Latest update: Concept art and early 3D models

Hello and welcome to the work in progress blog post for The Pixel Issue’s multi player vs player point and click adventure game in Unity 3D! Throughout this article, which I will be updating as development unfolds, I will detail the steps involved in bringing my concept from paper to publishing – everything from a logo animation, to character designs, 3D modelling, social network integration and monetization!

So, let’s go through the game concept and the style that we are going for!

The music

Let’s start with the music for the game – you can listen to this while reading the rest of the blog!

After contacting several artists, I felt that Francesco D’Andrea’s style worked best. Here is a quirky, jazzy and energetic playlist from his website..

Project summary

Hide and Seek Mansion (working title) will have two modes of play – real time or turn based. The gameplay will be a mix of point and click adventure games, with elements of hidden object games and hide and seek for two or more players.

The game is inspired by Day of the Tentacle, Spy vs Spy and Haunting Starring Polterguy, and I plan to combine these genres, to bring a new kind of point and click adventure game to the social game space, by creating a fun and addictive game for all ages, playable over 3G, wifi or online.

EDIT: I’m going to add Disney’s Guilty Party to the list of influences, as the style of graphics in the mansion rooms below is exactly what I’m thinking! (skip to 2:36)

I’m working with experienced game designers, artists and composers to create a game that we hope will reach the top featured games lists across all digital platforms!

Design Goals
• To be developed in Unity 3D
• Fun and funny, suitable for all ages
• Cartoon violence and booby traps
• Exciting player vs player gameplay
• 3D characters with Toon/Cell Shading
• ‘Pixeley goodness’ retro mode!
• Adlib Midi music reminicent of the days of DOS! (retro mode)
• Plan for sequels

The Setting

The first game will be set in a mansion, with several different household rooms; living room, kitchen, basement, attic, surrounding garden area, including a maze, statues, pond, etc. Each room will have a number of places that the players can interact with such as cupboards, lockers, behind the coat rack, under the bed, a knight of armor, in a bush, up a tree, yada yada..!

1-4 players will choose to be on the hider or seeker team, the hiders can hide in particular areas, and their goal is to eliminate the seekers with traps, while the seeker can set countertraps and alarms to help them find the hider.

Both sides will be able to explore the environment in a point-and-click adventure game style, pick up items, combine some of them and set traps around the environment against the opposing players. The players will also be able to carry a limited number of inventory items that will disarm certain traps that have been set by the opponent.

This is where the turn based/real time gameplay comes in. Turn based gameplay, on iOS/Android for example, would have each team/player use a limited number of action points before play switches over to the other side. In real-time gameplay is a race to eliminate or catch the opposite team players!

Findable objects will be spawned in locations randomly so that all players start at the same level, regardless of experience. Some objects will need to be unlocked by a series of actions or by finding secret areas, whereas other objects will be able to lock doors and hiding places! This is the puzzle/adventure game element of the gameplay.

Here is a prototype, designed by Raymond Wilson of Byte Foundry:

Sequels and addons will be in different themed environments, such as a pirate ship, Halloween haunted house, ancient tomb or a Christmas themed Santa’s grotto!

Customiseable Playable Characters

Players will be able to choose from a variety of customiseable options, from hair colour, style, glasses, facial hair and clothing, to create their own avatar that they can play in-game against their friends!

I was looking for trendy but geeky characters – as the player will be able to customize the character appearance, I imagine typical casual wear of jeans and t-shirts, with options to have skateboarder/rocker/nerd type attire – the characters from Scooby Doo or the Day of the Tentacle seem like adaptable caricatures of young people. For concept art stages, Fernando Picun did various male/female characters – one skateboarder guy, one nerd guy, one rock chick, one nerd girl, and some variations.

Fernando is currently working on:
● character sheets (full color) with the characters facing front, side (either right or left), back and 3/4, plus an extra “pose” referring to the character’s personality.
● 1 body expression sheet (full color – number of expressions may vary but would be between 4 to 6 full body poses)
● 1 facial expression sheet (full color – number of expressions may vary but would be between 4 to 6 facial expressions – only head)
● 1 clothing sheet (full color) showcasing the full body character with 3 clothing variations

Also, I’m going to approach games companies to request playable versions of their trademark game characters, so players can purchase Premium Playable Characters and play against their friends!

Platforms

Primarily Facebook, iOS, Android. Possible Windows, Mac, Linux, PSN & XBLA – it all depends on popularity and budget!

Business Development Goal

To create a company with infrastructure consisting of graphic artists, server developers, unity 3D programmers, user acquisition specialists, QA and localization teams, to develop sequels and addons, and maintain the community without the need for a publishing partner.

It is impossible to be serious about making games and making an impression without the right artists, programmers, and music composers, plus we need to localize the game into other languages so everyone can join in the fun! We hope to raise a decent budget to really make an impression on the market.

Advertising

Several promotion methods: Google Adwords targeted directly to games, banner ads on multiplayer and similar online sites, multiplayer gaming forums, press releases, newsletter announcements, gaming websites such as as www.develop-online.net, www.nowgamer.com, www.gamesindustry.biz, www.gamespress.com, www.gamershell.com, www.toucharcade.com, www.indiegamemag.com and more, article writing, community forums, blogs and entering the Independent Games Festival.

Target audience

We aim to target casual gamers, players that enjoy playing online multiplayer games, and look for games where they can challenge their friends. Target demographic is males and females, aged 10+.

Social Intergration and Monetization

Free2play is the most recent emerging trend in mass-market gaming. It’s popular because users do not have to add any account details to register (which most people are instantly reluctant to do), they can simply sign up with an email address or Facebook account, then the micropayments come later, once the players are hooked on the game. Free2play is a user acquisition and retention model; get millions of players playing for free, incentivise micropayments and ultimately increase the number of premium players.

My initial plan for monetization is:

- hiding players can purchase additional traps.
- hiding players can purchase additional turns to hide, even if they are found.
- Seeking players can purchase additional turns to search for the hiders.
- seeking players can increase ‘perception’ points by having a ‘getting warmer/colder’ system.
- seeking players can purchase disarms.
- all players can pay for premium playable characters

Rewards and incentives:
Earn disarms/traps for winning games or inviting players
Earn perception points for winning games or inviting players
Global leaderboards
Friend leaderboards

Free access to new themed levels such as a haunted house, botanical garden, museum or pirate ship.

Crowdfunding

Once we have a working prototype, we will launch a crowdfunding campaign on www.kickstarter.com, www.indiegogo.com or the new games specific www.gambitious.com.

Every contribution will have increasingly awesome perks, from desktop backgrounds and the official soundtrack available for download, to sponsored assets in-game and characters modelled on premium supporters. Also, a framed 5″ x 3″ giclee print screenshot of the game:

Help spread the word by liking on facebook, stumbleupon and twitter, or please make a donation on Paypal – all sponsors will receive beta keys when the game is ready for launch.