Achilles Game Created By James Buckmaster

For PC & Mac Age: 9 - 18

Game Story: Achilles has been set a task by the Greek gods to rescue the princess Athena who is bestowed in Mount Olympus; if he is successful he will win her heart forever. However, a climb upon Mount Olympus is no basic quest. Achilles will have to face what has only been rumoured of a tribe of half man, half bull creatures; it has only been rumoured of these beasts due to the fact that anyone who goes up into the cloud of the mountain has never returned, alive. So what will happen to Achilles and his destiny? Will he fulfil it or will he perish among the others? "Gameplay: • In Achilles, the player is always Achilles trying to reach the princess whilst dodging patrolling

Minotaurs that would kill him instantly. "• Achilles is mapped out in a platform style game with multiple levels where you have to get from

one position in the map to the other side without dying; in which case you would start again. "• The game is made up of one level which is Mount Olympus; the level hasn’t got a timer installed

as there is already a good balance of challenge in the game. "• Dying only occurs from the patrolling enemies and no health bar or life count with each quest

taking around 2 minutes to complete; it would then start all over again after Achilles has made contact with Athena. "• No sound effects when the player dies or jumps, just a continuous song which plays throughout the

game regardless of if the player dies; the music only restarts if it has finished or the player has completed the game. "Elevator Pitch: Super Mario Bros meets Age Of Mythology meets Runescape. """""""

Game Flow: As the player makes their way through the game along the platforms, the main character Achilles doesn’t change at all but the player will start to get to grips with the controls and the movement of him. The challenges are built up throughout the game; the first enemy appears on the ground level and comes into the frame at a slow space with plenty of time to be able to double jump over him, although most players will just do a single jump and die on the first hurdle; they will then start again having learnt that you need more than a standard jump to pass the Minotaurs. When the first enemy is beaten, Achilles can easily outrun the Minotaur and will find himself at a slope of rocks leading up to the first level; the rocks are easy to climb by as it only enables the single jump mechanic. "The players ability to master the controls starts to take off after the first enemy has been passed and Achilles has to go up a level; this is where the player has to figure out that he needs to run and jump the opposite way that Achilles is facing, the run and double jump move. The player is then met with another patrolling Minotaur on the first level straight away which can move faster than Achilles can, this then creates the versatile difficulty level due to the high death rate of Achilles in that section. It means timing the jump almost perfectly. On this level (the first floor) there is a split two thirds along the level that is made up of rocks which enables the double jump feature to cross them; the player is then met with another patrolling Minotaur. This Minotaur can move at the same pace as Achilles but the challenge here is timing the jump as the space in which the Minotaur patrols is smaller than the other two Minotaurs the player has passed already. The player will find himself having to double jump another hurdle of rocks which allows Achilles to get into the next level, like a booster. "The second level has a lot more aspects to the terrain than the ground or first floor does; this is to match the players skills as it has built up a lot from when the game had first started to now. Whats really challenging the player more on this level is that the enemies have got harder to beat. The first enemy the player will face on the level is the small but fast Minotaur patrolling in a smaller space than the one the player just faced on the level below. Most players would jump from where the red arrow marks which is half the standard brick size, this will end in the Minotaur killing Achilles 90% of the time. The player will then have to start all over again if Achilles dies; if you jump over the Minotaur on the level is actually patrolling on then he is passable if the timings right which is should be after the experience the player has gained from the other enemies previously passed. "The split in the middle of the second level comes one third in and it’s slightly different from the one on the previous level. As it’s made to be a gentle climb up and climb down but with no enemies so the

player can expect something big to happen, which happens. The last enemy which is based on the second level is much bigger than any one of the Minotaurs, is has a fast speed but not as fast as

Achilles. It patrols in a dip in the map created by the the rocky bump in the middle of the level; the dip has importance because it changes how the player plans to jump over the enemy. If the player was to jump over the Minotaur where the blue arrow is then Achilles would die every time as the double jump simply doesn’t get you high enough to beat the Minotaur. Most players would do this because when Achilles is

standing on the rock he is in the screen grab the player can only see two fifths in front of Achilles which mean’s the Minotaur is more likely to be off the visible screen; the player would then carry on walking and drop down into the dip as they would of thought they have the mastered the game by now. They then would have been surprised by the size of the Minotaur, died and of had to start again. "After the last Minotaur has been beaten there is no more enemies until you reach Athena, only terrain. The terrain takes a turn from going up in wide levels to going down in a small cramped path. The player will probably assume there would be more enemies to come and after the shock on the last Minotaur they would take climbing down slowly but only to find the princess which completes the game when you touch her. "Characters And Controls: The player always controls Achilles throughout the game; Achilles doesn’t change appearance or ability in any time during the game as it’s made to be a basic platform game. Programmed special abilities wouldn’t suit the game is it is made to simple; it’s made so a player can look at it and relate it to Donkey Kong or Super Mario so it’s easily accessible by many. "Achilles’s story kind parallels the most popular platform game I played when I was younger, Super Mario. Mario was constantly trying to reach Princess Peach but had a lot of different enemies, obstacles and terrain to face before he could get there. In the game Achilles he is trying to find Athena but having to deal with whatever comes in his path and personally I think thats what makes platform games good because the character has an emotional story behind the controls. Achilles either dies or succeeds which is shown by the 0 life system so when he does collide with a Minotaur he has to start from the beginning. ""

The controls of Achilles are very basic, the left and right arrow keys are for side to side movement along the x axis and the space bar is used for jumping with also a double jump feature when you tap it twice. Achilles can also face different directions whilst jumping in the air to make it easier for the player to regain control after having jumped over a Minotaur or onto a another platform.

"""The controls are what they are due to the game being aimed at the younger generation from anyone between the ages of 9-21. The younger generation including myself have been brought up learning that the arrow keys, the space bar are the instinctive keys to use when controlling a character and a mouse (if needed) to control where the character was looking or heading. This is due to the rise in FPS and RGS games which were launched in the last 20 years using a mouse to control the character as well as the keyboard. The older generation that were growing up when video/computer games were starting off used to controls such as “QAOP” due to mouse less controls such as the ZX Spectrum home gaming system which was realised in 1982; it was a computer with only a keyboard so game controls were the keys “QA” to move up and down, “OP” to move left and right and a space bar to shoot or jump. "Main Gameplay Concepts and Platform Specific Features: The player engages in a chunky pixelated retro platform game which involves having to get the character from one end of the map to the other whilst passing obstacles like enemies and rocks. The platform game I have created a collaboration of Greek mythology, Mario and old platform games such as ‘Chuckie Egg’ and ‘Donkey Kong’. Chuckie Egg used platform levels with a black background which Achilles does, in order to complete the challenge you must go further until you succeed. Another game which is just like Achilles and Chuckie Egg is the more popular Donkey Kong, which uses moving enemies, on platforms with a black background. "The game is broken up into 4 stages; ground level, level 1 , level 2 and the side strip. The ground level breaks into the game easily as the player has just read how to use the controls and they need to implement them. 1 enemy and a set of rocky stairs to climb wraps up the ground level; the stairs then lead to a jump onto level 1. Level 1 is where the player realises that the game isn’t like the ground

level when they have to face two faster Minotuars whilst having to cross between levels. Level 2 comes along which is basically a hardened version of level 1 and it involved a small and big Minotaur; completing this will lead to the side strip which is enemy free all the way down to the princess. These are all sequences within the one and only level to Achilles; each level the player reaches the difficulty gets harder and with a no life system in place it creates more of an urge to be careful when crossing the enemy as there is no safety net to save the player. The side strip was made to congratulate the player on crossing the enemies but also to worry them as they can’t see whats ahead of them and that is where the end of the level is. " "" """""The most unique thing about Achilles is the greek myth aesthetic mixed in the the retro platform game aesthetic. Recent indie games do use 8 bit art but always with a modern twist such as lots of assets and modern music; Achilles brings back the old game style, mixes it with a unique idea and aims itself at the younger generation. "Game World All the gameplay takes place in one level that is based on Mount Olympus, a mountain which is said to be the home of the Olympian Gods. The level based like a Mountain, you have to keep on going up in order to complete the game but the gameplay is actually inside the mountain. "Mount Olympus ties into the story because I wanted someone with high power to tell Achilles he had to do this quest, that higher power would be a god and the Olympian Greek Gods live in Mount Olympus after they beat the Titan’s in the Titan war. I also wanted height in my game, I wanted the player to work their way up the level rather than work their way through it. I liked the idea of that after playing the original Donkey Kong where you had to dodge the barrels when climbing up the levels. "Midway through the project I wanted the gameplay to be inside the mountain instead of the outside, this was due to trying to keep the retro aesthetic and not having too many assets clashing with each

Easy

Medium

Hard Side Strip

other. The game world brings out a dark and gloomy vibe due to the colours of the assets and background; all the assets in the game have a shade of grey in it, especially the rocks which are only made up of different shades of grey. The world is made up of these grey rocks as they make up the walls, ceiling and floor to make the corridors inside the mountain. These corridors are then referred too as platforms in which Achilles will have to climb to reach the princess. " " """"This diagram shows the game flow of the player. Each floor has a roof of rock until they reach the end of the floor; a gap and a rock stair case will appear; this will tell the player that it’s time to move up another floor. The same will happen on the second floor and the top floor will lead downwards which will stop the player guessing what’s going to happen next. "Interface: The first bit of interface the player will come across is the intro screens which tells you what the game is, controls and what the mission is. The first screen is the intro screen, this screen tells you what the game is called, how to play, who made the music and it shows you the character Achilles for the first time. The text is in a burgundy colour which links with the colour of the Minotaurs trousers later in the game and the grey background links well with the location of the game which is Mount Olympus as the mountains are known for being a light grey colour.

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All screens have a timer on them, you have to wait a few seconds before you can go onto the other one and then eventually get entered into the game. When creating these screens I wanted to make

First interface screen - Game Title, Keys, Music.

Second interface screen - Key Instructions.

Last interface screen - Appears when game is complete.

them almost symmetrical and to have the same theme running all the way through. Firstly I made them simple as the player doesn’t want too much to concentrate on too many things at once, otherwise you’ll miss the most important information. The same typography which is used in all 3 of the screens is a Greek style and the importance of the words are differentiated by the size of the text. "The music used throughout the game is triggered on the first interface screen automatically, it then runs throughout the game and will only restart when you either complete the game or the song comes to an end. The music was made by a composer named ‘Derek Fiechter’ who had made the music before Achilles existed and uploaded it on to YouTube; I then came across it when looking for ideas for music and it fit well, I asked Derek if I could use his song and he agreed.

"I chose Derek’s song which is named ‘Greek Myths’ because it obviously the name fits Achille’s and his journey through Mount Olympus but when I listened to it, it starts out slow with classical instruments and a woman’s voice and then it breaking into a faster beat which other classical instruments blending in once the player has got up the the harder platforms in the game; it really fits the whole journey/challenge aesthetic. There were other song’s to pick from such as ‘Mount Olympus’ & ‘War Hero’ but they didn’t fit the game and level design as much as ‘Greek Myths’ did. "Mechanic’s & Power Up’s I wanted Achille’s to be a simple platfomer, a game where you could get told the controls and within your first few tries you’ve understood the game and related it to a previous popular platformer. Having too many mechanics would of ruined that image so I only installed left and right keys to move the player about and a jump and double jump mechanic. "The original plan was to have 3 mechanics; left, right and jump, as I wanted to keep it that simple. It was then through level design I realised I would need to make everything rather small for the player to get around enemies and obstacles in the world I had created. This is where the double jump mechanic came in; it allowed me to make everything the size I wanted. """"

The double jump allowed me to be able to put two blocks on top of each other as the single jump would only be able to jump over one of them. It gave the map more depth and made it not repetitive.

" "Another landscape example of where I needed to implement the double jump mechanic is the switch over between platforms. I didn’t want a full stair case leading the player safely up to the other level, I wanted them to to figure out how to use the controls to their advantage. ""

"A enemy example of why a double jump would end up being a key mechanic is when the player faces enemies. A double jump is needed to get over all enemies especially the biggest Minotaur on the top level; you would need to double jump from the highest point (arrow) at exactly the right time to beat him. "

"Enemies and Bosses There is only one type of enemy in Achilles and that is a Minotaur; but saying that they come in all sizes. Minotaurs will kill Achilles on the spot and they can never die; this makes the game harder as the player has to skilfully dodge them. Minotaurs have a section along the x axis that they patrol, they cannot jump or follow the players exact route, the player has to learn their traits and get past them. "Minotaurs vary in every platform level. The first one there is one Minotaur moving at an average pace which can catch the player out but with the double jump it is easily doable. The second level has two Minotaurs which are a bit smaller than the first one but move faster; they are also separated by a pile of rocks. On the top level there are another two Minotaurs, one is the same size as the two on the previous level and moves at an average page but the other one further along the level is what I like to consider the boss.

Single JumpDouble Jump

A single jump will result in the player falling down to where he started.

A double jump will result in the player landing on the platform.

The boss is the biggest Minotaur which is the last one to face as he is guarding the Princess. He is big, tall and fast. There is only one way to beat the boss and it is to jump from the ledge over him, jump too late and he’ll kill you, jump without the ledge and you’ll also die; (see last diagram before enemies and bosses section). """""""Cutscenes, Bonus Materials and Comps There are no cutscenes in Achilles due to the simplicity of the game and also the lack of team members. What acts as cutscenes to break the game up is the interface screens such as the intro screen which contains the game name, controls and music credit, the screen after that which contains basic instructions and when the player finish’s the game when they’ve reached the Princess a screen will appear saying that the player has won. If the player dies before that they go back to the start point, not the interface screens. "Big competition will be the platform games which people have most likely played such as Mario and Donkey Kong which are two of the worlds most popular games. More recent competition will be games like Super Meat Boy which is a popular modern indie platform game that offers lots of levels within different worlds, different characters, bonus maps, cutscenes and lots of different mechanics. """""