Planet, Creature and Machine Moodboard

MACHINE MOODBOARD

CREATURE MOODBOARD

PLANET MOODBOARD

CAMERA POV/GAMEPLAY

I like the animation style of Journey and its Art: the characters are simplified but the environments are rich and full of detail. I like the focus of the world rather than the character.

SIZE COMPARISON

In Shadow of the Colossus, the size between the Colossus and the protagonist are similar to the Sizes for Nova and Nox. I also think Nox's movement would be slow but steady.

ONE PAGE PITCH

Title of the Game:

Novas Vos
CONCEPT
Story Summary:

Earth has become overpopulated and mankind seek out a new planet to inhabit: Genesis, but it's inhabited with wildlife. Scientists and Engineers are sent to Genesis to create a Machine that will wipe out half of the wildlife on the planet: Nox. Nox malfunctions and kills all life form on the planet except for one creature.

Mankind create a robot to be sent to Genesis to seek out life, but it fails. Mankind continues to create more upgraded models, but to no success.

The player controls the first model equipped with artificial intelligence: Nova. Nova has to explore the planet and find the last creature left on Genesis and protect it. On Genesis, are the 3 temples the scientists created to make Nox, Nova travels to each one to solve their puzzles and destroy Nox. Nova then decides to stay on the planet and restore life.

Logline

A robot lands on a planet to find life, but discovers hidden secrets.

Justification

Novas Vos is more about the mood/atmosphere the player experiences while playing it. The sense of mystery keeps the player moving forward. Novas Vos has a strong message behind it and the focus of gameplay makes it interesting to play.

GAME PILLARS

Aesthetics:

The Art style of Novas Vos is similar to “Journey”, it has quite an abstract side to it; the characters are simplified with minimum detail, making them more recognizable while the environment has more detail and depth.

The animation style is fluid

Genre (Story):

Sci Fi, Fantasy

Genre (Game):

Adventure, Art game

Justification:

Novas Vos is more about the mood/atmosphere the player experiences while playing it. The sense of mystery keeps the player moving forward. Novas Vos has a strong message behind it and the focus of gameplay makes it interesting to play.

Gameplay style:

3^rd person exploration and puzzle solving.

Justification:

The 3^rd person view would be slightly further away from the character as the player can take in the environment/planet more and would be easier for the puzzle solving aspect of the game, as the environment plays a big part of the story.

Platform:

PS4

Justification:

Novas Vos would be for Playstation 4, as I think the Playstation platforms have been more experimental with their games; Journey, Flower and Little Big planet. All of these are very different from the “main-stream” games. I think Sony has a good reputation and would be good for my design of a game.

Player Goals:

The player takes role of Nova. The players are trying to achieve tasks in a linear storyline through exploration and puzzle solving. The gamplay varies from open world exploration (the planet) and puzzle solving (the temples). By completing each temple the player receives new abilities which they can use in order to finish the next temple.

Main Character:

Name: Nova

Age: 1

Nova is white with a saturated colour highlighting certain aspects of her design. She wears a helmet, but two bright blue eyes shine through the helmet. Her design is slender, and her most distinguishing feature is her helmet.

Background: Nova is the first Robot to be designed with artifical intelligence and is sent to the planet to find life. She wakes up as she arrives on the planet.

Nova's main mission is to find life and to find a way to destroy the machine.

Nova discovers the only life form on the planet and befriends it, creating a strong bond between the two characters.

Nova is intelligent, and follows orders until her morality is questioned when she finds out that the planet's inhabitants had been wiped out by the humans she was created by. Nova is curious, strict and stern. She always wants things to go her way and gets angry if they don't, however as the player progresses through the game, Nova becomes more care-free and learns that not everything she is told is true.

The biggest challenge Nova faces is learning to follow her own “orders”, and making her own decisions.

Setting:

The Setting of Novas Vos is a Planet, where all of its wildlife has been wiped out.

The colors of the planet “Genesis” is vibrant and saturated. It circulates the moon and sun faster, causing the days to be very short. On the planet, there are 3 main “temples” in which the engineers and scientists lived while they created the machine. The temples have long square-like features and have puzzles inside which the player has to figure out in order to progress in the game. The puzzles were created so that the “Machine” could not enter. All of the puzzles are created so that only “humans” can figure them out.

As the planet is so small it only has 3 different Geological Features: one is a Forest, a Desert and Tropical area. In each of these is one temple, and is designed similar to its Environment.

MARKETING

Games for comparison:

Shadow of the Colossus, Journey

Point of Differenece:

In Novas Vos the player has control of the character from the start, with no real knowledge of why they are on this planet; except for one goal: find life from, similar to how Journey starts. But as the game progresses more questions are answered and moe character development takes place, making the game's story a mix between Shadow of the Colossus and Journey.

Back of the Box Statements:

Experience an unforgettable journey into an abandoned planet, filled with secrets to reveal.... a story about companionship and finding your own path.

Target Demographics:

Aging Gamers, Young Adults, mid-core gamers

Appeal:

Novas Vos is more about what the player experiences through the game, and its theme is more mature, appealing more to young adults and aging gamers. There is only the development of the character and her relationship to the creature but the how and the why of the backstory is up to the player to figure out as micro-narratives are scattered throughout the game, making it both appealing for young adults who just want to play the game and for aging gamers who want to venture deeper into the narrative of the game.

DEVELOPMENT

Possible Areas for Narrative Design:

The Key areas of narrative design which should be focused on for the development of this game are: Character and micro-narrative. The main storyline is about the relationship between the protagonist and their sidekick, and the micro-narrative is the backstory of the planet.

STORY/GAMEPLAY IN DETAIL

START:

A spaceship lands on a vibrant planet, a female figure steps out of the Spaceship and looks at her wrist where her main mission is displayed: Find life. The player then takes control of Nova, and searches the planet to find life. Once the player figures out the controls (jump, walk, run, hover boost) and explores the planet for a bit, strange shadow figures start to appear that run away when the player comes near them. The shadows always run towards a specific/same direction. The player then can choose to follow where the run or to continue to explore the planet. If the player chooses to follow the shadows, they lead them to a cave-like structure where they find the only life-form on the planet. A cut-scene takes place where the creature is aggressive towards Nova, but night strikes and the creature quickly goes back into its cave. The player hears loud stomps and sees two bright spotlights in the distance. Nova looks towards the cave hesitantly but joins the creature inside the cave. Inside, Nova's wrist lights up and shows new words glowing on it: destroy Nox. The cut-scene ends and the player ventures deeper into the cave, with their only light: the wrist light. The creature follows the player hesitantly, keeping their distance. If the player turns and goes towards the creature, it becomes aggressive and hisses. This way the player can't go back out the other way of the cave as the creature blocks it and is forced to go deeper into the darkness. The inside of the cave starts to become more mankind-structured: white clean, with strange scribblings on it: “we are trapped”, “error”, “My name is Henrick, my name is Henrick...”.

When the player reaches the end of the cave, they find a large white door. -insert cool puzzle here-

The player enters a large facility-like structure. There are stairs that lead up to the 2^nd floor, but th eplayer has to figure out how to get up there. The player always has to ensure that nothing happens to the creature. Most of the puzzles invole Nova and the creature working together.

Once the player reaches the 2^nd Floor, the next set of puzzles are more riddles that can only be solved by “humans”.

When the player reaches the 3^rd level, they discover that in order to destroy Nox they have to find the other 2 temples scattered on the planet and complete them. Once they are completed, the temple tumble and the player has to quickly escape them by riding on the creature.