Introduction

The Purpose of this Mini-World Prototype

The game as outlined in the original design document will be as big and varied as we can get it. Much of the core ideas have already been established however it would be mad to proceed at this point with focusing the project on building The Game Proper from the start. Instead we spend time on a tiny small scale representation of what the "Game Proper" will feature. We will get this Mini-World functioning as best as possible with as many of the features and mechanics as possible and only when we are comfortable with what has been implemented do we then start to build the real game world.

This Mini-World project is also the perfect test and exercise on how we can develop a good project synchronisation system, and in general how well we can work together as a team.

This Mini-World when complete (or at a medium to advanced level of development) can also be used to launch the project into public exposure. It may be a case that after we complete the Mini-World we may be thrilled with it ourselves, but putting it into the public eye at that stage will give us some early indication if people are at all interested in it and whether or not going ahead with The Game Proper is worth the work and time.

Exposing the project in public at this Mini-World prototype phase might also help to expose any potential legal issues before we fully commit to making The Game Proper.

In other words the sooner we expose what we are doing the sooner we will know if work continues. It may very well be a case that we get 0% interest from anywhere, someone taking up some legal issue with some aspect of the game, or something else soon after its exposed so we can then perhaps rethink the whole idea based on negative feedback, or just abandon the idea altogether.

I say the sooner the better, but its also important for first exposure to have something tempting for people so this prototype really needs to be as good as we can get even if that means getting in more help.

Apart from the reasons above, creating this Mini-World has also been a test of my ability to produce something that I have honesty never tried before, a compete layout of a world (all be it a small one) that has rules, logical progression, functionalities, yet has to be interesting to navigate through with an ideal flow of gameplay, and have all things work as one aesthetic.
For me this was not only about producing an environment to test mechanics and functionality, but it was also an exercise in producing something that the "player" will enjoy playing.

This is all very new to me, and because of the nature of the game I had no direct reference (asides from the basic inspirations of other games mentioned in the original design doc) on how a world can be laid out combining layers of puzzle elements, linearity of progression yet keeping a degree of open exploration, and the whole logic of the marriage between those two.
This factor above all determined how the rest of game would be right down to its overall aesthetic and layout and was the biggest challenge for me to figure as one coherent world.

Because this is all new to me, it's likely I have made some bad choices or mistakes in the layout (in particular with Elevator types and placement in context to the open-world nature of the game) that would need to be fixed, but for the most part it would require minor alterations to the Mini-World.
Only game play testing with basic/ to advanced levels of implementation of functionality will be able to determine whether or not the general layout of gameplay works.

After getting people to test play the Mini-World when its compete , then I will know if I can cut the mustard with level/world design/layout.
If it's a case that people really like the mechanics and general idea of the game but deplore the level design, either its too hard, too easy, too confusing, then we can look at getting in someone with some specific level / puzzle design experience and see what they can make of things so they can either advise me or directly work on The Game Proper project.

No matter how good the mechanics and look of the game it all means nothing if there is no potent game play, and that game play for the most part in this type of game pivots around its level design/layout, how interesting, challenging and varied it is.


The Purpose of this Document.

This document is intended to break down how each function works, how the player progresses through the Mini-World, also explaining how simple or advanced we can make the implementations. I will also talk about how ideally everything should be presented and other possible features.

There are some areas related to this Mini-World prototype I have not detailed much such as game GUI, Sound Effects, Music Track, Presentation Screens, Post Effect & Filtering, Player/NPC behavior/death animation sequences and other areas, However this document should cover pretty much all the core aspects in detail.

As I mentioned, I am new to game design in general but I have also never attempted to produce such a detailed and thorough document either. I have tried my best to make it as clear and easy to understand as possible even tho some of the aspects of this were tricky to explain in particular the sections on player progression through the Mini-World.

The Preliminary Documents
This document only covers information related to the "Mini-World Prototype" and is only a partial document in context to the game idea as a whole (Game Proper). Many other aspects to the game idea have been initially outlined on previous documents. I would highly advise anyone about to read this document that they read these theses preliminary documents first. Reading this document will make ALOT more contextual sense when put against the background of the foundations of the game idea as a whole. Although many of the "possible" features outlined on the preliminary docs have been omitted in this Mini-World Prototype they may still have relevance to The Game Proper.

Original Document

Additional Document: Matching Concept Images with Unity Shader/Filters

NEW!! Additional Document: First Batch of Conceptual Video Demonstrations Simulating Gameplay

Terminology To Avoid Confusion
Some sort of made up terms relating specifically to this document / idea.

Cube Resolution/Grid - This is smallest increment resolution of how things are built , the atom so to speak
5x5 Resolution/Grid - This will refer to the player cube, NPCs, the navigable areas of the world and so on.
Block - Any part of a structure or detail in the world that the player can climb or not climb in the case of it being to high
Square - The surface of a block (Top/Sides)
Walkway(s) - Certain confined areas the player can move on, usually referring to the elevated walkways.
Item Cube - Refers to 1x1x1 cubes that are collectable and droppable
Notch - A hint/clue on blocks/squares/other details that are used generally throughout the world but may have slightly different aesthetics depending on context/area of the world.
Symbol - Any detail on a square or element in the world that pertains to some or other mechanic or functionality.
Key Square - The color pickup mechanic
Switch Square - The color pickup mechanic or standard switches (one instance of a standard switch in the Mini-World)
Elevator/Bridge Blocks - Blocks that in general bridge a gap on a path or raise / lower to the player cube to other areas.
Slot - A 1x1x1 hole that holds items, such as the players cube, and the pillars in the HUB area)
Section(s) - The 120x120x126 sections built in MagicaVoxel of which there will be 9 in the Mini-World
The Mini-World / Prototype - Refers to the Mini-World prototype only.
The Game Proper - Refers to active development of the project in context to the actual game and not this small scale/limited prototype.
Sub-Mechanics - Complimentary mechanic that are not a core mechanic, such as different types of hazard squares, items types.. etc.
Player Progression - Refers to the sequences of how the player moves through the world , the sequences of introductions to functions / hints, the sequence of tasks and management of inventory over time.
HUB - The area at the start of the game where the player deposits their Item Cubes


How The Mini-World Works In Comparison to the Original Design Document

What makes this Mini-World document different then the original game design document is that I have taken some of the features from the original design document, refined them and built a working conceptual small scale world, with an overriding goal and a degree of logical progression through while keeping it open for exploration. However much of the sub-mechanics as outlined in the original design document have either been watered down so much or not used at all and its very likely The Game Proper may not use most of sub mechanics suggested in the original design doc.

Sub-Mechanics / Features From Original Design Doc Omitted in this Mini-World prototype (and likely The Game Proper) include:

- Function/Hazard squares:
Only 3 types of function/hazard squares are being used, "Standard Switches", and "Controllers" In fact there are only 3 instances of these types of squares as will be explained as I break down each section.

- The Various Types of Items
There is only one item being used here, the pink cubes that can be thought of as the "Quest Items" as explained in the original document And quite honestly I think The Game Proper could be based entirely on this system of one item. However I would like to keep that open and might like to introduce one or two other item types in The Game Proper, but the need for so many items and powerups/abilities as outlined in the original document is I think after dwelling and working with it for so many weeks it's overkill at best.

- Health System:
There is no health system, you just die and respawn at a corresponding respawn point and that's it, I really don't think there is any need for a health system, even for The Game Proper, it over complicates something that ideally should be minimal and potent.

- Camera Rotation/Player Viewablity:
I have spent ALOT of time ensuring this Mini-World can be played exclusively in one camera angle. The means that much of the suggestions outlined in the original document can be thrown right out the window, including the ability for the player to switch camera angle/view, the outline overlay of the player's cube when they are behind/inside areas, the need for an elaborate system where layers fade so the player can see inside or behind.. etc .. all that.. no need for it anymore, and that goes for The Game Proper too.
There will however be some instances where the camera rotates around outside of active gameplay as will be explained further on in this document.

- Specific Puzzle Areas
One thing that may have become obvious by now and that I have not really mentioned is that you will notice I have pretty much abandoned the idea of having these specific puzzle areas, instead integrating the color mechanic into the world as a whole. I feel this will help make gameplay on the whole more interesting/challenging while exploring around and helps to have a better flow of progression. There are areas with puzzles in the Mini-World but not the specific type as outlined throughout the original doc that feature such things as roll count or a timer.. etc
In short the puzzle elements to the game are now integrated into the game world as puzzle light challenges rather than the two distinct areas/mode (Exploration World / Puzzle Areas) idea I had originally.

Although I have chosen to minimize the functionality and feature set of the Mini-World as much as I possibly can compared to what was suggested in the original document, there are features from that document that I would still much like to try implement into The Game Proper, but for the most part the features mentioned above will no longer be needed.

This Mini-World prototype features puzzle ares and detailing that may not be as densely packed in the Game Proper. I have tried to pack as much into this small prototype environment mostly for testing purposes.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rules, Mechanics and Functionality

The Global Rules To The Mini-World

I was really hoping not to have to create new diagrams on how the cube should navigate around the world, so I wont, especially since I have outlined this pretty much already. However just to refine how the rules of movement work here is a breakdown of the ones that are already obvious and other that may not be as obvious.

Control
- Player uses a 4 key/joypad stick control (ASWD / Arrow keys) for movement
- Player uses the one and only action key/button to trigger certain functions depending on context.


Movement of the Player's Cube (Mechanics Explained in Original Document)
- Player rolls in any direction to move
- Player can roll one square at a time by gentle key/button pressing or hold down in any direct to roll indefinitely at maximum speed.
- Player can dynamically balance their cube, pull back from wrong rolls at the last moment.
- Player can climb blocks that are 5 cubes in height (cube res)
- Player can not climb blocks higher then 6 (cube res) (there are no instance of a block being lower then 5 in the Mini-World)
- Player can drop down from a block that is 5 cube res in height (see mechanics section of original design doc to see how this happens)
- Player can wade through water (water 3 cubes in height) and will result in slower movement

Ice Squares / Blocks
- Player slides one block after rolling onto an ice block, unless the following occurs..
- Player wont slide on rolling on to an ice block from dropping down from or climbing up to an ice block
- Player wont slide if there is a regular non-ice square after the ice square they are about to roll onto.
- Player wont slide if they are on ice while wading in water.

Death Conditions
- On dropping from a height that is 6 cube res or more in height
- On contact with Certain NPC's
- On submerging underwater for a certain period of time.

Re-Spawning Conditions
- Player has to activate respawning points by simply rolling over them.
- On re-spawning the player will re-spawn at the last spawn point they activated.
- A players inventory state is saved when activated a spawning point.
- The last spawn point a player activated is reset when they activate a new spawn point, meaning they have activate that last spawn point again if they enter that area again even tho they have already activate it before.

Item Management (Some Aspects Explained in Original Document)
- Player can collect Pink Item Cubes, and hold a maximum of 6 at any one time
- Player has to orientate their cube to pick up Item Cubes with an empty slot
- Any occupied slot on the players cube will color the inside face of the cube.
- Player can drop Item Cubes by pressing a Key/button
- Player has to orientate their item face down in order to drop it (or to the side in the case of the Hub area on section 5)
- Dropped Item Cubes remain persistent in the Mini-World at all times
- Player can not drop Item Cubes while wading through or submerged in water.
- On dying the player will loose any items cubes that where collected after they activated the last spawn point

Color Key / Switch Management (Some Aspects Explained in Original Document)
- Player picks up a Key Square in much the same way as an Item Cube
- On picking up a Key Color the outside of the edge of the face it was picked up on will color the same color as the Key
- Player cannot drop a color like they can items.
- Player can hold 2 Keys at once
- If collecting 2 Keys then these Keys can only be collected on the opposite side.
- Each Key & Its corresponding Switch will have a unique color as to avoid confusion if they are the same color when carrying 2 so the player wont loose track of which Key corresponds to which switch
- After picking up a Key square the square it was picked up from becomes a normal color (ie the color has been transferred to the player)
- After solving a puzzle by rolling over its switch square the switch square will also return to a normal square.
- The Key squares on already solved puzzles will only repair if the player dies after solving it but before activating a spawn point.
- If the player holds a Key but walks too far away from the general area of the puzzle it might be a case that the color gets zapped away from the player and back to the square they originally picked it up on. This is to avoid situations where the player might pick up a color get distracted and walk far away from its corresponding switch, and end up in an area that requires more color pickups.

Dialog trigger and engagement
- In most cases a dialog prompt will be triggered by predefined proximity or in some cases if the player is one square away from an NPC
- Player can roll away from a dialog prompt without engaging it and it will disappear
- Player clicks key/button to enter into dialog with an NPC (when a dialog prompt has been presented)
- Player clicks key/button to scroll through pages of dialog
- Player uses movement keys/buttons + key/button in cases of multiple dialog choices.


Sound Effects
Sound effects will indicated to the player wrong moves, such as a sound effect to indicated that you are trying to roll against a wall/dead end in areas unseen to the player, also possibly sound effect to indicate the player is about to drop down a height too high (as such in cases of 6 cube heights that are not immediately easy to make out). Other possible sound effect might be applied when picking up items, wading through or falling into water, moving elements in the world, NPC's and so on. The sounds can be developed as we work on the Mini-World.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Hints Design

I wanted a simple and effective system of hints that are easy to learn and read but that careless/unobservant gameplay would result in punishment. I wanted a global aesthetic but at the same time wanted variety so didn't want to end up with one aesthetic for every instance of a hint. My final idea is what I call in context to the style of this game "Notch detailing" on blocks or structures in the world in general. By that I mean any where the player sees something that is carved out of a block they will (after some play) intuitively know it's a hint of some kind or another. As apposed to "painted detailing" on blocks/structures which most likely indicates a function. By using this idea I now have a global hint indication that I can vary around the game.

The Mini-World takes this global "Notch" hint concept and uses it in 4 different aesthetic ways as shown below, however The Game Proper can use this simple Notch system in so many other ways.

In it's basic form here is the hint for the Ice blocks. I am using Notches on its edge to give the impression of cracks, however this aesthetic also is a hint system. so any time the player sees a Notch on one of it's edges it means attempting to roll off that side will result in a death.	In addition to the edge Notches, there will be Notches at the center of Ice Blocks, these Notches will indicate to the player there is an item on one of the blocks either to it's sides or corners. The edge Notch and center Notch hints can be combined to create some interesting challenges based on the players careful observations.	As a simple example here we can see a small area of Ice blocks. On observation the player knows there is an Item cube somewhere around that block with the center Notch. Assuming they are starting from the lower block at the front they have two ways to try get to it, either NORTH or WEST.	The area from a slightly offset top down perspective we can see where the Item cube is and how taking the NORTH route would have ultimately ended up in the player falling to their death. However looking again at the previous image you can clearly see which way is the wrong way by the edge Notches.

Another type of hint system, pretty much the same as the Ice Blocks but using different aesthetic. They use a groove on the face rather then edge Notches, but its the same idea in as far as any side the there is a groove that means bad things for the player.	Here we have a small simple example of an observation puzzle much like the Ice blocks. There is an Item cube to be found. Assuming the player is starting from the lower block to the front of view its rather obvious (but easy to make mistakes) which way will result in a death.	The area from a slightly offset top down perspective we can see where the Item cube is and how the player taking the NORTH route would have ultimately ended in death.

Assuming the player stars from the square to the front of this image one might assume they could roll once to the NORTH and 3 rolls to the WEST. However on careful observation they might notice a Notch in the center rung of this type of walkway. This will indicated to the player, much like any other Notch hint, that there is danger.	looking at this from a pure top down perspective we can now see in fact the area where the player thought they could roll is in fact not even connected to the walkway they are on.	And looking at that same situation from an offset horizontal perspective we can see that piece is also lower then the walkway they are on. These specific optical illusion features will be kept to a bare minimum in context to integration into the world as a whole, but there will be specific areas where these apply more so then others and the player will know they are in these special areas by NPC interaction. See the the section on "The Optical Illusion Factor" for further details.

This is yet another instance of curious Notches appearing in the world. The player can probably assume since there is a doorway here they can roll into it and perhaps there is something there. They might then assume to count the squares on the top of the structure as to avoid any possible drop at the end, however in this instances the 6 Notches to the side are telling the player there are 6 squares that are defiantly safe to roll on.

Looking at the back we can see that 6 squares would bring the player outside of the structure and onto a platform to collect a hidden Item Cube. Any more rolls extra and the player would fall off and die. In the Mini-World there are 2 instances of using this type of hint (Section:6) however in the images that feature section 6 I forgot to make the hints Notches rather then the purple color.

In the game proper as the player progresses further into the game, these notches might have a reversed meaning. In the examples above generally speaking where there is a notch it means danger, however in other scenarios this will be switched around so the absence of notches will mean danger. Inverting their meaning will keep the player on their toes and punish careless/unobservant players. Whether or not the notch hints have negative or positive meaning the player will always know their meaning by simply observing the area before navigating it.

Notches on structures and details in the world wont always necessarily have any relation to a hint, they may just be for decoration, but when they are used as hints it will be obvious to the player. In general notches can be thought of as a general loose type of code in the game as to give a sense of mystery.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Re-spawning

Ideally after dying there will be a nice re-spawning sequence, the camera will pan away from where the player just died, then settle on the last spawn point activated by the player, zoom in a bit and the following sequence will occur:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

NPC & Player Dialog , Reactive Animations & Audio Speech

Along with the hints as mentioned, NPC's can also deliver pieces of valuable information to the player in terms of how to play the game, and can also be used "obviously" to deliver a minimal story to the game, or some individual back stories to each NPC.

I needed to think of some way of delivering dialog text/hints and I really wanted it be somewhat unique, somehow fit it into the world, but have it decent looking , clear to read , easy and flexible to implement and modify.

After many ideas I settled on the idea of having a glassy slate style box set into a 45 or flipped to -45 (both will be used).

There wont be a lot of room to fit in a lot of text at the same time, but just like JRPG games, the player can click to see more text if it's a long piece of dialog. (perhaps when switching to the next page of text in a dialog the dialog box will rotate/flip quickly around to reveal the next bit of text)

Dialog color theme for the Hub NPC	Color theme for the Angry Triplets	Example showing rotated dialog box.

The text is slightly made to look like its embedded into the glassy slate, and each dialog box and text, depending on the color of the NPC, will have a different hue to emphasise different dialogs from different NPC's. The fonts used in this example may not be the style use in the prototype or game proper.

As shown in the 3rd image above they can have 2 orientations, not just for variety but for function too in as far as if there are 2 dialog boxes on screen at the same time for example the Player cube is talking to an NPC then both orientations are used, or in the case of talking to an NPC from approaching it from another side (See dialog hint on the next section as an example)

These dialog boxes ideally should slowly bob up and down very slightly when they are active on screen as to give the impression they are floating GUI elements as opposed to objects on the world.

Some Alternate Styles of Dialog Box Designs

Reactive / Emotional Animated Sequences

NPC's in the world wont just be standing around still. Many of them will roll around on certain pre-defined paths, back and forth like a sequence of patrolling or daily activity. Along with their movement about the world, these NPC's will also have certain behaviors in the form of pre-defined animated reaction sequences.

These reaction animations will take most prominence during dialog sessions with the player, however many of the animations could be applied to other instances of game play such as an NPC trying to get the player's attention from a distance, showing approval or disapproval at a given task.. etc etc

My challenge was to create examples of these reactions while keeping the cubic nature of the NPC's absolutely rigid. At all costs I wanted to avoid any squash/stretch/twist in the geometry of the cubes to force a look of natural movement and end up with them cartoony. Part of the aesthetic of this game is in its uniformity of right angles/solidity.. etc, and to see an NPC stretch/twist to convey some reaction would, I feel conflict with that aesthetic. So it was a bit tricky making a primitive cube seem like its alive, with certain basic emotional reactions.

The other challenge was because these sequences are "in place animations" it means that the sequences would have to start on the NPC's grid square and end the sequence on the same square, so doing things like jumps/flips was tricky to make look right because these actions would have a tendency to make the cube drift away from its grid in real world scenario, so I have tried to make these sequences as physically plausible as possible based on this and the rigidity.


These examples are not in Engine animations. They could be improved since I was not using any physics/gravity here, its all hand tweened animation.
There are 6 sequences here and I feel more then enough to apply throughout the Mini-World prototype, however the game proper could feature many more of these. Press the full screen button if the thumbnail sizes are too small.

These 6 sequences alone, when strung together in any one dialog session with the player could be ideal to give these NPC's an extra spark of life.
These types of sequences can not only be applied to NPC's but also the players cube during dialog, or in other situation such as if the player has collected an item cube they might do a flip or jump for joy.
These 6 sequences could also be rotated/mirrored in any which ways for variety, so the player is not always seeing the same orientation of moments on the one recurring reaction animation sequence.


Other Animated Sequences

There will be other animated sequences not specifically related to an emotional reaction, such as the player dying in certain ways, or using a teleport warp square as shown in the example video below.

NPC Speech Sounds

Along with the dialog GUI each NPC will have it's own gibberish sounds when engaged in dialog. Each NPC will have their own unique sounding voice pre-generated using synthesizers. Here are some examples of the sort of synthesizer sounds for NPC speech, not entirely happy with them but they are just experiments/examples. NOTE: These examples use heavy delay/echo which will not feature on the actual speech sounds.

NPC Language

To add to the game aesthetic even more there could be a system of symbols in the game rather then using text. This could be tried out on the mini-world prototype. I have covered the general idea of this symbol language on the original document.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Optical Illusion Factor

As is obvious by the nature of the isometric perspective of the game it often creates situations where something looks like its in a certain location but when viewed at another angle it's in another location. For the most part I wanted to avoid theses instances throughout the world and only use this "optical illusion factor" very very sparingly so the player has well defined rules to navigate the world but occasionally might get caught out with little features in the world that use this optical illusion factor, but in those cases there will be hints.

That said, there will be special areas where my level design is the other way around, outside of these areas I do my best to avoid instances of it, inside these areas I do my best to make full use of it. An example of one of these areas in the Mini-World is section 3.

Here is the optical illusion area on section 3, looking at it from the game's isometric view, so the area in question here are within the confines of the 2 Elevators, in this case the right Elevator is a "locked Elevator" not in its starting position, anyway the point is between these two Elevators player is within this type of optical illusion area.	Here is a simplified map of the area looking directly down on it. As you can now see things look very different than the isometric view and there are a few instances that they player would have fallen to their death if they didn't know this was an optical illusion.

The Dialog Hint

Because this area has in effect different rules over the main world because no roll is potentially safe due to the optical illusion, it may without hints be unfair to the player.

The player has spent time navigating non-illusionary type areas for a while and suddenly starts falling off things in these areas with no comprehension of what's going other then perhaps Notches in the rungs of the walkways which in this special instance may not be enough.

So to emphasise to the player they are about to enter these special areas there must be some dialog hint.

After thinking a bit I thought the perfect method of not only letting the player know they are entering an optical illusion area but also give them a good hint here is what i came up with:

To inform the player they are entering these areas there will be an NPC (or other hints in The Game Proper in advanced stages of the game) that will show you a top down map of the area before you enter the area itself. The player can see the top down map, then look at what's ahead and if observant enough can work out the correct way. It might initially seem this would be too easy, but even looking at both at the same time its still tricky to figure out even tho the answers are all there. There is also a degree of memory challenge in that the player has to try remember that top down image in their head while navigating this area, and this memory factor would be more of a prominent game play aspect on bigger/more intricate areas. The one used in the Mini-World is a fairly simple one in terms figuring it out.

Section 3 has two potential ways of approaching this area (before its color puzzle has been solved *gap in walkway to right of image). As explained in the dialog section previously If this area is being approached from the WEST the dialog box will orientate like this, and if the player approaches from the EAST they get the dialog facing the way its in the first image.

The Notch Hints

Along with the dialog map hint, there are also Notch hints to indicated to the player the areas of danger. Perhaps the map hint might be enough and we use Notches (based on feedback from other people testing the Mini-World) or Notch hints in these optical illusion area can be gradually used less if in advanced areas of The Game Proper. In general all types of hint don't have to be used, types of hints could be reduced as the player progresses into more advanced areas of the Game Proper.

The Reveal / Player Reward

The Potential Issues and Compromises of these Special Optical Illusion Areas

All the concepts here are not testing in an Unity engine scene environment, so they look ideal in terms of disguising the illusion.
The game as a whole will be using post process/filtering, such as depth of field (tilt shift effect), screen space ambient occlusion, and other effects. I will also be using perhaps a specific light source angle for the world, or perhaps a changing source (day/night cycle). It is also likely there will be a slight camera perspective offset effect the further out from the camera focus point. And if using the "half table" top effect as outlined in the original design document.
All these attributes to the game that are not featured in any of these concept images may effect things to such an extent it gives away the optical illusion. Only in engine testing can determine how effective this is and it may be a case that certain effects while the player is engaged in these areas would need to be disabled.
If it's a case that no compromise can be found to implement these areas effectively then we can look at perhaps getting in some help, or on a worst case scenario we drop the idea and I make a new section for Section 3 in the Mini-World and we don't prioritize on these areas for The Game Proper.

However I think getting a system working where these special optical illusion areas work effectively and integrate into the world as a whole would be an extremely good idea and one worth putting in the extra effort to try an achieve.
If the system as suggested works , then there is no end to how this can be used in highly interesting scenarios and would be a massive feature/asset in context for promoting the game.

As an example of just one of the potential problem issues as mentioned above, here an image using DOF. It's rendered in MagicaVoxel but the same issue would apply to Unity or any other engine. The Green circle on the ground represents where the player cube might be standing, and where in this instance the camera focus point happens to be. Because of the depth of field blurring you can clearly see the piece of walkway that is in fact nowhere near the walkway (green arrow) the player can roll on.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Moving / Elements

Elevator Blocks There are 3 types of these with different functions. The reason for the 3 types is mostly in the case of the Mini-World due to issues of player progression through the world in context to the freedom the player has to do tasks in certain sequences. Because of this scenarios arise where if only using one type of Elevator the player might become trapped, or cut off from items, or other bad scenarios that end up being confusing or game breaking. In this Mini-World these 3 types of Elevators are used in pretty straight forward ways however in The Game Proper we can make use of a lot of these 3 types of Elevators to mix and match them in areas to create some really challenging puzzle areas. I have given them a global aesthetic so each one is easily identifiable for what it does. NOTE!: I completely forgot to apply the side details that emphasize each type of Elevator in the images of the mini word where ever they are featured on this page so they all look like "Lock Elevators" , As I break down the sections one by one I will indicate which ones are which type of elevator. The Lock Elevator This isn't really an Elevator its more of a "gap filler" such as gaps in bridges. Solving a certain puzzle will trigger this Lock Elevator to rise (or fall). In the above image you can see this type of Elevator in a typical starting position. After solving a puzzle (or some other switch) the Elevator will rise as shown here, filling the gap over the example walkway. This Elevator is now locked in place and remains that way unless the player dies before activating a respawn point, this goes for the other two types of Elevators too. The One Way Elevator Here is a typical starting position of a One Way Elevator. It has a single Notch line on its sides to indicated to the player it's this type of Elevator. These types of Elevators would be accessible in some scenarios without having to solve a puzzle or switch a switch. To demonstrate how this works let's assume the player climbs the steps to the walkway then rolls onto the Elevator. The Elevator would then descend to it's original position while the player is on it. At the bottom once the player rolls off this Elevator, the Elevator would ascend back to the top so can only be used again if the player rolls on to it from the elevated area in this example. The Two Way Elevator A typical starting position of a Two Way Elevator This one has 2 line Notches on each side to indicate to the player it's this type of Elevator These types of Elevators would be accessible in some scenarios without having to solve a puzzle or switch a switch. This is very much the same as the one way Elevator only it doesn't return to a starting position (or some other alternate position) after being used. So if the player rolled over it from the top it would descend, if the player rolls off it at the bottom the Elevator will remain there until the player rolls back onto it in which case it would ascend back up. There are instances of either the One or Two way Elevators having 3 positions, their starting position and their up or down position. For example if the player comes into an area where a Two Way Elevator is , and that Elevator's up and down position both lead to different paths, but you don't want the player to be able to use this Elevator just yet (for example before having to do a puzzle) then this Elevator would have a 3rd position , it's starting position where the player cannot use it. But once this 2 (or 1) Way Elevator has been "activated" by solving a puzzle it will forever after only have 2 positions, either up or down.

Moving Elements using the Controller Switch Squares In the Mini-World there are 2 instances of using Controller Switch Squares. The controllers in effect make some other element in the world move in a certain direction depending on the direction of the Symbol. A simple example is the water crossing platform that has a simple forward and back movement whichever way its actively being controlled. The other instance is a more complicated one and it uses 4 directional symbols so the player can control another block into a desired position. Either way these Controller Switches can be thought of as a global mechanic and will be used extensively in The Game Proper to control a variety of different types of moving elements or scenarios. Controlling Another Movable Object Example IMORTANT NOTE: This would not be a priority for the Mini-World so can be left toward the end of the Mini-World prototypes development, If needs be we can get some help on getting it implemented, but for now don't worry about, just have the idea sitting in your head :) Controlling A Ride-On Moving Platform An even simpler example that is used in the Mini-World on Section 7, which only uses 2 directional Controller Switches. In this scenario the player rolls onto a moving platform they can control by rolling onto the forward/or back Controller Switches. In the 3rd image you can see rolling off the controller switches will stop the platform movement, although this is of no use in the Mini-World context it will come into play in The Game Proper where junctions will be present. In context to the feel of this, there should be acceleration/decelerations curves on starting to move/ending movement. And in the case of stepping off while the platform is still between two locations then the platform would gradually come to a halt in the next 5x5 Grid square.

Swing Bridges There is one instance of this in the Mini-World in it's basic form, however this type of element could be used in many ways to create intricate puzzles in areas with Swing Bridge's that have junctions off them, multi levels.. etc. There really is no end to ways these could be used to create some really interesting and challenging situations. The Swing Bridge that features in this Mini-World has to be swung around and crossed a few times in order to successfully compete sections 6 and 9 as will be explained in a little more detail while breaking down those sections further into this document. It's a simple enough idea that, and in its basic form, where a span of walkway/platform can be rotated by the player pushing against a horizontally orientated Switch panel near the pivot point of the Swing Bridge. This will rotate the bridge so it makes other paths accessible to the player. These Swing bridge's can be rigged up in certain ways so that you can only push them 90degrees one way and back the other (as is the case in the Mini-World and examples below) or can have any variety of 4 positions at 90degree rotations. Simple Example Here is an example of a simple Swing bridge that has been rigged so it can only be swung around in two positions. The green arrow shows where the cube will make contact with the switch near the pivot of the swing bridge. Not clear enough in the first image, you can see I have put a hole in this position, and by putting it here specifically it means the player can only push the switch in 2 possible ways. Here is the first. On swinging the Swing Bridge around you can see it has made the path onto the bridge accessible to the player. You can also just about make out the green arrow which indicates the only possible way this bridge can be rotated now, back to its original position. This is perhaps a bad example in that if you notice carefully the swing bridge here would not in fact be able to move at all, however in the example in the Mini-World there is nothing blocking it from swing in to both its positions. Looking over again, you can clearly see which way the player has to push the bridge now and attempting to push it in any other way would result in the player falling through the hole. The Action of Pushing the Swing Bridge Switch Panel The action of the players cube pushing against a switch panel should have a physical feel. By this I mean, the Switch panel is horizontally placed in the center of the square the player will roll into. So ideally when the players cube is at about 24 degrees rotation into this square the edge closest to the switch will make contact. At this point another animation sequence will take over for the cube and make the cubes rotation almost stop as it makes contact withe switch (near 24degree) and then slowly accelerate a "push" so the cube eventually lands face down on the square but as it was doing so always making contact with the switch panel as if it's pushing this switch physically to give the Swing Bridge enough momentum to swing around. In other words ideally this action of pushing against switches to push swing bridges around must feel like the player is doing it, rather then the feeling of the player having just pressed a switch which activates some mechanical force to push the swing bridge around. This pushing interaction and its acceleration curvatures can also be applied to other scenarios in The Game Proper such as the player cube pushing against other cubes to slide them and so on. IMORTANT NOTE: If this pushing action is too difficult to implement in terms of code we can perhaps leave it for now so a simple ground switch could be used instead. This would not be a priority for the Mini-World so can be left toward the end of the Mini-World prototypes development, If needs be we can get some help on getting it implemented

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Player Progression and Game Play

The Players Goal On The Mini-World

The overriding goal of the Mini-World game is to find and collect 24 Item Cubes which are glowing pink cubes scattered around the world.

Some of these cubes are straight forward to collect while others require the player to solve a puzzle element to access them, and others might be hidden from player's view and can only be found by the player's careful observation of the environment to look for clues.

Here is how these items cubes are distributed about the world.

Easy = Straight forward.
Tricky = Might be tricky to acquire.
Puzzle = Requires a puzzle element to be solved to get access to.
Hidden = Hidden from players view and using hints/clues to help the player find.

Section 1 - 1 Tricky	Section 2 - 1 Easy	Section 3 - 1 Easy - 3 Puzzle
Section 4 - 1 Tricky	Section 5 - 1 Easy	Section 6 - 3 Easy - 1 Puzzle+Hidden - 1 Hidden
Section 7 - 1 Tricky - 2 Puzzle	Section 8 - 2 Easy	Section 9 - 1 Easy - 2 Puzzle - 3 Hidden

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Section By Section Breakdown On Mini-World's Functionality and Player Progression

As is by now clear, I have created the world in sections, however I have tried to avoid the world ending up where details are packed into specific sections. I have instead thought of the 9 sections as one so tried to overlap features on one section into another section, in other words I wanted to try make these sections seamless when put together and not obvious they are build in sections. The next few parts of this document will outline how each section on an individual basis works however as mentioned there will be many instances of a function of one section having direct relevance to an adjacent section so I will try my best to explain things in this context.

To be honest working in sections has been a challenge and I honestly would not create these sections if MagicaVoxel had bigger canvasses than 126x126x126 instead I would just build the world as a whole. Anyway, here we go...

Sections will be covered in an order that I created them and from a players point of view in order of my personal player progression.

I will be explaining them in this order, however it is important to note that the player has a degree of freedom to the order in which they will do things so they may very well do things in a different way to how I am explaining.

Section 5 Section 5 is the center section and where the player will start their mini adventure. From this section the player will have their first interaction with an NPC, and that NPC will explain there are 24 lost Item Cubes scattered about the world. This NPC gives you the task of venturing out to the world to find, collect and deposit them into the Hub Pillars, these Pillars are the 6 white blocks where the player deposits their collected items. This NPC may also give very basic information on how the item pickup/drop and color pickup mechanic works, and may warn the player that falling from heights in excess of the height of the player will result in a death. I am not sure what aspects of the game to explain through dialog and which not, I would like the player to figure these things out themselves, but depending on feedback from other people playing early prototypes it may be sensible to be more forthcoming on how things work. If kids and adults alike can figure out more complicated mechanics and features in other games with little to no tutorials then this game should be a pretty easy to figure out what to do based on simple experimentation / exploration. The pyramid like structure in the center is where the player starts, right on top, and this is the first spawn point they will activate. Immediately when the game starts there will be a dialog prompt from the NPC . This NPC will explain that there are 24 Item Cubes located around the world. The NPC will then explain that the player has to find and collect them and bring them back and deposit them into each side of each of the Hub Pillars , and as the player deposits each Item Cube into each side of the pillars a corresponding groove will begin to flood with light and eventually light up one of the little black cubes as an indication that one slot as been filled . In the screenshot above I have shown an example of 2 of the pillars with occupied slots. However this wont be the case when the player starts the game. There will be 1 Item Cube situated right beside the NPC, and this 1 item is to introduce the player early to the pick up mechanic, so this cube can be thought of as a tutorial task. The game effectively ends when all black cubes by the HUB have been lit up, and that is only possible by finding the remaining 23 items cubes on the sections around this center section 5. So ideally after a few minutes the player should have picked up the 1 Item Cube, and figured out how to deposit it into one of the Hub pillars side slots. From here the player has a choice to go WEST, SOUTH or EAST. So lets assume the player chooses to go EAST, on to the walkway and over the water ... see you there Quest Progress Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 Section 9 Inventory = 0

Section 8 The player enters from the WEST, and sees a gap in the walkway ahead but also sees a block that is glowing orange under the gap that is too low for the player to drop down to. (NOTE: In the screen shot above I have this Elevator Block in its ending position). The player at this point either goes back to section 5 or rolls toward the Key Square . On picking up the Key Square the Switch Square will light up . Player orientates their cube so lands color Key side down on the Switch Square. The moment this happens the Elevator Block will rise and fill the gap in the walkway (as showed in the above screenshot). The Elevator Block is now locked into place and its state remains persistent till the end of the game unless they die before activating the Spawn point in which case they will respawn back on top of the pyramid in section 5 (Sec5: A). In other words, these spawn points can be considered checkpoint/save points that save the state of the world according to what progress has been made. The player at this point might spot the Item Cube that is half hidden and collect it. So we can assume the player has 1 out of their 6 inventory slots filled. The player from now can go back to the HUB Pillars or continue to explore other parts of section 8. They solve another puzzle by picking up the Key in the center of this section 8 , activating its corresponding Switch which will trigger another Elevator block to rise to fill a gap in a structure. This gives the player access to the Ice sections of the world. There is another Item Cube that is visible from this section that the player cannot access. They will see a pyramid structure (partly shown in the image above of section 8) with a moat around it filled with water. They cannot get past this pyramid without falling into the water at some point. There is also a very tall Elevator (One Way Elevator) that in this picture is shown in is correct starting position. There is no way of getting this Elevator to descend without exploring other areas and subsequently solving another puzzle which will bring the player back into section 8. So lets again assume (we have to assume since this is an free/open exploration game to a degree) the player gets curious about how to get this Item Cube that is out of reach. Rather then them venture into the ice sections, which they can do if they wanted, they instead make their way back to section 5 by heading over the walkway WESTward. While on section 5 they deposit the Item Cube they collected and deposit it into one of the free slots sides on one of the Hub Pillars. So we can assume now there are 2 out of 24 black cubes activated and glowing at the HUB area and the player now has an empty inventory. (IMPORTANT NOTE: The other Key Square and its corresponding Switch Square will not be seen assuming the player has already filled the gap in the walkway over the river, however if they happened to approach section 8 for the first time through section 7 (down the Elevator) then the Key and Switch would be visible to enable to player to get back to section 8, and vise versa.) So let's assume the player ventures WEST into section 2 now. Quest Progress Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 Section 9 Inventory = 0

Section 2 Player arrives in section 2 which has 1 Item Cube to collect and a series of puzzles and blocked paths. The first thing they might want to do if they had not done this already in section 5 is to save their progress by activating the spawn point close to them. Having a look around they may see they can climb onto the roof of the structure nearest them by climbing the terrain behind the spawn point . Now on the roof they can move SOUTH along the top walkway which leads them onto the roof of the structure at the center. From here they can probably figure out that the lower path/bridge leads off to the SOUTH but that path is unaccessible right now. They continue by rolling WEST into the doorway . At this point the player can no longer see where they are, however I have designed this whole world that any "behind or in areas" in the game can be easily figured out by careful observation of the surrounding environment that take the form of hints, or in this case the player can count the squares on the top of the building to determine how many rolls they need to roll before they can roll SOUTH and out of the doorway on the SOUTH side of the building or indeed roll NORTH to go further into the building. To help the player determine where they are when inside or behind areas there may very well be a simple sound effect (or visual GUI prompt) to indicate to the player every time they roll, and a different sound if they are trying to roll against a dead end, this will be further explained in the Sound Effects part of this document. So lets assume the player comes out of the door way on the SOUTH side of the structure . They can see a path up to the roof of structure where they will collect an Item Cube. They will also notice a Key Square to the SOUTH that they cannot access from here because dropping down to it would result in a death. They will also spot two holes in the ground running under the wall. The player takes note of this and goes back into the structure this time going forward (counting squares) and eventually coming out right at the far NORTH side of the structure, they can now move EAST to pick up the Key Square located here which will make its corresponding Switch square to light up . Moving back into the building and counting squares to eventually come out at the other doorway on the structure's EAST side and solving the puzzle by activating the the Switch square that will trigger the Elevator just NORTH of here to rise. Approaching the Elevator the player will also notice another Item Cube (which is actually on section 3 (Sec 3 = I)) and it looks like this item is just one roll away. Lets assume the player rolls around the Elevator and attempts to roll over to collect the cube but falls into the water, dies and respawns at the last spawn point they activated. This might confuse them now but on careful observation they will notice there is a "Notch" on the platform square that Item Cube is on. The player might be able to guess at this point that either this platform has some weird attribute or the smarter ones might realize this platform is in fact not connected at all and realize its the isometric angle playing tricks. In other words this may be the player's first introduction to the optical illusion factor of the game which will be used to some degree throughout the world and extensively in some special area such as section 3. The point is the player now knows that unusual details like Notches on things may indicate a clue in some way or another. So the player has respawned after learning their first hard lesson, and because they have respawn they have not only lost the item they picked up on the roof of the main structure but the color puzzle they solved previous has also been reset with the Elevator in its starting position (down). At this point the player can try go off and explore some other areas to see if they can access them, or even pick up that Key square they spotted to the SOUTH-WEST. So lets assume the player goes for that Key first. NOTE!!! FROM HERE ON I WILL EXPLAIN THINGS IN LESS DETAIL SINCE YOU ARE ALREADY FAMILIER WITH THE MECHANICS, FUNCTIONS, TERMINOLGY AND UNDERSTAND HOW THE PLAYER MOVES THROUGH THE WORLD BASED ON THE FIRST 3 SECTIONS EXPLAINED. Player goes under wall and grabs the Key , back under wall, over again to the roof , navigates the structure to get the Item Cube again, back into structure, grabs the 2nd Key again, solves puzzle , The Elevator rises (One Way Elevator) players steps on Elevator brings them lower, player rolls off Elevator into unseen doorway , from here they can go NORTH or SOUTH. We go SOUTH as far as the walkway will go into Section 1 See you there.... Quest Progress Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 Section 9 Inventory =

Section 1   Player eventually ends up at a junction , where they have a choice to go EAST , or up the step that will lead them WEST. We go WEST and solve the puzzle with that other Key we picked up going under the wall back in section 2. The Elevator then rises (Lock Elevator) and the player activates spawn point . The Angry Cube Triplets Challenge This section has a zone where 3 NPC cubes live. There are 4 levels in this zone, ground level , the elevated areas and the trench area . There is also a step level and there are 3 of these steps. There are 3 Enemy NPC's that for some undecided reason want to kill the player by making contact. One of these NPC's Lives on the Elevated areas and cannot move off this elevated area. The other NPC lives on ground level and can only move around there while the other NPC lives in the trench area and cannot be anywhere else. When the player is in this area all 3 NPC's will move toward the player at a slower rate then the players cube speed. Unless...... When the players cube is on the ground level the ground NPC will move toward the player at double (or more) speed. If the players get too close to the ground NPC they can drop into the tench level and the ground NPC speed toward the player will reduce to normal speed (half or so the speed of the player), however now the trench cubes speed will be moving toward the player at double (or so) the speed of the player. This would go the same no matter if the player is on the elevated, ground, or trench areas, so when you are on an NPC's level it will move faster toward the player. There are 3 steps up to the elevated area when the player is resting on one of these 3 steps then the triplet cubes start to move away from the player as if the player was invisible. This will give the player the opportunity to rest for a few moments while the NPCs wander away to their starting positions. These steps may have a time limit so the player can not sit on one indefinitely. If the time runs out and the player continues to sit on the step, then the NPC's will behave as normal, ie, move toward the player at a reduced speed. If a time limit is being used on the steps then they will start to recharge as soon as the player steps off it. These things will be indicated by either GUI or sound effect indications. This challenge area would require a lot of game play testing to get the balance right, NPC speeds would no doubt have to be fine tuned and so on. IMORTANT NOTE: If this challenge area is too difficult to implement in terms of code we can perhaps leave it as a static walk through area for now so the player only has to solve the color puzzle and collect the Item Cube. This would not be a priority for the Mini-World so can be left toward the end of the Mini-World prototypes development, If needs be we can get some help on getting it implemented. So assuming the player manages to solve the color puzzle and grab the Item Cube while not making contact with the Angry Triplets the passage through to section 4 opens See you there.. Quest Progress Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 Section 9 Inventory =

Section 4 Player activates spawn point , then onto the platform where there are 4 directional Controller Squares, which will in turn let the player roll the block and orientate it's rolls so it ends up slotting into the 5x5x5 slot which will bridge the gap in the walkway . Player can at this point use the switch to open a doorway (Lock Elevator) so they can explore other areas or deposit the items cubes back at the Hub area, however we will now take the water crossing cart into section 7 See you there.... Quest Progress Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 Section 9 Inventory =

Section 7   Player controls the water crossing cart to cross river and activates the spawn point . Player climbs down into the small puzzle area and collects the Key , if player attempts to climb out before solving puzzle they lose the Key. Player solves puzzle which in turn activates an Elevator to rise ( Two Way Elevator) into view (as seen in this pic) which will enable the player to grab the item Key , Only way out of here is back over the river into section 4. Quest Progress Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 Section 9 Inventory = After arriving back into section 4 the player can switch the switch to open the door (Sec 4 = G) to section 5 . While back in section 5 they deposit their Item Cubes and save any progress. Quest Progress Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 Section 9 Inventory = 0 Player decides to see what the NPC in section 1 (Sec1 = O) has to to say, the only way in there is through a doorway to the SOUTH on section 5 (Sec 5 = E) They enter back into section 1 and talk to the NPC (Sec 1 = O) who tells them a hint that will lead the player under ground and out on to section 4 (Sec 4 = K) then into a structure that brings us back into section 7 . Here they will pickup the Item Cube seen from section 4 (Sec 4 = L) by rolling along to top of the building. Then they climb the steps up to the Key square and collect the Item Cube and also solve the color puzzle which will activate the Elevator (Lock Elevator) to rise and give access to the pyramid area. At this point will have to get back on to that high walkway that comes back out at . To get back to that point they go back the way they came, underground then out near the NPC in section 2 head NORTH into section 5 where they can save any progress and also deposit the currently held items they have in inventory. Quest Progress Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 Section 9 Inventory = 0 They head back onto the high walkway via section 2 to end up in section 1 taking the SOUTH route at the junction (Sec 1 = A) leading them into section 4 over the filled gap in the walkway (Sec 4 = D) and over the water......and we are back in section 7 again. Player activates the spawn point entering the pyramid .. rolls as far forward as they can go to grab the Item Cube on section 8 (Sec 8 = K) then back into the pyramid, grabs Key solves puzzle which triggers Elevator (One Way Elevator) to drop allowing player to step on it by navigating through the pyramid. After going up on the Elevator the player moves toward the other Elevator (One Way Elevator) steps on it which brings it up another level, they grab the Item Cube , and roll NORTH into section 8 where they use the very tall Elevator (Sec 8 = L) (One Way Elevator) , then across the river (Sec 8 = A) back into Section 5, deposit cubes and back into section 8. If you can remember back in the chapter on section 8 the player has already solved the puzzle that bridged the gap in the walkway so they can enter into section 9. See you there.... Quest Progress Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 Section 9 Inventory = 0

Section 9   Player enters from the SOUTH , navigates walkway to Elevator (Two Way Elevator), brining the player into the ice zones of the Mini-World. They activate spawn point , grab the 2 hidden Item Cubes just to the NORTH by observing the hints on the ice blocks. Player climbs onto swing bridge then over and finds a safe way down to collect Key , heads back onto swing bridge and drops down near its pivot center to pushes against the switch panel . Swing Bridge swings around anti-clockwise 90degree. Player collects Item Cube submerged in water , then climbs back onto swing bridge solves switch puzzle which triggers the Elevator (Lock Elevator) to rise. Player collects the hidden Item Cube and makes their way around and collects the other Item Cube . Player heads back and grabs another item by passing through the structure. Quest Progress Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 Section 9 Inventory = At this point the player may have very well seen that there are more Item Cubes just ahead in section 6 but realize their inventory is also full. They head back to the Elevator and make their way back to section 5, and deposit their cubes back at the Hub. We are almost there and have collected 15 of the 24 cubes needed. Player heads back to section 6 back down the Elevator . Heads back up into the structure and heads WEST into section 6. see you there... Quest Progress Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 Section 9 Inventory =

Section 6   Player exits from to doorway and collects Key , solves the puzzle switch on section 9 (Sec 9 = O), which activates the Elevator (Lock Elevator) to rise and bridge the gap in the walkway. They head back and use the swing bridge to eventually make their way over the walk way on section 6 down and around to collect the Key . While here see hint on wall of structure to find hidden Item Cube . Heading back over and up to solve puzzle which will trigger Elevator to rise (Two Way Elevator). Player heads back into section 9 uses swing bridge to get back into section 6 and through the structure and out. When they step onto the Elevator it will bring them up, they step off in any direction and step back on which brings them back down where they can roll into the structure to collect the half hidden Item Cube by the doorway. Seeing the hint and rolling further into the structure and out the other side then collecting a hidden Item Cube . Player heads back out the doorway and steps on Elevator to bring them up. They head WEST passing the random NPC that if approached from the West before solving the puzzles on sections 9 and 6 will inform the player this area is inaccessible from that direction. NOTE: Elevator in this image is shown in its "down" position, after the puzzle has just been solved. Its Up position gives access to the top exit gate to the WEST and the elevated walkway to the EAST. However before the puzzle has been solved it will have a "starting position" that would in this instance be just at the water surface or just under. So the player makes their way over the winding walkway and heads WEST into section 3 See you there... Quest Progress Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 Section 9 Inventory =

Section 3   So we are nearing the end of our little mini adventure. Player sees there is no way to collect the Item Cubes because the Elevator (Lock Elevator) has not bridged the gap yet. Player heads down and activates spawn point , heads back EAST over the lower walkway into section 6 to collect the 2 items cubes (Sec 6 = I) on the island of ice, heads back to section 3 climbs up to head toward the Elevator (One Way Elevator) but on the way dialog is triggered by NPC which will show a map hint of this special optical illusion area. Player rolls on to Elevator (One Way Elevator) which brings them to the elevated area. Player figures out optical illusion to grab Key and solve the puzzle which will trigger the Elevator (Lock Elevator) to rise. Player moves to Elevator and as soon as they step on this Elevator the "optical illusion reveal camera rotation sequence will start" Quest Progress Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 Section 9 Inventory = Player sees 3 cubes to be collected but has only one slot free. Heads down and activates spawn point to save progress, up and onto the elevated walkway, then SOUTH to collect the Item Cube that will fill their last slot, or they could leave this item and come back for it with an empty inventory to make it easier to orientate a free slot. So player heads down and around and into section 2 where they they figure out how to get back to section 5 to deposit their 6 cubes into the HUB. Quest Progress Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 Section 9 Inventory = 0 Player makes their way back to section 9 to collect the final 3 Item Cubes , then back to the HUB and ..... Quest Progress Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 Section 9 Inventory = 0 ENDING SQUENCE... GAME OVER

Please don't hesitate to contact me for any inquiries or interest in getting involved

cube@fractalscapes.net

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

For further reference here is an index of links to areas on this page.


Introduction
01. The Purpose of this Mini-World Prototype
02. The Purpose of this Document.
03. The Preliminary Documents
04. Terminology To Avoid Confusion
05. How The Mini-World Works In Comparison to the Original Design Document

Rules, Mechanics and Functionality
06. The Global Rules To The Mini-World
07. The Hints Design
08. Re-spawning
09. NPC & Player Dialog , Reactive Animations & Audio Speech
10. The Optical Illusion Factor

Moving / Elements
11. Elevator Blocks
12. Moving Elements using the Controller Switch Squares
13. Swing Bridges

Player Progression and Game Play
14. The Players Goal On The Mini-World
15. Section By Section Breakdown On Mini-World's Functionality and Player Progression



Section Chapters