Game Design Document
This document was created at the beginning of the project to outline the game concept, design, and development plan. It served as an early reference board and idea collection for the project. This entails that there might be inaccuracies in the document, as the project progressed and the game design evolved.
Concept
Working title
Cold Case
Concept Statement
A 2.5D adventure game in which two players have to solve a mystery together by solving various puzzles. An investigator and a ghost cooperate with their different abilities across their different worlds.
Genre
puzzle, isometric 2D, Adventure → Adventure Coop Puzzle Game
Product Design
Player Experience and Game POV
2 Players: 1 “living”, and 1 “ghost”
end of 20th century detective in an overgrown ruin / ghost world mirroring the real word to an extent
mystery solving
engagement through curiosity and social interaction
Visual and Audio Style
3D block Visuals:
 |
|---|
first design proposal |
old ruins/overgrown ruins and ghost realm
calming music
Inspiration
Gameplay:
We were here and following titles of the same series
Game World Fiction
Detective solving Puzzles together with a/his ghost in a different realm
the Detective (living) Player wants to solve a Murder Mystery by exploring the ruin in which the murder happened
in the end it is revealed that the ghost is the dead detective, who dies in the end and travels back in time to help his living self out -> both players can switch places and replay
Platform(s), Technologie, and Scope
libGdx
Deno
2D isometric gameworld
Multiplayer over a gameserver (WebSockets for Communication)
MVP in 1 Months
Release in Jan.2025
Major Risk
achieving a multiplayer connection through a server
Interactions in the game world without a overarching game engine like Unity
Game System Design
Core Loops
→ Players solve puzzles in their own world, but also ones spanning between both game worlds, requiring teamwork and tight communication between both players
Each level is split into two worlds, one for both players. In itself each player can individually solve parts of the puzzle in his world, but to reach the goal there has to be a need for communication and correct interaction with parts of the game world concerning both players. This in turn means, that both players need to have meaningful interactions and communication to be able to reach their individual goal.
If both player reach their goals the next level starts.
Objectives and Progression
each game level consists of a starting location, a puzzle and an end/finish location
the puzzle hinders the player/s to get to the end
both players have to get to the end of the level to progress to the next
Short-Term
manage to get to the next room
Long-Term
get to the last room completing the game and having the chance to replay as the other role (living/ghost)
Game Systems
Core
Solid Player Movement based on an isometric Grid System
Player Inventory
Portals to transfer Items between the gameworlds of both players
2 States an Object can have:
normal - the object is only in the world it appears in
transcended - the object exsits and acts in both worlds the same
Asynchronous (Multiplayer) Gameplay
Level Specific
(living/ghostly)
mvp:
gloves to push blocks and to toggle levers
spikes that block the path of the player and get toggled by a lever
later:
miasma/fog unpassable for the player + torch to detect or remove miasma/fog
Interactivity
wasd grid based movement
e to interact/pickup/drop items