Game   Gameplay and Mechanics   Story, Settings and Character  Closing Material  Artificial intellegence and more  Secondary Software 

Gameplay and Mechanics

Gameplay

Game Progression

To progress in the game, players must take control of city-states. The map view reflects the progression of each player. Holding no city-states means a loss for the player and controlling all the city-states wins the game.

Mission/challenge Structure

The challenge of this game is to take control of city-states by fighting opposing gods.

Puzzle Structure

There are no puzzles in the game, but strategy comes from attacking and defending city-states in the map view.

Objectives – What are the objectives of the game?

The objective of the game overall is to take control of all the city-states. During the battle, the objective is to get the opposing player’s health all the way down.

Play Flow – How does the game flow for the game player

The player starts out choosing a main god (Zeus, Hades, or Poseidon) and then choosing starting city-states. After all the city-states have been chosen, each player picking one city at a time, player one selects a city-state to attack. At this point the player has several gods they can choose to attack with, proportional to the number of city-states owned, and chooses one while the opponent chooses who to defend with.

In the battle screen, the players face each other and have a limited range of movements. Each player has basic actions: punch, kick, jump, and block as well as special attacks that can be performed through specific key combinations. Winning the battle takes the players back to the map screen where, if the attacking player won, they now have control of the city-state.

Mechanics

Physics – How does the physical universe work?

Physics will be fairly normal. Gravity will remain unchanged to better simulate real world action, colliders will prevent passing through physical objects, and attacks will result in a knockback effect.

Movement

General Movement

The player’s movements are limited to left, right, up, and down and the camera frames the two battling players through zoom control. Jumping will be exaggerated in the game to enhance gameplay.

Other Movement

Within the map view, movement is limited to neighboring city-states. Players will be able to move once per turn and only after winning in the battle will they be able to take over a city. The camera is stationary and looking from a top-down perspective.

Objects

There are few objects within the game outside of level props. These props include three variants of columns, vases, fountains, and temple structures none of which players can interact with. Beyond level props, players will have at least one weapon to fight with.

Picking Up Objects

There will be no need to pick up objects in the game. Player weapons start with the player.

Moving Objects

All objects, apart from the player’s weapons and player themselves, will be static.

Actions

Switches and Buttons

The map view will contain a few HUD buttons to allow users to choose a god to fight with.

Picking Up, Carrying and Dropping

Not applicable to GodsWar.

Talking

There will be no dialog within the game; all instructions will be given in text form. At the moment, cut scenes will be text as well.

Reading

Instructions and dialog will be in text form.

Combat – If there is combat or even conflict, how is this specifically modeled?

GodsWar revolves around combat and will likely take most of our time developing. Combat will be in the battle view and only when a player character is involved. There will be two types of combat, melee and ranged. Melee combat involves punches, kicks, and blocks between players. Ranged combat comes in the form of special attacks like lightning and fireballs. Ranged projectiles will involve instancing objects and may be handled with an object pool.

Each attack will have a specific damage it inflicts and will be balanced between characters to ensure fair gameplay. In the case of playing the game in single player, combat between two AI will be skipped and the winner randomized.

Economy – What is the economy of the game? How does it work?

There will be an economy in the game that allows players to spend points on perks for upcoming battles. Players will be rewarded points for performing difficult attacks, winning battles, and controlling city-states. The perks are bought on the player’s turn in the map view and can be redeemed for increased stats before entering the battle view. Perks that can be bought include increased health/speed/jumping/attack/defense and weapons.

Screen Flow

Screen Flow Chart – A graphical description of how each screen is related to every other

Screen Descriptions – What is the purpose of each screen?

Main Menu Screen

The main menu is the opening screen and holds the game logo and links to the instructions and Game Options screen.

Game Options Screen

The Game Options screen allows the player to set up the game. It will include the number of players and allow players to choose their starting god.

Map View Screen

The Map View shows the overview of Greece. It allows players to attack neighboring cities and select perks and gods to attack with. An integrated tab on the map view allows the purchase of Perks.

Battle View Screen

The Battle View is the main gameplay screen and allows players to fight each other.

Pause Screen

Entering the Pause screen will pause the game and give players access to the instruction screen, attack combo screen, settings screen, and a save button to save the game.

Attack Combos Screen

The Attack Combos screen shows a list of all attacks available for the players and the key combinations to perform them. These combinations are not shown to the player until the attack has been performed once in battle.

Instructions Screen

The Instructions screen displays game objectives and key mappings.

Settings Screen

The Settings screen gives players the ability to adjust volume, enable music, and toggle full screen.

Game Options – What are the options and how do they affect game play and mechanics?

The game settings will do little to affect the gameplay. The exception to this is the full screen toggle which will increase the player’s experience.

Replaying and Saving

An option to save the game is currently planned. Saving will save the players’ city-states, points, and perks. After winning the game, a rematch option will be available to the user.

Cheats and Easter Eggs

The Easter eggs in GodsWar come in the form of attack combos. Performing specific key combinations will result in special attacks and will reward the player with points for purchase of perks. Although there is a list of attack key combinations, they are not made available to the players until that attack has been performed.