03. Game Design Document
Our game proposes an adventure, a sequel to Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, where three interchangeable characters are playable, one at a time, each with its particular abilities and stats. The level design has been enlarged, so as to allow a free 8 directional movement. There are three levels surrounded with enemies of all kinds, and after defeating some of them the player gets access to a secret area (the "Secret Chamber") where a portion of the story is revealed when a huge horde is defeated. Additionally, once the Secret Chamber is cleared, the player is awarded an upgrade, that can be tested by going to the "Firing Range". In the third and last level, the player will have to defeat the final Boss.
In our game, you can choose in different moments by selecting the strategy more appropriate for your game style. The character that you play more time will have more improvements than the others. As well, when you overcome the Secret Chamber, you can select who will unlock the extra ability. During the game, it could buy in the store. When you do this, you have to decide who to give it to. As well, you can buy attack or defence objects, more powerful and expensive or less powerful and cheap, buy potions or portals to return a hall and can save.
This game is created around the combat mechanics. Our intention is to create a great experience and good combos when during fights. With the mechanic of the change the character into the fight and the personal abilities that each one has, we design combos which involves more than one of them. To regulate this and not to be able all the time, we implemented the cooldown of abilities because if you can do these combos all the time the fights lose all interest. Of course, If the skill is more powerful, his cooldown is longer.
it's one important characteristic because you only can save in the hall. This gives it a point of pressure al player in certain moments besides that it introduces the selection mentioned above in customize.
The three characters are siblings and acquaintances of the group of friends of the original story. At this moment in the history timeline, the new main characters are young and are in possession of the original book.
The three siblings do not get along quite well and they bother each other. One of them (the one who will be the magician) is a writer and decides to write a new book inspired by the original one. When finished, and hiding it from his brothers, he draws a spell from the original book in the new one, to try to relive the adventures of his older friends, and all three siblings are sucked into the book. Not everything goes well: once in the new world (a redoubt of Ivalice that had been sealed) they realize that they occupy the body of the same person. They have a shared conscience, but only one of them can take control of the body at a specific time. The other two characters hold a grudge against the magician, and also argue among themselves about what to do.
For every level, there is a parchment that contains information about a particular character. It turns out that the three of them had committed a deadly sin in real life (melee: wrath, mage: sloth, archer: pride) and that seems to be the reason of their arrival to Ivalice. In level 3 there is an extra parchment which reveals that the boss is responsible for bringing them to Ivalice, and for their enchantment.
With the new wisdom they have obtained and once they manage to defeat the last boss they will discover that the fact of having been together has actually taught them to be symbolically united and to trust each other, despite their differences. After being sincere with each other, the spell that keeps them hooked breaks and they come back to real life, where they end up reconciling. From that point on, as a teaching, the three of them will become less vicious and immoral people.
The player has the ability to swap between the three main characters at any given moment. This feature triggers a dynamic gameplay where the player can adapt the strategy depending on the enemies/traps types and positioning, and make combos with the different set of abilities of each character.
Although you can play the three characters, they all share a health bar. So, if one of them dies, they all do.
The player will select which character to use in every situation, and the summation of all these choices will determine how fast each character is levelled up. The character will do so by killing enemies, depending on the toughness of those and other factors. When a player attacks using an ability, there is a cooldown so as not to permit an abuse of them.
| Marche | Ritz | Shara | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Image | |
|
|
| Basic Attack | Sword Cut | Magic Stick Swing | Standard Arrow |
| Basic Defense | Sword Block | Magic Stick Block | Bow Block |
| Ability 1 | Scar of the Wind: a sword cut to the floor that generates a long-range lightning | Teleport: useful to dodge traps | Fire Arrow |
| Ability 2 | Tornado: a spinning attack, useful when surrounded by enemies | Medusa: petrifies enemies that are within the F.O.V. | Contagious Fire Arrow: the fire spreads to contiguous enemies |
| Ultimate | Rage of Sparta: enhanced speed and damage: The sword is much bigger and enemies are in slow motion | Death Circle: generates a magic area that causes great damage | Sky Shot: the player shots an arrow to the sky and an arrow shower descends from it |
Basic attacks are launched in a one-directional manner (the direction where the character is looking to).
Firstly, the player will be given the chance to test basic attack / defense and the ultimate while playing the tutorial. Soon afterwards, while on level 1, an ability will be unlocked, by script, no matter how many enemies are killed or how the player performs until that point. On contrast, the second ability depends on the player skill in order to be unlocked. That being said, the ultimate is always present and ready to be used. Moreover, abilities are granted to a single character. Upgrades are special, since the player has to select an specific ability of one of the characters to perform the upgrade.
The combat strategies developed by the player will change depending on the enemy structure: they can appear solo or by hordes, and there are common hordes and also hordes commanded by a stronger enemy or captain.
Here we have a list of the enemies of the game.
The final boss will appear in the third and last level. It has three different fighting patterns or sets of attacks. Each one is designed to be especially stronger against two of the three main characters. Therefore, the remaining one will have more chances of surviving during that pattern. This fact will be discovered by the player at the moment of the encounter with the boss, without any foreplanning.
The boss has got three patterns and an extra enemy spawning capability. In the first encounter with the boss, the first pattern is used against the player. Once the player defeats him, he runs away to another room. Nonetheless, the second fight is the most ferocious one. The spawning enemy ability consists in launching token enemies to try and defeat the player right away. The damage inflicted to them has also an impact on the boss health bar. Once this phase is cleared, the boss proceeds with his two remaining pattern attacks, that keep switching until the player knocks him. Finally, the boss launches the three attacks together, but the player has the ability to launch a combined ultimate with the three characters (without cooldown) in order to defeat him.
These enemies can drop potions or other items depending, again, on their level. Certain items can only be dropped by enemies with a minimum level, and all these items can be found at the store from the start of the game at a considerable price, except for rare ones, that appear at the store only after being discovered.
The death of the player comes along with losing 25% of the current money, so the player loses less money over consecutive deaths. In addition, when the player respawns at the main hall, enemies do exactly the same. Nonetheless, the inventory is kept at its current state, and experience points are not lost.
The main hall is a free roam area for the player with some functionalities to interact with. First of all, there is a store, where they can purchase items or upgrade their material. Besides that, there is a save point. Lastly, the main hall contains the firing range.
- In the beginning, the doors that conduct to the levels are all closed.
- The player enters a level.
- After having completed the level, the player obtains an upgrade and can go to the firing range to test it.
- After the test, the player is in the main hall and can save the game.
- The door to the next level can be accessed now.
After finishing a level, the player is sent to the Secret Chamber. There, the final horde of enemies awaits for him. This horde will have various types of enemies, sent in waves, and stronger stats. After surviving, as a reward, (s)he is given coins and an ability upgrade (unlocks a new ability). Then, (s)he is teleported to the Main Hall.
The firing range is a basic battle arena that serves as a tutorial area. At the beginning of the game, it hosts a brief intro level where the player learns the basic controls of the game, for instance, the movement and attack. Later on, when the player obtains an upgrade / ability, they have the opportunity to go to the firing range in the main hall. The reason being is the firing range offers simple combat to the player, against common enemies, where the user can test a new upgrade and also receive a bonus if the challenge is completed, so as to enter the new level more prepared.
The main focus of this section will be to explain the interest points and the loop inside each level.
NOTES
- The player is shown by the poster that (s)he has two path options (coins influence the choice)
- The player can try to shortcut going this way
- The player obtains a secret item, with lore of the story
- When the player enters this room, the entry doors close, and when (s)he kills all enemies, the exit door is opened
- The player obtains the keys to the Secret Chamber
- The Secret Chamber is that way
NOTES
- The minefield and the falling floor traps are designed to be easier to sort for the mage with the teleport ability
- (middle_left) --> These enemies are impossible to beat in the first encounter (down_right) --> In this area, enemies ambush the player. The best option is the melee character with the spinning cut ability
- The are two keys that open the two doors to the Secret Chamber
- After defeating the enemies the player obtains a new ability. In the room, two new doors open: the left one leads to the previous enemies (2), which can now be beaten
- The player can go to the Secret Chamber following either of the two paths
NOTES
- The player first follows the path with the pink arrow’s direction
- The keys to the Secret Chamber
- Parchments with lore
- The Secret Chamber is that way
- After the Secret Chamber, the player enters the level again. Now he goes through a new path that intersects with the first path
- The first encounter with the boss, which escapes to his castle.
- The path from 6) to 7) intersects with a previous path. Once in 7), the player goes through the stairs to the boss’ castle (final battle)
Original vs new map
The three levels
Notice that each level introduces new features:
- Introduces the puzzle item, apart from UI dialogues and other elements.
- Introduces traps and fast travel to the store
- Introduces NPC quests and a double boss fight, combined with the "going back" level design)
- Short Term: find items: secret item, keys, etc
- Mid Term: access new areas with them, battle the boss
- Long Term: learn the history of the three siblings and the outcome of Ivalice
In this section, we will discuss all the aspects that affect the field of vision in the game and the changes we will make with respect to our game Final Fantasy Dawn of Ivalice.
One of the most important elements in the field of vision is the camera. The camera will be fixed to the player and when the player moves, the camera will follow him in the corresponding direction. As the maps are isometric, there will be restrictions on the limits of these that block the movement of the camera.
There may be cases in which the isometric map is so small that it allows the player to move with absolute freedom without the camera having to move. The camera will suffer different types of speed in its movement depending on the movement of the player (walking, dash, etc).
Finally, the camera can generate glitch effects simulating seismic movements and letting the player know that danger is approaching.
Concept Art images remaining
The dungeon-like atmosphere in the game suggests that the map is made totally dark to the player except for the Field of View. This effect will be permanent. The player will have an illumination radius, where the elements that are near him are brighter. On the other hand, those that are far from him will be displayed darker.
| dualshock/xbox controller | Dualshock 4 | xbox controller | |
|---|---|---|---|
| X/A |  |
 |
interact |
| Square/X |  |
 |
Basic Attack |
| Circle/B |  |
 |
Parry /Dodge |
| R1/RB |  |
.png) |
Swap next character |
| L1/LB |  |
 |
Swap previous character |
| R2 /RT |  |
.png) |
Ability 1 |
| L2 /LT |  |
.png) |
Ability 2 |
| L2 & R2/LT & RT |
&
|
&
|
Ultimate |
| L3/LS |  |
 |
Move |
| Start |  |
 |
Menu |
| Select |  |
 |
Inventory |
In this segment, we are declaring a list of all the units, items, characters, and enemies stats. To say, that these are just a reference, and will be changed over time, in order to balance the game. The stats that our entities have are as follow: The stats are as follow:
-
Attack Speed (hits/sec) = Number of basic attacks per second that the character can make.
-
Cooldown (%) = Percentage of time that the cooldown of the abilities is reduced. This percentage is applied to all the abilities individually with its own cooldown.
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HP = Health points.
-
Defense = Stat that reduces the damage that the character receives.
-
Attack = Stat that increases the damage of the basic attack of the character.
-
Ability Power = Stat that increases the damage of the abilities of the character.
Ability Power and Cooldown are exclusive stats to the player.
A list with the characters' base stats.
| Name | Image | Attack | Ability Power | Defense | Attack Speed (hit/sec) | Movement Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shara |  |
25 | 5 | 15 | 0.7 | 1.5 |
| Marche |  |
40 | 5 | 25 | 0.4 | 1.5 |
| Ritz |  |
15 | 35 | 15 | 0.4 | 1.5 |
Notes:
Without any items, the characters have no cooldown reduction on their abilities.
The base Health Points are 100.
As mentioned in, Combat System, Health Points are shared between the characters, or, seen in another way, the player is the one with Health Points.
All these stats can be improved with items.
A list of the types of enemies in the game.
| Name | Image | Attack | HP | Movement Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blade Eater |  |
9 | 390 | 0.7 |
| Chaos |  |
18 | 90 | 0.9 |
| Fire Flan |  |
9 | 40 | 1.3 |
| Goblin |  |
12 | 100 | 1.5 |
| Granade |  |
15 | 20 | 1.4 |
| Ice Flan |  |
10 | 70 | 1.3 |
| Molbol |  |
15 | 150 | 1.3 |
| Pirodraco |  |
30 | 400 | 2.5 |
Here we have a list of the items that are available to use in the game. Most of these items are available in the store for its cost in gold, but some of them are not (cost marked as "-"). As mentioned in the Loot System, enemies can drop all of these items, even the ones that are not found in the store.
All of these items are exclusive for the player's characters and grant stats improvements.:
- Archer
| Weapon | Image | Attack | Defense | Ability Power | Attack Speed (hits/sec) | Cooldown (%) | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Bow |  |
10 | 0 | 0 | 0.6 | 0 | 0 |
| Artemis Bow |  |
23 | 5 | 0 | 0.8 | 0 | 250 |
| Perseus Bow |  |
27 | 5 | 5 | 1.2 | 10 | 900 |
| Hades Bow |  |
42 | 10 | 25 | 1.9 | 25 | - |
- Melee
| Weapon | Image | Attack | Defense | Ability Power | Attack Speed (hits/sec) | Cooldown (%) | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short Sword |  |
17 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 |
| Silver Sword |  |
25 | 5 | 6 | 0.3 | 5 | 550 |
| Power Sword |  |
35 | 15 | 20 | 0.2 | 15 | 1250 |
| Lethal Sword |  |
32 | 15 | 15 | 0.5 | 25 | - |
- Mage
| Weapon | Image | Attack | Defense | Ability Power | Attack Speed (hits/sec) | Cooldown (%) | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Rod |  |
2 | 0 | 10 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
| Thor's Rod |  |
2 | 2 | 13 | 0.1 | 10 | 250 |
| Princess Rod |  |
5 | 2 | 23 | 0.15 | 20 | 900 |
| Power Rod |  |
15 | 12 | 45 | 0.3 | 35 | - |
Each character has a special piece of equipment. This piece is the one that does not cover the chest and grants a specific improvement that suits fighting style of the character.
- Archer
| Armlet | Image | Defense | Attack Speed (hit/sec) | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adaman Armlets |  |
3 | 0.1 | 250 |
| Iron Armlets |  |
8 | 0.5 | 800 |
| Princess Armlets |  |
10 | 0.7 | - |
| Vest | Image | Defense | HP | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adaman Vest |  |
3 | 5 | 250 |
| Iron Vest |  |
9 | 15 | 800 |
| Princess Vest |  |
15 | 25 | - |
- Mage
| Hat | Image | Defense | Cooldown (%) | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Hat |  |
3 | 10 | 250 |
| Wizard Hat |  |
7 | 20 | 800 |
| Thunder Hat |  |
10 | 35 | - |
| Robe | Image | Defense | HP | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Robe |  |
4 | 5 | 250 |
| Wizard Robe |  |
11 | 15 | 800 |
| Thunder Robe |  |
15 | 20 | - |
- Melee
| Helmet | Image | Defense | Attack | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze Helmet |  |
10 | 5 | 250 |
| Opal Helmet |  |
20 | 10 | 500 |
| Diamond Helmet |  |
45 | 30 | - |
| Armor | Image | Defense | HP | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze Armor |  |
15 | 10 | 250 |
| Golden Armor |  |
30 | 15 | 500 |
| Diamond Armor |  |
70 | 27 | - |
| Name | Image | Description | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Potion |  |
Restores 25 HP over 5 seconds | 100 |
| Ultra Potion |  |
Restores 75 HP over 8 seconds | 200 |
| Fenix Tail |  |
Opens a portal that allows the player to fast-travel to the Lobby and go back to the point in the map this item was used. This portal has one use only. | 2500 |
The player can not have two potions active at a time. Once the effect of a potion is over, he can use another potion.
