Untitled Grapple Game Design Document
Gameplay
Overview
Foglands (working title), is a first-person adventure / platforming game about the player’s journey to escape the clutches of a mysterious jungle island. The moment-to-moment gameplay involves traversing both linear and non-linear levels with your grappling hook, with an emphasis on building and maintaining extreme momentum. There are no randomly generated levels; all areas are built by hand to maximize interesting and fun sequences.
Movement
The game’s biggest draw is the movement kit it offers the player. The core of this is the grappling hook, which is available from the start of the game. The hook can attach to clearly-marked grapple points, enabling the player to cross gaps and build up momentum. Levels are structured around the hook, and often challenge the player by incorporating a high degree of verticality and speed into their design. Additional movement tools will also be unlocked as the player grows more familiar with the gameplay. These tools exist to complement the hook rather than replace it - an example of this being the double jump ability.
There are also “passive” elements to your movement kit which aren’t activated by player input but can be triggered automatically in certain scenarios. For example, the player clambers up ledges automatically and “vaults” over ledges when moving quickly, which preserves your forward momentum. Other passive gameplay elements are incorporated into levels and range anywhere from forward boosters to ladders and trampolines.
Overworld
Exploration is one of the major design pillars of the game. The majority of all gameplay will take place in an interconnected map of areas called the overworld. Areas are broken up into linear paths that can be traversed in either direction. Each direction can be host to exclusive interactions and secrets, encourging players to backtrack. The overworld is segemented into two major “crossroads” areas, which are connected to each other via multiple branching paths. Some paths may be initially blocked off or inaccessible, only to be openable at a later point from a different path. The interconnected nature of the overworld invites players to hunt for secret paths and discover their own routes to traverse the world. It also aims to capitalize on “eureka” moments when a player discovers an alternate route and pieces together a more complete mental map of the world.
Dungeons
Scattered across the overworld are isolated chambers called dungeons. Dungeons offer up meatier challenges and range from pure platforming to slower-paced puzzle chambers. Because they are isolated from the rest of the game, there can be a greater degree of freedom in selecting what tools the player has access to in any given dungeon. A handful of dungeons must be completed to progress in the overworld, but the player is free to choose which ones to take on.
Combat
Combat is a small part of the game, but still an important one. Combat relies heavily on dodging enemy attacks until you have an opening to land one punch. Key plot points of the story are usually punctuated by boss fights. Fodder enemies are present in the overworld and in dungeons, and will almost always die in one attack. The grappling hook also comes into play during combat. Some enemies have grapple points on their head that can become active when they’re stunned, which allows the player to use them to solve platforming puzzles. I plan on treating most enemies as puzzle elements rather than real combat challenges.
Plot, setting, and mood
Synopsis
Foglands takes place on a lush, tropical island brimming with vegetation. The island is littered with the overgrown ruins of a once-proud civilization of wizards, who were utterly wiped out by a sea deity known only as the Island-Eater. In a state of dormancy, the Island-Eater forces passing ships onto the island to ensnare food and powerful host bodies. The player character is an underling of a pirate crew who were separated when their ship was flung onto the island by a gigantic tentacle. Armed only with a half-broken grappling hook, the player character marches through the jungle in search of answers (and treasure).
Setting
The world of Foglands will have an adventurous, playful tone. The jungle setting will contain wide open spaces with mossy cliffs as well as tightly-packed, cozy forest rooms where NPC interactions take place. The coastlines of the island are marked by flat sandy beaches that meet with sheer cliff faces. Amidst the natural formations are the remains of ships that had been catapulted onto the island. Most shipwrecks are present near the beaches, but some overshot their marks and landed in the jungle. Some ships are mostly intact, while others can be found smashed into the sides of cliffs.
The island is inhabited exclusively by castaways who were lured ashore, same as the player character. These castaways provide the bulk of the game’s comedic relief. Castaways on the beaches are weaklings, but the jungle weeds out the strong from those who attempt to venture further inland. The fauna found on the island complement the jungle, and range from tropical birds to acquatic and amphibious life. Tropical fish play an especially important role in the ecosystem.
The game is set during an era of pirates, and the design of shipwrecks and tattered clothing should match this. The ruins present on the island evoke a more medieval-era feel, given that wizards previously occupied the island.
Visual style
My goal is to have all characters be represented as billboarding sprites, while all environments will be done in an old-school lowpoly style with more realistic textures. Here is an album of reference images.
Development
The majority of the work will be a one-man job. I will fill the role of the main programmer, the level designer, and the audio + music creator. I also plan on using my (limited) Blender skills to create low-poly 3D models wherever necessary.
Here are the tools I plan on using during development:
| Tool | Description |
| ------------- | ------------- |
| Unity | Where the game is actually made |
| Visual Studio Community 2022 | For writing the majority of the game’s code (C#)
| Visual Studio Code | For organizing JSON files and non-C# code
| FL Studio | For composing music and preparing SFX and ambience |
| MasterPlan | Master note sheet, story organization, and general idea dump |
| Aseprite | General image editing, aligning sprite sheets |
| FMOD Studio | Dynamic soundscapes which can adjust to parameters in-game |
| Crocotile | Art passes on finalized prototype levels. Lower learning curve for 2D artists |
| Blender | Low-poly model creation |
| SourceTree | GUI client for Git source control |
| Trello | For task management and general organization |
External help
Two to three artists will be brought on board to design character sprites and create textures for terrain. They may also be tasked with polishing UI elements or revising existing UI mockups. Depending on my monetary situation, I would like to be able to pay artists on a per-task basis. A task may entail creating a group of characters, a collection of textures for an area, or a few simple animations. I hope to stagger tasks in a way that I can implement a completed task while an artist works on the next one. Thorough communication with artists is my biggest goal. I want to be able to explain what I want from an artist, but I also want to make sure I implement assets as the artist has envisioned.
The numbers
As far as total content goes, I hope for the game to be somewhere from 4 to 6 hours in length. I’m kind of pulling these numbers out of my ass, but I plan on making:
-
12 to 15 overworld areas of medium size, some of which will become altered once the midpoint of the game is reached
-
10 movement skill dungeons (5 of which are exclusive to midway thru the game?)
-
5 puzzle dungeons
-
5 time trial dungeons
-
8 main NPCs
-
8 minor NPCs
-
6 main bosses (some of which are largely platforming sequences)
-
1-2 optional bosses(?)
Timeframe
I would like to be able to get the game mostly completed in two years. The majority of work that needs to be done is in the form of levels, which I intend to practice developing more quickly without obsessing over details. The player controller is nearly ready and should be completely finished by the time the movement playtest build releases.
I plan on releasing the game on PC digital marketplaces, with Steam being the main site of interest. Other likely sites include itch.io and GameJolt. Console ports may be considered after the PC release if the game is successful.
Risks and hurdles
Scope creep, overcomplexity, and biting off more than I can chew
One of the classic blunders! I’m very guilty of making plans that seem feasible in writing but are much harder in execution. I think a big part of this is simply due to poor management skills and the fact that I can get sidetracked easily without something set in stone to reel me back in. I feel that this design document will help prevent me from losing focus, and using Trello more consistently will help me be able to gauge ahead of time if this is too much for me to take on. In a worst case scenario I can also fall back on there being a set number of levels that I can rearrange and cut as needed: The dungeons especially can be rearranged without much trouble.
Pacing
Balancing where to put linear platforming segments, dungeons, and boss fights might require some finesse. I expect to get better at figuring out what works and what doesn’t as I make more levels.
Out of bounds areas + representing the island at a distance
I want the reel to be able to reach high areas you wouldn’t have been able to access normally, but setting up all the trigger volumes in a way that doesn’t break might be difficult. On top of that, there might be way too much square footage to cover. I’ll likely end up adding in a few new paths and side rooms as well as connectors to other paths, but outside of that I’ll probably just need to add more vertical blockers. For certain scenic views I’ll do my best to tailor the skybox in a way that lets you see key elements of the world.
Marketing
I have no idea how to approach this right now. I’m only planning on self-publishing the game, so I think the extent of marketing will entail posting about it on social media and trying to send review copies to games journalism websites. This could all totally change down the road!
Potential game titles + meaning
Foglands
-
The name was fitting for the original story from years ago, but isn’t anymore
-
Will likely not be used
Flytrap
-
Foreshadowing for what the island eater had turned the island into: A giant flame for moths to fly into
-
Plant name evokes imagery of the jungle, a major part of the game
-
Could alternatively name after a venus flytrap cultivar / similar family of plants
Wizard Island
-
A sort of intentional misnomer now that the wizards have all been wiped out (save for one)
-
There’s also a cinder cap in Oregon called Wizard Island
Crystal Ball
-
Keeping in line with wizard element of story
-
Not the most fitting name
Thousand Island
-
Joke title
-
Sounds pretty cool if you don’t know about the dressing
Collection of “Something Island” names
-
Orchid Island
Islandeater / Island Eater
-
Sounds cool but gives off wrong vibe
-
The name of the big bad of the game