To view the Game Design Document in PDF Form, Click Here: Unicorns_GameDesignDocumentFinal

 

Overview

Introduction

Working Title: Unicorns

Genre: Fantasy Adventure

Platform: PC

“Haven’t you ever wondered why unicorns are so rare? “ Unicorns is a PC fantasy and adventure game striving to bring to light the problem of poaching through the eyes of different unicorns in the medieval ages. Journey through three different environments and learn about the ways poaching affects not only endangered species, but also indigenous people and conservation efforts.

Description

In Unicorns, you begin with the unicorns of the Iraq desert and move through their story where you are introduced to their lives and what challenges they face from poaching.

As you play as the Samaran unicorn, you get to see how the animal survives in the harsh desert environment and how to collect food and water and find other unicorns. But you also witness the horror of poaching and unicorns are captured and run down in order to take their magical horns. Through your choices and the quests you decide to take on, you can take a stand against this horrendous act and fight back against the poachers and try to save the Samaran Unicorn.

Depending on your actions, your unicorn might choose to leave the desert and migrate somewhere else to live, which begins your journey to the next type of unicorn: The Bergen Unicorn. This unicorn lives in the snowy mountains of Russia and also deals with poaching. But this time it isn’t coming from just poachers. There are also indigenous people who live in the mountains that rely on the unicorn population for food and resources. So for this part of the story, you deal with a more complex problem. But again, it is your actions as you play through that decide the outcome and lead you to part three of the unicorn species.

The third and final unicorn type is the Bavria Unicorn who takes home in the forest and plains of Europe. This unicorn type deals with poaching but not for resources. Instead, these unicorns face their young foals being captured and taken away to be sold to high-ranking nobles. It is up to you to use your resources and herd members to help end the poaching and save the species.

Story and Concept

The first story begins with a young desert unicorn who stumbles upon another unicorn trying to outrun a band of poachers. After helping him escape, he takes you to a hiding place full of unicorns who cower in fear at the mention of poachers. Declaring war on the poachers, you and a band of unicorns form a defense against the poachers and go to war. Seeking out and killing the poachers, it is up to you to fight and make the desert a safe haven once more.

The Bergen unicorn’s story deals with you trying to find a mate in a snowy land filled with poachers. Though you must be quick on your feet and fight to survive, you do find allies in the indigenous people, who are being pushed out of their native land because of the lack of food and resources brought on by the poachers. If you are successful, then you may find a mate and help the indigenous people push the poachers from the mountains.

For the final story, you play as the alpha of a large group of plain unicorns who thrive in the forest and fields of Europe, who are rudely awakened one day to a group of poachers surrounding the herd with swords and shields. Fighting your way out and helping the herd escape, the poachers follow, picking off unicorns one by one and capturing the younglings. Once you have gotten your herd out safely, you retrace your steps to see the carnage of the poachers. Hearing the cries of younglings, you find that the poachers are not far away, and begin your journey to find and bring back the young one and take revenge on those who have killed your herd. Through your journey, you’ll encounter many problems and obstacles to overcome as you try to reunite your young ones with the rest of your herd.

 

Environments and Characters

European Plains

The plains are located across northern Europe running from Spain to Russia. Covered in mostly flat lands, the plains are spotted with small forests and an abundance of wildlife and running brooks and streams. This makes for the perfect environment for the Bavria Unicorn. In game, the environment allows for players to recover health by drinking out of rivers or by finding wild berries that grow in abundance on the plains. The weather may also change at times, meaning it may be sunny, rainy or cloudy throughout the game.

Pictured Above: Great European Plain highlighted in grey

 

 

 

Russian Mountains

Located in the Ural Mountains, This environment is cold and covered in a blanket of snow with large trees and hardy plants. Wildlife is scarce but a few species thrive including mountain goats, snow foxes, rabbits and of course, the Bergen Unicorn.

Because vegetation is scarce, players can use tree bark to recover health. In terms of weather, the snow may become violent and cloud the player’s vision at certain times or it may stop altogether, letting the sun shine on the snowy mountaintop.

Pictured Above: the Ural Mountains, home of the Russian unicorn, highlighted in grey

 

 

 

Iraq Desert

The Iraq desert covers most of Iraq and is very expansive. Mostly barren, with shrubs and small pools of water, this desert is filled with rocky outcrops and flat land that makes a great home for many lizards and small reptiles. The desert is also home to various deer and wild horses as well as the Samaran unicorn.

While the weather does not change much in-game and stays mostly hot. The scarcity of shrubs, makes it harder to find food sources to regain health.

Pictured Above: Iraq Desert highlighted in grey

 

 

Quests and In-game interactions

Quests

Story-line quests

To progress through the game, the player must complete the main quests. These quests can range from simply finding food, to defeating poachers in battle. Each one is different and unique and get progressively harder as you progress through each part of the game. Depending on what choices the player makes in the game, the quests might be changed or some may be skipped all together. Completing story-line quests can give EXP points to level up a player’s statistics or items that may help the player during certain quests.

Side quests

While side quests don’t necessarily change or progress the story but they do allow a player to better explore each environment or increase relationships with other characters. Side quests vary in difficulty and subject but some may involve things like saving another unicorn, finding certain objects or fighting a certain villain. By completing these side missions, a player can gain extra EXP or getting certain items as well.

Communication

Throughout the game, a player will communicate with multiple beings, some human and some not but these communications and what a player can do with them differs depending on the situation and being.

Unicorn Communication

As a unicorn, the player can easily communicate with any unicorns he or she comes across. Some may simply give you helpful information, while other may offer your quests. Sometimes, a player will be given options on what to say or how to answer when talking to a unicorn depending on how the player answers, the unicorn may become friendly or trust the player more. This can come in handy and allow the player to gain access to certain items or certain quests.

Human Communication

None of the unicorns can directly communicate with the humans but the Bergen mountain unicorn is able to somewhat communicate with the local indigenous people because of their respect for the unicorns. This leads to a few quests that require the player to seek help from the indigenous people but because they cannot communicate directly, the player must find ways to make them understand.

 

 

Animal Communication

Unicorns can communicate with other animals. These can range from squirrels in the plains to goats in the mountains and what the animals say or do varies. Some may give you items, while other may provide hints or tricks for improved gameplay. While it is not essential that a player speak to most of the animals, it can enhance a gameplay and create a better experience overall.

Fighting

While not every unicorn has the same abilities, all three types of unicorns can fight and use magic in order to survive.

Attacks

All three unicorns can attack enemies using these moves:

• Horn Jab: The unicorn lowers it head and jabs the enemy with its horn.
• Horn Thrust: A powered up version of the horn jab.
• Stomp: The unicorn uses its front legs to stomp the enemy.

It is possible to learn new moves, but each move is different depending on the type of unicorn.

Magic

All unicorns know and can use magic, but some types have a better affinity for magic than others or use it for different reasons.

The Samaran unicorn has high amounts of magic and uses it mostly for finding food. However it can be used in fighting as well.

The Bergen unicorn can also use magic, but mostly for light. These unicorns cannot use magic quite as well and prefer more physical attacks for battle.

The Bavria unicorn uses magic for finding food and keeping track of other unicorns like young foals. These unicorns are very skilled at adapting their magic to different situations.

 

Fleeing

When battling enemies, unicorns do have the option to try and flee but it may not always be successful. If it is successful, the player may need to come back if the battle is essential to moving the story forward.

 

Concept Art

Screen design

The screen interface consists of a map tracker, health bar and a stamina bar. The health can be seen in red, while stamina is seen in green. The map encircles the upper left portion of the screen and allows the player to see where he or she is are and what areas can be discovered in the vast world of Unicorns. There is also a small icon that when clicked will pull up a larger menu that can give the player information about what quests are currently in progress, inventory items and stats (health, stamina ,defense, attack and magic).

While the interface remains the same from region to region, some minor details change to fit each area. Leaves may encircle the interface on the European plain, but snow might replace the leaves in the Russian mountains or sand in the desert. This allows the player to use the same interface from story to story but while changing the aesthetics to fit each region.

 

 

 

 

 

From top to bottom: the interface for the desert enviroment, the interface for the forest enviroment and the interface for the mountain enviroment

An example of what the player will see on the screen

 

 

 

 

 

 

Environment art

 

While each story takes place in a different climate, they are all shown in a similar style. From the vast desert to the snowy mountains, the landscapes will be vast and created with a more stylistic approach than a realistic approach. Instead of large amounts of detail, each environment will be done with large brush strokes of color and small outlines to create a simplified version of the real thing. Colors will be natural, with earthy brown colors in the desert, lush greens on the plains and snowy whites and greys on the mountaintops. This combination of realistic and stylistic will make the game pleasing to the eye but not overly detailed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From top to bottom: Iraq desert design, Russian mountains design, and the European plain design

Character designs

Each unicorn design is specified for the unicorn’s environment and contains a description of the traits that make each unicorn so unique.

Bavria Unicorn

 

Bavria unicorns are long-legged and agile, with a light-brown to dark-brown coat and various markings. Hair color can also vary, but these unicorns tend to grow their hair fairly long, using their magic to tie it and keep it out of the way of brambles. Bavrians tend to be very herd-oriented, feeling more confident in large groups. While they may be beautiful, these unicorns are also quite deadly, especially when protecting their own. They are fiercely loyal and headstrong, which can often lead to them exhausting themselves in certain situations.

In terms of physical capabilities, Bavria unicorns are very agile but not incredibly fast. They do have decent magical skills, which can be used for a variety of purposes. This includes reaching food, communicating with other unicorns, protection from predators and other uses. The long horn of the Bavria unicorn is very sharp and is known to pierce armor. This combined with the strength of their kicks makes for quite the battle for anyone who wrongs this unicorn.

Samaran Unicorn

Samaran unicorns are smaller than other unicorns and extremely fast. Their flat hooves allow for fast turns and movements on the hot desert sand and their slimmer bodies are great for fitting through tight spaces in rocks to get away from predators. These unicorns have shorter, wider horns that can store water and nutrients for later use in the desert heat. Their coats range from spotted, painted or grey with varying markings and mane colors.

Because of their speed, Samaran unicorns prefer to run and hide instead of fighting but when cornered, their legs and fast hooves combined with their sharp horn can make them small but deadly. Samarans are well-versed in magic, using it not only to find food in the barren desert but also to fight, lifting heavy objects or weapons when attacked.

 

 

 

 

 

Bergen Unicorn

Bergen unicorns are large, heavy set unicorns that live in mountains of Russia. They tend to have shaggy white and grey coats to help them blend in with the snow and keep them warm in the cold temperatures. These unicorns are very cautious and highly intelligent, using their wits more than their magic to survive.

Their large horn is often used to scrape the ground or trees to find food, mark territories and used for attacking predators. Russian unicorns do not tend to travel in packs and instead are lone wolves, only seeking out others when mating season comes around.  When fighting, the Bergen unicorn uses brute strength over magic, kicking and stomping with all four legs with tremendous power.

 

 

 

 

Props

As the player ventures through each story he or she will encounter various items that can be used as weapons as well as items to replenish health or stamina. While the availability of certain items may change depending on which story the player is progressing through, some of the most common props include rocks and various natural fauna. Berries on the plains, tree bark in the mountains, and shrubbery in the desert are all items that when found can help the player replenish health and heal any wounds. Rocks can be used as weapons to be thrown at poachers or other enemies in all regions of the game.

Swords and shields however, are only found in the Samaran and Bavria unicorn storylines. In both stories, these items can only be obtained by killing poachers and may not always be easy to find or use.

 

 

 

 

 

Game Controls

There are four main controls that are used by the player. This includes controls for movement, attacks, jumping and open the start menu. While this will be customizable for each player, there will be starting controls if the player does not want to customize. The beginning controls are as follows:

 

• W,A,S,D: allows the player to move up, down, left and right
• G,H: Allows the player to attack with either a horn jab, horn thrust or stomp
• J: Allows the user to pick up items
• O: opens the starting menu to show the player’s stats and items
• Spacebar: Allows the player to jump