Produced by Binary1 Studios Design by: Judy Hudson

Description:
General: The game is a single player game of the point-and-click adventure genre. The premise is that animals have escaped from the zoo and the main character must find and return all of them before damage can be done to the village. When the program begins, he or she must talk to the zookeeper to determine which animals are missing and where to start looking. Main Strength: Finding clues to the location of each animal while avoiding being injured will be challenging. Learning what each animal likes (to convince them to return) will be fun. A charming little dog will be provided as a trusty companion. The main strength will be the characters that will be 3D models in a 2D environment. Motion capture will be used for the little dog to make him particularly engaging.

Game Structure
a. Game Genre: Point-and-click adventure game. b. Players: Single player. Most scenes are in the third person view with the player viewing his/her avatar. In the third person main scenes, the player can click a location to move the player character to the clicked spot. Alternatively, the player can use the arrow keys to move the player character. If an interactive object is clicked, the interaction menu will be displayed, allowing the player to examine, talk to, or pick up the object. In some cases, a secondary scene will be displayed so that the action can be viewed in more detail. In these secondary scenes, action will be in the first person view. c. Game Play Objectives: The hero must collect clues to find and return all of the missing animals to the zoo. d. Procedures or Rules: The hero must visit the village to search for the missing animals. He should speak with any characters he meets to get clues. He should check any interactive items in the various scenes and pick up anything that can be picked up. These items will be placed in the inventory and will be needed to get the animals to come back to the zoo. The hero should also listen to his faithful companion.

e. Resources: The resources are clues such as bananas to talk the monkey into coming back, bamboo to attract the panda, a ladder to climb onto the giraffes back. Another character or the dog companion will be present to suggest riding the giraffe. The dog will suggest getting the ladder. Conflicts are barriers that stand in the way of catching an animal. Clues may not be obvious. The hero will need help to realize that he must ride the giraffe. One banana will be in a trash can. The hero will not be able to catch the giraffe until the monkey is found. f. Boundaries and Formal Elements: The storyline is limited to the small village and zoo. The hero is restricted to this area, which is defined within the game. The game is played on a computer but there are no other formal elements. g. Outcome: The player wins when all of the animals have been returned to zoo. In the extras version, the player will be able to choose to explore the now-filled zoo or to exit the game. Game sessions can be saved at any time.

Development Tools
Game Engine: The Wintermute Engine (WME) will be used in 2.5 D mode (3D models with a 2D background). Modeling Program: 3ds Max will be used for creating hidden geometry files needed to place 3D models. These files have to be in the .3ds format. The program will also be used to convert models into .x format, which is needed by the Wintermute engine. Quidam 3 Studio: This is a character modeling program, which might be used to supply additional characters. Creation of Backgrounds and Textures: Adobe Photoshop will be used to crop and otherwise modify images obtained for backgrounds and to create sprites for use in the scenes. Torque Game Engine: TGE is used to set up scenes for the village. Source of Models: Models will be downloaded from turbosquid.com, the3dstudio.com, and artist-3d.com. Source of Motion Capture Files: A large number of motion capture files are available free of charge from the Carnegie Mellon website

Program Design
Scene 1: The program starts with an animation of the zoo representative talking. The zoo representative will explain that the animals have escaped and it is the heros task to find and return the animals. Zoo Office Scene: After the animation, the player will be in the zoo office and can choose to walk toward the zoo or the village.

As the player character walks to the zoo, he will pass a table where bamboo shoots will be placed. He will need to get those to attract the panda.

After seeing the empty zoo, the player will walk back into the office and go through a lobby to head for the village. The scene to the left shows the exit to the village. One of the scenes will contain a waste basket. Clicking on the waste basket will change the scene to a third person view of the waste basket showing a banana in the garbage. Clicking on the banana will cause it to be moved into the inventory. Clicking on the couch will change the scene to a third person view of the couch. If the cushion is clicked, the cushion will flip up showing another banana or perhaps

a set of keys for a locked door. The potted tree might be another place to hide a banana or some other clue. The door in the previous scene is interactive. Clicking on the door will take the player character to the village, where there are four buildings. The player can click on the ground to move the player character around the village. Clicking on a building will transport the player character to the building. Clicking on the building again will take the character inside the building.

The Tower: Someone (maybe the zoo representative or someone standing by the buildings) will tell the player character that a giraffe could hide in a tall building but clicking will reveal that the tower is empty. The empty tower will be shown as a first person scene with text stating that no animal is hiding here.

The Small Shed: This will be similar to the tower no animal is hiding here. The interior will be viewed as a first person scene.

Small house: This building contains a clue. The interior will be displayed as a third person scene allowing the character to walk to the far end of the room where there is a ladder. The player needs to click on the ladder to the loft to place it in the inventory. It will be needed to climb on the giraffes back to ride him back to his home at the zoo.

The Inn: This is the most complicated of the buildings. Looking at the outside, the player sees an open door and a set of stairs. If the player goes into the basement, he will see a long room. The panda will be hiding behind a piece of furniture (not in place yet) at the end of the room. The player will need to have the bamboo shoots to get the panda. If the player uses the bamboo shoots with the panda, the panda will be placed in inventory.

If the player goes upstairs, he will see two stairs at the end of the living area. He must climb one of the stairs to enter the rafters, where the monkey is hiding. If an animation can be found to show the player character climbing the stairs, the next scene will be an animation showing

the player climbing the stairs. Otherwise, the player character will simply appear in the rafters.

When the player character arrives in the rafters, he will see the monkey. Clicking on the monkey will start a first person scene showing a close-up of the monkey beside the window, which is also interactive. The player must use the bananas (both bananas are needed) on the monkey to put the monkey in the inventory. He must also examine the window. This will lead to a first person scene showing the giraffe standing in the trees. If the player character goes into the trees earlier, the giraffe will not be there. The images below show the rafters and the window scene. The monkey will be added later.

The Trees: The player needs to go outside to the trees. Clicking on the trees will show a first person scene with the giraffe in the trees. The giraffe will be added later.

The player must use the ladder with the giraffe. If the player hasnt gotten the panda and monkey, the dog will make that suggestion. When the player uses the ladder with the giraffe, an animation will be played showing a first person view of the giraffe from a riders point of view. The player character will be transported back to the zoo where the animals can be placed into the zoo room. If one or more animals are still loose, the player character will need to return to the village to get them. A celebration scene (to be determined) will occur when all animals are returned to the zoo.

Progress and Problems

Much of the first phase of the project involved planning the project, choosing and learning the game engine (Wintermute game engine), acquiring and modifying assets, and learning how to use basic procedures in 3ds Max. Progress: 1. Backgrounds have been created for almost all of the scenes. The zoo background was obtained from Turbosquid (www.turbosquid.com). Backgrounds for the zoo building were created from photographs of the Overton Rudd Learning Center at the College of Veterinary Medicine. Backgrounds for the village scenes were created from screen shots of a village scene made using the Torque game engine (TGE). The tower and small shed are models that are included in the demo game for TGE. The inn and house were created as an assets package by J.L. Davies (FruitBatInShades Medieval Texture Sets, Copyright J. L. Davies, 2004). 2. A menu system has been added to the game allowing players to save or load games or start a new game. The player can also choose to view the credits. There is also an introductory screen when the game first starts. 3. Scenes for the zoo, zoo offices and lobbies have been created. A background and hidden geometry files had to be specified for each scene. Links between the scenes were created as interaction objects. For example, clicking a door takes the actor to another room. The location of the player character was specified for each room. The player character can be moved by clicking on a new location or by using the arrow keys.

4. The main player character was chosen for the game. This is a character provided to Wintermute users by Dreamweb and available at http://deadcode.org/download/dreamweb/Wme_TechDemo_Source.rar. The dog character was also chosen and is a little bulldog obtained from Turbosquid. The player character is animated but animation is still required for the dog. Problems: 1. The main hurdle was learning how to create hidden geometry files. These files are necessary when 3D models are used in the engines. If a 3D model is used to set up a scene, the hidden geometry file is used to specify the walk plane, blocked areas where the character cannot walk, shadow boxes, paths where the character can walk, lights, and at least one camera. If 2D backgrounds are used (as in ZooBreak), hidden geometry files are still required but they specify only the walk plane, lights and camera. The floor, blocked areas, and walk points (used to specify the paths that characters can take) are specified in the scene editor using methods used for a 2D game. There is an excellent tutorial in the program documents describing how to set up scenes for 2D models. There is no tutorial for the 2.5D format and how to create hidden geometry files is less detailed. Information is available but must be obtained by searching the (very helpful) forum. Once learned, the procedure for creating hidden geometry files is not difficult but is timeconsuming. There is considerable trial-and-error involved when backgrounds are used instead of a real 3D scene, where the geometry can be better specified. 2. When 2D models are used, WME provides scale levels, which aid in sizing the characters. This utility is not available for 3D models. Character size is specified for the entire game so the hidden geometry file must be adjusted to correctly the correct size to match the character. This complicates the problem of using hidden geometry files. 3. The method of moving the character at the beginning of each scene is not completely understood. The player character is making some unnecessary movements. This problem is being researched. 4. Finding appropriate images for backgrounds for the village proved more difficult than expected. The problem was solved by creating a small village using the Torque game

engine. Screen shots were made of the village along with interiors and exteriors of each building.

To Do List
1. The first task is to continue setting up the primary scenes. Each scene must have the appropriate background and must have interactive areas defined to allow the player character to move to and from other connecting scenes. A hidden geometry file will need to be attached to each scene to allow the 3D models to be visible in the scene. Defining these files will be easier than for the first few scenes because some experience has been gained while exploring the engine. In addition, some files already created can be adapted to new scenes by choosing an appropriate file and adjusting it in 3ds Max. The walk area will need to be outlined. The dog model will be placed in each scene but will not be animated at this time. 2. Next the secondary scenes will be set up. Most of these will be simpler than the primary scenes because no 3D models are required, thus alleviating the necessity of providing a hidden geometry file. 3. Interactive areas in the primary scenes will be identified to allow the game to switch to a secondary scene. 4. Clues will next be placed in each scene. Scripts will be written for these objects to allow them to be placed into inventory when the player clicks on them. Appropriate messages will be displayed to the player when items are placed in inventory. 5. While the clues are being placed, some refinement will be done to the scenes so that the player character is sized correctly throughout the scene and does not walk through any objects in the scene. 6. The 3D animals will be placed in their hiding spots. The panda will be placed in the house behind an item of furniture. The monkey will be hiding in the rafters of the inn. The giraffe will be visible through the window near the monkey but will not be visible in the outside trees until the player clicks on the window to examine it. Animals cannot be placed in inventory until the associated clues have been used with the animal. 7. The code will be written to allow clues to be used with the animals.

8. A celebration animation will be written for the conclusion of the game. The game character has some animations that will be useful for this part.

Status
The project is currently on track. The first three steps should be completed by the minimum target of March 20. The next major challenges will be to learn the inventory system and place the dog in the scenes.