Week Two: Design Document for One-Button Game (Light is Precious)
In “Light is Precious”, the player must navigate a dark, unlit world by jumping towards light sources and collecting them.
A series of instructions will guide the player; the player can only use the space bar to navigate. Tapping the space bar will move the player forward one space. Holding the space bar will show a scale on the top of the screen, and an arrow will move back and forth across the scale; the player releases the space bar at a certain point to calculate a certain height and distance(higher on the scale = higher/farther jump).
There aren’t different game modes, and the player cannot die; however, they can be obstructed by unseen obstacles (if their light runs out), and must calculate the height of jump to jump over them and towards the light.
There are different light sources: torches (which burn brightly but fizzle out quickly, forcing the player to find new light sources before they are thrown into darkness) and fireflies, which move across the screen and the player has to catch (they aren’t as bright and move around, but are constant). The player can only hold five fireflies at a time, and when they collect all five they reach the final stage in the game (victory conditions). After receiving instructions, the player will throw fireflies into the night sky to make stars and illuminate the landscape.
In terms of feedback, I want the positive feedback to be light, echoing bouncing sounds when the player jumps, and melodic chimes whenever the player collects a light source (fireflies are higher notes and torches are lower ones). When the player runs into something in the dark, I want there to be a low, discordant “wump”.
I do not know much about data or algorithms, but I need to figure out how to make the fireflies float across the screen in different directions and speeds. I also need to figure out how to throw at different heights and distances for the final stage of the game.
Here are some mock-ups of the instructions and initial screens:
In addition, here is my rough jump prototype on Unreal engine:
