Rodinia - Background Information for my game idea (Unfinished)

Setup: Explore the world.
Type of game: RPG
Obstacles: People and Creatures.
Goal: Discover the truth.

Age range: 16 – 25 (Male)



Logline: Explore the kingdom of Rodinia, defeat your opponents, both good and bad, and discover the truth about why your village was destroyed, no matter the cost.



World Setting and General Background Information:


The world is set in an alternative Earth, similar to the medieval era. While technology is based around these times

The world consists of a single large island, on which there is the kingdom “Rodinia”.

The kingdom is ruled by the king, “Thorodon”, after he killed the previous, corrupt ruler, with the help of his “Hania” (Spirit Warrior).

Originally his rule was harsh but fair, allowing smaller towns and larger cities alike to prosper, as well as keeping various deadly creatures at bay.


Over the period of 30 years (Due to his Hania, his aging is slowed), his rule has become more barbaric and twisted, no longer helping villages, but choking them until they either become a place of unlawfulness or death, as well as manipulating most of the larger cities into skirmishes and conflict with each other.


Several creature populaces have increased to around 5 times their original size over this time as well, as Thorodon has massively decreased the amount of soldiers that hunt and destroy their nests. These surges in population have already caused several smaller villages and towns to be completely destroyed, and have caused trouble to a few minor cities as well.


Locations


Elmore: Elmore is a small village in which the main character, Rowan, lives. The village is located to the north-east of Rodinia, adjacent to a small forest, the Flagen wood, and a tall mountain range, the Flinir Mountains. Consisting of 20 buildings, and just over 55 people, Elmore is mainly a farming town with little interaction with other towns and cities, with the exception of a few nearby villages of similar sizes. Soon after the start of the game, the village is attacked and destroyed by a group of Thorodon’s soldiers.


Azmar: The main capital of Rodinia is located in the west of Rodinia, and is home to the king’s throne, as well as his armies. The city is split into 3 sections, the House district, the Merchant district and the Military district, with the Spire being located at the center of them. The Spire is the location of the Throne room, and is where Thorodon spends most of his time (It is unknown to most people what he does inside). Approximately 25,000 people currently live in the House district. Approximately 15,000 soldiers live in the Military district, with 10,000 soldiers being ready for combat, the rest currently being trained.
Azmar itself has, overall, been unaffected by Thorodon’s new way of ruling.


Gameplay


The start of the game would get the player used to the general controls, as well as basic combat mechanics, interaction mechanics and general gameplay. The play area will be limited until the village gets destroyed, and after the player has defeated the attackers, the whole play area will become unlocked. After unlocking the main area, initially, you will be presented with hints for locations to travel to that will help you progress the story to its conclusion. However, the game is free roam, so you can play the game in almost any order, and reach the finale.


Main Character

Rowan:

Age: 19
Height: 6’ 1’’
Eye Colour: Dark Blue.
Weight: 170kg.
Hair Colour: Black.


General Background Information:

Rowan lives with his father, mother and sister. He currently assists his father in blacksmithing but also works as a hunter in his spare time: He is proficient with blades and bows, as well as a few oddity weapons.


Personality:
Rowan is extremely confident, occasionally bordering on arrogant. He is a very loyal person, as well as being light hearted, difficult to offend and a good sense of humour. He also has a hidden slyness to him, and is good at manipulating people.


Other Characters


Thorodon:

Age: 72 (Physical age: 32)
Height: 6’ 4’’
Eye Colour: Dark Green
Weight: 200kg
Hair Colour: Dark Brown

Personality: Extremely quiet person, in a threatening way. Seems to feel nothing towards other people, and is prone to sudden acts of violence.


Hania’s

Hania’s, or Spirit Warriors, are creatures that are bonded with certain individuals. Spirit Warriors exist inside every person and creature, but only a few have the inner strength to be able to bring them out. Spirit Warriors can only be initially brought out through a time of great need, for example when the person is close to death or is under great emotional stress, but after the initial release, the Hania will never retreat back inside the person’s body, rather remaining in a physical form with the bonded person. This process is called “Awakening”.


Hania’s are directly affected by the person. If the person is kind-hearted, bloodthirsty or humorous, then the Hania’s appearance and abilities will be affected accordingly. For example, if the person is fond of fighting then the Hania will have more aggressive-based traits, like claws and spikes, whereas if the person is more jokey and witty, the Hania will become more agile and fickle. While a Hania’s original appearance will be generally based around one of the creatures than exist in Rodinia, its appearance can become something between a hybrid of creatures, which can happen when a persons personality or opinions change. or opinions change.

The Royal Game of UR - A Review

After playing the Royal Game of Ur, I've written up my opinion on the game.

Game Board

While the original gameboard consists of a 4 x 3 area of squares and a 2 x 3 area of squares, connected by a bridge of 2 squares, i played on a board where the 2 x 3 area of squares were instead a 1 x 6 long bridge.

Rules

Each player starts with 7 counters. The objective is to get all 7 counters down to the end of the board. If you land on top of another players piece, the opponents piece must be removed back to the start of the board. The exception to this is the flower tiles. If a player lands on a flower tile, they have another go. If a piece is on a flower piece, no other piece can go on that square, and it can not be taken while it remains on the flower tile.

Gameplay Opinions

As i didn't play on the original board, my gameplay experiences may differ from the original.

The game started off rather fast paced, as neither me or my opponent could get a piece to the second flower tile before being taken. After about 15 minutes, my opponent had not managed to get a single piece to the end, while i had only managed to get 1 to the end myself. This was mainly due to the dice rolls being, the majority of the time, quite low. This resulted in a choke point near the start, where almost any dice roll would result in a piece of the opponents being taken. After a further 15 minutes (30 minutes total), i had managed to get another 2 piece out, and my opponent had managed to get 1. At this point, we realized that this version of the game was only supposed to be played with 5 pieces, which explained the rather slow-paced nature of the game so far. By not allowing the next 2 pieces out from each player back on the board, the game pace quickened and I won the game about 5 minutes later.

Final Opinion

The game is very similar to Ludo or Frustration. While their is mainly luck involved, there is a small element of skill. Its also quite satisfying when you land on a flower tile 3 times in a row and still take one of the opponents pieces.

Score: 6/10.

Jesse Schell - The art of games design - Chapter 1

Just making some bullet points so i can remember the general feel of Chapter 1 of this book. Feel free to use them yourself if they somehow help you :)

Chapter 1

Confidence - The main theme seems to be getting beginning games designers to feel confident about their new choice of study/career, as well as giving them an indicator of good skills to get far in this area.

N.B: Mentions a good exercise to gain confidence is to repeat the phrase, "I Am a Games Designer".

Listening - The most important skill a games designer can have ( The 5 kinds of listening, Team, Audience, Game, Client, Self)

My Interview

Earlier this week we had to interview each other about various stuff. Here are my replies :)

What is the title of the last book you read?

I read the third book in a trilogy called the Mistborn trilogy, the book being called the Hero of Ages. The books are based around people with the ability to "burn" metals and gain enhanced abilities, like strength, during this time.

What is the last live performance you attended?

Some random comedian who i cant remember the name of. Not a big fish, but he still amused me :)

What is the title of the last film you saw?

Avengers Assemble at the cinema. I recommend those you haven't seen it to go out and buy it immediately, it is such a great film!!!

How often do i read a newspaper?

I used to read the paper pretty much every day, but now that I've moved out, i generally check the news online every day rather than going out to buy a paper.

Which exhibition did you last attend?

Like most people on my course, the last exhibition i attended was the Eurogamer event in London. While we only went for one day, for about 6 hours, i really wish i could have stayed down there for the whole thing. It was a great experience, and i'm definitely going again next year!!!

How many hours a week do you play video games?

Whether its on my laptop or my 3ds, in my spare time, you can generally find me playing some sort of game. I would estimate around 16-20 hours a week. And that's when my week is quite busy!

Introduction

Hey guys, my names Ryan Offord and I've just started my first year at UCS doing Computer Games Design. Just making this initial post to get to grips with things and all that !

               Happy Days :D