within. Perhaps the best evidence of their presence is the bodies they left behind, fallen soldiers litter the landscape and are left to the elements, those not so lucky are impaled on gruesome pikes, a vivid warning to those who would dare challenge the Count.

The whole of the world has an oppressive sense of death and decay, the Count's corpulent form and those of his servants being only one element of the equation. The abandoned crops of the farmers rot in the field, the invading army slaughtered any pack animals it encountered and left them lying on the road, the tight quarters of the city have lead to an outbreak of some manner of illness. Throughout the weight of ages hangs off the buildings, ancient monuments can be found in the woods, most of which are some manner of burial mound or marker. There is a distinct lack of children within the city, and it really seems that there isn't now and never again will be, anything new or fresh in the region.

Day-Walkers and Night Stalkers
The world will have dynamic environments that change depending on whether it is day time or night time. In general during the day, the action is more platform and puzzle solving, and at night it is more combat focused. It is worth visiting areas twice, once in the day and again at night, to see what secrets have been unlocked.

Open the Crypt
After some basic tutorial levels the players can go pretty much anywhere they want, even directly to Dracula's lair if they so desire. Players can conquer the challenges of Dracula's Castle in any order they choose, and are encouraged to explore the world in order to gain advantages for the final fight.

Death is a Doorway
Player got themselves killed in a  tough spot? Find out too late that the area they are trying to explore is better left until later, but have already grabbed a few check-points? No worries, the player is given the option to 'return to his grave' after each death, a certain area that acts like the players home base. The player will have a few options of where to position his grave, so he can center himself near the action. From his grave he can fast travel to any checkpoint he's been to before, eliminating laborious travel times in physically moving through places they've already conquered, while making return to them to explore a snap.

Funerary Wealth
Blue orbs of  'St. Georges Fire' indicate that their is treasure nearby. This visual cue gives the player the idea to search this particular section of the map for power-ups, once the item is found the fire dissipates.

A Tour of Transylvania: The game world is broken up into three parts, the outside wilderness, the surrounding town, and Dracula's Castle. Each of these locations present unique opportunities to advance your character, but also pose a variety of dangers. A quick overview of each region and their key features follows:

The Wilderness: Outside the safety of the towns walls, dark predators stalk the shadows. This is the area where you are most in danger from enemy attacks, the areas are wide open, and there is little cover or terrain for you to maneuver with. It is recommended that your character has built up it's strength before wandering too far.

• To the South lies a dark and twisted wood, through which the initial road to Dracula's Castle leads. Staying on the path should be safe enough, although the road is ill kept and may require some skill to make your way. Straying from the highway is ill advised, dangerous animals haunt the branch choked woods and worse besides. That's not to say that those who do brave the road less traveled will come away empty handed, an abandoned farm house, and scenic glen might offer rewards to those who explore them.
• To the West dangerous mountain passes and low foothills lead thankfully away from the dark countryside of Dracula's Castle. The paths are treacherous and the inclines steep, for if it where easy to leave the area, none would live here. Braving the constant threat of avalanche might be rewarded if one was lucky enough to find a treasure strewn cave, or an isolated mountain shrine, that could greatly aide in your task.
• To the North a dark and deep tributary of the Danube snakes through the landscape. River Traders camp along the strand and sell their unusual wares miles away from the safety of civilization, seemingly unafraid of the dangers the city folk shut themselves away from. Although even the River Traders shun the ill-omened boat wrecked on a great rock in the river, claiming it to be the sleeping place of a foul beast despite the rumors of riches within. Similarly they would rather take their chances crossing the river on their boats than try their luck on the ancient bridge that transverses the river.
• Finally to the east a great marsh, full of  witch-fire and misty groves. Dangerous beasts are said to lurk within, not the least of which is the hag of a witch said to reside in a hut at it's center. Rumors of an ancient stone ruin somewhere within the bog are thought of as a cruel joke to lure would-be adventurers to their death.

The Town: Within the wooden defensive walls of the manor, the local peasants gather. At first seeking refuge from the invading Turks, now shut up in fear of the monster that stalks the land in search of blood. The constant strain of the possibility of violent attack has made the villagers paranoid and agitated, slow to trust new-comers and prone to mob violence. The city is divided into four sections North, West, East and South, each with a particularly important feature to town life.

• The North is where The Tower lies, built by order of Dracula himself. The Tower is the principle place to store criminals and prisoners of all stripes, both political and petty, with the top of the tower reserved for the most dangerous and important of prisoners. Elsewhere in the North of the city, the poorest of the poor make their homes, the  closely packed houses making them easy prey for criminals... and others.
• The West is the most upscale of the neighborhoods in Dracula's Manor, although the wealth has done little to provide for cheery architecture. Here a magnificent new Cathedral was built by order of Dracula's father on the occasion of his families pledge to the Order of the Dragon. The Cathedral has weathered the siege quite well, so it was an obvious choice of headquarters for the Knights of the Order of the Dragon whilst they are in town investigating the vampire. Also in the neighborhood, the well appointed homes of the wealthy nobles and merchants, belie dark dealings with dangerous forces.
• The East of town suffered the most from the siege, with several buildings completely destroyed. In fact the towns old church, nearly ancient even by the long reckoning of most of the residents, burned to the ground during the invasion. All that remains are charred ruins, and the graveyard of course. The locals now mostly avoid the East end, except to visit the local tavern, just within it's bounds and even that is too far to stray for all but the most committed of revelers.
• The South is where the main gate to the city opens to the road beyond. As this is the first place travelers come upon when entering the city, it is the natural place for the merchants to set up shop, hawking their wares. It is also home to the entrance to the path that leads to Dracula's Castle, although the grim stone sentinel that stands over the gate is often reason enough to drive most curious away from his demesne.

Castle Dracula: The lair of the beast himself, the Castle is the final redoubt of the terrible villain who has plagued your steps since arriving in the city. Dracula maintains several advantages on his home turf, and can seemingly set the castle itself against you. There are several important areas within the castle which are as follows:

• The dungeons, where Dracula keeps the masses of peasants he has kidnapped to feed him and his brood. There are several dangerous sentries guarding his living food larder, as well as his family vault, filled with interesting and useful items.
• The sculpture gardens are a series of interior courtyards where his third bride takes residence most of the time. On moon lit evenings she can be seen moving elegantly about amongst the disturbingly life like statues. Those who dare to sneak in and disturb her run the risk of becoming her newest statue.
• The aviary a domed bird habitat that could possibly play host to all manner of exotic birds, but as of right now only seems to be home to unnaturally large ravens. Dracula's second Bride spends her nights here amongst the birds, and she sees to it that the carrion birds eat well of their preferred meal.
• The great baths, where Dracula's first bride takes residence most of the time. The red painted walls get more and more sanguine as you approach the ladies personal bath. It is said that the Countessa bathes blood to keep young, and if you are not careful you could be put to such cosmetic use.
• Dracula's Sanctum is where the count broods as he waits for his plan to come to fruition. Heavily guarded and centrally located so as to be able to quickly call upon his servants if ever threatened, the Count is difficult to surprise and is never unprepared to do battle if it comes to that.

Travel: Players get around on foot, exploring the various paths in and around the castle. Once a player reaches a check point they can restart their exploration from that point if they die in their adventures, check points will be frequent, one in nearly each major area. If a player wishes to quickly travel to some other location, they can select a check point they've already been to on the map and fast travel there, in game it will show an animation of the player turning into a swarm of bats, and then jump cut to them reforming at the desired location.

Scale: The Scale will actually be fairly condensed, each area being one "screen" along which the camera pans across. The interior of buildings will seem larger than they aught to, to provide room for interesting and dynamic fights. In general overland travel is condensed, while giving the illusion of distance, and interiors are expanded. The whole of the game world is never more than 5 screens across, and while various screens might be pretty massive in scope, the whole world would only translate to a square mile or so in real world terms.

Objects: Objects for the most part outside of power-ups will be non-interactive bits of scenery. All items the player can't utilize in combat are pretty much permanent fixtures of the landscape. There will be the odd interactive feature in the game map, such as a spike you can throw an enemy onto, or a lever that might need to be pulled, but none of the items need their own physics or to move in any way.

Power ups float and bob a few feet off the ground, but other than that follow the in game gravity, and will not just hang in the middle of the air, unless for instance it is tied to a rope or some such.

See the objects appendix for a complete list.

Weather: The Weather in Transylvania varies between dark and overcast in the day, and mostly cloudy at night, with only small gaps for the whole of the moon to peak out of to let players know how close they are to a full moon. If we can rig it so the sky gets darker the farther along in the game he is, that's great, maybe even throwing in a dramatic thunderstorm in the end game. But alternating between grey dawn, and a dark dusk suits us just fine for our purposes.

Time: Time in Dracula's Castle will shift between day and night, time "occurs" when a player switches between screens, moving through lets say 10 screen will bring the game into night, and 10 more will bring it back to dawn. In hard and impossible modes, dying also advances the the timeline one whole day. Time is also shown by the changing of the phases of the moon in this case. If not in hard or impossible the moon just stays full the entire time for dramatic effect.

Design Document: Dracula's Castle Part 2

Feature Set

General Features

• Become a Monster- Complex and meaningful "morality system" that affects the game in fun and interesting ways based upon decisions made during game-play.
• It's a Scary World Out There- Persistent world consisting of Dracula's Castle, the manor town surrounding it, and the immediate environs of the Transylvania countryside.
• Lord of the Night- The climax of the game is the show-down with Dracula himself, but he doesn't fight fair. He summons his cronies and henchmen, boss fights in their own right, to his aide during the ultimate confrontation. However the player can seek them out beforehand and deal with them individually, or take all comers in Dracula's throne room. All the decisions the player has made up to this point will provide noticeable changes to how the battle progresses. In any case the final fight is sure to be an epic battle.
• The Dead Travel Fast- The game world is easy to navigate and explore. Characters can fast travel back to key areas, or return instantly to the place they died in their previous life, or choose to return to their home base.
• Death Comes Easy- Simple controls, combat consists of two buttons and the right analogue stick. Camera controlled by the left analogue stick, gives player control of view of the battle.

Multi-player Features

• Team Up To Take Evil Down- 2 player mode that lets players join a friend to take on Dracula together.
• The Enemy of My Enemy- Alternatively one player could play with the controls of an Evil character and one of a Good, and fight both Dracula and each other to see who comes out on top.

Game-play

• Light and Darkness- Players are given prompts in game, not in a cut-scene or dialogue tree for moral choices that affect how the game progresses. Does the player attempt to flee the angry villagers who are afraid of his monstrous form without doing damage? Or do they cut a bloody swath through the torch and pitchfork wielding crowd with their demonic power? Issues of morality should constantly come up through game-play that never leave the player entirely comfortable. For example, even "good" players have to suck blood from innocents to regain health, but must be careful not to drink too much lest they kill the innocent victim. Likewise "evil" actions lead to greater gains of power in the short term, but have obvious negative effects in the future. A "good" player can still transform into the monstrous vampire form, and the "evil" player can still use the vampire hunter tools a good player utilizes, just to a lesser degree for each.
• Things That Go Bump In the Night- The game will feature many "boss battles" with it's main focus being the final boss battle with Dracula at the end. Each boss will offer different and interesting tactical options, with a variety of different game-play possibilities for each encounter. By focusing in on a few complex and interesting enemies, instead of having the main focus killing hordes of smaller, simpler foes, we engage the players interest a great deal more and separate ourselves from other games in the market.
• Blood Lust- Controls are quick and intuitive. It's the same light attack heavy attack format seen before in other games, but light attacks are just tapping "Square" and heavy attacks are holding it down, this free up other buttons for jumping and using items. The strength on the heavy attack is based on how long the player holds the button down for, so the player can do more damage by getting into the rhythm of the opponents attacks, and striking just before it is about to.
• Explore- Platforming levels encourage exploration while blue orbs of "St. George's Fire" let players know their are secrets to be found.
• The Quick and the Dead- The game world is designed to be accessible to players interested in exploring the world. Players can return to the "hubs" of different area's to explore certain parts of the game world at their leisure, by simply pausing the game and selecting the place they'd like to travel to.
• The Hour is Drawing Nigh- Many difficultly modes. Normal difficulty is a standard game, the player fights, dies, and returns to the last check point, (their will be mid-boss fight check-points). Hard mode gives you a time limit of saving yourself from the vampires curse before the next full moon in 28 game "days." When a player dies in game, it rises the next morning by it's grave, (or last check point if they so choose), having lost a day, if all 28 days elapse before Dracula is killed, Game Over. Extreme gives the player only an in game week to slay the the Count. In all game modes a persistent day/night cycle changes the world and game-play in important ways.
• A Killing Machine- Over the course of the game the player has the opportunity to gain either Vampire Powers or Vampire Hunter Tools by completing boss battles. These upgrades will expand the tactical options available to the player and generally make them more effective in combat. Gaining these power-ups are critical to improving the players chances in the fight against Dracula.
• Whenever You Are Ready- At any time during the game, the player can decide they are strong enough to attempt to kill Dracula and storm his castle. It is recommended that a player try and stack the odds in his favor by gaining upgrades and killing Dracula's henchmen throughout the town and in the castle before the confrontation with him, but ultimately the decision is up to the player when to fight the Vampire Lord. Everything the player does up until the fight will have a noticeable affect on the final battle, so the player must consider his actions prior to battle very carefully.

This concludes part 2 of the design document, the features list. I know it seems like this is all pie in the sky fancy, and not to mention totally ignorant of the realities of actually making a game. The reason why most games don't implement many of the features I outline here are probably due to the practical realities of the medium. So why write this design document for a game I don't have the resources to produce at all?

For two reasons, first these pure thought exercises serve as a carrot to get me in the habit of writing this blog. Secondly implementing all these features in one package might be impossible, but writing out all of the possible ways they could be implemented might give me an idea on how to implement the feature for a game that is within my scope. This blog can also serve as a common place book, and I can look back on this when I (God willing) gave the resources of a large game studio behind me and try to pick up the idea then.

Also I seem to have a very liberal definition of when "Friday" is, as we are now a half hour into Saturday. Please forgive the oversight, you would not believe the week I'm having, but this isn't Live Journal, so I won't trouble you with this here. I promise to be more punctual in the future.

Design Document: Dracula's Castle - Part 1

In the spirit of Halloween, I thought I'd start with a game about Dracula. It might be that it's merely his season, or that I've recently begun to take a course on Gothic Horror and Dracula is the first assignment, but I've got the good Count on the brain recently. Coupled with Yahtzee's comment that a Castlevania game should be designed by "writing the word Dracula in the middle of the page and then work it out from there," I figure that's a good place to start for just about any kind of game. So let's take a crack at it shall we?

A note about how these Design Documents posts work, over a few weeks I detail the particulars of a game idea in the form of a Design Document over several posts. Generally I attempt to come up with a new idea to implement in each game I write a document for, or at least a new way of implementing a standard feature like bullet time or a sandbox world. In Dracula's Castle I'll try and tackle a new way of using a "morality system" in games. Although this isn't a radical departure from how they are used in the past, laying down some design doctrine for how it could or indeed should be implemented in games could be helpful moving forward.

As for my method, I use Chris Taylor's design document template, for right now, but that's not to say in the future my method won't change. At the end of this process I intend to collect the whole of the design document into one Google Doc and link it on the page for download. Since this is my first ever post, let's start slow and begin with the game philosophy and common questions, leaving the rest for later.

Game Overview

Game Design Goals:

1. The most important goal of this game is to implement a "morality system" that is more than just picking an option in a dialogue tree, or getting scolded by the game for indulging the players natural tendency to pick up whatever happens to be lying around even if the game considers it "stealing." The game will present the player with clear decisions for good or evil that they must enact during actual game-play. The game should play very differently depending on whether the player chooses the good or evil actions, and not just a cosmetic difference added on top of the default game play. If the character chooses the path of good he becomes a divinely powered Vampire Hunter, while choosing evil causes the character to devolve into a bestial monster as he succumbs to his Vampiric Curse.
2. The second goal of the game is to exude a very Gothic atmosphere. Although the game isn't going to be a survival horror and thus does not need to be out and out scary, there should be a feeling of intense dread and foreboding as Dracula's Castle looms large atop the jutting hill cliff rising into the night sky, visible in the distance at all times unless the player is physically within it or another building. Although the game will alternate between night and day, the day time should at best be over-cast and gloomy, with the night being the deepest torchlit midnight of nightmares.
3. The game should be heavily exploration based, although the narrative is fairly linear, only branching at two paths for the good and evil choices, the player should feel free to return to previous areas and explore them for secrets and the game should make that as easy as possible. After all the longer we get the player to play in the spooky environments the more unnerved they will be when they finally encounter the Lord of the Night.

Common Questions:

What is the game? The game will  be a 3D action platformer in the God of War style. The game will also feature an emphasis on platforming, climbing various bits of terrain to gain tactical advantage in the fight, and to reach new parts of the level. The main feature of the game will be a "morality system" that presents the player with two possible ways to resolve a situation during game-play and changes the game-play experience in a meaningful way depending upon those choices. The art design will be heavily inspired by the Gothic style, evoking a sense of mortal dread. Finally the game will also feature many "Boss Battles" with unique enemies to allow for greater variation in combat encounters.

Why create this game? I personally have a soft spot for Dracula and think that he is the perfect candidate for a video game villain. Powerful, evil, ruthless, with his own built in aesthetic and mythos not to mention within the public domain and free from copyright issues. The story of Dracula invites the possibility for a richly detailed villain that most people can readily recognize. Recently there as been a move away from the traditional narrative of the vampire, and as these things go there is inevitably going to be a conservative return to the classical version of the concept, making this game now stands to help usher in and also capitalize on that return to form.

Where does the game take place? In 13th century Targoviste, Wallachia, although in the subtitles it will read upon entering the town "Dracula's Manor, Transylvania" as a majority of the game takes place in Dracula's Castle and the surrounding settlement that rests within his manor walls for protection. The town consists of the stereotypical wooden hovels of peasantry with a few finely appointed manses within the town for wealthy merchants and petty nobility such as Boyars, along with a few civil buildings such as a prison tower and possibly a guard barracks. The main feature of the town is Dracula's Castle located on a sheer hillside in the center on the town, where obviously the local lord resides. Portions of the game take place in the deep gnarled tree woods and fetid marshes outside the manor.

What do I control? The player controls one person, Adelbert Zsigmond to be precise, a man who shortly after the start of the game gets infected with Vampirism by Dracula and must fight to survive the undead horrors under Dracula's command. Although from time to time Adelbert will transform into a bestial Vampire, most of the game is spent in human form.

What's the main focus? Dracula turned the player into a Vampire because the Order of the Dragon, a group of church sanctioned knights, knows there have been Vampire attacks in the area lately, and he needs them to find a Vampire, or at least a Vampires corpse to get them to go away so they don't slay him. Now that the player has been infected with Vampirism he's got until the moon is full to slay Dracula or become his thrall and succumb totally to the Vampire curse, although if you like being a Vampire you can only complete your true transformation by drinking all of his blood. Either way the player only has 30 in game days to gather the power to fight and kill Dracula. Game-play will consist mainly of platforming and combat, to gather items and power for the final fight against Dracula, occasionally transforming into a feral bat-creature as a special game-play mode.

What's different? First the way morality is implemented, occasionally the game will give you two contradictory prompts, for example to kill or defend a certain person, one option good the other evil. Both options are viable and fun, choosing to kill the person provokes a boss battle, choosing to defend him brings on a swarm of lesser but still challenging monsters to defend the target from, although if the person you were defending was a possible boss battle, then he should be no light weight in combat and be much more than helpless in combat. Also the structure of the game, if the player is skilled enough, after the first few introductory levels the player can march right up to Dracula to try and kill him, they'll probably be completely destroyed in the attempt and greatly benefit from exploring the town and castle to gain power-ups, but if they think they can take the entirety of Dracula's Castle with just the starting load out, they are welcome to do so.

This concludes part one of Dracula's Castle Design Document, tune in next week for part two which will go into more detail about the game features and game world. See you next Friday.

I Want To Be an Astronaut When I Grow Up

When we were all kids, we all had an idea of a "dream job." President, professional athlete, or astronaut, we all aspire to these extremely highly exciting and rewarding, but in equal measure difficult to attain professions. It requires massive amounts of education, skill and raw luck to even have a chance of getting the job that pretty much everyone else out there has also wanted since they were able to comprehend what the word "job" means. However, no matter how unobtainable these dream jobs really are, at the end of the day someones got to be that one-in-a-million person to get called up to Cape Kennedy, and ultimately it can't hurt to try.

My pie-in-the-sky job when I was a kid was making video games, as much as I loved playing them, I wanted even more to make them. In this industry, much like everyone in films wishes to direct, everyone in games wants to be the Lead Game Designer. I've taken my first step towards this goal by enrolling in Worcester Polytechnical Institutes Interactive Media and Game Design program with an Art Focus, but even with a degree I need something special to have a hope of landing that dream job.

That's what this blog is, the something special, or at least the container for it, that will help me get my dream job. Do I think this blog is a magic ticket to a career in game design? No, but it's a good place to start. Along the way I'm also going to hedge my bets a little with a background in Computer Art, (I have a strong background in the Graphic Arts) and experience with the technical aspect of game design, like coding languages and expertise in Flash and other more robust game creation tools.

I'm just starting out with my education in this field, but I already love what I'm doing. Not just in the "kid in the toy factory" kind of way, that I get to play around with all these cool toys, but the mental exercise of design, the act of creating something that's fun for somebody else, that's what I want to do for the rest of my life. So why not get a head start right now?

I have two objectives in writing this blog:

1.) To get into the habit of writing design documents, practice through repetition, by having a vague commitment looming over my head a la this blog, I'll have the motivation to practice my craft. In the same vein I'll also be putting out the games I design as well as games with my art in them, for others to critique as well as open up a discussion with other designers about how to improve my designs.

2.) To have something to show perspective employers. By the time I finish my education at WPI I hope to have a large portfolio of works, with a page of highlights that I may direct them to for quick reference on my skills as an artist, designer or developer.

In order to achieve these objectives I make the following promises to the readers of this blog:

• In order to hone my skills I promise to make at least one update to this blog at week for the rest of this year, for right now that day will be Fridays, if I change the day I will give advanced warning. This starts today, shortly after this post is made, my first design article will follow, so you'll have something to read right now. Then after I have become accustomed to regular updates, I will attempt to increase the number of updates to a tri-weekly schedule starting the beginning of next year.
• So as not to become stuck in one line of thinking, I will respond to the suggestions and comments of those who read my blog. Anyone wishing to make a suggestion or comment in private may e-mail me at practicallyevil@gmail.com.
• As this blog is in some sense a means to promote myself in a professional manner, I will conduct myself professionally on this blog at all times. This means proper punctuation and spelling, and also that I will hold myself professionally accountable to all statements I make on this blog.

For right now this blog might be a bit rough around the edges, it could certainly use some graphical sprucing up and most definitely a header, but in the coming weeks it will morph into a slick and professional blog full of interesting content. At the very least I hope to have a fun time writing down the design ideas I have and get some practical experience. It's entirely possible nothing will come of this blog, but so long as I had fun writing it and I learned something from the experience it will not have been in vain.

Thank you for reading.
-Edward Golden, (Interactive Media and Game Design student at WPI)
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*A note about my url and e-mail address: While I do wish to present a professional feel to the site, it's important to cultivate a creative persona, or at least a guiding principle for my works. While my e-mail address started out as a personal joke, over the years it has become sort of a mantra for designing games. Taking on the role of game designer means taking on the role of adversary to the player, whom will perceive the designer as 'evil' or at least as 'the bad guy'.

I've got to become comfortable in this skin, but I don't let it drive me to make the adversaries in my games do things without reason, then it's just evil for evils sake. Every villain, environmental obstacle or plot complication should have a traceable cause and motivation that the player can, if not sympathize with, at least understand as logical, (the obvious exception being in survival horror games, but those are a special case I'll address in the future). The key to being a good game designer is to be 'evil', but also be practical, in other words to be practically evil.