Astro Block Breaker GDD - Technical Game Designer Portfolio

Astro Block
Breaker
Games Design
Document
Contents
1. Game Overview
 1.1. Game Concept
 1.2. Intended Mindset
 1.3. Look and Feel
 1.4. Genre
 1.5. Target Demographic
 1.6. Platform
2. Core Gameplay
 2.1. Gameplay Summary
 2.2. Win/Lose Conditions
 2.3. Game Progression
 2.4. Level Structure
 2.5. Puzzle Structure
 2.6. Play Flow
3. Game Mechanics
 3.1. Physics
 3.2. Collision
 3.3. Objects
 3.4. Actions
 3.5. Controls
4. Story, Setting, and Character
 4.1. Background Story
 4.2. Plot Elements
 4.3. Game Progression
5. Game World
 5.1. Locations
 5.2. Objects
6. Interface
 6.1. Visual Interface Overview
 6.2. Menu
 6.3. User Interface
 6.4. Camera
7. Game Art
 7.1. Art Style
 7.2. Inspirational Sources
 7.3. Concept Art
 7.4. Environment Art
 7.5. Object Art
8. Audio
 8.1. Overview
 8.2. Sound
 8.3. Music
9. Technical Guidelines
 9.1. Technical Overview
 9.2. Software
 9.3. File Sharing
 9.4. Online Networking
Game Overview
1.1 Game Concept
Astro Block Breaker is a endless 2D action space game for mobile devices. The game plays as a
combination or several titles: Flappy Birds, Block Breaker, and Space Invaders.
The gameplay’s premise is a space ship (looking like a cross between a space ship and a paddle),
is travelling constantly right. Blocks fall left towards the ship. The ship must avoid or destroy these
blocks. The idea is for the ship to survive for as long as possible in this environment.
At the same time as moving right gravity constantly pulls the space ship down too. By tapping the
screen, the ship jumps up using it’s thrusters before succumbing again to the constant force pulling
it down (like Flappy Bird).
As all this is going on, a single ball flies through space, bouncing off of the boundaries of the game
and off the space ship. If the ball hits a block it is destroyed and will make the ships passage easier
to manourver. It also adds points to the player, increasing their overall score.
1.2 Intended Mindset
The game is fast, frantic, and exact. Testing the player’s reaction speed and forward planning. The
player is meant to be kept in a state of heightened awareness and probably feel a certain amount
of pressure. The game is difficult and timing is important. Minor mistakes can cause the ship to crash
and force the player to start at the beginning again.
Astro Block Breaker is frustrating game in nature, however that frustration is caused from the player
wanting to beat his previous score. The frustration caused is addictive as they want to improve their
previous best score. More so by the fact that upon reaching certain checkpoints new difficulties are
unlocked.
Deaths are instantaneous and cause the immediate restart of the level with barely any break.
Leaving the player only frustrated with their loss, rather than put off by restarting the game and
continuing.
1.3 Look & Feel
The game has a clean, crisp, retro feel. The art style is purposefully simplistic, allowing the player to
focus on the gameplay itself.
1.4 Genre
Primary - Action
Secondary - Arcade
Astro Block Breaker is a action arcade game. Based on reflexes, timing, and accuracy with a retro
arcade feel and similar mechanics to that of coin operated games.
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1.5 Target Demographic
As seen by the mobile demographic graph of 2013, we can see that endless runner games and
arcade games are normally played by both male and female gamers, with a slightly higher percentage of female players than male. Arcade games are normally player by players in their 30’s, while
endless runners are normally in the 20/20 bracket.
Astro Block Breaker is likely to target both male and female gamers almost equally, in their 30’s. By
trend the game is likely to pull gamers from early to mid 20’s as well as 30’s and is likely to have a
slightly higher percentage of female to male gamers.
1.6 Platforms
Android
Windows Phone
iOS
This game will be developed using the Unity Game Engine and affiliated third party software. We
will be developing for all major mobile devices. By creating a game that can handle multiple screen
sizes and having a simple control system that all the above can support, we’ll be able to release for
Android, Windows Phone, and iOS.
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Core Gameplay
2.0 Gameplay Summary
The game plays like a combination of Flappy Bird, Block Breaker, and Space Invaders.
The player’s avatar is a ship, that loosely resembles a paddle. To survive, the player must avoid the
ship hitting the oncoming blocks from the right. Hitting one ends that game and instantly restarts the
player back at the beginning.
A ball travels around the screen bouncing off the grey boundaries and the paddle ship. Each time
the ball hits a block the block is destroyed and the player gains bonus points. Leaving an empty
space for the space ship to potentially use if needed to avoid other blocks.
Gravity constantly forces the player down towards the floor of the screen. Hitting either the ceiling or
the floor ends the game. To avoid all of these and also hit the ball the player taps the screen, making the ship ‘jump’ using force to instantly move up. After the player will continue to fall again.
< Paddle Ship
< Ball
< Block
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2.2 Win / Lose Conditions
Win Conditions
As the game is an endless runner, there is no endgame win condition. However there are milestones and goals, creating temporal and dynamic achievements for the player.
Highscore
The score to the right of the screen keeps the player’s highest ever score. This highscore is a dynamic win condition in terms of the player’s viewpoint. To beat their own score is their goal, although there is no ‘end game by winning’ state. This bar is set higher and higher as the player
continues to increase their skill and experience.
Difficulty Unlocks
There are, however, milestones that aid the player in recognising their goals. The player starts
with only the easy difficulty setting unlocked. By scoring the required number of total points in one
game, the player unlocks the next difficulty setting.
Checkpoints
As intermediary achievements, every 10 seconds the player receives a ‘checkpoint’ update, reminding them they have survived for another 10 second interval and that the difficulty will increase
slightly.
Lose Conditions
The player can die in several different ways. If the player dies, they are automatically respawned at
the beginning of the level with reset stats and a new highscore, if the previous highscore has been
beaten.
Hitting a Wall
When the player’s Paddle Ship hits either the ceiling or the floor grey boundaries the player dies
and the game restarts.
Hitting a Block
When the player’s Paddle Ship hits a block of any color the player’s Paddle Ship is destroyed and
the game restarts.
2.3 Game Progression
The game cannot be completed as there is no final goal other than completing the previous highscore.
However there are unlockable game modes that show clear progression for the player. Upon
reaching a specified total score in each game mode new game modes are unlocked.
When the player first starts the game the only game mode available is easy. As they reach each
required total score they unlock a new game mode with a new required score to unlock the next,
and so on.
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Unlock Requirements
•
•
•
•
Easy - 300 Total Points
Medium - 500 Total Points
Hard - 750 Total Points
Just Plain Mean - Unlimited (Final Difficulty)
2.4 Level Structure
There are four varying game modes and they all start in exactly the same way.
At the beginning of the game, the Paddle Ship starts at the center left of the screen. Two single
blocks are at the top right, and the ball is in the direct center of the screen in front of the Paddle
Ship. Upon the game loading all physics starts on all objects (The Paddle Ship, blocks, and ball).
At this time the countdown for the difficulty timer starts, and the timer for respawning blocks starts.
The speed of all of these separate factors are dependant on the game mode being played.
Difficulty Settings
There are only 4 level types for the player to unlock and play:
•
•
•
•
Easy
Medium
Hard
Just Plain Mean
Easy is automatically playable. The rest are unlocked upon the player hitting the required score in
the previous levels.
Difficulty Differentiators
As mentioned before. There are 3 changes in difficulty in each level, that change level to level, and
change over time as each level continues. Those are:
• Respawn Time - Over what interval the block spawn is called.
• Multiple Spawn Chance - Every time a block is spawned, there is a chance to spawn multiple
blocks. This is handled by a randomly generated number between 0 and the number we control. The higher the randomly generated number, the more blocks are spawned. It works as so:
1 - 2.9 = 1 Block Spawned
3 - 4.9 = 2 Blocks Spawned
5 - 7.9 = 3 Blocks Spawned
8 and Higher = 4 Blocks Spawned
(Any higher and the screen would be fully filled with blocks. Making it unfair for the player).
• Gravitational Pull Left (Game’s Speed) - The player’s Paddle Ship’s speed is a constant. However the ball, and blocks movement speed increases according to difficulty and time played in
a single game. Making the game more and more difficulty as time goes on in a level, and in the
harder difficulty modes.
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Each difficulty mode has a different starting difficulty. Here each are discussed:
Difficulty Incrementations
Easy is the base difficulty of the game. From there, there are difficulty incrementations added on top.
Every 5 seconds there difficulty is added as such:
Respawn Time -0.05
Gravity -0.05
Multi Spawn Chance + 0.3
Easy
This is the base difficulty upon which all other difficulty settings are based against. It is the starting
difficulty of the game. Upon this, increments are made according to the time spent playing a single
game, and the game mode that is being played. The base stats are:
Respawn Timer: 2 seconds
Gravitation Pull: Vector 2( - 4.65, 0 )
Multi Spawn Chance: 3
Medium
This is where the game begins to become a challenge. The difficulty of this is based upon the easy
difficulty, but having already gone through 10 difficulty incremenations. Upon every 5 seconds
hereafter another incrementation will be added.
Hard
Like medium, however having gone through 20 incrementations. Upon every 5 seconds hereafter
another incrementation will be added.
Just Plain Mean
This difficulty mode will have gone through 30 incrementations. Upon every 5 seconds hereafter
another incrementation will be added.
2.5 Puzzle Structure
On the easy and at the beginning of the medium difficulty, the majority of the challenge is based on
just keeping the Paddle Ship in the center of the screen without touching the floor or ceiling. Occasionally a player might need to dodge oncoming blocks by moving to a new position. However this
stage is quite easy.
As the game continues blocks move faster and there are more spawned at once. This poses a new
challenge to the player. They must use the ball not just to gain points, but also to clear a path for
them to get past, while at the same time positioning themselves to get past the blocks and not collide with anything.
The puzzles are designed to start them learning the core basics, then gradually giving them more
balls to juggle with, so to speak. So they must concentrate on more at once. Until everything is second nature, and they’re simply concentrating on the challenge.
2.6 Play Flow
The game is strongly geared towards pace and rhythm. The spawned blocks is timed, the gravity is
timer, and the speed it increases is timed. The pace of the player tapping the screen must be timed,
as must be the pace of the oncoming blocks and the ball. The game draws the player to have an
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intimate understanding of the speed and rhythm of the game. As the game continues the pace
and rhythm increases, making the game progressively manic, while at first seeming controlled and
slowly paced.
This makes the game approachable, yet challenging and more so as it continues.
Here is the overview of the game’s flow:
Phone Main
↓
Click Game Icon
↓
Open Game
↓
Main Menu Button
Show Company Logo
Load Credits Level
Open Main Menu
↓
↑
↑
Credits Button
↑
Easy Game Button
←←
Exit Game
↓
Start Game
↓
Medium Game Button
↓
→→
↓
↑
Quit Game Button
Hard Game Button
↓
←
Just Plain Mean
Game Button
Start Gameplay Level
↓
↑
Playing Main Game
↓
Pause
↓
Main Menu Button
Die
Continue Button
Quit Button
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Game Mechanics
3.1 Physics
There are two separate physics handlers in this game. One for the world, and one for the Paddle
Ship.
World Physics
The worlds physics are based upon 2D vectors as this is a 2D game. It’s base force is Vecor2(-4.65,
0). This is approximately half the power of the earths gravity, however pulling to the left, instead of
down, for gameplay purposes. This gravity affects the ball and the blocks, however they move at
separate speeds as they have different characteristics both in terms of mass and drag.
Paddle Ship Physics
The physics for this object go against the world’s natural gravity as this object is being pulled down
while the others move left across the screen. The force is designed to mimic gravity and will create a
constant additive of force upon the Paddle Ship over every physics update in the game. The Paddle Ship’s downward physics increase by -2.4 every fixed game update (meaning every time there
is a fixed time change recording in the game). Jumping changes the current force on the object and
pushes it back up. Though the Paddle Ship will lose momentum and fall back down through the
constant incremental downward force discussed here.
3.2 Collision
All in game objects can hit each other (accepting the user interface). All objects that hit each other
will do so naturally using the built in 2D Physics Engine, however they will be all set at a fixed angle so they’re unable to rotate from collisions or physics forces.
Here lets discuss the collision of each object with each other:
Paddle Ship
• Walls - Collision with this automatically ends the game and restarts the player back at the beginning.
• Ball - This has no effect on the Paddle Ship. The effects on the ball are described in the Ball section.
• Blocks - This means instant death of the Paddle Ship and restarts the game for the player.
Ball
• Walls - The ball bounces off all walls, losing only a tiny amount of momentum.
• Paddle Ship - On collision the ball bounces off the Paddle Ship naturally according to the face
of the object the ball collides with and their current trajectory. However no matter what the force
of the collision (small or large), the ball’s velocity magnitude is set to 25, irrelevant of other factors.
The velocity’s magnitude change has no effect on the natural direction the ball will bounce off
at, only the speed the ball moves from the force imparted.
• Blocks - The ball bounces off and destroys any block it touches. Any relative force (head to
head collisions) impart the forces upon each other that you’d expect naturally. The ball will fly off
harder according to the speed and direction of the block.
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Blocks
• Walls - Upon hitting a wall of any type (mainly the one behind the Paddle Ship, the Block is
destroyed. No points are awarded to the Player for this.
• Paddle Ship - If a Block hits the player’s Paddle Ship the ship dies, the game ends, and the
player’s returned to the beginning of the game against, resetting his score.
• Ball - Upon hitting the ball the Block is destroyed and the ball bounces off naturally as if hitting
a regular object, both velocity and mass being considered. The destroyed block from ball collisions give the player 10 points to their total score.
3.3 Objects
As this is a simple game there are only a handful of in game objects. However each have a relationship with each other and all have an important role to play visibly and relative to gameplay.
Paddle Ship
General Overview
This is the player’s avatar and their main focus during gameplay. If it collides with any
wall or block during gameplay it is game over.
The Paddle Ship is the only controllable object in the game for players. It is constantly pulled down
by gravity. By tapping the screen, the Paddle Ship is given a immediate temporary force upwards
(acting like a jump), after which it will fall back down again.
**Important**
Upon tapping the screen and the Paddle Ship ‘jumping’ it morphs shape. There are 4 stages of the
Paddle Ship. It starts as a simple paddle shape. As the player continues to tap, it becomes more
triangular and resembles a space ship more than a paddle. This is for cosmetic and functional reasons.
Firstly it gives the player the impression that it is a space ship flying through space. Secondly it creates an angle for the ball to bounce off against.
If the player does not tap for 1.2 seconds the Paddle Ships reverts back to it’s previous shape. So
if it was paddle shape 3, it would revert to paddle shape 2. After another 1.2 seconds if the player
hasn’t tapped it would revert to paddle shape 1.
Visual Description
The Paddle Ship is very simple visually and is purposefully done so. The game’s art style is minimilistic and the aesthetics of the ship enhance this feeling to this. It is a grey textured 2D paddle at first.
That has 4 shapes in total. All the exact same color of grey. As below:
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Ball
General Overview
The ball is a defensive aid to the player. It bounces around the screen colliding with objects and
ricocheting off in opposing directions. Any blocks hit by the ball destroys them and gives the player
points. The player may purposefully hit the ball when it approaches, flying off in the opposite direction with bonus force from hitting the Paddle Ship.
The ball is identical in effect to Atari’s Breakout, which has been re-released in 2008 for iPhone
if you want to play it. It bounces around the screen, bouncing off all objects. Including the walls,
Paddle Ship, and Blocks. It ricochets off all objects, bouncing in the opposing direction according to
natural 2D physics.
Visual Description
The ball is white and doesn’t animate in any way. It is simply a white ball which is quite bouncy.
It’s bounciness is dependant on the type of object that it hits. To understanding it’s bounciness in
further details, please read the Collision section under Game Mechanics.
Blocks
General Overview
Blocks are the player’s core antagonists. Blocks by use of the 2D physics engine fly left from off the
right of the screen towards the side of the screen where the Paddle Ship is. If the player is hit by
one of these blocks the game is automatically ended.
These objects are the main reason the game is challenging. The player must manoeuvre around
these objects or destroy them to survive. The ball can hit these blocks to destroy them, awarding
the player 10 points for each. Asides this the only way they will be destroyed is by running into the
back wall on the far left of the screen behind the player’s Paddle Ship, or hitting the Paddle Ship
itself.
Visual Description
Blocks are rectangular building block like shapes similar in visual appearance to Atari’s Breakout.
They come in 7 colors: Blue, green, orange, pink, purple, red, and yellow. This is purely for aesthetic
reasons and improve the overall aesthetics of the game. They are minimal in appearance being
completely one color.
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Wall
General Overview
Walls are used as the physical boundaries of the map. They perform several functional duties in
Astro Block Breaker. Firstly they contain the ball inside the boundaries of the screen. Meaning that if
the ball gets to the edge of the screen he’ll bounce back in the opposite direction. Secondly they’re
used as player hazards. If the player’s Paddle Ship either hits the top or the bottom of the screen
the player automatically dies. Lastly they’re used as sensors for the blocks that fall left. When they
hit the wall to the far left of the screen, behind the Paddle Ship, they are destroyed. Meaning that
once the blocks are past the player the player no longer needs to worry about them.
The walls are positioned at the bottom, left and top of the screen. All walls, asides the far right one,
are adjacent to the camera’s border. So, for example, the top wall will align slightly inside the view
of the camera’s perspective. It will be partially visible to the player, who can recognise that there
is a wall. At the top left and bottom left of the walls borders, the corners are edged off into angles.
This is so the ball cannot hang in difficult locations for the player to reach while blocks are travelling towards him. It is also partially to create some randomisation in the balls movement to keep the
player’s mind active. You can see the angles in the below picture.
The right wall edge is off the screen, double the camera’s view length away. The far right wall is positioned as two walls perpendicular to each other going diagonally against the end of the top and
bottom wall. The reason for this is so that if the ball reaches the opposite side, it doesn’t come back
in the same direction. Keeping the player guessing, and meaning that the player wont come across
the ball going into an infinite loop of just going directly back and forth. This is visually represented
in the picture below.
Visual Description
The walls are purposefully simple looking. Similar to the Paddle Ship; they are a colored a solid,
simple grey. As below:
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3.4 Actions & Events
There are a number of actions in the game, only one being a controlled action by the player. The
rest are actions caused on their own by the independent actions created by the game. Here we’ll
go through each of the game’s actions. The only player controlled action - Tap - is fully described
in the below section, Controls, as it is a controlled action. Please read the Controls section for further
details on Tap/Jump.
Blocks Spawning
This is done over timed intervals determined by the difficulty of the level and how much of the level
they’ve played for the difficulty to progress. Every 2 seconds (at base difficulty), a block is spawned.
Whenever a block is spawned, there is a chance that the block will spawn multiple blocks. Each
block is spawned in a preset position. There are 7 preset positions for blocks. To match the 7 preset
colors of blocks. The positions are equally spaced out vertically so there is a hairline space between then, and if all 7 were spawned there would be no space in between them for the Paddle
Ship to pass. The 7 random colors of blocks are spawned randomly and have no pattern.
Ball Bouncing
The ball bounces around the screen ricocheting off various objects. Off the walls, Paddle Ship, and
Blocks. The ball is constantly moving and changing speed, according to what objects it hits. Walls,
slow it down (retaining approximately 80%-90% of it’s force), while hitting Blocks, will slow it down
or speed it up, depending on whether it’s a back to head or a head on collision. If it hits the Paddle
Ship, it’s force increased to a set amount, and then added to if hit again. The ball, if hitting a block,
will destroy that block, and award the player with 10 points.
Timer & Score
As soon as the game starts the timer for the game starts. It is added to the final score at the end.
As an example, if you survived for 45 seconds, and had destroyed 15 blocks. You would have 45
seconds and 150 points (10 points for each blocks. 45 seconds, as transferred to points, is times 10.
So 45 seconds would become 450 points. Adding 450 to 150 equals 600 points, being your total
score for that level.
Updating Highscore
The highscore for the level you’re playing is always visible on screen when you’re playing the
game. It’ll show the highest score you’ve ever had within that game, and how long you’ve survived
in your longest ever round. When this score is beaten in game, when the player dies, the highscore updated to the score it was just beaten with. Setting a new benchmark for the player to beat.
Player Dying
Upon the Paddle Ship being destroyed, the player instantly dies and is respawned at the beginning, with a new highscore shown if they beat it in the last round. The player can die in one of two
ways: By hitting a wall, either the top or bottom wall, or by hitting a block of any color.
Game Pausing
By clicking on the image at the top left of the screen - the icon displaying pause - the player
pauses the game. Upon which a number of buttons come up to give further options to the player
(Resume, Main Menu, Quit). When the game is paused, the music is also paused. There is a sound
indicating the game has been paused, which goes in line with the music.
Restarting the Game
Upon death the game restarts. It starts as if they had called the game to start from the main menu.
The music begins it’s loop at the beginning again, and the difficulty is refreshed to it’s base difficulty
setting according to the difficulty level the player chose.
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3.5 Controls
Tap
There is only one player controlled in game action, being tapping the screen to jump. How this
really works is the Paddle Ship reacts to it’s own personal physics. Over every physics update the
downward force is increased by a small number (2.4). When the player taps the screen, the player’s
velocity (speed) is automatically dropped to zero and then an immediate upward force is called
(180), after which immediately the constant downward force begins to re-apply.
Multiple jumps can add more total upward force drastically increasing the upward velocity of the
Paddle Ship. This means that if the player hits the tap again while already going upwards, another upward force is immediately added, increasing his upward velocity. Doing this multiple times
in quick succession can cause the player’s ship to fly too far upwards. This means that the player
must carefully regulate how often he taps the screen. Causing him to forward think, keep rhythm,
and still have fast reactions.
Note: All user interface based controls are detailed in the User Interface and Menu sections within
the 6th main section of this document: Interface.
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Story, Settings, and Character
**IMPORTANT - Story Forward**
Please keep in mind that the story written below is purely supplemental and will not be described,
or shown, or in any way followed in the game’s design. It is purely for future IP purposes if ever
needed.
4.1 Background Story
The game doesn’t need much explanation, as much as Tetris’s story doesn’t need much explanation (if at all). The background story written below is a safeguard for future IP, if required. It is not
meant to go in the game in any form. It is here for reference only.
The Paddle Ship of human making was hit by an asteroid and knocked into the atmosphere of
another planet, Keplar-28. The Paddle Ship, with engines damaged, was unable to leave the
atmosphere by regular means as their primary thrusters were damaged. The Paddle Ship’s pilot
has ingenuitively used to planets gravity and atmosphere as a form of propulsion and is travelling
around the planet increasing it’s velocity like a slingshot. However because of the low gravity, there
is a large amount of debris to navigate around. The increased difficulty in the game represents the
speed of the Paddle Ship, increasing their velocity against Keplar-28’s gravity. The ‘jump’ the Paddle Ship can do is the intact thrusters left of the ship, used normally for repositioning it.
4.2 Plot Elements
The two key plot elements to this very abstract story are the Paddle Ship and the Blocks, also the
planet Keplar-28, however it does not strictly count, as it is not seen in any way in the game. Not
even as concept art at this stage.
Paddle Ship
The human built spacecraft attempting to leave Keplar-28’s atmosphere. The only key to the plot,
is that the Paddle Ship appears to speed up as the game continues and needs to navigate safely
around the blocks, oncoming from the right.
Blocks
There are loosely referenced as ‘debris’, in the makeshift story in the game. They collide with the
player and destroy him if hit. They are parts of asteroids, parts of ships, they don’t need to be something specific as really, they’re just colored pretty blocks against a black background. The story is
purely supplemental, and the blocks reference in a story is only for a possible future IP’s reference,
and nothing else.
4.3 Game Progression
As the game continues, the Paddle Ship moves faster around Keplar 28’s atmosphere, piggybacking it’s forward/upward velocity against the gravity of the planet, increasing the ship’s speed.
Towards the later difficulty levels of the game, the Paddle Ship moves at a much faster rate, giving
the impression he is speeding up for something. In story terms this ‘something’ is the point at which
Keplar-28’s gravitational force is negligible compared to the forward/upward velocity of the Paddle
Ship, sling shooting the ship out of the atmosphere and into deep space and back onto whatever
mission it was accomplishing.
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Game World
5.1 Locations
There is only one location, or level in Astro Block Breaker: Space. Space in Astro Block Breaker is
represented as a black screen. This is to suit the simple artistic style of the game and to bring focus
to the interactive objects.
5.2 Objects
There are only 3 objects in the entire game world. The 7 colored blocks, the ball, and the Paddle
Ship. These are fully described in the Game Art, and Game Mechanics sections. In terms of game
world objects they simply serve as functional game mechanics. There is no story described to the
player in the game to outline the gameplay.
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Interface
6.1 Visual Interface Overview
The interface is designed as simplistic, fast, and forgettable. The design theory for this is that the
menu is in line with the simple design of the game, and doesn’t detract from the gameplay. In that
it performs the functions required quickly and effectively. Meaning when the player starts playing
the game, they can go into the action fast, quit, switch modes, pause, and navigate the UI fast, with
immediate responses.
To suit the forgettable style of the menu, it is mainly in blacks and greys. Fitting into the background
of the game nicely.
6.2 Menu
General Use
The menu utilises mobile touch for controls. Buttons make the backbone of all the menu system. All
controls for the game are done through mobile touch buttons.
When the game has opened, the initial company logo loading screen appears, after which the
main menu is immediately available for the player to interact with:
Visuals Aspect
The menu is made up of two aspects: The interactive menu, and the non-interactive background.
The non-interactive menu is made up of the blocks hap-hazardly placed around, to give a nice
visual effect. The interactive buttons are plain shades of black to grey with grey font. The menu is
simple, yet visually striking with opposing colors, such as the black background, the metallic grey
fonts, and the bright colors of the blocks, giving an instant plush arcade feel to the game.
Navigation
There are 3 buttons available, tapping any activates them:
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Button: Start Game
Start game, instead of loading a new level immediately, it renders the available levels of difficulty
the player may access, depending on how far through the game the player has unlocked (See
Game Mechanics section).
The buttons available are:
Easy - Always unlocked, it is the first available difficulty available.
Medium - Unlocked after reaching the required score on the previous difficulty.
Hard - Unlocked after reaching the required score on the previous difficulty.
Just Plain Mean - Unlocked after reaching the required score on the previous difficulty.
Button: Credits - Loads a new level showing the credits in the game. The credits menu is a simple
fixed camera angle on a 2D image listing the people who have developed the game (as below).
Pressing the ‘Main Menu’ button in the credits menu returns the player back to the main menu.
Button: Quit - This closes the application and returns the player back to their mobiles interface.
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6.3 User Interface
The in game UI is, like the menu, simple and functional. It consists of the score, highscore, and
pause, with a pop up pause menu.
1. Time - Shows the current time in this play the player’s survived.
2. Score - Shows the player’s current score. This is before the time has been added (so only the
blocks destroyed).
3. Best Time - Shows the best time the player has ever had in this difficulty mode.
4. Highscore - Shows the highest score the player’s ever achieved in this difficulty mode.
5. Pause - This button pauses the game, simultaneously rendering 6, 7, 8, and 9.
6. Paused - This is a non-interactive text representing that the game is paused while the buttons 6,
7, 8, and 9 are present.
7. Resume - This, as implied, resumes the game and removes graphics, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
8. Main Menu - This returns the player to the main menu, saving the current games score, but not
the progress. This also removes graphics, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
9. This immediately quits the application, closing the window and allowing the phone to be used
as normal.
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6.4 Camera
The camera in every game mode and menu scene the camera is orthographic and fixed to a single position. The boundaries to the level are preset to the borders of the fixed camera. The player’s
avatar doesn’t move further than up and down to that wall, and the challenges to the player come
to him, so the camera has no need to move.
The game’s aspect ratio is dependant on the device being used. The game’s always played from
landscape left, however due to the large range of devices using the game, the game must be iteratively developed using all the following aspect ratios:
iPhone
•
•
•
•
•
•
iPhone Wide: 480 x 320
iPhone 4 Wide: 960 x 640
IPad Wide: 1024 x 768
iPhone 5 Wide 16:9
iPhone Wide 3:2
iPad Wide 4:3
Android
•
•
•
•
•
HVGA: 480 x 320
WVGA Landscape: 800 x 480
FWVGA Landscape: 854 x 480
WSVGA Landscape: 1024 x 600
WXGA Landscape: 1280 x 800
Windows Phone
• WVGA Landscape: 800 x 480
• WXGA Landscape: 1280 x 768
• 720p Landscape: 1280 x 720
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Game Art
7.1 Art Style
The artwork must be incredibly simple and minimal. Almost as if it’s too simple to be a computer
game. Artwork will be a vectorised version of the artwork you’d expect in a early 80’s Atari game.
We’re recreating a arcade game on a mobile device. The game needs to give off the impression of
being a fresh looking game from the 80’s. Vectorised, simple graphics seems the best way to portray this.
Astro Block Breaker has simple, retro, arcade-like graphics. All objects in the game are generally
one color, or near enough that. The game is designed to be striking, simplistic in style, and attractive. Most objects give the appearance of vectorised graphics, rather than raster. Actual vectorised
graphics aren’t necessary, however creating the assets in illustrator rather than photoshop may be
advantageous in this particular title.
Like this document, the black background will pop out all color and all non black objects starkly on
the screen. This allow the opportunity for the artist to create some striking simple images that blend
well with the overall picture.
7.2 Inspirational Sources
The art style of Astro Block Breaker is conceptualised through studying similar arcade games, both
present and past. The art style for this particular game is retro styled objects, with new graphics. Giving an old arcade style game a fresh feel.
The art styles inspiration was birthed through a number of sources. Famous arcade games such as
Tetris, Space Invaders, Block Breaker, and a number of other arcade games. Here’s a list of inspirational sources to use for artwork:
TetrisBlock Breaker
Space Invaders
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7.3 Concept Art
As this game is for mobile and is pretty simple, concept art is pretty mininally needed. It certainly isn’t
required in the game and will be purely for marking purposes.
The only required concept art will perhaps be some conceptualised graphics using the existing objects in the game. Perhaps on the previous screenshots in the App Store there may be foreground
text explaining gameplay features, however that is the maximum in terms of concept art.
There will only be exactly 4 pieces of artwork required when concerning concept art. One is an
image that can be used as a bumper for our game (not the App Icon), for websites and branding.
Something similar to this may do:
The rest of the concept artwork required will purely be for promotional material in the App Store, or
Google Play Store. Using existing gameplay footage there needs to be several images. One saying ‘Addictive Gameplay’, the other saying ‘Beat Your Friends Online!’. in the second example there
must be a picture of a table of highscores.
7.4 Environment Art
The environment is simply a pure black background, with no stars. The game is very simplistic. This
may not even be drawn by an artist and can likely be rendered by the game engine itself.
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7.5 Object Art
There are half a dozen or so in game objects that need to be developed in the game. All of these
are 2D assets, and only one of them will take the form of a sprite sheet. Here we will go through
each:
Paddle Ship
Description
The Paddle Ship needs to be, like the general art style. Simple and minimal. In this instance it needs
to be one shade of grey. Almost too simple to be in a computer game, unless it was made in the
80’s. The ship has 4 stages of evolution: Paddle, paddle with a slight angle at the front, pointing
more at the front and being thinner, looking like a space ship which is 2/3 to 1/2 as thin as the original paddle shape. Similar to this:
Dimension - 512 x 512 ( 2 x 2 spritesheet, each individual sheet being 256 x 256)
Ball
The ball is simply a white perfectly white 2D circle. It is completely white and is only one shade of
white. The ball is designed in contrast with the grey of the Paddle Ship and the black background
of space. It’s designed as the most retro style of art possible, updated with vector, instead of raster
graphics.
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Blocks
The striking colors of the blocks are the core characteristic in the game. They’re supposed to pop
out against the blank black background. Blocks are tile shaped singular color rectangles. Using
vibrant colors that should almost give the impression they illuminate or glow. The blocks must come
in a variation of 7 colors:
Blue
Green
Orange
Pink
Purple
Red
Yellow
Buttons & UI
Buttons in the game are designed to be simple and functional. The idea behind them is they don’t
add or detract to the game at all. They blend in with the game and otherwise unnoticable unless
the player needs them. The logic behind this is similar to waiters at restaurants who dress in black.
They are fast, efficient, and work in the background. They are designed not to be noticed, but get
the job done. All the GUI is designed the same as the buttons.
The artwork in the buttons & GUI in the game are rectangular shapes with circled off corners, with
text or shapes that represent their function in the center. These objects are slightly off black, or several shades of black. To contrast the near black button’s background, the descriptive image or text
to explain their use is the opposite color: white. Allowing their function to be instantly recognisable
for the user. There is a list of buttons and graphical UI elements required in the game. Here is a list
and a basic image of what they should look like approximately:
Credits Button
Main Menu Button
Credits List GUI
Resume Game Button
Quit Game Button
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Easy Game Mode
Hard Game Mode
Game Over Notifier
Start Game Button
Medium Game Mode
Just Plain Mean Game Mode
Paused Game Notifier
Pause Button
GUI Fonts
All fonts in the game need to be the to give off the correct feel of the game. The chosen font for this
title is ‘joystix monospace’. This font gives off the strong impression of being from an arcade game.
On top of this it is completely free for private and commercial use, making it the perfect solution.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQSRTUVWXYZ
0123456789.:,;‘“(!?)+-*/=
The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog
1234567890
Wall
The walls in the game are used as borders for the gameplay. They, like the rest of the game, are
purposefully simplistic. In this instance, they are to be grey. Likely the same grey used for the ship,
or a complimenting style. Are tile shaped. Exact rectangles of single color. They are not meant to
stand out in the game. Instead they are a solid, simple vectorised shape, with one single color.
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Audio
8.1 Audio Overview
Audio for Astro Block Breaker is generally synthesized electronic music and sound. They must give
off the feel of arcade games. Examples such as Super Hexagon and Tetris show the type of games
that would suit similar types of music and sound.
Sounds in the game are quick, simple, upbeat, perhaps slightly futuristic, and chiptune like. The
music in the game needs to be similar.
The game needs to be a mix between chiptune music and electro, or electronic music. Bringing an
upbeat feel to the game. Many examples can be found on soundcloud of upbeat chiptune music or
electronic music.
8.2 Sound Overview
Sounds like the overview described, must be upbeat, simple, with a chiptune electronic feel.
Sounds need to be carefully harmonised together, as some sounds will be repeatedly and regularly played. It is important that these sounds are in sync with other regularly played sounds and
the music.
Here is a list of each of the sounds needed within the game:
Block Destroyed
Blocks are spawned off screen and need no sound. The only time they’re destroyed and need a
audio cue for the event is if the ball has hit it and the block is destroyed. This scores a point for the
player and will happen quite frequently. It needs to be a short, upbeat electronic note or very short
harmony. Likely chiptune in theme.
Ball Bouncing
This needs to be an upbeat chiptune ball councing noise. Short and sweet as it’ll be the most frequent noise in the game and can at times be played multiple times in quick succession. Imagine a
chiptune version of a bouncy ball bouncing away from some glass. That noise would be similar to
what the sound designer would be trying to achieve.
Game Over
This will be a 1 second sound that just lets the player recognise they’ve died. In truth death and
game over doesn’t hinder the player’s play flow that much. Straight after dying they’re respawned
at the beginning, as dying is likely to be quite frequent. The game over sound therefor is less final
sounding and more negative sounding. Think of the death in Super Hexagon as a good indicator
of what type of sound it should sound like.
Beating Highscore
A 2 second long congratulatory sound/tune/melody needs to be called upon beating the previous
highscore. It is only played once a game at maximum and can be not heard in many games. This
sound represents one of the biggest achievements in the game you can get, so it is important to
make the player understand they’re achieving something.
This is also a sound they will hear again and again, as they want to constantly beat their previous
highscore, akin to Flappy Birds.
The sound, like the overall audio style, will be chiptune, upbeat, and simple.
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Pause Game
Pausing the game isn’t a negative sound, but it needs to be a sound that represents stopping.
It needs to play for somewhere between 0.5 and 2 seconds. The sound must be in line with the
music, and be indicative of the music and game time stopping. Upon the game pausing the music
should stop playing as well.
Button Press
These must be simple, single tune noises, in the style of chiptune. They need to be easy to listen to
and non repetitve. If 10 of these sounds were heard in quick succession it would not be annoying
to the player.
Jumping
Jumping, similar to the ball bouncing, is one of the most repetitively played noises. It needs to be
as simple and addictive, or at the very least not annoying, as possible. It should relate to the movement that the player is making, but it is important to note that jumps can be done in almost immediate
succession, so they must be short (0.5 seconds suggested). It is the most vital sound in the game
and must be easy to listen to, represent the player’s ship jumping, and must not be annoying. The
sound needs to be chiptune, and needs to be tested in line with the music in the background to
harmonize it.
8.3 Music
Music in the game fits the overall audio theme in Astro Block Breaker. Chiptune, simple, upbeat, fun.
The game’s meant to be adrenaline fueled in space, with fast reaction speeds, exact movement,
and forward thinking. In essence, a action game. The music needs to enthuse and invigorate the
energy in the game. It needs to be an upbeat and lively game. The game is also retro. The music
volume needs to not fully overstate the other noises in the game, however it’s designed to directly
add value to the player’s experience.
Examples and audio inspiration for the music (and theme examples for the audio), are as below:
Nitro Fun - Cheat Codes
First Crush (Featuring Knife City)
Dreamland (Singularity & Mutrix Remix)
AdhesiveWombat - 8 Bit Adventure
Unreal Superhero 3
Super Morrissey Bros
Gameplay Music
There are a few different songs required in the game. There is the in game music, which should
be fun and lively. It needs several drops to signify the difficulty, incrimently every 10 seconds. The
music needs to last 7 minutes. As no one will be able to get further than this point in actuality in the
game.
Menu Music
Still chiptune in essence, it needs to match the overall theme of the gameplay music, however missing out some of the core elements of the music that make it a song (perhaps only including the original beat without the melody or tune). The main menu music needs to be loopable.
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Technical Guidelines
9.1 Technical Overview
Although this is not the technical design document, there are several technical principles for the
outline of this game that all artists, designers, and developers need to be aware of.
The game’s engine, file sharing, networking capabilities, and supporting software packages that
staff need to be aware of. As below:
9.2 Software Overview
• Game Engine: Unity 5.0
Unity is the standard platform for 3D games on the mobile area. It is the most popular and the 5.0
edition released this summer 2014 will have the updated GUI system allowing us to make simple
controls for the game.
• 3D Modelling: Any Applicable
3D modelling is down to the choice of the 3D artists. No modelling software will be available
via the company for staff as all artists are outsourced. Blender is freely available, however any
application such as 3Ds Max or Maya are also viable. The only requirement is all objects are
exported as .fbx files.
•
•
• Extensions: None
At this point there are no extensions required. In the following Unity update the GUI will be updated, so this is not required for Astro Block Breaker. Any other software requirements asked for
by the staff will be considered while in the game development stage.
9.3 File Sharing
The entire project and all documentation will be supported under the Dropbox framework. All staff
will have availability to the folders. All assets will be transferred directly into the relative dropbox Assets Folder. Below are basic principles and instructions for importing
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9.4 Online Networking
Astro Block Breaker’s development will be done with mobile developers and artists. As such, communication is key. Skype being used primarily to hold meetings and updates weekly, while Dropbox is the software used for file sharing.
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