Final Project: Soul Divide

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Soul Divide

A Journey Through The Mind

By: Allan Estes


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Table of Contents

Premise: Page 3

Features: Page 3

Player motivation: Pages 3-4

Character descriptions: Pages 4-5

Genre: Pages 5-6

Game Play Highlights: Pages 6-8

Technology Highlights: Page 8

Art and Audio Highlights: Pages 9-10

Game Story: Pages 10-12

Backstory and Game World: Pages 12-13

Game Play and Mechanics: Page 14-15

User interface: Page 15

Platform: Page 16

Team, Budget and Schedule: Pages 16-17


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Premise

Soul Divide will take you on a journey through the inner workings of your soul.

You will struggle with your good nature and inner evil to decide the destiny of William

Torn. Will you bring Justice to the memory of your family? Or will you take Revenge for

the pain theyve caused? The choice is yours!

Features

Soul Divide is a completely unique experience in that it will force the player to

feel as if his own soul is being torn asunder by the decisions he makes. Aside from the

fantastic combat system and never-before-seen game world, Soul Divide will

emotionally involve the player in his gameplay experience like never before. Every

decision, whether good or evil, will have an effect on the game world and the

characters within. The revolutionary ripple-effect engine (see Technology Highlights)

will alter the mind of the avatar with every good and/or evil action. This will set Soul

Divide apart from its competitors because he will not only enjoy the rich and

entertaining gameplay experience, but the player will truly feel as if he is inside his own

mind.

Player Motivation

Players will be driven like never before to complete Soul Divide. The storyline of

this game is so gripping and immersive that players will be anxious to see what

happens to William next. Every decision that the player makes along the storyline of

the game will not only affect the outcome of the game, it will affect the game world

itself. Players will want to continue to play the game in order to see what ways they can

change The Mind, which is what the game world of Soul Divide is called. Along the way


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to completing the story, the player will be entertained with fast-paced combo-based

combat as well as intricately designed puzzles and moral dilemmas. The denizens of

The Mind will have problems that the player must resolve. These problems will involve

moral dilemmas where the player will get to decide whether they favor Justice or

Revenge. These two concepts will be the basis for every decision the player makes,

and thus provide motivation for the player to lean towards one or the other, Justice or

Revenge. The more the player tends towards one of these values, the more the world

and the denizens of The Mind will change to reflect this tendency. The fact that the

entire game changes based on these decisions will provide the player with plenty of

motivation to complete these quests. They will also affect the ending, which is where

the player will make the final decision whether Justice or Revenge will prevail.

Character Description: William Torn

William Torn is an eighteen year old young man who cant seem to find his way

in life. He has a loving mother and father and a sister whom he is very close with.

Although William has had his share of troubles, he feels that his life has been pretty

boring up until now. He is a good natured young boy who has been well-behaved his

whole life, but he grows restless inside as he approaches an age where he must

choose his path. He sometimes wishes he could bend the rules a little, maybe even

cause a little trouble. These feelings of conflict within William explode when his parents

are murdered and his sister is taken from him.

Williams development throughout the game will focus primarily around the

opposite concepts of Justice and Revenge. To William, Justice would be bringing Don

Marston down through lawful means. He would spend the rest of his life in jail for the


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crimes he has committed. William knows that letting the police handle the situation is

the right thing to do. But he cannot help his need for Revenge. He wants very badly to

make Don Marston pay for what he has done. Would killing Don Marston be Justice as

well? Or is Revenge an evil-inspired emotion that will corrupt Williams heart? The

player of Soul Divide will decide for themselves, and Williams character development

will depend on the players choices. In this way, the player will be developing his or her

own self while experiencing the consequences of their actions through Soul Divide and

through William Torn.

Genre

Soul Divide will be the perfect hybrid of Action/Adventure and RPG. This

perfection will be achieved through a meshing of these two game types. There will be a

great deal of dungeons and outdoor world environments to explore, plenty of monsters

to fight, and many interesting characters to interact with. These environments will be

littered with enemies big and small who will challenge the player in different ways,

making for a very interesting Action fighting experience. But the player will also be

faced with many puzzles and environmental challenges in the style of an Adventure

game as well. Some of these environmental challenges will be similar to the climbing

stages of Shadow of the Colossus and Uncharted 2. They will not be entirely realistic,

but they will be extremely fun. I also plan to implement climbing-based combat similar

to Shadow of the Colossus, but the player will not only be battling massive enemies

while trying to climb. The Mind is a huge and wondrous place, and some places will

require some creative climbing and use of the games special items to reach. The RPG

element will be most noticeable when the player is in towns and speaking with


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people. The player will have to fill the role of either Justice or Revenge and make

decisions based on what the feel is right or wrong. The player will be completely free to

make decisions no matter which character they are controlling, but each character will

receive different bonuses towards different skills depending on the decisions they

make. The beauty of Soul Divide is that it will employ an excellent balance between

Action/Adventure/RPG to the point where the player will never be bored and always

interested in the task at hand. The gameplay will alternate between Action, Adventure

and RPG often so that the player will stay interested and not become bored with any

one aspect of the game.

Game Play Highlights

Soul Divide will challenge players in every way possible. First and foremost, Soul

Divide will have a fast-paced fighting combat system similar to games like Darksiders

and Ninja Gaiden Black. The Mind is at war with itself because William is overcome

with many different emotions: rage, fear, sorrow, hate and above all, Justice and

Revenge. The enemies that the player fights will reflect these emotions. The idea is to

make the player experience these emotions through the style of combat that each

monster employs. For example, rage is a mixture of frustration, anger and aggression.

Monsters that are built around rage will attack the player relentlessly and use moves

that the player cannot block in order to enrage the player into destroying them. They

will also employ special tactics that will frustrate the player at first, but will eventually

make the player use new strategies in combat. Monsters that reflect sorrow will draw

upon the memories ofWilliams family and use them in combat to make him experience


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sadness. Each of these emotions will have a part of the game world and a final boss

associated with them, as well.

Second, Soul Divide will contain three kinds of puzzles that the player will solve

on a regular basis. The first of these puzzles is climbing similar to that of Shadow of the

Colossus and Uncharted 2. The Mind is a huge place and the sky is the limit. Many of

the goals that the player must reach will be placed atop high mountains, atop trees,

and even at the depths of the black pits of rage. There will be a few different mechanics

for climbing that the player will have to combine in order to traverse these areas. Aside

from just climbing up and down, there will be ropes to swing on, poles to swing from,

running along walls, jumping back and forth between tightly spaced walls, and other

surprises. The idea here is to make the player think about where he is moving next

while also being ready for anything. Rocks will fall, stairs will crumble, flying monsters

will swoop down. The player must be ready to face these challenges as he climbs to

new heights.

The second kind of puzzles will follow a Legend of Zelda style in that they will be

focused around special items that the player will acquire. For example, the player will

acquire an item called The Chrono Switch which will temporarily slow down or speed

up time. The player must use this Chrono Switch to alternatively slow down and speed

up time in order to solve certain puzzles. There will be other unique items that the

player will use to solve puzzles as well. Some of these puzzles will focus around one

item, but later in the game some of the puzzles will require the use of several items.

The third kind of puzzle that the player will face is a hybrid of climbing and item use.


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The player will need to use every tool in his arsenal as well as his own reflexes and

timing in order to overcome the challenges of Soul Divide.

The final aspect of gameplay in Soul Divide is the moral dilemma. Remember

that The Mind is not only populated with monsters, but manifestations of Williams

memory as well. The player will encounter people that William knew in the real world,

and they will have tasks for the player to complete. Many of these tasks will be based

on right and wrong, and the choices that the player makes will affect whether his

character leans towards the noble route of Justice or the evil path of Revenge. These

decisions will also affect the ending of the main story line.

Technology Highlights

The primary technological highlight of Soul Divide is the revolutionary Ripple

Effect Engine, or REE for short. The REE will be built-in to almost every system of Soul

Divide. The player's decisions involving moral dilemmas will be Ripples in the pool of

Soul Divide, and the Ripple Effect Engine will ensure that all aspects of the game are

affected by every decision the player makes. Non-player characters will experience a

change in their personality. The environment will re-shape itself and alter its color

scheme. Lighting will change to a light-blue hue for Justice or a red glow for Revenge.

The music will become more heroic or more evil. And most of all, William's appearance

will change to reflect his choices. Each Ripple that the player creates will only change

The Mind slightly, but if the player is consistent in his decisions, there will be much

more noticeable changes.


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Art and Audio Highlights

The idea behind the art and audio of Soul Divide is to capture the five emotions

of rage, fear, sorrow, hate and either Justice or Revenge (depending on the players

choices). Each of the five areas of the game will focus on reflecting one of these

emotions. The final area will be determined by the path the player chooses, so there

will actually be six different styles to the

game world. The style of art in the game

will be similar to that of games like

Darksiders (pictured to the left) and the

Legacy of Kain series (pictured below). It

will be colorful and flashy, yet dark

nightmarish at the same time. Soul Divide will dazzle the eyes of the player with lots of

intense visuals that stimulate the imagination. After all, the game takes place inside the

mind of William Torn, and his emotions are

at war with one another. The art will reflect

this through a war-torn look that will

change for the better if the player favors

Justice, but will look enraged if the player

tends towards Revenge. Justice will round

out the shapes of the world, give them a sort of glow, and make them look less

threatening. Revenge will warp and distort the environment with spikes and jagged

edges and make it look as if it wants to harm the player.


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The sound of Soul Divide will also be inspired by these five emotions. It too will

change depending on Justice and Revenge. For example, monsters inspired by Fear

will wail and hiss and scream at the player as they attack him. The music when fighting

Fear monsters will be like something out of a horror movie. An example would be at

2:30 and 3:30 of this song from Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT6d7X_Qi0I, when Frodo is fleeing from the giant

spider Shelob. This music captures the essence of Fear, and the score of Soul Divide

will strive to achieve the same. The music will also change slightly depending on which

side of the scale the player has tipped. The more the player tends towards Justice, the

more the music will sound triumphant and hero-of-the-day like. If the scales are tipped

towards Revenge, the music will become darker, heavier, and angrier. These changes

to the score will only be minor (no pun intended) until the final section of the game.

Since the last area of the game will be either Justice or Revenge, the score will be

completely different for each one. The music in the last area will be completely inspired

by either Justice or Revenge.

Game Story

The story opens with the murder of William's family. William's father owed money

to a crime lord named Don Marston. The opening movie shows William's family

enjoying an evening together when five men burst through the door and take William's

family hostage. Fortunately for William, he is in the kitchen when the men enter his

home. After humiliating William's father in front of his family, Don shoots him and his

wife in the head and takes William's sister hostage. William watches in horror as his

mother and father lay dying on the floor and his only sibling is kidnapped. He feels
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT6d7X_Qi0Ihttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT6d7X_Qi0Ihttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT6d7X_Qi0I


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enraged, afraid, and sad all at the same time. He hates Don Marston for what he has

done. But he is torn between running to the police and seeking Justice and taking

matters into his own hands by exacting Revenge. As the rain pours down and lightning

flashes in the sky, William wanders the streets. His head begins to pound and he

collapses in a heap. He hears a voice inside his head "Now the battle for your soul

begins". This is when the game transitions into William's mind.

William Torns Sorrow

From here, William witnesses firsthand the war between his emotions. The

terrible amount of rage, fear, sorrow and hate that he is experiencing is literally tearing

his soul apart. The primary conflict within his mind is between Justice and Revenge.

Should he seek to bring his family's killers to Justice through lawful means? Or will he

give in to his anger and kill them all in a blaze of Revenge? As William journeys

through each emotional area of his mind, he must choose whether to take the path of

Justice or Revenge. In order to overcome his emotions, William must confront and

conquer each of the five Beasts of Emotion. Their demise will bring peace to his mind

and prepare him for the final confrontation.

In the end, William must face the true enemy: his own self. This final enemy will

represent either Justice or Revenge; the opposite of whichever path the player has


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chosen. If William chooses the path of Justice, he will awake from his dream state and

immediately go to the police. The ending cut scene will show Chico being arreated and

William reunited with his sister. If he chooses Revenge, William will awake from his

dream, hunt down the five men responsible for his parent's death, and murder them in

cold blood. His sister will shun him for his actions and refuse to depart with him, leaving

William alone to contemplate his rage.

Backstory and Game World

William Torn is enjoying a Saturday night with his family. They live in a small

town and live peaceful lives. Up until the start of Soul Divide, Williams life has been

pretty uneventful. Hes not quite sure what he wants to do with his life or who he want s

to be. He is usually a very gentle soul, but sometimes he loses his temper and flashes

of his inner anger can be seen. He knows right from wrong and generally does the right

thing, but sometimes he wonders what would happen if he broke the rules. This inner

conflict sets the stage for Williams journey into his own soul.

The world inside Williams mind is a broken and tattered place. It is populated

with memories of friends and family, as well as manifestations of his emotional states.

Normally, these beings live in harmony together. Williams subconscious keeps his

emotional states in check. But the agony of losing his parents is causing Williams mind

to run wild. The manifestations of his emotions have become twisted and evil beings.

The Mind is no longer a peaceful place. It is now dominated by six emotions that have

taken control of Williams: Rage, Fear, Sorrow, Hate, Justice, and Revenge.

The Mind is broken up into five areas which are ruled by Beasts who are

representations of Williams extreme emotional state. The land of Rage is an angry


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looking place. The ground is torn and broken, lava flows from high mountaintops, and

the sky is a dark glowing red. The land of Fear is a moonlit subterranean cave network

that extends deep underground. It is littered with shadow monsters and bottomless pits

which William must take care to avoid. The Forest of Sorrow is a dark and dreary

place, haunted by memories of loved ones past. Ghosts of Sorrow will try to break

Williams spirit by reminding him of all his past failures in life, including the death of his

parents. The Fortress of Hate is a massive castle set upon the Peak of Regret. It is

populated with powerful creatures that are fueled by Williams hatred for Don Marston.

The Final Abyss is the last area of Williams mind. It is an open battleground where

Williams inability to decide on Justice or Revenge is fought out by thousands of the

worst monsters youve ever imagined. If William decides on Justice, this last area

becomes Revenge and will be reminiscent of hell itself. If William decides on Revenge,

this last area will become Justice and will look something like the Heaven of Act IV in

Diablo III, which is pictured below.


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Game Play and Mechanics

The game play of Soul Divide will be easy to learn but challenging to master. The

climbing mechanics will be fairly simple: ledges that are climb-able will be colored

differently than the surrounding environment so that players will have little trouble

figuring out where to go. Pressing the jump button will jump towards the ledge, and the

player will climb it. The combat mechanics will be more complicated, yet still easy to

learn. There will be a fast attack, a power attack, and a context-sensitive attack. This

context-sensitive attack will be used for things like counter-attacks, finishing moves,

and special moves that are activated at certain times. There will also be a radial quick-

menu that the player can bring up with a button press where the player can activate

special skills. Experience is gained from completing quests, discovering important

locations, defeating monsters, and from collecting certain items. As experience is

gained, the player will level up and earn three different kinds of points: attribute points,

skill points, and talent points. Attribute points will go towards the players main statistics

and are automatically distributed. Skill points will be spent on special moves and magic

abilities that the player can use in and out of combat. Finally, talent points will be

gained every two or three levels and will be spent on powerful passive abilities.

There will also be a scale in the character menu representing Justice and

Revenge. The player will do things throughout the game to earn Justice points or

Revenge points, and these points will tip the scale in their respective direction. The

primary source of these points will be interaction with NPCs. The decisions the player

makes in conversations will earn him some Justice/Revenge points, but most of these

points will come from completing quests. The player will always have a choice to


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complete a quest in one fashion or another. It will be made clear which decision will

lead to Justice points and which decision will lead to Revenge points in order to avoid

obscurity. As explained in the Technological Highlights section, the Ripple Effect

Engine will alter Soul Divide depending on how far the scale is tipped towards Justice

or Revenge.

Finally, there will be special items that the player will acquire throughout the

game that will be used for different purposes. Most of these will be used for puzzle

solving, but some may be used in combat. For example, the Chrono Switch will first be

used to solve puzzles, but eventually the player will be able to use it in combat to slow

down enemies or speed up his character.

User interface

The user interface for Soul Divide will be simple yet elegant in order to focus the

player on the gameplay instead of the interface. The menus will be quick and flowing

without too much detail for the player to worry about. As with everything in Soul Divide,

the UI will be altered through the REE. Tipping the scale towards Justice or Revenge

will change the interface. Justice players will see more rounded, smooth edges and

blue hues, while Revenge players will see sharper and spikier edges and red hues.

The font will also change in this way. The primary gameplay interface will be context-

sensitive to keep as little information on the screen as possible while still avoiding

obscurity. It will be clear to the player when actions are able to be taken using the

action button. There will also be an optional hint system to assist the player if they get

stuck.


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Platform

Soul Divide will be available for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. This is due

mostly to the button-combo combat system. The design team felt that the controllers for

these systems were the best fit for the games combat. Action-Adventure games are

already popular for these systems, and console RPGs are on the rise. Soul Divide will

break new ground on consoles with its hybrid style of Action/Adventure/RPG. The

decision to exclude the PC from the games supported platforms was made because

PC players tend to prefer mouse and keyboard. Soul Divides gameplay will not feel

fluent when using a mouse and keyboard, especially during combat. Also, the interface

is meant to be manipulated with a controller. It could easily be adapted to

accommodate a mouse and keyboard, but the design team felt it best to focus on

controller use.

The Wii is not supported for two reasons. First, motion sensing technology is not

supported by Soul Divide. Making a game motion-sensor friendly is a lot of extra work,

and the design team wanted to focus their attention on polishing other game systems

instead of adding support for other features. Also, the Wiis graphics technology is

below the industry standard and will not be able to run the impressive graphi cs engine

of Soul Divide.

Team, Budget and Schedule

Soul Divide will be primarily designed and programmed by Allan Estes.

Assistance in programming and design will be given by Joseph Dynes, an experienced

computer scientist and passionate video game enthusiast. Design assistance and the

bulk of the artwork will be done by Adam Carini, a medieval art specialist and video


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game connoisseur. The team will be working on a budget of roughly $10,000, which will

mostly go towards computer equipment and supplies. The game will require

approximately three months of design and another 18 months of development and

testing. Leaving room for marketing, testing, debugging and mass production, Soul

Divide is expected to hit stores in June of 2015.

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Final Project: Soul Divide