PROJECT PETERSBURG

1

©2012 John Scott Tynes

PREFACE

This is a proposal for an Xbox Kinect videogame I wrote in 2012.

My goal was to make a videogame for grade-school girls.

The project never went anywhere but has always remained a personal favorite.

If anyone wants to do something with these ideas, go for it!

VISIONbe a fairy-tale heroine in a lushly stylized ballet world

3

THREE PILLARS

4

5

6

Reinvent the fun of dress-up and playing stories.

Be the star everyone loves and admires.

Be brave, clever, kind, and funny.

Live your dreams.

roleplay as a fairy-tale heroine

7

You dance where and how you want.

You always look amazing.

The other dancers react and adapt to you.

You drive the choreography by how you play.

dynamic choreograhy

8

Lead exciting journeys, dance into dramatic confrontations, and vanquish evil with beauty and skill.

Explore magical ballet worlds within breathtaking set design.

Solve puzzles and find treasures to enhance your costume and visual effects.

Wield the magic of fairy tales.

adventure, mystery, and magic

SETTINGthe world’s greatest stageAll the conventions and magic of a theater, but stylized with motion and visual effects impossible in the real world.

9

CONTENTballet’s greatest fairy talesWe’ll adapt the music, story, and characters into our own productions: Prokofiev’s Cinderella; Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker; Délibes’ Coppélia.

10

GAMEPLAY MODES

Adventure: Move your dancer freely among the other dancers and scenery, exploring, collecting, confronting, leading, and discovering, all with dynamic choreography

Performance: At moments of key drama and conflict, zoom in on your dancer to perform specific ballet moves as in Dance Central. The better you do, the more spectacular and sucessful the results.

we shift between these fluidly during play

11

ADVENTURE EXAMPLES

Traverse: Hit your marks any way you want. Your dancer always makes it look good.

Beckon Motion: Nearby dancers follow your lead, weaving around the stage wherever you take them.

Bless Stance: The dancer you bless changes their dance style and makes you stronger.

Charm Stance: Villainous dancers join your side as long as you keep blessing them.

Partner: Select one of the available partners on stage and dance together to activate their powers.

Wield: Use props such as flowers, swords, and magic wands to solve puzzles and confront villains.

motions, stances, and other actions

12

PERFORMANCE EXAMPLES

Defeat a Villain: Perform a sequence of fast allegro steps. Partial success may banish some villainous dancers but not the main villain.

Romance a Prince: Perform a sequence of slow adagio steps. Partial success sends the prince to another mark where you can try again, after blessing some dancers or collecting props to help your next attempt.

Summon a Dragon: Express the characteristics of the dragon (wings, fire, and majesty) through a sequence of dance steps. High success gets you a visually cooler dragon.

Travel Spell: Call on the spirits to take you to another land by performing a sequence of airy jumps and swoops.

do the steps to max out the magic

13

DREAM BOLD

14

DREAM TIMELESS

15

DREAM SPOOKY

16

DREAM MAGIC

17

DREAM BALLET

18