Closing Material
Interface
The game will consist of two main views, the map view and the battle view. During the interface portion of this document, each section will have two subsections, one for each of the two views.
Visual System
Map View
In the map view, players will be responsible for making moves, which will determine which arena a fight will occur in and which characters fight. The map view will contain a map of Greece, laid out as a billboard beneath a static camera. It will be divided into city states, and those city states will be color coded to match the deity which owns that city state. For example, Poseidon's territories will naturally be blue, like the oceans he rules. A selection is made and the Perk menu is entered. Once Perks are chosen, combat begins in the Battle View.
Battle View
In the battle view, the players will fight one another for control of that territory. The players will start with the attacking character on the left hand side and the defending player on the right hand side. They will stand some distance apart to begin and will respond to the player inputs with attacks, as specified below. There will be an announcement that the fight is about to begin, followed by an announcement that the players should commence fighting.
HUD
Map View
The Map View HUD will be fairly simple. It will show an portrait icon of each main deity on the top of the screen, with the number of currently held territories written in that deity’s color just below that deity’s portrait. Below that will be the amount of resources that deity can use to purchase perks. There will be instructions notifying the player to pick a territory to attack at the bottom center of the screen. Just above these instructions will be the name of the currently highlighted city state. Upon doing so, this HUD will also be visible while the player picks perks that he would like to use in the upcoming battle.
Battle View
The Battle View will have a minimalistic HUD. There will be a health bar at the top of the screen for each character, containing the name of that character. It may also have a time limit centered in the top portion of the screen. Icons representing perks acquired by each character will be in the bottom corner of the screen on the side that fits with that character.
Menus
Game Menu
This menu will include the a control for the number of players and will allow each player to select a starting deity. The number of players displayed will be directly mapped to the number of players chosen, so if two players are chosen, then two deity pickers will be displayed. There will be a Start Game button as well, which can be highlighted and selected.
Settings Menu
This menu will have a slider control that is selected and adjusted to change the music and sound volume. It will also have a checkbox for each of sound and music to enable these features. There will also be a checkbox to toggle between fullscreen and windowed play modes. Finally, there will be a highlightable button at the bottom which will allow the player to confirm the choices he has made and return to the previous menu.
Map View
The Map View could be seen as a kind of menu in and of itself, but it has already been described in full. It can be paused, displaying a simple Pause Menu with buttons that allow the player to save the game, exit the game, change settings, or continue playing the game. Upon choosing a territory to attack, each player will have a chance to purchase perks from a text menu, which may show an icon representing each perk as well as its name and it’s resource cost.
Battle View
The Battle View will have a Pause Menu, which will list the the same two options as the map view pause screen. In addition, it will have a Moves List options, which will list the moves available to the character that paused the game. Each move will have a button combination spelled out graphically (icons representing each button), the name of the move, and the type of that move. Currently, two move types are planned, melee, and ranged. There will be a scrollbar type of control which will show the player how deep into the menu he has gone.
Rendering System
Map View
The Map View will contain a billboarded graphic of the map of Greece, and similar billboarding techniques will be used to render each of the icons for each deity as well as the text messages. Coloring for each city state in Greece to show the owning deity will be accomplished by rendering a colored version of the city state’s graphic billboarded on top of it, or potentially some trick of shaders. Shaders may be used to cause the highlighted city state to flash dimly and non-obtrusively.
Battle View
The environment for each battle will be built using Unity 3D’s terrain creation brushes, and potentially might use a height map to assist with building more complex environments. Backgrounds and skyboxes generated by TerraGen Classic will be used to render the sky and possibly other terrain details, and care will need to be taken to ensure that the appropriate camera angles and graphic settings are used on this effect to prevent obvious seams. The characters will be 3D models that we intend to create, although it is possible that some free assets from the Unity Asset Store might be used as a base for these models. HUD details will be made up of billboarded primitives, graphics and text.
Camera
Map View
The Map View Camera will face downwards onto the map of Greece, and may have some basic functionality to zoom in and out and translate about the map, although this system is still being worked out.
Battle View
The Battle View Camera will start a battle a fixed distance from combatants, but will need to translate as the characters move. It will display them as if the game were a 2D fighter, for all intents and purposes, even though it is a 3D game in reality. It may also be translated away from the characters as they jump or move apart, so that both characters can be seen, while not prohibiting free movement.
Lighting Models
Map View
The Map View will utilize a single directional light located above the billboarded map. It should provide uniform light, ample enough to see the map clearly. There may also be shaders or lights used to help further illuminate highlighted city states on the map as the players choose a territory to attack.
Battle View
The Battle View will use lighting specific to the environment. Outdoor environments will almost certainly utilize at least one directional light, placed and parameterized to simulate sunlight or moonlight. Indoor environments will likely use area lighting such as torches or lamps to illuminate the battlefield, although directional lighting may be used if sunlight or moonlight are visible through windows or other openings in the environment.
Control System
All controls are discussed based on an XBox 360 control pad, for which this game is developed. Where menus are described, see the “Menus” section for more details.
Basic Menu Controls
- Slider controls will be selected using the A button. Then the directional buttons or left analog joystick will be used to move the slider left or right. A will confirm this choice while B will cancel it.
- Checkboxes will be toggled by pressing A.
- Buttons will be selected by pressing A.
- Unless otherwise noted, B cancels all choices and returns to the previous screen or menu.
Map View
The directional buttons or the left analog joystick will be used to move a highlighting control between city states. A will select the city state that has been highlighted, while B will allow the player a dialog which offers the choice to attack no territory this turn. A will confirm this choice while B will cancel it. In the perk selection menu, the A button will select a perk, the B button will Cancel and return to the previous menu, and the Start button will allow the other player to make the same choices or start the battle if no players remain to pick perks. The directional buttons or left analog joystick will allow a player to move between perk choices.
Battle View
The directional buttons or the left analog joystick will allow the player to move left or right. Other controls are shown in the below table. Note that all values are subject to change during testing...
| A | Jump |
| B | Punch or High Attack |
| X | Kick or Low Attack |
| Y | Special Attack, specific to character, but basic in nature |
| Start | Pause menu |
| Right Trigger | Hold to block, Tap to counter |
| Left Trigger | Throw enemy, grapple |
Special moves such as throwing lightning bolts are accessed by using some combination of movement keys quickly tapped and attack buttons. These have not been decided on yet, and will need to be uncovered in game.
Audio
Audio
There will be main menu, level select,battle,sound effects, and loser music in the game to give the game depth
Music
Music will be done with a lute and other greek instruments.
Sound Effects
The sound effects will be grunts,sword clangs,steps,swish,hit,ko, and special abilities sounds.