Game Design Document by Jack Trades 2011

Table of Contents:
1. Project 1.1. Game Concept 1.2. Project Goal 2. Story & Setting 2.1. Setting 3. Gameplay 3.1. Game Rules 3.2. Controls & GUI 4. Technical Details

Version History: 0.9 - Initial release.

1. Project
1.1 Game Concept
Blitzbowl is a multiplayer browser game about a ctional rugby-like sports game. Players will be playing 1v1 matches against other players, controlling predetermined teams on a play eld. Players will be able to issue tactical orders to their characters, such as repositioning, attacking other players and passing the ball. The objective is to score as many goals as possible by taking the ball and carrying it all the way to the enemy home area.

1.2 Project Goal

Blitzbowl is designed to be a testing ground for a future game called Engines of War. The goal is to try out certain features and mechanics in a smaller project to ensure they work as intended and to spot any difculties in implementing them before beginning the development on a bigger project. Blitzbowl will be released on web-service called Kongregate.

For more information about specic features tested, see Section 4. Technical Details. For more information about Engines of War visit http://www.xiphias.org

2. Story & Setting

3. Gameplay
3.1 Game Rules

Field Width = X Field Length = 2X Blitzbowl is played on rectangular eld which length is two times its width. The eld is split into ve areas, Blue Home, Blue Zone, Center Zone, Red Zone and Red Home. Red Home and Blue Home are small areas at the opposite ends of the eld. Blue Zone, Center Zone and Red Zone are 1/3 of the elds length each. In the middle of the Center Field theres a Ball Spot. Each team have 9 players each: 3 Linemen, 2 Enforcers, 2 Runners and 2 Throwers. A Blitzbowl match is separated into 3 rounds. A round ends when one of the team scores a goal by carrying the Ball to the opposite teams Home. Team with most goals at the end of the match is declared a winner. At the beginning of the round both teams have to position their players in their respective Zone. Blue team starts in the Blue Zone, Red team starts in the Red Zone. First round the Ball is placed in the Ball Spot, second and third round the ball is given to the rst lineman of the team that didnt score last round, if no one scored last round the ball is placed in the Ball Spot.

When both teams are ready the match begins One round lasts 3 Minutes. Players Lineman: Mediocre player without any particular skills. Strength: Normal Speed: Normal Enforcer: A strong player skilled in knocking down opponents. Strength: High Speed: Slow Runner: A fast player skilled in scoring goals. Strength: Normal Speed: High Thrower: A nimble player that is skilled in passing. Strength: Normal Speed: Normal Can pass the ball twice as far. Can catch the ball while in the air.

3.2 Controls & GUI

Main Menu In main menu player will be able to either join an existing server or host his own. Camera Camera is hovering above the playing eld, tilted 45 degrees down. {W}, {S}, {A} and {D} will pan the camera over the playing eld. Actions {Left Mouse Button} will select a player on your team. {Right Mouse Button} will give one of the following orders to the selected player: Move: If mouse cursor is above an empty spot. Orders the player to move there: Player moves to the designated spot and stays there until further orders. Attack: If mouse cursor is above an enemy player. Orders the player to attack the enemy player: Player moves towards the enemy player and upon reaching him their Strength stats are compared. The player with the lowest Strength gets knocked down for a brief period of time. If both players have the same Strength both players are knocked down. If the knocked down player holds a ball, he drops it in direction opposite to where the attacking player stood. Pick Up: If mouse cursor is above the ball. Orders the player to move there and pick up the ball. Hand Over: If mouse cursor is above an allied player and the selected player is holding a ball. Orders the player to move to the allied player and hand him the ball. Pass: If pass mode is selected by pressing the Pass button, selected player holds the ball, the mouse cursor is above an allied player that is within the passing zone. Orders the player to pass the ball towards the allied player.

Stop: If Stop button is pressed. Cancels all orders and makes the player stand still. Focus Each player begins the round with a full focus bar. If a player decides to activate the focus mode by pressing the focus mode button, the game will slow down to 0.5x of its normal speed and his focus bar will slowly decrease. If a player has an empty focus bar he cant activate focus mode until the next round. If both players activate focus mode then neither players focus bar will decrease.

4. Technical Details
Blitzbowl will be made in Unity with focus on web publishing. All graphic assets will be stylized to resemble Mode 7 graphics.

Blitzbowl will be a testing ground for some features to be used in Engines of War such as: Focus Mode (see Chapter 3.2) Order networking. Networking logic based around sending order commands between players.