Dia De Los Muertos

Game Design Document

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Prepared by:

Lauren Reed (21086818)

Samuel Dutson (14036622)
Table of Contents

Revision Notes....................................................................................................................................... 3
To Do..................................................................................................................................................... 3
Overview................................................................................................................................................ 3
Target Platform / Minimum Hardware:............................................................................................... 3
Visual Style....................................................................................................................................... 3
Audio Style........................................................................................................................................ 3
Starting Out .......................................................................................................................................... 4
Game start Main Menu Character Selection/Creation................................................................. 4
Game Start and Intro ........................................................................................................................ 4
In-Game HUD & Menus.................................................................................................................... 4
Multiplayer (If Applicable).................................................................................................................. 4
UI........................................................................................................................................................... 5
Main Menu........................................................................................................................................ 5
Player Customization / Store ............................................................................................................ 5
Game setup Screen.......................................................................................................................... 5
In-Game Options Menu..................................................................................................................... 5
In-Game HUD................................................................................................................................... 5
Game Over Screen........................................................................................................................... 5
Level Selection ................................................................................................................................. 5
Full Level List................................................................................................................................ 5
Gamplay................................................................................................................................................ 5
Mechanics......................................................................................................................................... 6
Controls............................................................................................................................................. 6
Modes............................................................................................................................................... 6
Winning The Match........................................................................................................................... 6
Score............................................................................................................................................ 6
Currency....................................................................................................................................... 6
Challenges of Importance................................................................................................................. 6
Missions and Achievements.............................................................................................................. 6
Assets.................................................................................................................................................... 7
Characters........................................................................................................................................ 7
Weapons........................................................................................................................................... 7
Equipment and Upgrades.................................................................................................................. 7
Environmental................................................................................................................................... 7
Audio................................................................................................................................................. 7
Back Story ............................................................................................................................................ 8
Cinematics........................................................................................................................................ 8
Revision Notes

To Do

Overview
You play as a skeleton called Juan, whose friend Maria has had her body stolen by Antonio the
Wrestler. However, since it is Dia De Los Muertos, her spirit remains with you as a ghost. She tells you
that only the music can help bring back her body.

As players progress through levels, they must retrieve Music Icons. Only after collecting all the Music
Icons from one level will they be able to get a piece of Marias body back. Also, as you collect Music
Icons, the accompanying music in the level will increase and become more vibrant.

The games final level will be defeating Antonio at the Dia De Los Muertos Festival after he causes
mass havoc.

Target Platform / Minimum Hardware:

Dia De Los Muertos is a Mexican-themed, side-scrolling item collection game for the PC/Mac where
the player is immersed in a stylized variation of the famous Mexican festival The Day of the Dead/Dia
de los Muertos.
There currently arent any plans to port this game for console release.
The game has been made in GameMaker Studio.
The file size is roughly somewhere beteen 500-700 MB. However, since there is still a lot left to
add in, this number is expected to increase over the coming weeks.

Visual Style
The design for our game and its environment comes mostly from Guacamelee! and Tamale Loco as
well as aspects of the original Rayman. This is because the bright, flashy colours definitely fit the
theme of the game alongside Guacamelee!.

Audio Style
We listened to Guacamelee!s audio style, as well as the Dorado stage intro for Overwatch as they
both feature fast-paced atmospheric musical stylings that we wish to include.
However, were also looking at a list of several songs that are played during the actual Dia De Los
Muertos festival and including variations of several Mexican cultural folk songs, like The Mexican Hat
Dance.
Currently, as the playable character is the only character within the game, there is not any dialogue.
Any thoughts and phrases that the character would say, like discovering a Music Icon and
conversations with future characters will pop up in a text box.
Starting Out

Game start Main Menu Character Selection/Creation

Currently, there is a main menu screen. The player starts off the first level which will act as a tutorial
area.
Juan is the only character (so far) in the game. His friend Maria will be implemented later but
unsure if she will follow Juan throughout the level, guiding him where to go, or whether she will stay at
the beginning of the level after telling Juan, the player character, what to do.

Game Start and Intro

To simplify mechanics, from the get go, players will be able to move left and right, jump up and down
and punch in the direction they are currently facing. This might seem limiting but there will be differing
scenarios that the player can attack enemies, such as jumping behind them and attacking or jumping
over obstacles to reach otherwise inaccessible areas.

In-Game HUD & Menus

There is currently a Main Menu that doesnt link sequentially to the starting level.
We also have a health bar as well as a collection bar. The collection bar will focus on all the
icons that the player will pick up, such as Music Icons, Marias body parts and any other collectables.

Multiplayer (If Applicable)

Currently there is only single player, no multiplayer option. By making the game single player, we can
focus of making the story more narratively based, whereas adding multiplayer would make things
more competitive.
UI

Main Menu
There is an initial Main Menu screen. However this hasnt been included because of problems with the
coding and making it flow sequentially. This can be easily remedied. It is currently the only menu within
the game.

Player Customization / Store

Currently, were unsure of including a store for the player character to spend points/items that they
collect.

Game setup Screen

There currently arent any plans for a Game Setup screen. This is mainly due to the game being single
player not multiplayer.

In-Game Options Menu

There currently isnt an In-Game options menu. However, the option to add one will be followed up,
even if it is just to pause the game and customise sound settings.

In-Game HUD
Currently, there is a Health Bar and a Collection Bar. These will be displayed along the top of the
screen so as to not obstruct the players vision.

Game Over Screen

When the player is defeated, currently all that happens is the screen goes black. However, we are
thinking of adding a joke. Since the player character is called Juan, were thinking of adding the
phrase Another Juan Bites The Dust! and having a retry button.

Level Selection
There isnt a Level Selection screen as the levels are played sequentially. Its possible that we could
add a Level Selection screen that gets unlocked when the player has completed the game to return to
their favourite levels.
As players progress through the game, levels will start increasing in size and difficulty.
At the end of each level is a part of Marias Body that unlocks access to the next level to track down
the Villain, Antonio, El Luchador.

Full Level List

Currently we have 4 levels but we have more planned, possibly about 10. The first few are to test
mechanics and get the general feel of the game, then increasing in difficulty, including enemies and
making obstacles slightly more difficult to overcome.
Gameplay
After players start the game, they are greeted with Maria in her Spirit Form. She explains everything
thats happened and what Antonio, El Luchador, did to her. She asks the player character if they can
help retrieve her body so she can come back to the realm of the living before the Dia De Los Muertos
festival ends or else shell be trapped. They can do this by collecting all the collectables from a level
and retrieving her body parts at the end of the level.
After this, players can move around and start navigating the map. The player can move around
and jump, even progressing to floating platforms.
The main challenges are going to be finding everything to collect as well as encountering
Minions of Antonio and defeating them.

Mechanics
The current mechanics we have are standard left-right movement, jumping and punching. We might
include double-jumping at some point.

Controls
Controls are standard WASD controls for moving, SPACE for jumping and E for punching.

Modes
There is currently only the standard mode of play available, with no option for changing the rate of
difficulty. Difficulty will be gradually increased depending on the players progress throughout the
game.

Winning The Match

The game is completed when Juan has acquired all of Marias Body Parts and defeated Antonio, El
Luchador. Levels arent timed which gives the player the option to explore freely.

Score
There is currently item collection which might server as a purpose for a scoring system in the game.

Currency
There is currently no currency in the game.

Challenges of importance
Challenges are faced off smallest to largest, as this is influenced by the players progression through
levels.

Missions and Achievements

This is what roughly the Collection Bar aims to be, giving the player their secondary objective to collect
items throughout the level before moving onto the next level.
Assets
Were unsure if the assets that will be used will be the same size and style as the concept art for the
characters. Also, theres currently plans for the background to move as the player walks back and forth

Characters
Currently there are character sprites for just Juan, stationary. His walking, jumping and punching
movement will be included at a later date. Juan is a skeleton that has come to life during the Dia De
Los Muertos festival.
Since were unsure of whether or not Maria will be following the player, we need to decide if we
just need a stationary sprite for her or a moving one. Maria had her physical body stolen by Antonio
and is just a spirit during most of the gameplay.
Antonio, El Luchador, will be included at a later date as he will be the games final villain.
Antonio is an evil presence, a rogue entity that is trying to return to the realm of the living by taking the
physical form of the first being he comes across during the festival.
We still need to determine what kind of platforming challenge Antonios Minions will pose
before designing them. Since these arent serious enemies, we were thinking of making them little
skeletal grunts/other forms of monsters.

However, concept art has been made for Juan, Maria and Antonio.

Weapons
There are no weapons nor any plans for weapons in this game. Most combat will be completed via just
punching.

Equipment and Upgrades

There arent any plans for equipment/upgrades. However, there might be an unlock feature once the
players defeat the game, where they get access to hidden stuff depending on the points theyve
scored from levels.

Environmental
There arent many environmental assets. Assets will be re-used instead of completely re-vamping the
layout for every level.
Also, the background asset will move in co-ordinance with the player characters movement, seeing as
its a side-scrolling game.

Audio
Since Samuel can read sheet music, hes been using a program called NoteWorthy Composer 2 to
transpose sheet music. Instead of taking royalty free music off the internet, this means we can change
the tempo and instruments included.
All tracks will be saved as .mp3.
Back Story

As soon as the Dia De Los Muertos festival begins, Antonio, El Luchador, a demon from the realm of
the dead arrives in the realm of the living. In order to permanently stay in the realm of the living, he
steals the physical body of Maria.
When Juan joins the festival, Maria asks him if he can return her body and defeat Antonio.
Together, with the power of the festivals music, he must collect many items and return Marias
body to her and stop Antonios dastardly plan.

Cinematics
There currently arent any cinematics in the game. If a cinematic would be put in, the best place for
one would be after the player starts the game, giving them their initial backstory.