Milestone 1

This week we ironed out the details and pillars of the game. We also had our Art Team create a lot of concept sketches and tested some white boxing out in engine.

To start off, we would like to introduce you to our team members, each represented by an NPC character that will be in our game! The NPCs were envisioned to be representations of our main character's stuffies in real life - more on this later!

Alright, lets jump right into our story that drives our game:

After a tragic event, a young girl finds herself consumed by darkness. She is lost to its depths, afraid of what the future holds for her. Play as Luna, and help her to bring back her inner light. Help her to confront her emotions, combat the darkness, and recover the cherished memories she shared with her parents, all with the help of a glowing guardian "

With this story in mind, we established the guiding pillars of our game to be:

Light Opposes Dark

Light Based Puzzle Solving

Using Stealth and Platforming to Overcome Obstacles

These 3 pillars we will reference as we further develop mechanics, lighting, and game design.

Luna

Next, meet our main character, Luna! Luna is growing up in present day Canada, and loves to spend time with her family. Together they like to travel , often cross country in long road trips. It was during one of these trips that Luna lost her parents in a fatal car accident.

Here are some sketches and illustrations exploring Luna's silhouette and look:

We settled on a sketch then further refined it to create a character turn around:

Finally, we did some colour iterations and chose this colour palette:

Luna's Companion - Owl Guide

Throughout the game Luna will be aided by a companion, a glowing owl. We went through many iterations and thought carefully about the symbolism of the character choice. Among our top picks were jays, ravens, owls and crows. We decided that an owl would best fit our theme as it encompasses both the concept of light and dark; A guide that glows brightly like moonlight that can see through the all-encompassing night.

After trying on different accessories, we settled on the gold cuffs - each cuff representing the spirit of her parents. This is our final render for the Owl Guide:

Our NPCs (or NPS "Non-Player-Stuffies!) will provide small story snippets as well as act as save points throughout the game. They are represented by Luna's stuffed animals that surround her in the real world. They are stationary and can usually be found sitting around campfires (a beacon of light in the dark that attracts the player). Each of the NPCs will be voiced by one of the game developers and have a similar "gibberish" language to Animal Crossing characters.

Environment Design

The game will have 3 main levels, each representing an emotion that Luna is facing as she copes with her parent's death: Sadness, Anger, and Fear. In each of the levels, there are tendrils of darkness that spread throughout, fragmenting and blocking areas of the level. To advance, Luna will have to bring light to areas of the map, revealing new paths, and defeating each boss character at the end of the level. When the level is cleared, the environment changes from dark and desaturated, to its contrasting component - light and happy.

Level 1: Anger

Filled with rocks, fire, lava and floating rock islands, Luna will have to partner with her bird to fly up on steam vents to reach the final boss stage. This level will be intentionally difficult to complete, instilling frustrating feelings in the player. At the top, the player will meet a giant smoke monster, that lashes out and spits symbols (#@!%$*) at the player and circles her, preventing movement. Luna will have to turn on vents surrounding the boss to allow the anger monster to cool down and calm into a statue to clear the level.

Level 2: Sadness

A swampy level, Luna will need to wade through pools of water, representing tears and tides of sadness. Luna will have to fight the sinking feeling and swim through areas of water, as well as scale tiered pools by pushing rocks and filling basins. Luna will also need to use light to clear brambles in the swamp to continue on to the boss monster. To defeat the boss, Luna will need to pull up two pegs holding a dam, and let the monster wash away, and free the water to let it flow. This represents Luna acknowledging her sadness and instead of bottling it up, letting it go.

Level 3: Fear

This level consists of an elaborate cave system, where the player doesn't know what's around each corner. Indiscernible props and silhouettes create a creepy feeling, and to top it all off, the boss will consist of a swarm of spiders. During the level, Luna will need to avoid being snatched by the spiders, and move confidently through the caves. This represents the idea of making progress with one's fears - the only way through is forward.

Our enemies are currently going through iteration - both in mechanics as well as shape. Here are a few sketches we have iterated on so far:

Last but not least, is our exploration of mechanics. We know that Luna will have 3 abilities to help her navigate the levels and fight each boss: Send, Flash and Glide. Send will allow Luna to direct her owl to collect items or switch levers. Flash will allow the bird to emit a brief strong vibrant light to ward off enemies or affect the environment. Glide will allow Luna to catch updrafts and fly down to new areas. Below is a painting of Luna using her abilities.

If you've made it this far, thanks for checking out our first stages of developing Light Seeker! Stay tuned for more development in week 2 as we iterate on our character in 3D as well as take to white boxing our levels in Unreal Engine!