Daydream - Final Design Doc

Overview

• Daydream is a visual-oriented casual game where the player takes on the role of a bored
  student daydreaming in class. Throughout the course of the lecture, distractions and
  waking hallucinations will try to lure the player into interaction. If engaged, these 'minigames'
  will cause the room and its inhabitants to change, ultimately drowning out the
  professor and the classroom setting. At the end of gameplay, a test will be administered
  who's difficulty will be determined by how much attention was paid to the lecturer.

Prototyping and Testing

• For prototyping, we chose to work with a projector and paper cutouts to simulate the
  final frame of the application. The main peripheral for this testing was a laser pointer,
  used to emulate a mouse cursor. We paid close attention to how the user interacted
  with each element, where their focus in the frame tended to lie, and how space was
  utilized.
• We used ‘Wizard of Oz’ prototyping techniques; there were no concrete rules or
  frameworks at this stage.
•  

Design Development

• Art Direction

• Initially we started with a spread of different art styles to choose from. We
  narrowed this down to three distinct styles: paper cut-out, live action, and stick
  figures. Upon reviewing some further material from these styles, we settled
  upon live action.
• We plan to take apart live action material and animate it segment by segment.

• Gameplay Development

• The mini-game concept came after our brainstorming session yielded many
  broad but insufficiently complex game ideas. We decided to implement a lot of
  these concepts as the transformations in the scene, or smaller portions of an
  overall game.
• We eventually came up with the Daydream concept as a framework to
  implement and connect all of these different gameplay experiences.
• In order to experiment with the concepts of ‘losing’ and ‘winning’, we also
  introduced the idea of the player participating in a lecture. While the user still
  has agency, this gives the game a definite end point and lose condition.

• Monty Python’s Complete Waste of Time Case Study

• Upon reviewing this similar game, we found that sounds played an important
  role in the overall experience of these art games. As such, we plan to spend
  some time researching and collecting appropriate sounds for each mini-game
  and interaction.
• Complete Waste of Time also incorporated random, spontaneous events as well
  as elements of interaction. We felt this was a valuable asset and as such, we will
  be implementing random daydream effects beyond the mini-game interactions.

Gameplay

• The Setting
• • The game will take place in a lecture hall. Gameplay will start as soon as the
    lecture is introduced and the discussion is underway.
• Random Events
• • From a neutral lecture state, various events will occur in the game space. Some
    of these are related to mini-games (such as pop-ups occurring on the computer)
    or totally self-contained (such as the students’ heads floating around).
• Mini-Games
• • The mini-games will encompass the entire game space upon their initialization.
    As they are further interacted with, they will become more and more intense,
    ultimately shutting out the lecture entirely.
  • There are three of these games to be played within Daydream, each starting
    from some key object in the room: a poster of flowers, a rock-and-roll t-shirt,
    and a computer monitor.
  • Flowers
  • • After beginning this game, the world will start to take on a more lighthearted
      feel. Flowers will spring forth from nearly every surface and
      colors will become more saturated and vibrant. Eventually, cheery music
      will overcome the lecture, the frame of the application will become rosy
      and tinted, and the lecturer will turn into a giant, smiling, sun.
    • Interaction: To begin the flower mini-game, the user must click inside the
      poster on the wall. This will cause a person inside the poster to frolic to
      the mouse’s location. Upon the mini-game taking full effect, other
      interaction such as clicking on any point in the room to grow a flower will
      take place.
  • Internet
  • • Once this game is started, the world will take on the aesthetics of popular
      internet culture and web browsers. Pop-ups containing popular YouTube
      videos will appear randomly around the room. A scrollbar will appear on
      the right-hand side of the frame and the lecturer will turn into a voiceover
      pop-up ad. Students in the class will start to spawn IM bubbles
      containing text over their heads.
    • Interaction: To begin the internet game, the user must start by clicking
      off pop-ups in the computer monitor. Further interaction will come in
      engaging the animated pop-ups around the room.
  • Rock Out(!)
  • • Once this game is started, the world will take on the aesthetics of a rock
      show. The lecturer will turn into a member of KISS, lighting will become
      spotted and colorful, fog machines will turn on in the corners, and heavy
      metal music will begin to play.
    • Interaction: To begin the rock out game, the user must click on the t-shirt
      then begin pressing up and down to head bang. As user continues to
      head bang, the music will get louder and the cursor will turn into a devil
      horns hand gesture.
• Exiting Mini-Games
• • In order to leave a mini-game, the user must rapidly click on the lecturer or some
    element of the lecture. You can only engage one mini-game at a time, and you
    must do so from a neutral lecture state.
• The Quiz
• • At the end of gameplay (once the lecture has finished), the user will be given a
    quiz. This quiz’s difficulty will be based on how much time was spent in a neutral
    state listening to the lecture. Upon failing the quiz, the game will be reset.

Implementation Plan

• New Roles
• • Our designers will be shifting to a more production-oriented role by creating art
    assets, programming, and other tasks.
  • Anton Sigety will be moving from concept art to art direction, overseeing all of
    the assets.
• Rough Timeline
• • Programming
  • • Create the neutral state of the game. Implement frameworks for random
      events and hook-ins for interactions.
    • Begin working on the video importing. We need in-frame video (such as
      YouTube) as well as a video setting (the classroom).
    • Begin programming the specifics for each mini-game.
    • Program the quiz and its ability to reset the game state.
  • Art
  • • Find an actor to play the lecturer whom we may take billboarded
      pictures. This is so we can dynamically animate him as we see fit.
    • Take video pictures of a lecture setting to use as the backdrop.
    • Begin finding or producing the assets for each mini-game (pictures and
      sound).
    • Break down the art assets in Illustrator in order to animate them.

PDF

• A copy of this design document can be found here.