Concept

• Mix the fun of a pillow fort at a sleepover with the terror of your beloved stuffed companions trying to murder the jeepers out of you. Take up foam dart guns, defend your pillow fort, gather items from your defeated plushie foes, craft upgrades, and forget sleep -- just survive.

Genre & Rating

• Genre: Survival Horror

(ESRB Ratings Guide, n.d.)

Core Mechanics

• Co-op
• Retrieving items
• Crafting new items (cosmetics, fort upgrades, “gun” upgrades)
• Shooting enemies in defense of your fort

Camera POV

(Ghost Town Games, n.d.)

Gameplay Loop

Game Goals

• Main: “Survive the night”
• Sub: “Survive the wave”
• Moment-to-moment: Acquire pick ups and defeat enemies; Keep track of ammo and fort status

Customization & Crafting

• A little fluff goes a long way when crafting power-ups or customizing avatars.

Feedback

• Auditory: Grunts, projectile thud
• Visual: Pillow Fort becoming smaller, Darts on the Ground, Power-ups, Aesthetics
• Haptic: Vibrate Controller at Fort Damage Levels

Audience Breakdown

• Target Audience: Young girls aged 9 to 11 years old
• Psychographics: Per Bartle’s Taxonomy, the game’s core mechanics skew towards achievers and killers. Game includes components for explorers (crafting) and co-op elements for socializers.

Q & A

Backlog

Backlog: Game Theme

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• The game’s core message is a story of imagination, problem solving, cooperation, and shooting demonic toys

Backlog: Game Mood

• Creepy horror like Coraline
• Childhood sleepovers
• What can be perceived as a monster through a child’s eye
• Nothing too mature or intense (gore, blood, and darker themes)

Backlog: Full Narrative Breakdown

A sleepover has gone terribly wrong. Something has brought your stuffed animals to life and turned them against you. The night grows long, but armed with your dart gun and the safety of your pillow fort, the hordes shall be culled.

Backlog: Platform & Control Scheme

• Nintendo Switch is our ideal platform
• This game would still work effectively on the PS4 or Xbox One
• Joystick or directional pad to move, A button is the fire button, B button is your interaction button, Bumper button is menu.

Backlog: Full Mechanics Breakdown

• 2 players shooting “foam darts”
• Darts need to be picked up after firing; the players are restricted to limited ammunition
• Crafting system where players can gather materials (pillow, extra darts, clothing items, etc.) to create special items for the fort and cosmetic changes
• Points earned based on enemies defeated
• If one player is touched, they die, and only respawn after the wave is over
• If players are both touched, game ends
• If enemies touch fort, fort HP decreases until it is destroyed then players have to struggle to rebuild the fort

Backlog: Full Mechanics Breakdown Cont’d

• Players can repair fort by “fluffing” pillows
• Waves of enemies spawn randomly for duration set by level

Backlog: Full Level Design Breakdown

• Levels are defined by number of waves spawned
• Once maximum wave has been cleared, option is given to return to main menu or continue
• Games can be started at the start of the next “block” of waves or earlier “blocks”
• Enemies are randomly spawned

Backlog: Top-Down vs. Isometric View

Backlog: In-Game HUD

Backlog: UI Wireframes - Title Menu

Backlog: UI Wireframes - Pause Menu

Backlog: UI Wireframes - Customize Menu (Part 1)

Backlog: UI Wireframes - Customize Menu (Part 2)

Backlog: UI Wireframes - Inventory Menu

Backlog: UI Wireframes - Crafting Menu

Development Technology

• Unity
• Maya
• Photoshop
• Audition
• GitHub
• SourceTree
• Discord
• Hacknplan

References

ESRB Ratings Guide. (n.d.). ESRB Rating E for everyone [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.aspx

Ghost Town Games. (n.d.). Earthquake Screen [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.ghosttowngames.com/overcooked/