Subversion Inc. presents…

Overview

Goals Balanced Asymmetry High tension between hunter and hunted Close call moments

Story Raven, a young girl, possesses a magical talisman given to her

by her dying mother The Wizard, who greatly desires Raven’s talisman, which will give

him immortal life, kidnaps Raven As Raven is being captured, she notices magical portals in the

ground Afraid of being sacrificed, she manages to escape from her cell

and steals a cloak to blend in with the Wizard’s minions and begins looking for talismans to escape the Catacombs.

Development

Started out as a cop vs. serial killer/thief game Tense Dark Many subtasks (murdering five people, stealing three items, etc.)

Shifted to scientist game Closed area Objective to gather items in order to escape Hunter controls the environment

Decided on medieval Catacombs game Game engine lent itself well to medieval game Fit maze environment Allowed for magic

Map

Map Small enough to force

encounters Enough carefully chosen

paths to give raven some options Central room to make

navigation faster but riskier Outer rooms, slower

navigation, less risk of being found

Enough exits from rooms to make entrapment difficult

Map Each room was designed to have a different theme

Smoke room makes visibility hard for the Wizard Forest room is difficult for Raven because of the collisions

Barriers & Talismans

Barriers are placed in the middle of every hallway Makes barrier placement intuitive for the wizard More room for Raven compared to other schemes Placing barriers at the end creates death traps

Talismans always appear in the same place on a given map Rewards experienced players

Wizard knows where Raven is when she takes a talisman Raven knows where to go for certain talismans

Helps beginners Until talismans are learned, a power can be attached to an

area

Minions

Minions wear one of 10 possible color cloaks which are randomly assigned

Have different behaviors such as walking through hallways, moving to face each other after a collision, moving in different directions randomly, and standing still.

Minions are placed on the map depending on the map difficulty and desired effect Example – Corridor walkers on corridors Example – Many friendly minions together

Minions

React to Raven when raven runs either chasing her or running away from her Discourages running to promote encounters and increase game

length As the game goes on can narrow the areas Raven can freely

travel Minions do not move diagonally in their normal behavior but

they do move diagonally when running away or chasing Raven Makes it easier for Raven to mimic normal behavior Makes it easier for the Wizard to notice when Raven is being

chased

Exit and Character Placement

Two exits, Raven, and the Wizard are spawned in different locations every new game

Spawning locations are designed to be set in different quadrants of the map to ensure Raven, the Wizard, and exits don’t spawn next to each other

Proximity Rings There are three proximity rings to alert the users to

the proximity of the opponent Closest ring is roughly the size of the screen Second closest ring is roughly a quarter of the map

Each ring has a unique song associated with it Songs were chosen to convey changing sense of urgency

There is a HUD representation to show ring changes

Wizard

Wizard

Unique character model Distinct from minions Raven sees the Wizard coming

Knows when to focus on blending in

Speed advantage over Raven Raven cannot easily escape

Game does not devolve into chase Exploration

Can visit many rooms quickly and catch up to Raven Triangulation

Quick movements on edge of proximity rings allow for narrowing down Raven’s location or tracking movements

Wizard

Barrier placement Wizard’s resource for strategic hunting Limit Raven’s ability to navigate the map

Can eliminate the direct routes through the map Can seal off specific areas forcing Raven to

develop a counter-strategy that is more predictable

Potential to trap Raven in a corner room When closing in on Raven in certain locations,

can completely block all exits until the player attempts to capture

Barriers

Blocks corridor between rooms Barriers placed on specific spots in center of corridors

Map limit of 4 Wizard cannot block off too much of the map Small corner rooms and long corridors still possible trap zones

Removable Wizard has the freedom to lift the previously placed barriers Allows Wizard the capability to move through his own blockades

Triggered at a distance Closest barrier spot to Wizard highlighted, activated by button Can strategically cut off escape routes without being immediately next to

the spot Wizard’s attention not consumed by barrier placement

Can do so quickly while still running through the map Doesn’t distract much from focusing on character movement

Capture

Small capture radius Sufficiently small to rule out chance guess Large enough to catch a moving or surrounded Raven

Miscaptures costly Penalties

Removes all placed barriers Wizard is frozen for several seconds Cool down period before Wizard can capture again

Allows Raven to briefly escape the Wizard Forces Wizard to narrow down characters and be as

sure as possible

Raven

Raven

Identical to other minions Blends in perfectly

Behavior and music distinguish her from the rest

Ability to run Draws attention of minions

Possible to run, but discouraged

Talismans Objective for Raven

Balance sneaking with item retrieval Wizard aware of remaining talismans

Wizard tracks opponent’s progress Gives sense of urgency

Signals location of Raven Encourages encounters

Capture subset Raven develops strategies for retrieval

Order along with use Gives player options

Discourages camping

Powers Makes game play more fun for Raven Balanced with Wizard’s abilities

Ability to evade and escape

Talisman Powers Rush

Minions charge the Wizard Hinders Wizard Shifts attention away from Raven

Rabbit Minions move around the Wizard frantically Increases Raven’s speed

Allows Raven to blend while moving quickly Disorients Wizard

Chameleon Raven does not attract attention of minions

Gives freedom of movement Changes color of Raven’s cloak

Blast Destroys doors around Raven

Frees Raven from traps

Deafen Disables music for the Wizard so Raven can slip away

Changing the Game

Heads Up Display

Talisman display Layout corresponds to map location

Wizard can easily see where Raven has just been Gives new players basic layout

Highlight available talismans Inventory system for Raven

Proximity zone Visual component for proximity

Wizard barrier inventory Shows doors placed

Testing

Procedure 3 rounds of testing Half of the sessions in the same room, half in

different rooms Metrics about game play were recorded Testers would answer a questionnaire after

playing three games as each character Iterations and refactoring after each testing

round

Testing Results

Round 1 Music moods were not mapped intuitively Face-to-face encounters were the most enjoyable Difficult to use talismans

Round 2 Map size was adequate Barrier placement and positions not intuitive Capture cool-down needed visual feedback HUD refactoring very helpful

Round 3 Barrier usage increased Initial player balance achieved

What Went Right

Game engine Simple to use Looks good

Achieved desired tension Wizard must study AI behavior to win Raven must work to blend in Replay value

Competitive vibe Team cohesion

What Went Wrong

Balance More experienced players find Wizard unbeatable Newer players have more difficulty with the Wizard

Learning curve Player abilities were confusing Wizards do not know what to look for

Collision bugs Bug with the game engine Lingering bugs

Future Development

Balance Wizard’s power

Increasing over time Additional proximity ring Changing window size for the Wizard

Handicap Auto-balancing game for different levels of players Proximity zones dynamically change with threshold

New maps Maps for different difficulty levels

Different barrier count Based on the complexity of the map

New features of AI Minions can walk across the map and try to pass all the talisman

locations until the end of the game

Future Development

Balance New features of AI

Some minions can change behavior randomly every minute

Erratic minion behavior and false positives

Additional features Achievements Teams Single player Visual cues and effects Tutorial levels