1 P a g e. Contents. Overview. Gameplay. Core Loop. Level Generator. Combat. Enemies. Looting. Levelling. In game store.

Transcription

1 Contents Overview Gameplay Core Loop Level Generator Combat Enemies Looting Levelling In game store Integration Boons, curses and world effects Interface Browser Shop Tips and monetisation Commercial Target Market Competition Marketing Strategy Price Point Additional Example boons and curses References 1 P a g e

2 Dungeons Deep is a dungeon crawler with a twist; Twitch chat decides the challenges adventurers face. The increasing popularity of game streaming services such as Twitch.tv has led to the rise of integration games. These offer interactive experiences where viewers in chat are no longer a passive audience watching a game being played, but an active part of gameplay and decision making. Dungeons Deep aims to take this a step further, in allowing users to influence the generation of dungeon levels. Viewers can also alter rooms, spawn enemies, loot, and manipulate the physics of the game world. This interactivity is positive both for broadcasters, who actively search for ways to engage their community, and viewers, who thrive from a feeling of connectedness with the stream. Through use of the new twitch overlays feature, games with integration have ever growing potential for the future as a new and innovative way of playing games. 2 P a g e

3 Dungeons Deep follows the familiar format of the dungeon crawler genre, both to emphasize simplicity, and to give immediate understanding to new viewers who may join midway through broadcasts. If viewers cannot immediately grasp the core concept of the game, or are confused about what the player must do, this can result in chat being flooded with questions, or watchers simply leaving. Players adventure first person through a single level, fighting monsters and acquiring loot before returning through a portal to a central hub world for upgrades. Whilst a level is played, viewers vote on the conditions of the next dungeon level that the streamer will face. These are then taken into account by a level generator, which favours placements of rooms and monsters that received the highest chat votes. Enter new dungeon level Player hub & Upgrades Combat & looting Enter new dungeon level Find portal The player chooses to advance to the next level of the dungeon, entering a portal in the hub world to begin. Combat and looting Passing through rooms and corridors, the player encounters different challenges in the form of enemies or special rooms (see room types) The player also receives loot, that helps them to survive the level and xp, which contributes to their levelling. Find Portal When found, portals give the option of returning home to the hub world. One portal is spawned per level, with boss kills guaranteeing an automatic portal spawn. Player hub and upgrades Returning to the player hub, any experience gathered is totalled and players will level up if they have sufficient points. After being transported to the player hub, upgrades found in loot can be applied, talents selected, and any cosmetic items bought by viewers are delivered. Player stats The player has health points, which are reduced by damage taken from enemies. It can be replenished with food or health potions. The player also has stamina (used for sword and bow) and mana (used for staff). Using weapons depletes mana and stamina, which regenerates over time. Death STATE If a player s health points reach zero, the player character dies and is respawned at the start of the dungeon in the summoning room. Each time a player dies, a random item of equipment loses 1 durability point as a penalty. If a piece of armour or weapon loses all of its durability points, it is destroyed (see p_ for more information on durability) 3 P a g e

4 Each level that is accessed through the portal has a premade layout. However, set rooms of this can be altered by the decisions of viewers in chat. There are 4 main categories of rooms that can be spawned : Trap Rooms A room that holds an obstacle that the player has to overcome to either unlock another room, or simply to pass through to progress further in the dungeon. E.g) Jumping puzzles, timed runs and logic puzzles Loot Rooms A room containing a chest/chests of loot. Often these must be unlocked from other rooms by triggering a lever or obtaining a key. Monster Rooms Rooms filled with mob level enemies that reward xp and small amounts of gold and loot when killed. Boss Rooms One boss room is guaranteed per level, however additional boss rooms may spawn depending on chat votes. Contains an enemy of higher health and damage than base mobs, often requiring additional tactics to defeat. Several of these rooms have been created separately as pre-fabs in many variations of size, contents and theme. 1) The generator totals the chat votes that were contributed in the previous level voting e.g) Trolls or Centaurs? 2) Based on the winning vote, the generator places a greater number of these in the level The level may still have trolls, centaurs and skeletons. However, the winning vote of troll ensures there will be more trolls spawned 3) In spawning monster room slots, the generator is more likely to pick those rooms. More troll rooms are placed. 4 P a g e

5 Fighting enemy creatures in the dungeons is the main obstacle that players face in completing a level. With the focus on the integration features, combat is kept simple and easy to grasp. Players have access to 3 weapons at all times, which can be switched between using the scroll wheel. Each weapon has one basic attack, bound to left click Right click triggers and area of effect attack, with the ability to hit 3 nearby enemies Simultaneously holding right and left click activates a power attack, only available when the stamina bar has reached maximum Weapon types : Attack Type Sword Staff Bow Left Click Swing in a front cut, dealing damage to a single enemy in front of you Fire a single magical bolt of light Fire a single bolt in a direction. Aim higher to send the projectile further. Right Click Swing in an arc, hitting up to 3 enemies within range Send a cluster of 3 bolts that travel in differing directions (See picture) Fire 3 arrows at once, dealing damage to any enemy they land on. Power attack Rage Spin in a circle for 3 seconds, dealing damage to any enemies hit Orb Shoot a large orb of light from your current position, travelling in one direction. Deals damage to all enemies it passes through Rapid Fire Fire with increased speed for 5 seconds Left Click Damage 3 Damage 3 Damage 3 Damage Right Click Damage 1 Damage 1 Damage 1 Damage (To each enemy) Power attack Damage 3 Damage 3 Damage 3 Damage Players can upgrade their damage by levelling up (See p 8) and finding new weapons. 5 P a g e

6 Creatures in the game are classed as one of two categories: bosses or mobs Mobs Have lower health, reward low amounts of xp, and rarely drop loot or gold Bosses Higher health, heavier hitting attacks, often require tactics to defeat There are many different categories of enemy, based on classic RPG enemies and races. The main attacks of enemies are based on the same systems as the player character, with some enemies using melee weapons, ranged combat, or magic. In addition, the game takes into account the same weapon class system as many RPGs, in that some types of enemies are vulnerable to certain classes of attack. Melee Characters Take more damage from Ranged attacks Ranged Characters Take more damage from melee attacks Many Creatures also have a number of different abilities that can affect the player such as : Stealth Some enemies can appear invisible for short amounts of time, and can only be revealed by a successful damage hit Poison Afflict the player with a draining poison, depending on the creature, this drains either health or mana from the player Frost Reduces the players movement speed, and freezes their health bar preventing them from passively regenerating health while affected. Fire Coats the player character in fire, dealing damage while it is active. Cancelled after time is elapsed, or by interacting with a water source Flying High flying creatures cannot be hit with melee attacks, these can only be damaged with ranged weapons such as the staff or bow. Explosive These creatures explode when their health bar is fully depleted, dealing damage to any characters within range Mazers Leave a sticky trail behind them, if the player character steps in this, they cannot move for 5 seconds Rage When reaching less than 25% health, enter a frenzied state and deal higher damage until death Boss monsters often take several of these mechanics and combine them, or use one mechanic in a more complex way 6 P a g e

7 As players adventure through dungeon levels, they find loot both from the rooms they encounter, and the creatures that they fight. Currency always has a chance of dropping during combat, as opposed to the dropping of loot items which is much rarer. There are 3 main types of loot that can be found as rewards during a dungeon level: Gold Pieces Large amount of gold are commonly found contained within chests in loot rooms. They also have a low chance to drop from mobs, and a guaranteed drop chance from boss creatures. Each dungeon level also rewards a base amount of gold for completing it when reaching the end portal. Levelling the player character also causes the player to receive a sum of gold pieces, progressively more as their level increases. Gold is purely an in-game currency, and not avaliable for viewers to buy for the streamer. This prevents the audience from impacting gameplay by allowing high level items to be bought immediately. Gold found can be used to purchase items at a store in the player hub offering armour, weapons and potions for sale. Weapons & weapon enhancements Individual weapons of the three types can drop during a level (bow, sword and staff) however are very rare. Weapon drops will only happen on a successful boss kill, or in a gold tier loot chest. These weapons are assigned at a randomised weapon tier from 1-4 and may have other enchantments (see in game store section) More commonly, the player will find weapon enhancements, these can be applied to existing weapons in order to add another effect. Weapons of tier 2 strength have a single enhancement slot, with each increasing weapon tier having another avaliable slot up to a maximum of 3. For example, the 4 tiers for swords avaliable through the in game store : Name Tier Enhancement Slots Training Sword 1 0 Axe 2 1 Morningstar 3 2 Golden Sword 4 3 Potions & Food Potions are very commonly found as both mob drops and loot chest rewards. Healing and mana/stamina potions instantly regenerate those bars, appearing in 3 different sizes, small, medium, and large. Food also effects these stats, however, instead it regenerates them over time. Food items will continue to regenerate the stat is relates to by small increments for a set time period. Just as potions do, food has 3 categories of strength; ration, hearty and feast. Some food and potion items also have an additional effect that is applied to the character for the duration. For example) Eating fermented herring pie, in addition to restoring health, gives players the buff fetid breath, that causes all enemy creatures first entering melee range to temporarily flee. 7 P a g e

8 Experience points are gained in the level from defeating monsters, a set amount of experience is also always rewarded on successful completion of a level. At the end of a level, the experience earned is totalled, displaying a filling bar to indicate how far the player is from their next level. The number of experience points needed to progress to the next level increases with the level by a modifier of 0.4x Level Experience points needed Rewards for levelling On a successful level up, a players total health, mana and stamina pools increase by 10 points each. Levelling also increases the damage modifier for each weapon, both single target and AoE attacks Increasing amounts of gold are also rewarded for levelling The player chooses a new skill Choosing a skill To keep to the core of the game as simple to understand for viewers, and easy for streamers to navigate, the skills selection is a choice based system. This is highly inspired by Ziggurat s (Milkstone Studios, 2014) skill system, as referenced in the literature review document. The player is given the choice of 3 different skills at each level and can pick one that most suits their playstyle. Options can be directly damage based, weapon or utility and resource related. When a skill level up is avaliable, the integration also begins a poll for chat. Viewers can select which talent they would have picked, the streamer can choose to view this and have it influence their decision. 8 P a g e

9 Between levels when the player returns to the hubworld, while here they can visit the store to buy armour, weapons, and potions with the gold they have earned. The weapons and armour on sale are offered in sets of 4 tiers of progressing improvement. In order to purchase the next tier of armour, the player must have a full set of the previous tier. Similarly with weapons, the weapon of the tier before must be already owned before the next can be bought. Armour Armour protects the player in their adventures, each piece of armour has two stats that affect gameplay : Protection When hit by an enemy creature, the higher the players protection level, the less damage is taken Durability Each piece of armour has a set number of durability points. When a player dies during a level, a durability point is removed from a random piece of armour. When durability points reach zero on an armour piece, that item is destroyed and must be rebought from the store. Each type of combat has a different armour set associated with it. Players can wear all of one type of combat gear, or mix different types to achieve their bonuses. For each type of armour, there are 4 different tiers of increasing protection, durability and buff. Each set contains 5 items for each body slot (head, hands, legs, feet, chest) In order to purchase the next tier of armour, the player must have bought the all of the previous tier of items with gold. Melee armour set progression Material Protection Durability points Leather 1 2 Chainmail 2 3 Plate 3 4 Golden 4 5 Magic set progression Material Protection Durability points Dabbler 1 2 Apprentice 2 3 Archmage 3 4 Grand magus 4 5 Ranged set progression Material Protection Durability points Scout 1 2 Sharpshot 2 3 Precision 3 4 toxophilite P a g e

10 Weapons Similarly, to armour, weapons also have a durability point score attached to them, which increases based on the rank of the item. The speed at which the weapon attacks also increases, with melee swings and projectiles taking a shorter time to hit. Weapon damage is also increased from the base values for single target (3) and AoE hits (1) with each weapon rank by 1 point Weapon Durability points Melee Speed RANK (swiftness of Melee swings) (seconds) Single target damage (Left click) Training sword Axe Morningstar Golden sword Damage dealt by Aoe (right click) Weapon Durability points Magic Speed RANK (Rate bolts cast) Single target damage Knobbled branch Jewelled Staff Rod of Reckoning Archmages staff Ranged Aoe damage Weapon Durability points Speed RANK (Rate arrows fired) Single target damage Wooden bow Longbow Recurve Crossbow Aoe damage potions Players can also buy health, stamina and mana potions for gold, as well as food. Any items bought will be transferred into their inventory and are able to be used at any time during the dungeon level. Potions and food items are ranked in the same way that they are also found when dropped in the levels Potions : small, medium, and large Food : ration, hearty and feast. Larger versions cost a greater amount of gold, and restore more of the desired stat. 10 P a g e

11 Viewers have a direct influence on the game in being able to vote on the contents of the level and purchasing cosmetic items from a browser shop. Dungeons Deep integrates directly into the twitch video feed using the extensions feature, and allows people watching the streamer to choose 3 different categories that effect the level : Boon positive starting effect Players choose one permanent positive buff that benefits the player and lasts for the duration of that level Examples : Potionmaster (Receive more health, mana and stamina when drinking potions) Golden Eye When looting gold, the player has a chance to receive bonus gold Curse negative ongoing status A hindering effect that lasts the level. Examples : Fragile Player starts the level with a reduced health pool Fussy Eater Food restores less health points when eaten World Affects the creature and dungeon layout Changes the types of creature spawned and their conditions. Also, can effect world physics (gravity, speed) and rooms spawned. Example : Rest in pieces All enemies explode on death Hyperactive The player character moves at double speed Many twitch integration games have a major flaw in that they do not allow for chat delays. This causes many users to be unable to vote before the system has decided the outcome. Dungeons Deep approaches this in a different way, allowing chat users to vote on the next level that will be played as the streamer is progressing through the first. Viewers can also vote when the streamer has completed the level and is applying upgrades and buying items in the hub world. This ensures that all viewers have a large portion of time to contribute before voting is closed. 11 P a g e

12 The game interface itself is as minimal as possible, only displaying the players health, mana, and stamina as a bar, and a single inventory button. This is to attempt to apply the game particularly well to streaming, as games with complex interfaces often create problems with streamer s overlays. Streamers often have several different objects that must be displayed on screen whilst live including webcam, recent tips, followers, subscribers, goals and alerts. This also leaves adequate space for the overlay used as part of player voting to appear at the side of the screen when activated. Chat interface How does a viewer vote? 1) Mousing over the video player where the stream is playing displays the game icon 2) Clicking the icon activate a drop down menu of transparent silhouettes that represent the boon, curse, and world variables 3) Hovering over each of the icons brings up a popup with a description of each variable 4) When the player has decided which they would like to vote for, clicking on one of each category selects it as their choice and changes the colour to a solid white 5) The extension minimises again once the individuals vote has been counted If viewers wish to change their vote at any point, they can repeat the process and reselect the icons. 12 P a g e

13 Bits are Twitch s virtual currency. Viewers are able to buy packs of bits in differing amounts for real money and donate these to streamers as a way of securely tipping them for their entertainment. Streamers often have a variation of alerts that trigger, playing a sound or animation depending on the amount of currency tipped. 100 bits is roughly equivalent to just over a pound in value Dungeons Deep allows viewers to buy cosmetic items for streamers in game through using this virtual currency. Clicking the game logo while the extensions feature is expanded opens a new browser tab There are listed a number of different skins for weapons and armour, animations, and themes for the hub world, each with a price listed. These are kept to cosmetic items rather than items, upgrades and potions to limit the impact that trolling or spam donating has on the game world. Viewers can choose to purchase these items. A small portion of the payment is taken as a way of monetising the game, while the remaining triggers a twitch bot to donate the rest as bits, which the streamer receives. 13 P a g e

14 Donating bit as normal in chat or subscribing on the channel page also produces an effect in game. Mystery rooms Tipping through bits or donating 10 or 1000 bits in chat spawns a mystery room This room is added to the next level that the streamer will face, and either contains a loot chest, or a large collection of dangerous monsters. The player will receive an alert that a mystery room has been spawned somewhere within the level, and can be recognised by being a set of closed doors with a question mark emblem. It is the streamers choice as to whether or not they will enter the room, if they choose not to enter the room they can also take a cowards prize of a single gold by interacting with the door. Blood sacrifice bar For each bit that is donated, a small amount of blood is added to a bar at the side of the UI. If the bar reaches full, a blood sacrifice is performed and a difficult additional boss is summoned. These bosses are optional, but as bosses have a much higher chance of rewarding loot. Viewers can choose to subscribe to a channel to support a streamer monthly at 4.99, 9.99, and levels. If a viewer subscribes while Dungeons Deep is the active game, their username will appear on in game loot and items including food, potions, armour and weapons. Their name can also appear as a mob s name, or as a bosses title. For example : Weapon : The Staff of Ziopliukas Food : Hearty Foz Bread Roll Boss : Ashen the Terrible 14 P a g e

15 Twitch is the largest video game live streaming platform on the internet, it is increasingly gathering attention from both inside and outside the gaming industry as it continues to boom in popularity. Recently, Twitch was purchased by Amazon for $970 million dollars and has since integrated many features such as amazon prime. Target Market As last record during February this year, Twitch boasts 100+million monthly unique users, with more than 2.2 million of those being streamers. Streamers actively search for games that engage their viewers, as this generates a larger number of channel views as well as fostering interaction and a sense of community. Dungeons Deep markets itself towards streamers, as the individuals that will be purchasing the game. However, also targeting twitch viewers who may be interested in seeing their favourite streamers playing the game may prove effective. On a community and fanbase built on hype, the conversation and curiosity that can be generated both by streamers and fans, the more likely it is to become a popular and high-ranking gaming category on the Twitch directory. Competition Twitch integration games are a brand-new genre, with most games including any kind of voting system only introduced as recently as As a game built with Twitch integration in mind from the initial stages of development, Dungeons Deep is in a unique position compared to others on the market that are currently avaliable. Most existing games with integration require viewers to visit an external website in order to participate or download an app on their phone. Dungeons Deep makes use of the new Twitch extensions feature, which was released in September of There are currently no other existing games that take advantage of the ability to use an overlay directly integrated into the twitch website video feed. The ease and simplicity of being able to stay on the channel page to participate increases the likelihood that viewers will participate. Lag and connectivity issues are common in most currently avaliable Twitch integration games. This can lead to viewers missing the opportunity to vote or participate in game modes. Dungeons Deep using an integrated feed allows the game to respond much faster, reducing lag. As discussed in the literature review assessment, the majority of integration games are party style games, or minigames that may not hold interest beyond one play session. This causes them to often be played for one stream and not broadcasted again, as they have limited entertainment value to the stream audience. Dungeons Deep, while emphasising simplicity, aims to have an experience that is engaging enough in terms of gameplay to allow for progression and multiple play sessions. 15 P a g e

16 Monetisation The majority of revenue earned from the game will be through selling copies of the game to streamers. However, with the browser shop system also takes cut of any purchases that are bought with bits which allows the game to continue generating revenue after release. New cosmetic items can be made to generate additional interest and revenue, including seasonal items and themed packs which viewers and streamers can purchase. Marketing Strategy Keys for Influencers Distribute game keys to a select group of Twitch Partnered streamers whose main stream focus is on community interaction. Encourage them to play the game on stream, and in addition, tweet about their experiences with the game on social media. The key idea is to boost interaction between streamers about the game, as there are often close relationships between broadcasters. If one streamer has a positive experience with the game and shares it, it is likely that others will also try the game with their community. Front Page Twitch s featured streams on the home page of the website are rotated frequently, often featuring partnered broadcasters and esports events. Twitch respond to application to appear on front page, and are very positive towards any streams that offer something unique, including those that feature twitch integration, as seen by their promotion of integration game events. Choice Chamber (2015, Studio Bean), a choice-based twitch integration game was the only game to be ever fully funded by Twitch and marketed by Twitch. Others such as Pure Chess received significant front page slots. In order to promote their launch, the company challenged a hive mind of Twitch viewers to play against a special guest and grandmaster of chess, Simon Williams. Front page time allows for a high level of exposure, often generating additional press, social media coverage, and spreading news about the game to potential broadcasters. Price Point Other games that were studied in the literature review of the same genre are priced below 20 in price, such as : Jackbox Party Pack (18.99) Clustertruck (10.99) Choice Chamber (6.99) Due to the potential for replayability and functioning as a full game, rather than many of these that are party style minigames, Dungeon Deep could take the middle of the genre and occupy the range at a provisional price point. 16 P a g e

17 Boons Increase Mana Increase Health Increase Stamina Find more gold When you are hit, you recover mana When you are hit, you recover stamina Enemies are more likely to drop weapons Enemies are more likely to drop armour Mana regenerates faster Health regenerates faster Stamina regenerates faster You have infinite mana until you are hit You have infinite stamina until you are hit Treasure rooms are more likely to spawn CurseS And world Floor is lava (touching paving tiles damages you) Switches your health and mana pools randomly Switches your mana and stamina pools randomly Double the number of enemies spawned in each room Maximum health is halved Maximum mana is halved Maximum stamina is halved Take more damage from hits Health regenerates more slowly Mana regenerates more slowly Movement speed is halved Casting speed is reduced Melee speed is reduced Health potions grant more healing When hit you become invulnerable for 1 second Movement speed increased Chance of stunning an enemy when hitting with melee Chance of freezing an enemy when hitting with magic Double damage for spells, you spend 3 times as much mana for every attack On taking damage have a chance to release aoe projectiles Greater attack rate, lower stamina and mana pools Increased chance of looting health over mana potions Enemies close to you are poisoned Damage taken reduced Swap between weapons instantly 17 P a g e

18 REferences All icons from gameicons.net bits image from twitch.tv/bits Milkstone Studios (2014), Ziggurat, Milkstone Studios, video game Subscribe and screenshot mockups modified from Twitch.tv screenshots 18 P a g e

19 19 P a g e