Creature Color Tests and One Page Pitch Edit

IDEA

Mortem was inhabited with dinosaur-like creatures. Its conditions were the same as Earth, except that one side of the planet was tropical and one was ice. The creatures were able to adapt both in the cold and the hot. Their skin would change (similar to chameleon) depending on which Continent. The smaller creatures (Lux) had skin that was similar to the environment so they could blend in. Lux will change its skin to be cold on the Tropical Continent, and change its skin to be warm on the Ice Continent.

CREATURE

My favorite color scheme is the "T" one, I think the colors work well and would stand out from the environment. I would probably use "T" for when the creature is on the Ice Continent, "S" for the Tropical Continent and either "R" or "V" for night-time when it lights up.

ONE PAGE PITCH EDIT:

Title of the Game:

Novas Vos

CONCEPT

Story Summary:

A spaceship lands on a foreign planet, and a human figure steps out. Her main mission is to find life. Nova explores the planet and after no success finally finds the last surviving life form: a large crocodile-like creature, Lux . At the same time a large machine roams the planet at night. Nova has to find a way to destroy the machine and decides to protect Lux. Nova has to travel to 2 temples on Mortem in order to destroy NOX. After completing the 2^nd temple she finds out that she is a robot that has been sent to Mortem from earth to seek out life and to destroy NOX , so that humans can inhabit the planet. Nova empathizes with NOX, and re-purposes it: restore life. Nova decides to stay with NOX and Lux on the planet that Nova gave a new name to: Vita.

Logline

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

Justification

Novas Vos challenges the idea of what makes us human by showing that Nova has more humanity than mankind even though she is a robot.

GAME PILLARS

Aesthetics:

The game's art 2D, stylized. The art style of Novas Vos is cell-shaded and abstract: Nova has limited amount of colors (cold) while the Creature and the Environments have vibrant colors with a little more detail, which makes Nova stand out.

TheTropical Continent is made of waterfalls, water trees, grass, lakes and has coral-like features.

The ice continent is made of spikes, ice caves and ice mountains. At night, some of the ice lights up with bright blue colors.

This emphasizes the emptiness of life on Genesis which presents an atmosphere of unsettling loneliness.

Genre (Story):

Sci Fi, Fantasy

Genre (Game):

Adventure, Art game, puzzle

Justification:

The genre Sci Fi and Fantasy are associated with futuristic, alternate worlds/planets which fits into my story as the focus of the story is mainly the environment of the planet. The environment plays a big part of the story as it continuously shows the player two of the main themes of the story, loneliness and looks are decieving.

Adventure is the exploration part of the game (the planet). The genre Art Game fits in with the story as the game's message is strong: that mankind is losing touch of what makes us humans.

Puzzle is part of the puzzle-solving aspect of the story (in the temples), where what makes us human is questioned.

Gameplay style:

side-scroller 2D, exploration, platforming and puzzle solving.

Justification:

The side scroller view is quite far away, which fits with my story, as the view is intended to make the player feel small on the vast planet, and to give a sense that the environment is almost more important than the characters.

Exploration part of the game gives the player a sense of excitement to explore a new planet but also a sense of loneliness as the planet is lifeless.

Puzzle solving emphasizes the theme of the game: what makes us human, as the puzzles are about Nova proving she is human through tasks.

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 story-line through exploration and puzzle solving. The game-play varies from world exploration (the planet) and puzzle solving (the temples). The player has to look after Lux, giving it food and making sure its health doens't go down. They have to avoid enemy plants and find ways to cross certain paths.

The puzzles involve Nova and Lux to work together. The temples are dark, so Lux is the only light source, the player has to navigate through the temple telling Lux where to stand in order to see where to go next. The puzzles inside the Tropical Continent involve the player proving they are human through physical tasks such as lifting objects/pushing, and finding ways to climb up certain areas, while the puzzles inside the Ice Continent involve Nova proving she is human through choices she has to make (you find a valuable object on the floor, you take it for yourself or you return it to its orginal place), the player then has to prove their choice was rightous by being given the valuable object and then to return it.

The player is motivated and driven through the game by exploration and solving puzzles. There are also micro-objetcs scattered inside the Temples but it is up to the player to find them (optional) that tell the backstory of the planet.

Main Character:

Name: Nova

Age: 1

Nova is white with a saturated colour highlighting certain aspects of her design. She wears a helmet through most of the game, she takes it off when she finds out she is a robot. Her design is slender, and her most distinguishing feature is her helmet. She also has large hand-like gloves where her missions are displayed.

Background: Nova is the first Robot to be designed with artifical intelligence and is sent to the planet, Genesis 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 she is a robot. 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 PLANET

The planet was inhabited with large dinosaur creatures, but its atmosphere (oxygen, water, plants) was the same as Earth's. In order for humans to inhabit the planet, they decided to send Cloned humans to Mortem to create a machine (NOX) that could collect the wild life and kill off the creatures that were too dangerous for humans. The harmless creatures were put into tubes (they were experimented on by the cloned humans) inside NOX's arms so that when all the dangerous creatures were wiped out, it could release them back into the wild. One of the creatures (Lux) broke free and destroyed the lab inside the Temple on the Tropical Continent. NOX malfunctioned and destroyed all life on the planet. Lux stayed inside the Temple, hiding from NOX. The cloned humans reached out for help but the humans felt that they were expandable. The cloned humans life span was 4 years and eventually died. Once all life was wiped out on the planet, the humans decided to create Robots to be sent to Mortem to shut down the machine. After many failed attempts, they created the first robot with artifical intelligence: Nova.

THE CONTINENTS

The planet Mortem is small, it has a Tropical Continent and an Ice Continent. During the day-time on the Tropical Continent, its colors are vibrant and saturated, but at night-time its colors fade and becomes dark. This emphazises that not everything is as it seems, as Nova can't find any life-form on the planet. The Tropical Continent has coral-like plants (red,pink,yellow,orange), bright pink grass and yellow trees. Some of its land is evaluated, where certain plants grow.
On the Ice Continent, its colors are pale and shades of blue, but at night its colors become more saturated and vibrant. There are also coral-like plants that grow on the Ice Continent, they look smilar to the Tropical Continent's plants but their colors are more purple and blue. There are sharp spikes and thin-like bridges the player can corss. There are caves the player can go into as well and explore (they are optional), the ice lights up in darkness in turqiuse colors.

THE TEMPLES

On each continent is a Temple-like building. Each one is located at the heart of each Continent. The Tropical Continent Temple was created by the cloned humans (engineers) so they could make the machine, NOX. They created a maze inside so that any creatues from the outside could not come in. It was also enhanced later on, when NOX malfuncioned, so that who ever enters it, has to prove they are human by performing taks with human attributes (creating tools, strength speed) set throughout the maze.

The Ice Continent's Temple was created by the scientists (cloned humans) where the wild-life was experimented on and put inside tubes for NOX. They created a maze inside as well so that the creatures couldn't escape. They also enhanced it later on, when NOX malfuncioned, so that who ever enters it, has to prove they are human through choices (proving human abilities: generosity, power, patience, helpfulness, growth, pride and fairness) set by holograms inside the maze.

MARKETING

Games for comparison:

Shadow of the Colossus, Journey, No Man's Sky, Elegy for a Dead World

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 more character development takes place, making the game's story a mix between Shadow of the Colossus and Journey.

Back of the Box Statements:

An unsettling loneliness lurks the planet, Mortem.

It is up to Nova to find life and destory a mysterious machine that terrorrises Mortem.

Immerse yourself in a planet full of rich and beautiful enviornments.

Solve challenging puzzles.

Explore to find out the truth!

Target Demographics:

Aging Gamers, Young Adults, mid-core gamers, Aged between 13-30

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 the development of the character and her relationship to the creature and Nova finding out she is a robot. All of this is shown through the game, there are interactive cut-scenes as the backstory of the planet is up to the player to find out. The younger gamers would enjoy playing the game through the mechanics while the aging gamers are both interested in the game mechanics and the story aspect of the game. The micro-narrative of the backstory would make the player play the game again to find all the clues to find out what happened to the planet.

DEVELOPMENT

Possible Areas for Narrative Design:

The Key area of narrative design which should be focused on for the development of this game is: Diegesis and supporting character. The diegesis narrative is about the environment showing the theme of the game: loneliness and hinting at what happened to the planet, while the character narrative is more about Nova finding out she is a robot.