Brainstorming and planning my game idea





Game: A Mystical Journey

One of the reasons I came to be on this course is that for some time prior to the course, I had been thinking of a game idea and decided to take the course to be able to develop my idea further. My idea is a 2D Role playing game with a slightly different aspect to most others in that it involves magic. The main character will be able to use magic to do tasks and be able to progress through the game.

Synopsis

After a plane accident, you wake up in a mysterious land with no apparent civilisation within the detected range and only a few items from a plane crash to be able to salvage for survival. Will you be able to survive, what will you discover in this mystical land? You are obviously going to need to gather items, build shelter and explore. The exploration will lead you to some magical areas you have never seen before and you will need all your skills and knowledge to survive and discover what awaits you.

Mind Map




Gameplay Overview


The game will consist of several areas (homestead, village, forests and caves). Within the forests and caves there will be other areas with different levels to be able to find rarer items. The game will need the player to be able to collect items for crafting, alchemy and magic, befriend creatures, upgrade items to be able to progress through levels and gain experience. Some of the basic items that can be found and used to crafting are herbs, wood, fibre, stones, etc. and items can be crafted for more advanced gameplay.

The magical element involves the player discovering a wand along with some parchment giving instructions as to how to use said wand. Furthermore, other pieces of parchment can be found with riddles which when solved will allow upgrading of magical items including the wand, and the discovery of perhaps many more magical abilities.


Areas         
                                                                                                                      
The homestead area will be basically fairly clear of obstacles to allow a tent to be erected initially and then later upgraded into a house with many additions obviously. NPCs may visit the homestead and some animals may visit, but generally speaking they will be friendly or at least not aggressive. 

The village area will be found after the wand has been found and upgraded as the village is magical and cannot be seen without a certain amount of magical ability. In the village area there will be shops, houses for NPCs and quests can be found.

The forest will consist of several areas, each with animals and containing a woodland glade which upon entry will spawn levels appropriate to progressing through the game and hosting stronger enemies with the chance to find rarer magical and normal items. At certain times, animals which can make companions can be acquired.

The caves will consist of one area with several entries to levels which host monsters and again normal and magical items. The caves will also allow minerals and metals to be found.
 


Reference material 

Although I have spawned this idea without referencing any other games and it is something from my own thoughts, I guess that many years of playing games may have influenced my thoughts to a greater or lesser extent and looking through the games I have seen and played, I can see small aspects of my thoughts in many games. Some examples are below.

1.       Wizard101 – is an online multiplayer game which although 3D and completely different, does have the magical aspect involved. This game involves some crafting, some exploration and the combat is based on a deck of cards whereby each school of wizardry has different abilities.

2.       Stardew Valley Farm – is a 2D RPG farming simulation which involves planting and harvesting crops and tending animals along with socialising and some mini games.



Development

As this is in an early stage of development, some ideas that I have at the moment might not be possible to include in the initial development. For example all of the potions/spells and interactions I would like in the game to make it exciting and addictive might not be possible to achieve in the early phases due chiefly to time constraints and thus it would be better to create and initial phase with basic gameplay and then add in the extra development at a later date. 

I have also had initial thoughts on a skill tree for crafting, a skill tree for magic and alchemy and after having some time developing these trees, I think that these may have to be shortened quite  a lot due to time constraints. In addition, some of the storyline would take quite a lot of development and may have to be put back to phase 2 along with some of the questing from NPCs.

Having considered carefully the major development aspects, my choice of 2D RPG means that most of the ideas and development are possible providing that normal programming practices are adhered to.  











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