Game Design Document state report 02...

Hi!

I have continued my work on the GDD by writing Locations description and Character list and description elements.

Those segments of GDD are very important for game quests and overall game story immersion, but also for art production because together with art style direction they further describe and determine game world look.

Defining those elements at the beginning of the design process gives gameplay designer opportunity to connect characters and locations via quests more tightly, thus creating better immersion for the player.

It's always a good idea to add some reference images or sketches when describing locations, characters and other details.

Unfortunately a lot of designs are made by just adding repeatable "loops" of similar quests and character types without their own history and are often not connected deeply with the setting surrounding them. This breaks immersion greatly even if game world is done by big companies and great artists. Again I will go with the movie example, since movie and game industry regarding storytelling and immersion in my opinion are very similar. The Force Awakens is perfect example of not making any kind of effort regarding these issues. We as viewers are forced to create connections by ourselves and thankfully we got original Star Wars movies to have some understating of the setting. Although in case of this movie our self created connections are not the same ones director made since he had no interest, no understanding and obviously no skill to do so, and when we in our head made a connection in the next scene or dialogue he already broke it.

I'm not saying I'm master of creating good settings, characters and storytelling, far from it, but I'm learning about it and I try my best. When I see projects like TFA where huge amount of money have been thrown away and, more tragically, there was no effort whatsoever to make any kind of coherent result, it just makes me disappointed and angry.

Locations description...

For JKA2 I have two main locations. One is Jessie's villa and in-game it's seen as part of prologue and epilogue. The other is the island off ZOO where most of the gameplay is taking place.

As I elaborated before my goal is to finish the game and with limitation already determined locations doesn't have as detailed description as I would like them to have. But they are described with enough detail so they can be understood and created, by having art style guide in mind.

This is the first example which shows how important those predetermined parts of the GDD actually are.

More detailed description of each scene will be defined later in the GDD, where each scene will be defined prominently by having gameplay in mind. Parts of the gameplay are interactive action areas and those are again often part of visual game description and are scene specific.

Jessie's villa is easy to describe. It has exterior and interior, each with its own styles and details. It's always better to make extensive description even if all of it will not be visible in the game. For example Jessie's villa is positioned on the top of the hill overlooking the sea. Since this part of the game is not as important as the Island of ZOO I'm not sure will there be enough time for me to make this scene. On the other hand this information can give me some ideas as to what visual details could be added on other villa scenes. For example Jessie could have scuba dive equipment and surfboard placed inside her villa.

So every additional detail can give more depth to the game world, make it believable, make settings less flat and artificial and add soul to game characters.

Next big location is The island of ZOO.

For this location there were many things to define. I've divided island into areas by keeping in mind the fact that elements which are part of each area have something in common. After making that division I further defined those smaller areas, and described any specific features they have.

For example Zoo main area consists of ZOO building, hydroplane docking area, ZOO shop, ape area, radio room area, barracks area and veterinarian building. All those areas use similar design but each have some specific features.

Other two bigger areas on the island are Mansion area and Shipwreck area, both with their own subareas.

With those defined I've created another level of description by defining Island vegetation and terrain. 

This is very useful for JKA2 since player will use map screen to move between location screens. Also some location screens are located in the nature and this information is important for those.

Making island vegetation and terrain diverse will make the game world less bland and player will have a better sense of advancement when new area becomes accessible.

Map of Island of ZOO vegetation and terrain areas.

Characters list and description...

Better defined characters will give designer more to work with and this should result in better quests and interesting dialogues. Depending on the game type character description can be very deep. For JKA2 I kept in mind limitations I've already explained. On what I could build on are character drives and personality.

Except for Jessie as a sole controllable character in JKA2 there will be 23 interactive NPCs and four additional NPC groups. Depending on the role they play I described each NPC in more or less detail. Quest givers and story important NPCs should always be better defined.

Except for visual description I used other details which I find important when game characters interact with each other or with the game world. Visual representation can often be determined by characters personality, views and heritage.

Example for Jessie:

Personal info:

• In-game label: Jessie
• Name: Jessie
• Gender: Female
• Race: Caucasian
• Nationality: USA
• Age: 25
• Occupation: Entrepreneur
• Personality: Uncompromising, direct, cheeky,  brave, capable, sarcastic, moral but not altruistic
• Short history and personal drives: We don't know much about Jessie, but there are few things we figured out from Grandma and the gremlins episode. Jessie (obviously) has a grandma. Although they were not at good terms Jessie still came to help when Grandma ask her to. It seems that Jessie has a "soft spot" for her family, but she doesn't forget any mischief and likes to get even. We also found out about grandma's relationship with her daughter, Jessie's mother. Grandma made her crazy and at least at one time Jessie's mother ended up in an institution after a nervous breakdown. Jessie eventually learned to be self-sufficient and at some time became a great martial artist. We can't be certain about her father but it seems like Jessie's father wasn't very capable or active as a father since Jessie became so independent. Although being independent and capable young woman Jessie isn't unaware of her good looks and isn't afraid to show it, but never crosses the point of good taste – so no nudity. Jessie uses her visual attributes to seduce someone only if there is some bigger goal behind it. She will never disrespect herself by spending her time and effort on undeserving, lesser people, but also using her dominance, unless provoked, over those people Jessie would find as a sign of weakness on her part. In short – Jessie is cool, she knows it and doesn't need to prove it.

Visual description:

• Jessie is pretty, has brown eyes and brown hair. She also have sexy, slender and fit figure and likes to wear tight and sexy clothes.

NPS groups are defined as groups with certain specific characteristics and within those boundaries will be created.

Example for tourists NPC group:

Personal info:

• In-game label: Tourist
• Name: NA
• Gender: Male/Female
• Race: Assorted
• Nationality: Assorted
• Age: Assorted (kids, adults, elderly)
• Occupation: Tourists visiting Island of ZOO
• Personality: Calm
• Short history and personal drives: NA

Visual description:

• They wear various casual summer clothes with bright and joyful colors.

That's all for now. With main location areas and characters defined I did a big and important part of the GDD. Maybe I overdid it with number of characters, but I hope I will have the time to create and implement all those characters in the game.

Stay tuned!