GGAMEAME D DESIGNESIGN D DOCUMENTOCUMENT

Geode < 2 >

High Concept: A 2D side-scrolling frenetic tactical conflict where you must first build and develop your defenses, and then annihilate your opponents’.

Target Platform: Windows-based PC Pentium-II 233 MHz or equivalent and up.

Purpose: To create a wacky 2D side-scrolling game that incorporates a unique combination of resource management, architecting defenses, and laying waste to your opponent(s), all the while providing for a large variety of creative tactics in a multiplayer environment.

Competition: Worms: Armageddon, Fortress.

Target Demographic: All ages; slightly skewed towards adolescent males due to the competitive, cerebral nature of the tactical warfare.

Unique Selling Pointso Innovative combination of strategy and actiono Never before seen method of resource distributiono The whims of the gods keeps you on your toeso Flexible building method allows you to construct unique buildingso Zany antics keep you laughing for more

Geode < 3 >

Background StoryOne hot July afternoon in 1944, in the back of a dusty rock shop on the side of a

lonely back road in the desert of the American Southwest, a small boy on vacation with his family is about to create history with an egg salad sandwich.

"I was wondering if you would be so kind as to give me some directions? We are on our way to Alamogordo but we seem to be lost," asks the boy's dad. The boy's name is Frank and no matter how much he whines and complains about how much he hates egg salad sandwiches his mother insists on making them for him.

"Not from around these parts are ya?" says the old man behind the counter with a squint and a smile. His hair is sparse, his gut is large and he is wearing a striped cowboy style shirt with a bolo tie. He radiates friendliness like the sun radiates warmth and it is obvious that the cost of directions is going to be conversation. Frank takes this opportunity to wander to the back of the store out of sight of his dad.

Today Frank will stand up against his mother and her egg salad sandwiches. Frank takes the time to wander to the back of the rickety little shop while his father is engaged in conversation with the storeowner. A bin under a counter is filled with spherical rocks. The handwritten label above the bin has the words "Geodes 10 cents". Frank pushes a few of the rocks aside, drops his sandwich into the recess and then quickly covers it up with the geodes.

"Frank, come on. It's time to go!" shouts Frank's dad. Frank scurries up to the front of the store trying to repress his triumphant feeling from making him smile too broadly and thereby revealing his rebellion. "Have a good afternoon Mr. Sanchez. I'm sorry to hear that your store will be closing," says Frank's dad as he puts his brown fedora back on his head and opens the door.

"Not to worry. I was paid well for the property. Y'all enjoy your vacation." says the old man.

The shop closes, the egg salad oozes into the cracks in the geodes and a year passes. In the distance a number of scientists, engineers and military personnel erect a tower and strap a gadget on the top of it. They hide themselves in concrete bunkers and push a button. A countdown is counted down. 10 … 9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…

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The little rickety rock shop is blown down in the atomic wind. A breeze of radiation knocks some molecules of egg salad into the exact configuration for a very different sort of reaction.

Time passes and life evolves in the geodes. From the primordial egg salad, a civilization is born. They call themselves Dudes and they call home "The Geode" and they thrived for many years. But now every nook, cranny and crevice of The Geode is inhabited. It is time for the Dudes to find a new home.

And now, several brave Dudes under the leadership of Leif Dudeson venture forth from the forbidden fissure from whence the egg salad came to discover new realms for the Dudes to live.

Stories are sent back about many other geodes each with their own god waiting for the dudes to inhabit. Dude colonists were preparing themselves for the journey out when a messenger returns with word that the Dudes of "The Geode" are not alone. There are other Geodes inhabited by other Dudes who are also looking for new places to expand and they are not all friendly. The messenger's wounds confirm that fact.

So now the race is on. The Dudes must wrest control of the new geodes from their rivals any way they can. Who will be the one to win the control of the new geodes and pass on the legacy of the egg salad sandwich . . .

Geode < 5 >

Overview and Sample Turn

Getting StartedWhen the player clicks the “Play Game” button from the main menu he will be

taken to the game options menu. The options menu will allow the player to set the number of players, starting resourcite, map size, game play mode, build time and battle energy. The player will also be able to randomize the map that is generated or to enter a map id number from a previously played map.

Bob and his buddy John start up Geode. They hit the “Play Game” button on the main menu and are then taken to the options screen. They select “Standard Game” and check the game play mode option “Last Man Standing”. The number of players is set to two. They decide to start with 5000 resourcite each on a medium sized map. John has an ID number from a previously played game so they click on the “Enter Map ID” button that brings up a dialogue box to take the input. They accept the default values for build time and battle energy.

Build PhaseThe first phase in the game is the build phase. The player is given a few starting

dudes and will have a limited amount of time to build castles, gather resourcite and strategically place dudes on the map in preparation for the combat phase of the game. A player may also garrison dudes in their castles to offers some protection and healing benefits later in the combat phase as well as some protection from the whims of the gods.

Although each player has a time limit for the build phase, a player can exceed the time limit. The time limit is just a marker of when the petulant gods will start to get angry. After the time limit elapses, the gods will start to zap stuff belonging to that player, but it might be worth the risk if a player is almost done building a fortification when the limit elapses. Any unfinished castle blocks will be destroyed and the resourcite allocated for those blocks will be returned to the player’s resourcite pool at the end of that player’s build phase.

Bob is first to start in the game. He immediately notices from the gravity indicator that gravity is going up. He is given a few starting dudes and he immediately begins work on his first castle. He places a foundation on the map since all new buildings must have a foundation block. Once the foundation is in place his dudes begin construction on it. Bob then adds a few body blocks to the top of the foundation to provide some height to his castle. He adds a cap that increases his dude limit once it is built. Now that he has increased the size of his population limit, he clicks on the foundation to purchase two new dudes to aid in his construction efforts. With the extra dudes he is able to construct an arrow turret quickly. He then sends one dude left and one dude right, and has them both build towers to protect his main castle. Five seconds before the time limit elapses, the dudes finish building the towers. During the build phase there are indicators showing which dude will have a turn in the next battle phase and what order they will go in. Bob garrisons the dudes that will not have a battle phase turn in his main castle and places his other dudes in positions that will make them easier to maneuver to where John will be

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building. He uses his remaining resourcite to create enough dudes to max out his new population limit. He hits the “I’m done” button, and calls to John “Your turn!” Jon comes in from the kitchen and Bob goes off to get a pop from the fridge.

John comes in and hits the “I’m ready Button.” The time counter starts then, and John gets to work building his own defenses. He started on the ceiling, some distance from Bob, and thus all of his buildings look to be upside down. John’s castle is immense and takes a lot of resources to finish. He has four guys working on the castle, and sends the other guy to build a puny tower of to the left, all the resourcite he has left. The tower building dude is finished before the castle dudes, and John moves the tower building dude back to the castle. About this time the time limit elapses, and there is a rumble in the central sky. The castle is still not quite finished; only one block left. The Gods randomly zap the dude that is walking back from the tower in retribution for taking too long. John finishes and quickly hits the “I’m done” button.

First combat roundWhen the combat phase starts any resourcite lying on the ground becomes

volatile. In the combat phase the action will be dude centric, where dudes take turns being directly controlled by the player to fight for the team. The players will alternate using dudes until the number of rounds has expired.

Each dude has a limited amount of battle energy that slowly dissipates as time passes. Firing weapons and healing will deplete the battle energy an amount based on the action taken. The different weapons deplete the battle energy in varying amounts appropriate for maintaining the balance of the game.

Each dude has three weapons at their disposal: a slingshot (for use against other dudes or weak stuff), a Resourcite Glob-Launcher (for use against structures or clusters of dudes), or mines (defensive weapon to keep fighter or worker dudes out of your base).

The time limit (represented by the battle energy) in the combat phase is rock solid- unlike in the build phase, once time has elapsed, the computer will preempt the player and move on to the next guy.

John randomly gets chosen to go first. The screen centers on the first dude to go as indicated during John’s build turn. He realizes that he is open on the side opposite from the tower, so he moves the dude with the arrow keys to run out to the right and lay two mines to prevent enemy dudes from walking close to his castle. After the dude has laid his mines, John makes the dude run back to the safety around the castle

One of Bob’s guys on the floor goes next. Bob moves his guy over past a tower and then jumps. Since the gravity is still going up in this phase, once Bob’s dude jumps, gravity will force him to fall up and land in front of the tower. The tower zaps him, and Bob, shoots the tower three times with his slingshot, and tries to run away a bit from the tower. He runs out of battle energy and is stuck.

John’s next dude gets to go, but right before that, John’s tower zaps the dude that Bob just finished using, because Bob couldn’t move his dude out of range in time. As the time counter starts counting down again, John stealthily moves his dude across the landscape and in to position to attack one of Bob’s Towers. John’s dude moves within range and whips out the Glob Launcher to attack a tower, unfortunately next to a glob of resourcite, which could be a health hazard later. He aims perfectly and nails the tower,

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destroying a cap. Since John has used the heavy duty Glob Launcher, his dude used up an enormous amount of battle energy and can’t run more than a few steps away.

Now Bob’s next dude has a turn. Bob’s dude moves within range to target the formerly glob-launching dude, and fires at the resourcite pile next to him. The resourcite explodes and takes out John’s dude. Bob’s dude was a little too close to the explosion and therefore also takes some damage. He realizes there is not much more he can do with his dude this round so he uses his remaining battle energy to partially heal the dude.

Bob and Jon play out the rest of their dudes. The gods have their fun randomly zapping dudes (known as the Dude Attrition Rate) because the cap that John destroyed has reduced Bob’s population limit. When the combat phase is over, any volatile resourcite left on the playing field explodes, damaging anything around it.

Second Build Phase At the beginning of the phase the gods distribute resourcite at their whim,

chucking random quantities in random directions. This resourcite is a double-edged sword, for if it is not collected before the end of the build phase, it becomes volatile and will explode at the end of the combat phase, if not before.

The dudes will be controlled from wherever they were at the end of the combat phase. More dudes can be created at the foundations of the castles that the players have built. The dudes can be used for one of three main purposes in this phase: the dudes can be used for building, they can be used for the gathering of the resourcite that the gods have thrown about, or they can be used to taunt the gods for more resourcite.

Any defensive structures built prior to this build period will be active to ward off enemy dudes from entering the base. If a dude tries to enter the base, the tower will summarily attack them and hopefully rub them out.

John gets to go first for this build phase. He expands his territory to the right and uses the block palette to build another castle with his original four dudes (one got zapped). At his original castle, he buys 4 more dudes and orders them to do more work. They go about collecting the resourcite around his base so that it won’t explode and take out the castles and towers.

After 2 of the dudes have finished gathering resourcite, John sends them to repair his slightly damaged tower. He orders his dudes there to stand ground so that they will not auto-build any more structures he works on and will be in position in the next combat session to attack Bob. He works on a couple of small tower and then hits the “I’m done!” button.

During Bob’s build phase, Bob does the same as John did with regard to resourcite and building guys. Bob rebuilds his tower, and sends one of his dudes deep into John’s base by the strategic use of gravity. He then taunts the gods in the middle of John’s base. The gods, angered by such insolence, summarily squash the dude under a huge lump of resourcite.

Having such success with this, Bob tries with the time remaining to sneak another dude in to John’s base to do it again. However, Bob isn’t as sneaky this time and the dude goes in through the backdoor of Jon’s base, where a mine blows him up. Discouraged, and almost out of time, Bob hits “I’m done” button.

Geode < 8 >

General Aspects of Geode

EnvironmentThe world that they live in is unlike one that we know. We live on the ground;

they live inside the ground in their world known as ”The Geode”. A god floats in the middle, lounging, farting and watching television on a cloud. From time to time, he will dispense resourcite, indiscriminate justice on the world around him, or flip the gravity switch to change which way is up. The dudes have suction cups attached to their feet, so they can walk up walls or even upside down. The buildings are made of resourcite, and thus have some spectacular ability to defy gravity, so they can be built from the ceiling, walls or floor of the Geode.

ResourciteResourcite is a magical material that comes from the gods. Every build phase, the

gods hock resourcite onto the world around them, throwing it randomly in all 360 degrees. Most of resourcite’s spectacular powers come from its divine origins. It is the core resource from which everything in this world is derived.

Resourcite is also unstable. The resourcite that is delivered at the beginning of the build phase becomes volatile once combat commences. A dude can attack resourcite to cause it to explode and deal splash damage to everything around it. At the end of every combat phase, all remaining resourcite will spontaneously explode on its own, but is slightly less damaging than if the weapon of a dude triggered it. The volatile nature of resourcite makes it necessary to factor strategic gathering during the build phase to avoid having resourcite destroy your castle later.

DudesThe inhabitants of the geodes are known as “Dudes”. Dudes are the basic unit of

the game and are used to build and repair castles, collect resourcite and engage in combat with other dudes for control of the Geode. They have the ability to stick to walls and are thus unaffected by gravity unless they jump. Because they are battling the other tribes of

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dudes, if a member of an opposing tribe tries to walk past a dude that dude will smack the other dude to try to prevent the enemy dude’s passage.

GodsThe gods of this interior realm find their charges amusing, but really don’t care

that much about the dudes beneath them, and thus are relatively uninterested by their warring ways. The gods have huge egos and are willing to demonstrate this on the Geode around them. To the gods, resourcite is valueless waste, and they will then throw this waste all about them to show everyone just who is in charge.

The gods, being egotistical, are quick to demonstrate their authority. They randomly zap dudes with lightning bolts from their lounge in the center of the sky. This introduces a population control, for the more dudes that a player has, the more likely that one or more will get zapped.

If a player stalls past the time limit of his build phase, the gods will become restless, and start to zap dudes. The longer the player stalls, the more violent the gods will become and zap dudes with a higher frequency. Eventually, if the player stalls for an exorbitant amount of time, the gods will start to zap towers and castles.

At the beginning of each combat phase, the gods flip the gravity switch randomly into one of four positions – left, right, up, down. This will remain in effect for the rest of the combat phase and alter the path of projectiles accordingly.

Dude Attrition RateThe gods are petty and arrogant, and so they hate anyone else who happens to be

petty or arrogant. If the gods see that a player has exceeded the population limit that is signified by the number of caps on the towers, the god will get trigger-happy and start zapping dudes. The higher the number of dudes that a player has over the limit, the more the gods will have fun destroying that player’s dudes. The gods will and can act at any time, so offenders beware.

GravityGravity will affect combat tactics and maneuvers, because aiming projectiles will

be different depending on how gravity will pull the projectile. Dudes that jump or otherwise lose contact with the ground will also be subject to gravity. E.g., if gravity is down, and the dude is on the ceiling and jumps, he will land on the floor. The gravity indicator in the upper right hand corner of the screen will show the way that gravity is pulling.

The varying directions of gravity in the game are a result of the geode rolling on the ground. The god of the geode also has control of gravity and will change it to suit his whims at the start of each new build phase. Gravity may also be affected by the destruction of a boom bud.

Boom BudsThe radiation that affected the geodes and created the dudes has also caused the

growth of a mutant plant called a boom bud. While these plants are growing, they are perfectly harmless. However, when they are in bloom they become extremely explosive and if a dude shoots a boom bud that is in bloom it will explode with enough force to

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cause the geode to roll thereby changing the gravity of the geode. It is a strange phenomena that only one boom bud is ever in blossom at a time.

MovementA dude has two basic methods of movement- running and jumping.Running: movement parallel to the ground, along the surface.

Jumping: movement with some perpendicularity to the surface and forward motion.

Running is independent of gravity, jumping is highly dependant on gravity. Essentially, when a dude jumps, he immediately starts falling (technically).

TerrainThe terrain will be tile based and compositionally uniform (i.e., if it is dirt, it’ll all

be dirt). The distinguishing feature of the terrain, as opposed to other games, is that the terrain will be all encompassing, surrounding the whole field of action making it impossible to leave the arena.

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Build phase

Build phase OverviewAt the start of the game and after each combat round there will be a build phase.

During the build phase a player may repair their buildings, construct new buildings, gather resourcite, create new dudes and strategically place their dudes for the next combat round.

ResourciteResourcite is the magical all purpose building material of the game. It comes from

the gods and must be collected quickly before it becomes unstable. The player uses resourcite to construct towers and to buy dudes.

Before the start of each build phase there will be an animation sequence showing the gods floating around the map on their cloud randomly throwing chunks of resourcite. This is the basic method for the distribution of resourcite throughout the map. Once the resourcite is distributed the build phase will begin.

Since resourcite is the currency of the game and is used to purchase tower pieces and more dudes, the player will want to collect as much resourcite as possible. This is done using dudes. When a dude gathers resourcite it disappears and goes into that player’s resourcite pool.

If a player needs additional resourcite, he may choose to have one of his dudes taunt the gods. The gods do not look kindly on dudes who taunt them and will attempt to extinguish the lives of such dudes with a big hunk of resourcite. If the resourcite hits the dude the dude will be squashed. There is a chance that the gods will miss the dude. If this happens the dude will continue to taunt the gods and the gods will take a maximum of two more shots with resourcite before they strike down the dude with a lightening bolt. A player may stop a dude from taunting the gods at anytime.

At the end of the build phase any resourcite that is left on the ground becomes highly unstable. During the combat phase if anything disturbs resourcite (e.g. dudes touching it, a projectile hitting it or a nearby explosion) it will explode killing nearby dudes and doing severe damage to nearby structures. At the end of the combat phase resourcite will reach critical mass and explode whether it has been disturbed or not. It will be to the players’ advantage to collect resourcite that lands near one of their structures since once combat starts it will likely destroy their assets.

Dude Workers During the build phase all dudes will become workers. They will be used to

gather resourcite (including the taunting of gods for additional resourcite), repair towers and build towers. During the build phase workers should be placed where the player wants them to start during the combat phase.

Facilities for performing dude actions are described in the user interface section of this document.

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Purchasing DudesTo create additional dudes, the player left clicks on a foundation block. If the

player has enough resourcite, a new dude will walk out of the foundation and the appropriate resources will be deducted from the resourcite pool.

Tower Activity During the Construction PhaseTowers will be active in every build phase after the one in which they were built.

This means that a tower may attack enemy dudes that stray too close to a player’s tower. This is to prevent players from constructing buildings too close to each other and also provides a mechanism for gaining control over parts of the map. Because the build phase is in real time as opposed to the semi-turn based combat phase, during the build phase the turrets will fire their weapons at an interval dependent on the type of turret. A breakdown of the firing interval for each turret type is listed in the following table.

Note: The weapon turrets are described in “Tower Turrets” in the combat phase section.

Relative Turret Firing Interval During Build PhaseTurret Type Relative Firing Interval

Arrow HighRocket Medium

Force Sphere Low

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Tower ConstructionTo construct a tower the player right clicks on the map. This will open up the

block palette that will display icons for each of the available blocks that the player can build with. All new towers must start with a foundation block. Once this block is positioned dudes that are not standing ground and who are not currently carrying out some other order will move to that block and start working. The player may immediately place the next blocks and continue to place blocks until they are finished with the tower, they run out of resourcite or they lose their dudes due to continuing to construct past the time limit. As each block is placed, a silhouette of that block appears until the block is actually built to show where the block was placed. Blocks that are not completed before the build phase time limit expires will self-destruct and the resourcite allocated for these blocks will be returned to the resourcite pool.

Tower RepairTo repair a tower the player selects a dude or group of dudes and then right clicks

on the towers to repair. The dudes will restore hit points to blocks currently in the tower.

Tower ExpansionAdditional blocks may be added to existing towers during the build phase. From

the block palette the player chooses the block they would like to add and then places it on an existing tower. The dudes will immediately run to that tower and start building.

Tower BlocksThe block palette will contain all the blocks used for tower construction. These

blocks are foundations, bodies, turrets, shelves and caps. Each block has its own function and will allow the player flexibility in the design of their towers and castles.

o Foundation Square block with a door Used as starting point for every tower Must be on the ground Body blocks may be attached to the sides and top of a foundation

block Shelves and turrets may be attached to the sides of a foundation block Caps may be attached to the top of a foundation block Click on Foundation to purchase dudes during build phase Very Expensive

o Body Square block Turrets and shelves can attach to sides of body blocks Must be on shelf or another body or a foundation Caps may attached to the top of a body block Medium expense

o Turret The tower weapon nodes Must be attached to body or foundation side High expense

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Weapons Arrow Force Sphere Resourcite Rocket

o Shelf To support building Body Blocks up from the side of a Body Block Must be on side of Body or Foundation Least expensive

o Cap Must be on body top Number of caps on a tower determines number of dudes supported by

the gods by influencing Dude Attrition Rate. A cap must be the highest block on a tower Very expensive

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Block Summary TableAttachment Locations

Block Functions Top Sides Relative Cost

Restrictions

Foundation All towers start with a foundation.

Used to purchase dudes during the build phase.

BodyCap

BodyShelvesTurrets

High Must be on ground

Body Basic building block for towers

Body Cap

BodyShelvesTurrets

Med. None

Shelf Used to support overhanging body blocks

Body Body Low Must be on the side of Body or Foundation

Cap Top of TowerUsed to determine number of dudes supported by Tower

None None High Must be on top of Body

Arrow Turret

Standard Tower weapon. Medium range.

None Body (one side only)

Med. Must be on the side of Body or Foundation

Force Sphere

Tower defensive weapon. Medium range.

None Body (one side only)

Med. Must be on the side of Body or Foundation

Resourcite Rocket Turret

Powerful Tower Weapon. Long range.

None Body (one side)

High Must be on the side of Body or Foundation

Turret RangeSince the turrets attach to the sides of towers, all but the Force Sphere are limited

to firing in the 180º arc that the turret is facing.

Time LimitThe build phase will be turn based real time building. The order in which each

player goes first will be determined randomly at the start of each build phase. To maintain the pace of the game the build phase will have a time limit that will be displayed on the screen. At the end of the time limit the gods will start zapping dudes with lightning bolts at a rate that increases exponentially with the amount of time that has passed. This allows the player to spend extra time to work on an important task in exchange for risking the loss of several dudes. After a certain amount of time the gods will start to zap the towers as well as the dudes.

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Build Phase Sequence Table

Action ControlDistribution of Resourcite by gods ComputerPlayer Actions

Purchasing Dudes Building Towers Repairing Towers Strategically placing dudes Gathering resources

Player

Gods enforcement of time limit ComputerPlayer hits the “done button” Player

Combat phase

Combat OverviewOnce the build phase is completed the combat phase will begin. In this phase the

player maneuvers her dudes around the map and uses the weapons at her disposal in an attempt to destroy the towers and castles built by the enemy players while defending her own assets. The player will also have to deal with the effects of gravity that will be in a direction decided upon by the gods.

The player turn sequence for the combat phase is chosen randomly and is then set until the end of the combat phase. The number of combat rounds is determined by the number of dudes that the player who has the most dudes has. Once a combat round starts a player has a limited amount of battle energy to move that dude and attack the enemy in real time. The dude stays where it is once it has expended all of its battle energy. Battle energy for the dude slowly depletes during the combat round. Firing weapons will deplete battle energy a different amount for each type of weapon. Dudes may heal themselves by finishing their turn early. Once a dude has moved, it may not move again that combat phase.

Combat is over once all combat rounds have been completed.

Combat DudesOnce combat begins the dudes will turn from worker dudes to combat dudes.

They will now be ready to do battle with the enemy. The combat dudes will have three resourcite weapons at their disposal: the Slingshot, the Glob Launcher and the Mine. The weapons and their relative damage level are summarized in the following table.

A number floating above the dudes will indicate the sequence of turns that the dudes will take during the combat phase.

Weapon Summary Table

Weapon Relative Damage Level

Relative Range

Splash Damage

Relative Battle energy cost

Slingshot Low High No Low

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Glob Launcher High Medium Yes HighMines High Low Yes Medium

Garrisoning DudesEach castle will be able to garrison a minimum of two dudes. A castle will be able

to garrison more dudes as the castle increases in size. Dudes garrisoned in a castle will be protected from damage and dudes garrisoned in a castle will gain a health bonus.

If enough blocks of a castle are destroyed to reduce the number of dudes that can be garrisoned in that castle, the garrisoned dudes that are no longer supported will be ejected from the castle and take damage. If the castle is completely destroyed, then all garrisoned dudes will be ejected and take damage from the crumbling building.

Healing Dudes During CombatA player may choose to finish combat early by hitting the "Done" button for the

currently active dude. If so, the dude will regain health proportional to the amount of battle energy remaining. If that dude is garrisoned in a castle then they will gain a healing bonus. Additionally, there will be a “Heal” button that will convert a portion of a dude’s battle energy to health. Once again the amount of health recovered will be increased if that dude is garrisoned in a castle.

Tower TurretsThe weapons on a tower are located in the turrets. The turret weapons are affected

by gravity so the higher up on a tower a turret is the longer the range it will likely have. Turret weapons include the resourcite arrow turret, the resourcite rocket turret and the Force Sphere turret. Unlike dudes, turrets fire automatically at enemies as soon as they are within range. The turrets fire at different intervals depending on the type of turret. The turret weapons and their relative damage level are summarized in the following table.

The arrow turret is the most basic turret type. It does an average amount of damage, has a medium range and fires at short intervals. Its projectiles are affected by gravity and so the paths of its projectiles tend to take a parabolic path.

The rocket turret is a high power weapon. It does a high amount of damage, has a long range but fires at a much slower interval than the arrow turret. Since the rockets are self-propelled they are not affected very much by gravity and the paths of its projectiles take a linear path.

The force sphere is a purely defensive turret. When a dude comes in range it sends out a spherical pulse of energy that knocks over dudes, sets off volatile resourcite and destroys boom buds that are in its path. The pulse itself does little or no damage to the dudes but the effect is that the dude may be knocked off the wall it is clinging to which opens up the potential to send that dude into a perilous situation (e.g. the dude may be knocked into the turrets of another enemy or into a piece of volatile resourcite).

Turret Weapon Summary

Weapon Relative Damage Relative Range Splash Damage Relative Firing Rate

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Arrow Medium Medium No HighRocket High High Yes MediumForce Sphere Extremely low Low Yes Low

Tower DestructionOnce a block on a tower has taken enough damage it will explode. If that block

had a special function for the tower, that function will no longer be available for the tower. For instance, if a cap is destroyed the number of dudes that tower will support will be diminished. Relative block hit points are summarized in the following table.

Relative Block Hit PointsBlock Type Relative Hit PointsFoundation Very HighCap HighBody MediumShelf LowTurret Low

Effects of Gravity On CombatGravity will play a major role in a player’s strategy. It will affect projectiles and

limit or enhance a dude’s ability to jump. Good players will quickly learn how to use gravity to their advantage. Because projectiles will fall in the direction of gravity, the player will find that finding higher ground (relative to the current direction of gravity) might enhance the range of their weapons. A player might have a dude on the ceiling fire their glob launcher at towers down below.

Gravity may also be affected by destroying a boom bud that is in blossom as described in the section on gravity above.

Modes of PlaySeveral different modes of play will be available for geode. "Standard",

"Dudicide" and "Raze'in in the Sun" modes will each have two settings for determining a winner. These are "Most Points" and "Last Dude Standing". For the "Most Points" setting a score will be calculated based on the performance of the player and the player with the most points wins. "Last Dude Standing" as the name implies determines the winner as the player who is still in the game after all others have been eliminated.

StandardA player is out of the game if they have no dudes and no means of creating dudes.

Therefore if a player loses all of his dudes and still has a foundation and enough resourcite to create at least one more dude, that player is still in the game.

DudicideA player is out of the game if they lose all of their dudes regardless of how many

structures they may have.

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Raze'in in the SunA player is out of they game if all of their buildings are destroyed regardless of

how many dudes they may have.

Build HighThe player that wins in this mode of play is the player who honors the god of the

Geode the most by building buildings in the god's honor. After a number of rounds determined by the player from this mode's options menu a winner will be determined based on one of two different settings. These are "Biggest Castle" and "Most Blocks". For the "Biggest Castle" setting the player with the castle that has the most blocks at the end of the pre-determined number of round wins. For the "Most Blocks" setting the player who controls the most blocks at the end of the pre-determined number of rounds wins.

Note: This mode will not have the "Most Points" or "Last Dude Standing" options.

Scoring and Statistical Tracking

To add replay-ability and possible competition factors into the game, a score tracker is proposed to be included with the game. Throughout the game, the actions that a player does, such as kills, blocks built, number of times that the player taunted the god, will be recorded for display at the end of the match.

On conclusion of the game, each player will then have the ability to look at the statistics of their playing, and possibly compare with other players if they wish. Some kind of non-Competitive rank shall be issued to each player according to how they played the game, non-Competitive rank meaning that the rank is determined with regards to how the other players fared in a similar category.

In addition, an “average score tracker” is proposed so that the player can track his process through multiple games, and compare his current game with the average of all his games in the past.

Item to Track Relative ValuesDudes Built 2Blocks Built 1Resourcite Collected 1/750Number of times god kills you 8Dudes you have killed 2Blocks you have destroyed 2Games Played as that player N/ANumber of times god taunted 8

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User InterfaceMenusAll menus in the game will have a visual element (either a stylized word, as in “View High Scores”, or a visual icon, as in the picture of a slingshot). Each option presented in the menu can be activated by either a left-click or the corresponding hotkey.

The user interface for Geode can be broken down into four basic sections:

Pre-Game and Post-Game Interface

After the title screen, a simplistic, streamlined set of visual menus will allow the player to navigate through the pre-game options, Game Options (which include game-play modes, number of players, number of teams, number of Dudes per team, starting number of weapons and Resourcite, music/sound effects volume, etc.) and Starting and Quitting the game.

Likewise, after a game has been completed, the Statistics screen is displayed, wherein a similar visual menu allows the player to start up another, similar game right away, or return to the Pre-Game menus.

The Other Three

Paradigm Behind the In-Game Controls

The main idea behind the default in-game controls is that of convenience and expedience. The movement keys should be located together in such a way that the user should be able to hit all of them with one hand only. The firing/ aiming commands should be organized so that they can be executed with the remaining hand. If this Paradigm is executed properly, this should allow a quick intuitive interface through which users can express themselves quickly, and hopefully instinctually.

Illustrations of this paradigm can be, for instance, in Battle ModeUp ‘W’Left ‘A’Down ‘S’Right ‘D’Jump SpaceAim Up ‘]’Aim Down ‘ ‘ ’Fire EnterPower Bar (Hold) Enter

Or, Alternatively, for Battle Mode as well:Up Up Arrow

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Left Left ArrowDown Down ArrowRight Right ArrowJump ‘0’Aim Up Mouse UpAim Down Mouse DownFire Left ClickPower Bar (Hold) Left Click

An important note: the Mouse and Keyboard do not have to be mutually exclusive. This means that one could have aiming and firing mapped to both the keyboard and the mouse. This will allow more flexibility when many people are playing together.

General In-Game Controls

During both the Build and Combat phases, the player can scroll around the level by moving to the mouse cursor to the extremes of the screen, (that is, the top, bottom, left and right of the screen) until the extremes of the level are reached, at which point the player cannot scroll further in that direction. In addition, the scrolling will be variable, whereas either or both holding down a key while scrolling and moving the mouse to the last few pixels of the screen will cause the scrolling to be accelerated, so as to cover more of the map quicker. If the player is currently in control of a dude when he scrolls the camera to look at something else, moving the dude again will cause the camera to center back on the dude again.

During the Build phase, the player can spawn another Dude by left-clicking on any one of his Foundation blocks. If the player has enough Resourcite and has not exceeded his Dude-spawn limit per turn (as defined by the number of Caps on his current castle), then a Dude will scamper out of the specified Foundation’s Door.

While in the game, the current player can hit the ‘F’ key to center on a foundation that he player has built, and hitting the ‘F’ key more times causes the camera to cycle through the foundations that the current player has built. Similarly, the ‘D’ key can cause the camera to cycle through the dudes that the player controls.

During game-play, the player can simultaneously pause the game and view the in-game menu by pushing the Esc key. This menu allows the player to Return to the Game and Quit the Game, as well as possibly (after expansion) some other options.

Required for the next two sections of the user-interface is the ability to select or highlight dudes. Selecting dudes can be accomplished by clicking on the dudes. A second click on a dude will unselect him. Multiple dudes can be selected by clicking one time a piece on many dudes, and from there they can all be controlled directly. Additionally, a “click and drag rectangle” is proposed to select all selectable dudes within the area of the rectangle, to allow quicker selection of many dudes. Moving the dude by mouse clicks or UI

Geode < 22 >

buttons after he has been selected is termed “Indirect Control.” Moving the dudes though the arrow keys and jump key is termed “Direct Control.”

Indirect Dude Control

During Build phase of game-play, the player may direct Dudes to accomplish several tasks. (S)he does this by using the mouse to select (highlight) a Dude (positioning the game cursor over a Dude and left-clicking). This causes a menu of icons to appear near the bottom of the screen. The icons available (for every Dude) is as follows:

1) The “Move” command. After being activated, this command requires a subsequent right-click somewhere on the terrain. The Dude will then endeavor to find his way to the location the player specified, by the simplest and fastest path. If the position the player specified is occupied by Resourcite, the Dude will automatically pick up the Resourcite when he reaches said position; also, if the Dude runs over Resourcite en route to his destination, he will pick it up along the way. If the position the player specified is occupied by a damaged piece of the player’s castle, the Dude will begin repairing that castle piece.

2) The “Build” command. When this command is activated, another icon menu at the bottom of the screen appears. This menu displays the five available castle tiles (in the basic design; future expansions may have more): the Foundation, Wall, Shelf, Cap, and Turret. Activating one of these tiles than causes the specified tile’s silhouette to be placed underneath of the cursor. A subsequent left-click on the terrain will place the tile’s silhouette at the specified area. The specified Dude will than endeavor to move, by the simplest and fastest path, to the specified area, and begin building the specified castle tile at that area.

3) The “Taunt the Gods” command. Upon activation of this command, the dudes will stop everything that which he is doing currently, and immediately start to taunt the god at the place where he is now.

When indirectly moving (by the simplest and fastest path), Dudes will not try to avoid enemy mines, turrets or other defenses while moving to where the player specified, nor will he use any advanced movement techniques (“intelligent” jumping [that is, Dudes can hop up staircase-type structures, but probably won’t jump over pits very effectively]). Climbing up castle walls is not considered an advanced movement technique; thus Dudes can be directed to climb up, down and around the player’s own castles.

Direct Dude Control

Most actions may be remapped by the player to arbitrary keys. The following descriptions are for default keys.

Once the player has taken direct control of a Dude (in the Build phase), or has been given control of a Dude (in Combat phase), the player controls the Dude using a combination of the mouse and keyboard. The arrow keys move Dudes (who are walking on what the

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player sees as the floor) left or right (but since Dudes can walk on walls and ceilings, this actually means that left moves the Dude clockwise and right moves the Dude counter-clockwise, relative to the player). The up and down keys cause the Dude (if he is walking on what the player sees as the floor) to climb up and down castle tiles (also Dude relative, so a Dude walking on what the player sees as the ceiling would push the up-key to climb downward [relative to the player]).

Currently, the space bar causes the Dude to jump in a uniform parabolic arc in the direction he is currently facing. If the Dude is walking on what currently constitutes the ceiling, this will cause him to fall onto what currently constitutes the floor. The jump key may be remapped so that it is more convenient.

A right-click anywhere on the screen causes an icon menu to appear near the bottom of the screen that displays all available weapons. A subsequent left-click on one of the weapons is required before the Dude can continue moving; said left-click will cause the Dude to whip out the specified weapon.

Moving the mouse along the z-axis (relative to the [physical] position of the player) will cause the aiming cursor of the specified weapon (which is always nearby the current Dude in Combat Mode) to orbit about said Dude 180°. Additionally, two keys, such as the up and down keys, can be mapped to move the angle of fire up and down as well.

Weapons that do not use the Power meter are activated with a press of the enter Enter Key (for example, in the mine’s case, the Dude would drop the mine where he is standing). Weapons that do use the Power meter currently require the player to move a power slider located at the bottom of the screen. This can be remapped to the Enter key and/or the left mouse button. Holding down the key/button will cause a power bar to charge up, and releasing when it has reached the level the player desires will fire it.. The weapon is fired at the specified power in the specified direction (as defined by the aiming cursor).

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Geode Art Project Rundown

LegendPriority LevelsPriority A: Must be completed by the end of week 9.Priority B: Must be completed by end of week 11.Priority C: Must be completed by end of week 13.

This is the bare minimum of what we require for the first semester rev of Geode. See the “Geode Art Battle-Plan” for other details.

“chunk”: Means that although an object is composed of 32x32 tiles, the object may be composed of an arbitrary number of 32x32 tiles; moreover, these sets of tiles need only to seam together with one another in one order (in other words, the tiles need to “stitch together” to form one single object in a single way, and that’s all). That is, any (reasonably) sized object may be constructed, and simply divided into however many 32x32 tiles it takes to encompass said object.

x followed by some number refers to either the number of different types of a given tile we require (as with the Block Ground Tiles, [wherein each one must have several angles, allowing for curvature in the landscape]), or the approximate number of frames an animation will require. This is only a guideline; use as many frames as it takes to look good at 30 frames per second. Assume we require only 1 tile if not otherwise specified.

Graphic Type Tile size Priority Notes BackgroundBlock Ground Tiles x11 32x32 A “Underground” graphic; a

solid block of desert, soil, ice, moonrock, mountain, etc. Each tile must seam with itself and every other ground tile for a given level on all four sides. There needs to be eleven versions of each single tile (drawn at different angles) to achieve some degree of curvature to the levels.

Ground Surface Tiles 8x8 A Graphic of grass blades, icicles, lunar dust, ears of corn, etc.

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Resourcite Crystal 8x8 A Small resourcite crystals that will be placed on the landscape’s surface.

Chonks of Resourcite 32x32 A Will be placed on landscape surface. A large chonk of resourcite.

Background Sky/Horizon 512x256 B The distant background. A grass level might have a sunset sky, whereas a junkyard level might have a faraway garbage-landscape stretching to the horizon.Each background tile must seam with itself and all other background tiles for a given level on all four sides.

Parallel Background 32x32 chunk C The same sort of thing as the Background Sky/Horizon graphics, only these will appear to be near the game camera, instead of far away,and these objects need nottile with one another.

CastlesAll Castle tiles must seam with all other Castle tiles on all logical sides (i.e. Walls must tile with every other Castle tile on all four sides, but Caps need tile only with Walls and Shelfs on the bottom side). Each tile requires a pristine tile, three levels of increasing damage (lightly damaged, moderately damaged, and about-to-fall-apart heavy damage), and a rubble/destroyed tile. Each Turret (Arrow, Cannon, and Oil) requires a sequence of animation for each of the four “functioning” states. Every Castle tile requires a 20 frame “disintegrating cuz it just got blown up” animation that smoothly transitions from the heavy-damage tile to the rubble/destroyed tile (therefore Turrets require a total of 100 frames: 20 frames of firing animation for four different damage conditions plus another 20 frames of “being destroyed” animation equals 100 frames).

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Foundation Block w/Door x5 32x32 A Where Dudes are spawnedWall x21 32x32 A Basic block of castle. Need

to seam with all other tiles in a casual line kind of way; therefore 21 tiles are needed.

Cap x5 32x32 A The top or “hat” of a player built stack of castle tiles; meant to be the pinnacle of a tower-like structure.

Arrow Turret x120 32x32, 32x32 A The first 32x32 tile is one of Rocket Turret x120 32x32, 32x32 A three kinds of defensiveForce Sphere Turret x120 32x32, 32x32 A weapon structures that are

attached to other castle tiles. The first must have arrow-like qualities, the second must have cannon-like qualities, and the third should have a plasma ball look. This tile will have about 100frames of animation (seeabove for details). The second 32x32 tile will bethe “instantiation” of the weapon; the bullet that it shoots, be it a ballistae-like arrow, burning goop, or a live cow. This second tile will have about 20 frames of animation.

Shelf x5 32x32, 32x32 A A supporting “buttress” sort of object that is useful for

placing more castle tiles on

top of it.

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Weapons These are: 1) the 32x32 icons Slingshot x17 32x32, 16x16 A that comprise the weapons Catapult Glob Launcher x17 32x32, 16x16 A menu from which the playerMine x17 32x32, 16x16 A visually selects a weapon.

These require only 1 tile.2) For each weapon, two 16x16 tiles represent the “instantiation” of a weapon (i.e. for the glob launcher we need a 16x16glob tile and a 16x16 “glob launcher” for the Dude to wield and manipulate; for the slingshot we need a 16x16 sling bullet tile and a 16x16 weapon tile for the Dude to wield and manipulate.). The “bullet” tile would require 5 frames of “exploding on contact” animation, and the weapon itself would require as many frames of animation as the Dude who manipulates it; this will be tricky to synch up. Sorry about that! The number of frames is about x12 for each weapon.

Dude Animations 32x32 Dudes are all 32x32 tiles, Running x5 A although their actual size will Jumping x6 A be a few pixels smaller than Using each weapon x36 A this. 3 weapons times 12 Building/repairing parts ofcastles x15A frames of animation per Dusting himself off after a fall x30 A weapon equals 36 frames for Getting zapped x30 A “using each weapon”. Tumbling down a hill x30 A Dying (and lying dead) x30 A Spawning (walking out of door) x10 A Picking up resourcite x30 A Taunting the Gods x60 B 2 Different 30 frame Climbing up and down A animations for “taunting”

parts of castles x10 Getting ready to fight x30 B Getting ready for building x30 B “Idling” character animations x5 C

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God Animations 64x64 All Gods are 64x64 tiles. Distributing resourcite x15 A Zapping dudesx5 A Grumbling x45 B Chucking resourcite Bvengefully at a belligerent Dude x60 Changing gravity x60 B ”Idling” character animations x10 C

ForegroundExplosions x30 32x32 B Kaboom!!! Smoke x15 32x32 B Often accompanies the aboveLightning x3 32x32 B Cheesy lightning boltIcon Background 32x32 C The nondescript background

icon that is behind every menu icon the player can choose from in the pre-game and post-game menus.

Mouse Cursor 16x16 A The cursor the player usesthroughout the game; be creative & keep with the game motif, but make sure it’s blatantly obvious where the “hot spot” of the cursor is.

OtherGame Logo Arbitrary B Like, the game logo for the

title screen.Team Logo Arbitrary B Like, our team logo.Menu Text Graphics (font) Arbitrary C The text for things like Game

Options, High Scores, etc.

Geode < 29 >

Geode Audio Plan

Music

This enumerates the tracks that will need to be completed for the basic design.

Section of Game Song Will Be Heard Approximate Length Title Screen 0:30Pre-Game Menus 2:00Post-Game Menus 1:00Build Phase 3:00Danger Zone Build Phase 0:30Combat Phase 3:00Gods Are Doing Stuff 0:30

Sound Effects

This enumerates the sound effects the game will require for the basic design.

Sound Name Number of Samples Select Option 1Title Screen Intro 1Explosion 2Crumbling of Castle Tile 2Firing, for each weapon Number of weapons, currently 3Jumping Dude 1Dude Getting Hurt 2Dude Dying 2Dude Getting Spawned 2Dude About to Fire Weapon 2Dude Acknowledging Indirect Command 2Dude Taunting Gods 2Dude Getting Ready to Fight 2Dude Celebrating Victory 2Dude Bitching About Defeat 2God Grumbling 2Gravity Changing 1Resourcite Hitting Ground 1Picking Up Resourcite 1Lightning Bolt Zap 1

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Reference Table of Numbers (initial values that will be tweaked as the project develops)

object Hp CostDude 50 75Blocks- Foundation 300 300 Body 200 100 Turret- Arrow 100 150 Force Sphere 100 100 Rocket Launcher 150 300 Cap 150 200 Shelf 150 100

Resourcite per Crystal 20Resourcite per Divine Loogey 100Dudes Supported by a Cap 3Starting Dudes 4

Damage damage splash? Range (screen%)Slingshot 20 n 50%Mine 60 y (stationary)Glob Launcher 100 y 100%Arrow Turret 30 n 55%Force Sphere 0 y 50%Rocket Launcher 110 y 95%Resourcite Shot at 100 y --Resourcite Decayed 80 y --

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Team Signoff and Contact Information

We, the undersigned, wish to state our full confidence in the game and our willingness to fulfill our positions under its development cycle. By signing this we agree that the GDD will be the last word regarding all design issues unless all team members agree upon a change unanimously.

Signature: Contact Information:Adrian Bentley, Technical Director. 425-497-1979

(abentley@digipen.edu)

Mike Gonzales, Product Manager and Co-designer 425-867-2153(mgonzale@digipen.edu)

Rob Quattlebaum, Art Director 425-881-8838(rquattle@digipen.edu)

Nathan Frost, Producer 425-867-2153(nfrost@digipen.edu)

L. John Corpening, Designer 425-EXTARO1(jcorpeni@digipen.edu)

Artist Contact Information: