Game Vision Statement

Introduction 

Heart of the Wild is a third-person exploration and adventure game for the PC that uses Unity engine to plunge players into a world where they experience life in the perspectives of different animals.

Inspiration Image, Lost Ember - Mooneye Studios

Gameplay

You begin your journey in a dense forest. The fox will be your first animal. You will be given the opportunity to roam and explore your surroundings, crossing paths with various animals some intimidated or indifferent to your presence while others will display hostile reactions.

Eventually, you will be faced with an obstacle generated either by the environment, other animals or a mixture of both. You will need to use your animal’s abilities to overcome obstacles. As a fox, alongside your cunning, you will have the ability to pounce (jump) on an unsuspecting prey or to evade unstable terrain. You will be able to use your claws to inflict damage and lock down smaller creatures. Your bite will be your killing blow, although this may vary depending if you have unknowingly disturbed a creature high up in the food chain.

 Because survival plays an integral part in the wild you will need to be wary of your HP bar. Death is an inevitable part in the circle of life, however you will granted the chance to respawn near a totem pole.

 Here is how it works:

After you complete an obstacle, you will be given the heart of a creature of the wild. Don’t worry, you will not be given a bloody piece of flesh. The heart is the essence or spirit of the animal which manifests itself as a glowing heart-shaped stone. The heart will be the key to unlocking your next animal. Once you have it, you’ll need to look for a totem pole nearby. The totem pole will be distinctly carved and decorated  as the next playable animal. By placing the heart next to the totem pole it will activate it, making the next animal available. Activating the totem pole will also give you the chance to respawn at a closer location upon death.

The idea is that you get to experience the interesting perspectives of different animals in your journey – Terrestrial (land), Aquatic (water), Avian ( flying animal)

The fox is the first animal the player has access to. Here’s a list of other potential playable animals that cover the three animal types:

·         Terrestrial (land): Fox, Rabbit, Mole, Wolf, Moose, Doe, Cougar

·         Aquatic (water):  Seal, Salmon, Horse-fish, Sting-Ray, Freshwater Fish

·         Avian (flying animal): Swallow, Parrot, Dragonfly, Butterfly, Flying Squirrel

Genre

Exploration, Adventure,  Casual, Puzzle, Simulation,  Survival

 

Resources

Resources that will aid in the development of the game are listed below in their respective categories. It is likely that this post will be updated with additional resources and ideas.

Audio

Audio will play a vital role alongside the visuals of the game to create an immersive atmospheric experience for the player. In order to fulfill this goal it is necessary to look into four different kinds of audio for this particular game.

The first one being audio that imitates the animal sounds of playable animals. This includes the various sounds produced that imitate the animal’s posture when the player performs certain actions such as when attacking another animal, the fox would create aggressive noises such as a growl or snarl. This also includes vocalizations and sounds produced by animal NPCs.

The second type of audio is sounds produced when the playable animal interacts with the environment, such as when running over water, you’ll be able to hear  the splash sounds created by that action. This would also include sounds produced by the environment itself, such as the rushing currents of a river, falling rocks, wind blowing etc.

The third type of audio has to do in response to  the player’s actions which indicates the current game state. By this I mean things like when the player receives the heart and unlocks the totem, they would hear a mysterious yet powerful sound indicating they’ve unlocked something. This will place emphasis on the importance of performing certain tasks and generate and sense of achievement within the player.

Finally the last and probably most exciting piece of audio is music. Background music is vital in creating a picturesque and atmospheric game which can appeal to the player’s  senses and emotion. Music along the lines of the indie game Journey can help create the ambience described.

Visual

Visuals are paramount in a game such as this and usually being detail-oriented would be of benefit. However, in order to keep within the timeframe  it would be wiser to take a few steps back and consider what is available to us. Free – to – use existing game assets provided by Unity tutorials and other  such as the animal assets in Unit 2 would be of great help. In addition, there will be certain game assets that will need to be created from scratch such as the ‘heart’ or totem poles in which case the following tutorials will be useful.