The initial ideas I had before deciding the GDD
For planning my indie dev game, I went through a couple ideas focusing on pushing the boundaries of a ‘single level’ in a 3D space.
First Idea was for a digging game where you where you start in a small mine and could dig outwards, so you could dig infinitely. I had ideas like an inventory system and collecting rocks to process and upgrade gear but I think this focused too much on making the upgrading process interesting than making the ‘digging’ part engaging.
My second idea was for a ‘bottomless tower’ where the player has to fight through waves of enemies as they descend a dungeon-crawler style tower. I initially had different floors in mind in order to set the pace at which you fight the waves and maybe include the boss and some intermission floors for rest and upgrades then realised this violates the single-level rule.
I figured a workaround for this is to make it one big endless-runner style level that goes on forever instead.
THIS IS THE CHOSEN IDEA AND BULK OF THE GDD:
Bottomless Tower is an endless-runner style dungeon-crawler.
Bound by a liches’ curse, you’ve been banished to the top of a prison tower, you may active the tower lift to escape but who’s to say how far down this goes and not to mention the resistance, other prisoners at the top eagerly encourage you and provide aid before each descent.
You are equipped with a spellbook to fend off what lies below, with spells such as: slash, fire, shock, corrode and freeze, luckily you didn’t skip leg day and can dash as well to avoid attacks while fighting but you’ve never read a magic book before. The spells aren’t made equal, they will consume ‘mana’ based on how strong they are so more thought is required before each cast – sword will be a backup attack with no cost but low damage.
[Enemies] Minions you may encounter include skeletons, slimes, zombies and mages, they each have their own behaviours but also different attacks and weaknesses.
Your main objective is to survive as long as possible; this entails fighting off the Liches minions using your spells, each kill earns you experience so you may improve combat skills overtime, and gold is earned too which the prisoners can use to upgrade your gear. “Depth” is tracked overtime to show how far down you’ve gone, a ‘Score’ will be determined with this and defeating enemies which at the end of your run will grant bonus XP and gold.
The top of the tower has a ring around the lift to accommodate the prisoners but once activated, the lift will be your only playspace until the end of your run.
My game is targeted for everyone, fantasy magical themes are enjoyed by all ages but may be most popular with teenagers and young adults. The game is aimed to launch for PC but may support consoles and mobile phones.
Market Research: [REQUIRED, NEED TO DO SOME RESEARCH]
Controls will look something like this:
Environment objects:
Vases and small crates will occasionally spawn on the lift among the enemies, these can be broken for its contents: Red vases have health, blue vases have mana whilst small crates have xp and gold, providing potential relief for the careful player who finds themselves in a pinch.
NPCs:
At the top of the tower, you’ll find a magic palm-reader and enchanter who also fell to the lich king.
The reader can see the raw experience channelling through your veins, they’re your XP point vendor who can use your points to upgrade your statistics.
The enchanter can use your gold to upgrade your book’s spells because apparently the gold is magic, spells will have improved effects with each upgrade.
The Lich’s Bother, a jester exiled for perfecting the art of potions for stage performances but the Lich really hates him. The jester will wind up the Lich King for you, meaning he will increase the difficulty so enemies will be stronger but drop better rewards.
It would seem everyones affinity for the magic arts have brought them in the Lich’s path at the wrong time and wrong place, none of them wanted to provide their service to the Lich King on his particularly rainy days and as a result he’s stored his experience and disguised magic material as gold to be used at a later date.
World:
Bottomless tower is based in the world of magic and dragons,
Prison with a view, the tower is as tall as Mt Everest so as the lift “descends” you’ll see plenty of clouds and inhabitants of the sky like birds and dragons pass by, but it remains to be seen if you’ll ever see the land again out of the window.
Statistics:
Player: Health(Max) / Defence / Mana(Max) / Dexterity (Movespeed & Dash Cooldown).
Spellbook: per spell(Damage / Mana Cost / Cast Rate(Cast Speed & Cast Interval) / Area of Effect).
UI/UX:
Start screen -> Save select (statistics + continue/delete) -> Enter game -> Enchanter/Palm-Reader/Jester/Begin Descent.
/Enchanter: Spell Select (Display spells, cost and effects), if selected ask to confirm.
/Palm Reader: Skill select (Display skills to upgrade+ Cost and effects), if select ask to confirm.
/Jester: Difficulty Select (Display difficulty options and effects: health/damage scalar + XP/Gold Scalar).
/Begin Descent: confirm + display difficulty. -> Lift begins descent -> Descend, Fight Enemies, Collect
Gameplay loop: Second to second is fighting enemies and casting spells, minute to minute is spending experience and gold for upgrade, I don’t think the game has an hour to hour loop, roguelikes usually have a much longer form of replay ability using elements like item pickups that grant significant.
“tertiary gameplay loop”