2020

Project Patron

Fiends of Eden
IGB300 Capstone GDD
4/20/2020
Introduction 3
High Level Concept 3
Target Audience 3
Player Experience Goal 3
Game Story Summary 3
Team Capacity 4
Narrative 6
Setting/Theme/World 6
Narrative/Overarching Premise 6
Basic Rules 7
Core Concepts 7
Board 10
Decks 11
Patron: The Reaper of Souls (Player Deck) 11
Reaper of Souls Deck 12
Church’s Deck 14
Decks 16
Patrons 16
Gifts 16
Cards 17
Resources 17
Zones 17
The Map 17
Tiles 18
Minions 18
Commands 18
Attributes 18
Objects 19
Camera 19
Game Flow 20
Core Gameplay Loop 20
Gameplay Storyboards 20
Level Flow and Progression 21

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Art Style 23
Concept Art 23
Mood Boards 26
Overall Style 28
Environment 28
User Interface 29
Sound 29
Soundtrack 29
Sound Cues 30
Appendices 31
Dreams and Possibilities 31
Difficulty Options 31
Visual Representation on the board relating to the Ritual Counter 31
Multiplayer Mode 31
Mobile Platform Integration 31
Asset List: 32
Controls 33
Project Timeline 1

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Introduction

High Level Concept

GAMENAME is a single player card game which has players take on the role of a commanding
warlock gifted with great power by their demon lord. Using this power you will need to control
advantageous positions on the map, summon hordes of demonic minions, cast devastating spells
and twist the souls of the dead to your cause. Do you have what it takes to usher in a new age of
darkness ruled by your master?

Target Audience
GAMENAME is a digital, story driven, single player card and board game aimed at audiences who
enjoy both styles of gameplay, but are looking for a different spin on each. The story is aimed
towards those in their late teens and older as it features a bleak and somewhat philosophical look
at a world led astray by industrial revolution, a common theme among science fiction stories
constructed for these age groups.

Player Experience Goal

Marrying the gameplay between card and board games would have to be the main thing we wish to
accomplish with GAMENAME. As there are already common tactical elements to both such as
resource management, action economy and tactical decision making that tie the two together nicely
and we hope to be able to really push this style of gameplay to create a smooth and interesting
gameplay experience.

Game Story Summary

Rising industrialisation and growing population in the land has brought an era of chaos with the
wider world. Through the smog and haze, demonic hordes from hell have manifested on earth
under the charge of powerful Patrons. From the corruption of the land, newly founded fell teachings
and the manipulation of the shadowed haze by aspiring warlocks offer themselves as human
servants of the pantheon of patrons. These warlocks channel the powers of their aligned Patron in
commanding ongoing skirmishes to seize lands from between competing patron-lords and the
flickering Order of the Greater Good.

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Team Capacity
Ryan Caldwell
As a returning student who has previously studied and had to drop Game Design I am this time
bringing to the table a lot more determination and maturity than in my previous attempts. Through
this experience however I have had the luck to study at multiple institutions which have placed
value upon differing aspects of the field, granting me a wide range of general knowledge. I plan to
augment my role as the team’s Producer by using this general knowledge so that I can better
support my group through their differing roles. I will also be stepping in to assist with various
aspects of the game’s design process, playtesting and data analysis.

Jarod Hawking
I am a longtime card and tabletop game enthusiast, and resident rules lawyer among my gaming
groups. I will admit to reading the Magic comprehensive rules front-to-back at least once, and I love
exploring how games use rules to create flow and encourage strategy, and in particularly robust
games like Magic or D&D, how they work within their established rulesets to create interesting,
evocative designs. I’m the lead designer on this game, and I plan to spend most of my time
tweaking, balancing and playtesting the game to make sure it fits the team’s vision.

James Moran
I am a double BGIE/Business student, with a mix of experience with amateur experimentation with
Unity and further experience whilst undertaking QUT’s course. Have amateur experience with level
design, asset creation and environment implementation. For my previous IGB200 project, I
primarily worked on background aesthetics, creating 3D art, implementing 2D graphics and UI
scripting. For our capstone project I hope to utilise these skills in contributing to the creation of our
game idea using these skills from previous assessments.

Joel Moore
I major in Games Design, with minors in both Interaction Design and User Experience. I have
experience with Unity through courses for my degree and have learned various skills, such as
coding and level design, with a higher interest in level design. These skills, combined with what I
have learned from my other studies allow me to contribute with the designing of various parts of
our game idea, while also understanding and working with our team members and their specific
skills. I hope that my interest in level and game design proves useful, and that I can utilise my skills
to increase the quality of our game.

Frank Choon Tan Lim

Across my studies at QUT I have had the opportunity to polish my skills when it comes to both 2D
and 3D asset creation and animation. I feel confident that I will be able to produce work of a high
standard and am looking to challenge myself by creating assets which I feel are of a level I have not
had the opportunity to produce before.

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Louis Collecott-Birch
I am a programmer who majors in Software Technology with an interest in coding and designing
and developing core mechanics. I have taken on developing core functionality and maintaining the
project management specifically related to mechanics and features and also tracking bugs. I will
also assist my team with any technical issues relating to development of the game.

Cameron Allkin
I am a Software Technologies Major with a Minor in both Games Design and Animation. I also have
previous experience with music composition and graphic design, both on an amateur level. In
previous projects my main area of focus has been programming with a secondary focus on level
design and sound. For this project I am one of the lead programmers and the sound designer; both
composition and effects. I also aim to use my game development knowledge, from previous
projects, to assist in any aspect of this games development if required.

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Narrative

Setting/Theme/World
The world is set in a mid-industrial setting, blended with high fantasy elements thanks to the
chaotic disruption of otherworldly beings. The world is scattered with large towns and cities that
cling around the fading light of the Church of the Greater Good that offer protection and security
from the rising horrors in the outer wilderness. One of the largest cities being the capital of Eden,
where the Church’s citadel resides.
With the widespread destruction of warring demonic hordes, the world within our game whilst
retaining post-industrial technology and elements has a slight ‘devolved’ state similar to the
collapsed state of European countries following World War I.

Narrative/Overarching Premise
Thanks to the rise in industrialisation, scientists and engineers discovered a potent mineral within
the mountains, now regarded as Voidstone. When burnt, it can be used to generate electricity,
fueling the technological revolution. However, the more the ore was burnt, it released a dense smog
that blanketed the landscape, reaching critical mass within the mining valleys carved into the
hillside. During one unfortunate evening, a stray spark set alight the entire mountainside, flowering
into a cataclysmic inferno- tearing a hole in the world all the way down to Hell - literally. This tear
in the landscape still smolders with unholy fire, as raw evil creeps forth into the world.

The densely-populated Earth promises an untold bounty for demons. They feed on souls, and until
recently, they had been subsisting on the slow trickle of evil souls who found their way down to an
afterlife of damnation. With access to a densely-populated nation of the living, the most powerful
demons race against each other to expand their influence and lay claim to dying souls. By signing a
contract with a mortal, they earn at minimum the soul of the warlock, but through the warlock’s
actions, they may turn the souls of other mortals to evil, feeding the patron upon that soul’s final
judgment.

The Church of the Greater Good, who continue to hold their faith, aim to shield surviving humans
within the walls of their haven city-states, the biggest being Eden. The Church burns the Voidstone
to power the protection systems in the form of street-lights, electric fences and powerful weaponry
(by human standards) used to maintain security within the walls.
To expand the protection offered by the Church, various Angels aid in the establishment of havens,
in performing a complex ritual to convert a district into consecrated ground. This ritual requires the
powering of five divine obelisks and a siphoning dais carved from raw Voidstone. By channeling the
power of six revered artifacts, the Church can permanently consecrate enough space for a small
settlement, permanently preventing evil from entry.

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Basic Rules

Core Concepts
Decks and Cards
You build your deck of cards before the game, and select which one you want to use before starting
the game. That deck will have an associated patron, who gives you a special gift you can use while
playing that deck. Your deck has to have exactly 30 cards, and can’t have more than 3 copies of a
card.
Cards can be in your deck, hand or discard. Cards in your deck are waiting to be drawn to your
hand, cards in your hand can be played, and once they’ve been played, your cards go to the discard.
You draw 6 cards from your deck to your hand at the start of the game, and you draw another one
at the start of your turns or when a card instructs you to.

Gifts
Your gift is a special power that you can use based on your deck’s patron. Read its description,
because they all work differently.

Minions
Some of your cards and gifts summon minions as part of their effects. Minions live on the map, and
follow your commands. Playing a card that summons minions will specify where they enter the
map, and where there are multiple places they could start, you get to choose.
Minions have some statistics associated with them - Strength, Speed and Sight, displayed in that
order at the bottom of the card that summons them.
Strength is how much it can fight, Speed is how far it can move, and Sight is how much of the map is
revealed around the minion. Many cards require their targets to be within the Sight range of one of
your minions.

Soul Points
You start the game with 6 Soul Points. Some of the Church’s cards will reduce your Soul Points, and
if one of your Conduits is destroyed, you’ll also lose a Soul Point. If your Soul Points reach 0, you
lose the game!

Conduits
Conduits are gateways through which you draw Power from your patron. At the start of the game,
you place up to six of them on the map. All but the first one you placed start dormant, and don’t do
anything until they’re activated.
At the start of your turn, you get 1 Power for each active conduit, then the second conduit you
placed activates. This process happens at the start of every turn, activating the conduits in the order
you placed them

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Holy Sites
The Angel’s Ritual Scenario has five Holy Sites designated on the map. They start out unaligned, but
if you or the Church have minions in one of them, you’ll gain control of it.
If you both have units in a Holy Site, the player who has the highest combined Strength of units in
the Holy Site controls it.

Starting the Game

For playing GAMENAME single-player, you’ll be playing the Angel’s Ritual Scenario. In this scenario,
you’ll play against the Church, an opponent who plays their deck automatically without the need for
a human player. This is called a non-human player. The game will automatically shuffle up your
deck and the Church’s deck, and play the Church’s cards automatically when required.
Your conduits are already on the map for you (don’t worry, they’re safe in this scenario). You’ll
draw your 6-card opening hand, and your conduits will activate one at a time every turn as normal.

Player Turn
Play your turn as you would in a normal game. At the start of the turn, you’ll still automatically
collect power from your active conduits, activate another conduit, and draw a card. Then you have
your actions phase for playing cards and commanding minions in whatever order you choose. Once
you’re done, select ‘end turn’. That will start the Church’s turn.

Playing Cards
If you have enough Power to play a card, it will glow in your hand. Double-click on it to play it. A
dialog box will appear to confirm if you want to play the card, as well as prompt you to make any
choices required as part of playing the card. If you follow through with playing the card, its Power
cost will be deducted from your total, and the card’s will get ready to come into effect. The game
will check if any abilities need to trigger and occur before you finish playing the card, and you’ll get
the chance to take more actions once any chains of events have finished resolving (if there are any).
The card goes to your discard once it’s finished all its effects.

Commanding Minions
If you have any minions on the map, you can command each of them once on each of your turns.
Double-click on the minion you want to command, then click the tile you want to move it to. Tiles
that are eligible to move to based on your minion’s Speed will be highlighted.
Once your minion has finished moving, if there are any enemies adjacent to your minion, it can
attack. Click one of those adjacent enemies, and the battle window will appear. You can choose to
spend your minion’s Strength, up to the amount it has available (minimum of 1). Your minion loses
that much Strength, and so does the minion you attacked.

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The Church’s Turn
The Church’s turn proceeds as follows:
1. The Angel unit at the top of the map gains 1 Strength for each Holy Site the Church controls,
and then loses 1 Strength for each Holy Site you control. If the Angel ends up at 0 Strength at
any time, you win the game.
2. The Church uses its Gift - It chooses a random Holy Site in which it doesn’t already have a
minion, and places a Champion minion into the Obelisk tile at that Holy Site. The Angel’s
minions don’t move, but they can attack, which will be covered later.
3. The Church reveals the top two cards of its deck and plays them in the order they were
revealed, following all their instructions and then discarding them. When determining the
targets for some the Church’s cards, it can see around its minions based on their Sight score,
but the Church can also see anything on a Holy Site tile.
4. If any of the Church’s minions have at least one of your minions next to them, they’ll attack
the strongest one. They’ll spend as much of their Strength as they need to reduce their
target to 0 Strength, or they’ll spend all but 1 of their current Strength, whichever is lower.
5. The Angel ends its turn, and it's your turn again.

Ending the Game

If you’re reduced to zero Soul Points, you’ll lose the game like normal. You win the game if you can
reduce the Angel (The Church’s ‘boss’ minion, at the top of the map) to 0 Strength. Some of the
Church’s cards also increment a resource called the Ritual Counter - If this reaches 6, the Church
wins the game. You’ll also lose the game if you need to draw a card but don’t have any left in your
deck. The Church is also affected by this rule, however, their deck contains exactly enough Ritual-
boosting cards to take the counter to 6, so it’s guaranteed to finish the ritual and win before it runs
out of cards and loses. It’s a race against time!

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Board

Note: This image of the game board does not depict the fog of war.

Above is a top down image of what the in-game board will look like.
- Grey Tiles indicate the moveable neutral tiles which can be walked on.
- Blue Tiles indicate tiles the player can spawn units onto.
- Orange Tiles indicate the 5 Obelisks, where the Angel’s units spawn.
- Magenta Tiles indicate the holy site tiles, which the player can summon into if they control
the Site (see the basic rules for more info.
- Yellow Tile represents the Angel unit.
- White space is negative space.

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Decks

Patron: The Reaper of Souls (Player Deck)

Why would I sign a pact with the Reaper?
Warlocks of the Reaper are recruited from among those who die early, accidentally, or with other
such unfinished business.
They roam the earth, free from the fear of death, living full lives alongside their obligations to the
Reaper.
Enormous population growth means the Reaper needs warlocks to keep up with demand, and
arrangements with this entity tend to be 'fairer' than others.

What do I get?
Warlocks of the Reaper are returned to life, and free to resume their business without fear of death.
Should misfortune continue to befall them, they simply rise again some time later.
This gift does come with a cost, however - the Reaper's warlocks still age as normal, despite their
immortality.
The Reaper's oldest servants still wander the world, driven mad by brain rot, shriveled husks of
their former selves, useful for little more than manual labor.

What do I have to do?

In exchange for continued life, warlocks of the Reaper must regularly visit the dying, and collect
their souls for transport to the afterlife.
The Reaper employs few warlocks of working age at once, so its servants are kept quite busy, since
the nature of their work is less overtly dangerous than serving other patrons.
A respected funeral home in the slums is secretly operated by a cabal of warlocks, who make their
living cleaning the dead from the streets and laying them to rest with dignity.

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Reaper of Souls Deck
Gift - Necromancy (Ability)
When a Non-Undead minion you can see dies, you get a Corpse.
Power Cost Effect Strength/Sight/Speed
Tier 1 1 Expend a Corpse to 2-2-2
(6-5 Soul Points) summon a Shambling
Zombie
Tier 2 1 Expend a Corpse to 3-3-3
(4-3 Soul Points) summon a Hungering
Zombie
Tier 3 1 Expend a Corpse to 4-4-4
(2-1 Soul Points) summon a Ravenous
Zombie

Common Cards
6 Unique cards, 3 copies of each
Type Power Cost Effect Strength/Sight/Speed
Unit 2 Summon Specter 2-3-2
(Undead)
Invisible unless it's
adjacent to an enemy.
Unit 3 Summon Undertaker 2-3-2
When it dies,
summon a Shambling
Zombie in its space.
(2-2-2)
Unit 1 Summon Ravens 1-3-3
Can move through
enemies.
Spell 2 Wither
Remove 2 strength
from an enemy
Spell 4 Strength Beyond
Death
Give a minion +1
Strength for each
Corpse you have
Spell 7 Drag to the
Underworld
Banish a non-Boss
enemy. (It doesn't
'die', but it goes away
forever)

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Uncommon Cards
5 Unique cards, 2 copies of each
Type PowerCost Effect Strength/Sight/Speed
Unit 5 Rising Dead 2-2-2
Summon three
Shambling Zombies.
Spell 3 Bone Shards
Expend a Corpse to
remove 5 Strength
from an enemy.
Unit 3 Summon Harvester 2-3-3
Other minions dying
in sight of this minion
give you an
additional Corpse.
Unit 6 Summon 5-3-3
Necromancer
When another non-
Undead minion dies
in sight of this
minion, summon a
Shambling Zombie
(in an empty space
adjacent to this one,
if one is available).
(2-2-2).
Spell 2 The Reaping
You get 3 Corpses.

Rare Cards
2 Unique cards, 1 copy of each
Type Power Cost Effect Strength/Sight/Speed
Unit 6 Summon Amalgam of X-3-3
Souls
This minion's
starting Strength is
equal to the number
of Corpses you have.
Whenever you get a
Corpse, the Amalgam
gains +1 Strength.
Spell 0 Soul Siphon
Destroy a friendly
minion and gain
Power equal to its
Strength.

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Church’s Deck

Gift - Champions of the Faith (Ability)

At the start of your turn, before playing any cards, the Church may summon a Champion into a
random empty Obelisk. (Champion: 3-0-3)

Common Cards
9 Unique cards, 3 copies of each
Type Effect Strength/Sight/Speed Type
Unit Arise, Paladin! (A) 5-0-3 Unit
Summon a Paladin into the
obelisk at Holy Site A. If a
minion is already there,
add 5 Strength to it.
Unit Arise, Paladin! (B) 5-0-3 Unit
Summon a Paladin into the
obelisk at Holy Site B. If a
minion is already there,
add 5 Strength to it.
Spell Rebuke the Impure Spell
Your opponent loses 1 Soul
Point.
Spell Prayer for Strength Spell
The Angel gains 3 Strength.
Spell Divine Smite Spell
Remove 5 Strength from
the strongest enemy
minion you can see.
Spell Hold The Line Spell
All minions you control
gain 2 Strength.
Spell Penance Spell
Remove 3 Strength from
the strongest enemy you
can see. Add 3 Strength to
the closest friendly unit to
the target.
Spell Expunge Evil Spell
A random friendly minion
gains 2 Strength and a
barrier. (the next time it’s
attacked, it takes no
damage)

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Uncommon Cards
5 Unique cards, 2 copies of each
Type Effect Strength/Sight/Speed
Spell Go No Further
Your opponent’s minions lose
2 speed until your next turn.
Spell Holy Trinity
The strongest enemy you can
see loses 2 Strength. Repeat
this process twice, targeting a
different minion if possible.
Spell Glorious Might
The Angel gains 7 Strength.
Spell Blockade of Faith
Choose an empty Holy Site at
random. Summon a Champion
into its Obelisk. On your
opponent’s next turn, their
minions can’t enter that Holy
Site.
(Champion: 3-0-3)
Spell Evil Cannot Triumph
The Angel gains 4 Strength.
Then, if it has 25 or more
Strength, your opponent loses
2 Soul points.

Rare Cards
2 Unique cards, 1 copy of each
Type Effect Strength/Sight/Speed
Spell Divine Intervention
Summon a Champion into the
obelisks at Holy Site C, D and
E.
(Champion: 3-0-3.)
Spell Sacred Ground
Choose a Holy Site you control
at random. Enemy minions in
that Holy Site lose 2 Strength,
and until the end of your
opponent’s second turn from
now, when an enemy minion
first moves into that Holy Site,
that minion loses 2 Strength.

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 Ritual Cards
6 Unique cards, 1 copy of each
Type Effect
Spell The Divine Chalice
Advance the Ritual counter by one. If it reaches 6, you win the game.
Spell The Chest of Divinity
Advance the Ritual counter by one. If it reaches 6, you win the game.
Spell The Pear of the Garden
Advance the Ritual counter by one. If it reaches 6, you win the game.
Spell The Lance of Fate
Advance the Ritual counter by one. If it reaches 6, you win the game.
Spell The Jagged Crown
Advance the Ritual counter by one. If it reaches 6, you win the game.
Spell The Holy Shroud
Advance the Ritual counter by one. If it reaches 6, you win the game.

Features and Mechanics

Decks
Each player has a deck of cards, built in a separate interface. The deck is kept in a random order,
and the top card is drawn to the player’s hand at the start of their turn or when another effect
instructs them to.

Patrons
Patrons are a customisation choice and deckbuilding limitation. The player chooses a patron to
associate with their deck before they start building it, and this determines the cards they can put in
the deck, and the Gift that is available/

Gifts
The Gift is a special power available to the player during the game. Gifts also ‘upgrade’ during the
game, based on the player’s remaining ‘Soul Points’, which measures their life. This is intended as a
‘catch-up’ feature - as the player starts to lose, they get more powerful, potentially keeping them in
the game longer.

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Cards
The player’s cards represent part of what actions are available to the player at a given time. They
can play cards from their hand during their turn, so long as they can pay any required costs -
usually this will be the Power resource, but a card could have other costs. For example, the Reaper
of Souls’ Gift has an activation cost that requires Power and another special resource - Corpses.

Resources
Resources are numerical values attached to a player. The most commonly used one is Power, as this
is used to pay the cost of almost every card available to the player. Various cards and rules increase
or decrease the count of various resources. We want the management of resources to be a major
part of in-game strategy. Given that Power accumulates over turns as opposed to resetting like in
other games, it’s possible to ‘save up’ for bigger and more powerful plays sooner, at the cost of
presence on the board earlier.
Other resources exist, such as Corpses, that are exclusive to the Reaper of Souls patron, or the Ritual
Counter, used by the Church non-human player in the Angel’s Ritual scenario.
These can be used in the design of the game as resources, but also as trackers or reminders.
Soul Points are another resource that measure the remaining unclaimed pieces of a player’s soul,
and how much damage they can take before losing the game. These generally start at 6, and the
player loses if they reach 0.

Zones
Zones are a rules tool for keeping track of where cards and objects are, where they can go, and what
rules apply to them based on that. The zones at this point are the deck, hand, map, and discard. The
deck is where cards start, and generally can’t be used until they’ve been drawn. The hand is where
cards can be used from. Discard is where cards go after they’ve been used. The map holds all the
minions and objects that are ‘in play’.

The Map
The Map is a critically important addition to the standard card game formula. The map is an array
of square ‘tiles’, many of which have their own unique properties, and each minion or object
occupies a tile. Minions can move between tiles depending on their Speed value. This will be
described in more detail under ‘Commands’. Each minion or object occupies one tile, and one tile
can only fit one minion or object on it, with some exceptions. Minions can move through other
friendly minions or objects, so long as they don’t stop in the same tile as something else.

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Tiles
The types of tiles are as follows:
Ordinary Tiles - No special rules association.
Summoning Tiles - Groups of these are assigned to a player, this is where minions ‘spawn’.
Holy Site and Obelisk Tiles - These are used for the single-player scenario, and are referred to in
that scenario’s rules.

Minions
Minions, or units, are generally summoned onto the map by cards or Gifts. They can move around
the map and attack other minions or objects, and are under the control of the player who
summoned them.

Commands
Each minion a player controls can be ‘commanded’ once a turn. Alongside resources, this is the
major limiting factor on how much a player can do in one turn. Commanding is a two-step process -
First, the minion can move a number of tiles up to its Speed value, then secondly it can attack a unit
it is now adjacent to. For the rules of attacking, see Strength.

Attributes
Minions have 3 Attributes - Strength, Speed and Sight. Attributes often change, and the current
value is displayed in the UI to make it easy to track.

Strength
Strength measures how much a unit can fight. When a minion attacks, its owner chooses to spend
Strength up to the minion’s remaining total. That much Strength is deducted from the defender, and
then combat ends. A minion with 0 Strength dies and is removed from the map.

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The diagram above demonstrates Sight, targeting, and attacks. The circle represents a player’s
minion, after it’s moved. The orange triangle is a valid attack target. The black triangle is visible to
the player, as it’s within the white ‘revealed’ tiles, so it can be targeted by spells or other effects. The
red triangle is not visible to the player, and would not appear in the UI.

Speed
Speed is how far a minion can move. When it’s commanded, it can move a number of spaces equal
to its current Speed value.

This diagram depicts the movement system which is used within the game. This unit has a Speed
stat of 3 and its possible movement options are indicated by the red lines.

Sight
Sight is the radius around a minion you can see. Each tile on the map is covered by Fog, and a player
only knows the details of a tile if it is close enough to one of their minions or objects that has a Sight
value. Generally, when a card requires a target, the target needs to be revealed by the Sight radius
of one of your minions.

Objects
Objects are other things on the map. They can’t move, but they do have Strength and Sight. If a card
doesn’t specify these attributes, they have 1 Strength and 1 Sight.

Camera
The camera can pan up, down, left and right, and zoom in or out but cannot rotate.

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Game Flow

Core Gameplay Loop

Gameplay Storyboards

The above series of images depicts a scenario where the player controls a unit with 2 Sight and 3
Speed. Before movement the potential spaces are outlined by the red lines, while the unit’s vision is

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 obstructed by the Fog of War. The unit is then moved 3 spaces forward thus revealing the enemy
unit. The enemy unit is now occupying an adjacent square which means the player unit may now
attack it.

Level Flow and Progression

Due to the way the board is designed alongside the Angels Deck, the player is going to want to
advance towards the Angel as fast as possible. The game will start off slow for the player as there is
quite a bit of space the player has to advance before they can start interacting with the enemy.

This is to ensure that the Angel has time to set up some defences to fend off the player. Obelisks C,
D, and E are crucial in controlling the board as once the player controls these, they are able to
spawn units directly onto the sites. This is important because Obelisks A and B have stronger units
when compared to C, D, and E and the player will need to advance tactically to take them down.

By the time the player advances close enough to attack the Angel directly, the Angel has a high
chance of being extremely powerful, capable of one-shotting units with ease. If the player is reckless
and doesn’t value board control the Angel may slow down the player advances by forcing it further
back down the board.

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This graph demonstrates the pacing of the game as the player advances along the board. The blue
bar indicates the mid to end-game transition. Most likely around the point once the player controls
a large majority of the board and is able to damage the Angel immensely.

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Art Style

Concept Art
In Game:

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Overworld Theme:

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Asset Designs:

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Mood Boards
Setting:

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Demon Lord Ideas:

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Overall Style
The aesthetic choices for the game are largely pushed by the overarching world theme, which is
based on a bleak futuristic society with dark fantastical elements. Due to the nature of the dark
magic’s effect on the world the game will adopt darker and muted colour palettes as shown by our
choice in reference images within the previously mentioned moodboarding. To help curb the
technical demand of generating assets for the game, the majority of 3D assets involved will adopt a
low-poly design.

As the general gameplay will involve tile-based boards that the player will traverse through
interactable minions and card decks, the varied use of shape must be deployed to prevent a
stagnated visual experience when viewing the same environment for long periods of time. The
adoption of a dissonant visual frame utilising triangular characters and assets within the
rectangular layout should enhance the player experience goals. In ensuring the generation of
chaotic action and resource capturing/balancing, the overall style also adheres to the narrative
setting of a world in active conquest.

Environment
Whilst the actual implementation of levels will make use of negative space between the layout of
the board- lighting, particle effects and colour may be utilised to enhance the established
environment.
For the Angel Conquest Scenario, the floating islands will be embellished with the inclusion of
clutter and specialised tile designed to enforce the ongoing ritual that occurs in both the story beats
and active gameplay. Other levels, under possible expansion, may also be widened to include their
own unique touches if considered feasible within the constraints of the overall capstone process.
Through integrating small breadcrumbs of narrative elements into the board as a whole, it both
may encourage the player to interact with the sight mechanic to explore otherwise invisible areas
of a board and capture unique charm to the moment-to-moment gameplay.

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User Interface
Screen Flow Diagrams

Sound
Sound within the game will take heavy influence from the style and theme of the gameplay. This
means that all the sound and effects will be made to be more heavy and dark using slower, gritty,
minor key tones and compositions to help emphasise the dark, tactical style of the game.

Soundtrack
Menu
The use of a slow, simple and minor key composition will be used for the main menu as a
soundtrack with the use of some ambient backing tracks like the flickering of fire to further
immerse the player into the theme.

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In-Game
A soundtrack similar to the main menu will be used in-game, although may have an increased (or
variable) tempo / speed depending on the current progression of the game. For example; having a
faster tempo when the Angel’s health is low. Additionally the use of ambient backing tracks will be
used to further emphasize the levels theme; having different ambient soundtracks for each possible
level.

Sound Cues
Menu
Fitting into the theme of the game, the use of more dull and heavy sound effects will be used in the
main menu interaction.

In-Game
Due to the fog mechanic in the game, having distinct sound cues will be vital for the player to know
what’s happening. For example; having a sound cue for when enemies are summoned. The player
has no knowledge of where the enemies are spawning, although know when and if they have been.
Similarly, sound cues for when spell cards are played, combat, obelisk control, etc. will need to be
distinct yet fit into the theme of the game.

For this the use of quick sound effects will be used to distinguish between:
● Summoning
● Using Spells
● Obelisk Control
● Combat
● Ritual Increase

Extra sound effects will be used to further emphasise other aspects of the game:
● Start / End of Turn
● Start / End of Game (Both Win and Lose)
● Drawing Cards
● Card Interaction

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Appendices

Dreams and Possibilities

Difficulty Options
We could in the future experiment with a difficulty choice. Depending on what difficulty the player
chose it would determine the Angels starting Power and how many cards it drew a turn or
something.

Visual Representation on the board relating to the Ritual Counter

The addition of visual effects to represent the current value of the ritual counter. For example; the
inclusion of chalices (or a series of icons like the objects in the ritual cards) in the level that light up
when the ritual advances. This can also help to make the UI less crowded and would fit the theme.

Multiplayer Mode
The game was originally aimed at being a multiplayer only card game with a larger focus on
competitive gameplay. While this is something that has currently been decided against the
opportunity is there for the future and we believe if the game is successful in the very long term
(post 2020) implementation of a multiplayer mode may be an interesting way to expand the game
eventually.

Mobile Platform Integration

Many digital card games have recently found further success upon entering the mobile market.
Currently we feel our game’s design has the potential to expand into this area and this is a topic we
will look to explore in the future of the game’s production cycle.

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 Asset List:
Animations:
 Angel attack  Angel idle  Angel ritual  Angel spell
 Angel Death  Minion Token  Minion Token  Minion token
attack spawn death
Materials:
 Angel Token  Angel Map Tile  Minion Token  Obelisks
 Obelisks  Pristine Map  Ruined Map  Standard Map
(adjacent tiles) Tiles Tiles Tiles
 Various
Environmental
Assets

Models:
 Angel Token  Angel Map Tile  Minion Token  Obelisks
 Obelisks  Pristine Map  Ruined Map  Standard Map
(adjacent tiles) Tiles Tiles Tiles
 Various
Environmental
Assets

Particles:
 Fog of War  Minion Death  Minion Effect  Minion Spawn
Activation
 Obelisk  Obelisk  Ritual  Spell Activation
Ownership (PC Ownership Activation
and AI) Contested
 Spell Placement  Spell Release

Scripts
 Angel AI  Card Effects  Game Manager  Game Menu
 Main Menu  Spell Effects  Token Spawn  UI Scripts
Textures (Requiring Diffuse/ Normal/ Roughness)
 Angel Textures

2D Graphics
 Card Art (X  Card Frame UI  Player  Turn Change
different types) Feedback Graphics
graphics
 Various Deck
Illustrations
Sound

 Menu Theme  Game  Game UI  Game SFX

Theme(s) SFX
 Menu Ambient  Game
Ambient  Menu UI
SFX

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Controls
At this time, controls are aimed at being as simple as possible with everything utilizing just a left
click of the mouse. Cards will be able to be played by clicking on them and dragging the mouse
towards the screen before letting go. We are exploring the possibility of the game entering a mobile
format, if this is the case controls will need to be simple enough that the entire game could be
played out using a touch screen.

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Project Timeline

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