CIS 487 Pitch Early Draft

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Mage Wars

• CIS 487 Pitch Early Draft
• Paul Gruenke
• Ed Malinowski

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Executive Summary - Game Story Abstract

• The Dark Magus has kidnapped the much Beloved
  Heir to the Kingdom and is holding the entire
  land at ransom for their continued safety. 
  Despite the valiant attempts by Knights and
  Wizards alike to scale the mountainous dark tower
  of the Evil Magus, none have succeeded in scaling
  its many floors and reaching the top to face off
  against the fiend and rescues the Heir.  Three
  months have passed and the deadline for the
  surrender of the kingdom draws close. A young
  mage approaches the tower gates.  He is armed
  with the mythic Medallion of Defense - a magic
  item that allows one to turn his opponents
  attacks back on them regardless of how powerful
  the foe may be.  Armed with the Medallion and his
  courage, the youth sets out to defeat the Master
  of the Dark Arts and save the kingdom.

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Game Overview

• This game is a significant modification to the
  traditional Breakout-type game, but it keeps
  these aspects the same
• Player reflects balls into the playing field
• The ball collides with objects in the field for
  level completion
• Objects in the field are destroyed upon
  collision
• More primitive 2D look and feel
• Single player

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Game Overview Cont.

• Differences Mage Wars vs. Breakout
• The players character will be on the top instead
  of the traditional bottom.
• The paddle is replaced by reflecting spells
  from the left, right, or center from a keyboard
  action instead being a static bar.
• Instead of just bricks to destroy, enemy sprites
  will be in the play field and destroying them
  will be the objective.
• Bricks will still exist as barricades to the
  enemies
• Balls will emanate from the enemy sprites, and
  there will be multiple balls on the screen at
  once.
• Due to the addition of multiple balls, the
  players lose condition will be time based rather
  than keeping the ball from reaching behind the
  paddle.
• If time permits, a player health system may also
  be implemented

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Appearance

• Playing field appearance
• Standard one-screen tower floors
• Character Sprites
• The hero sprite will be on the top
  Hero
• A row of bricks representing barricades will
  stand before you and the enemy sprites
• Evil Mage Orc
• Sprites may move around a bit on the screen (time
  pending)
• All sprites in the final version may differ from
  these drafts

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Players Roles and Actions

• Your mage is the only person who can withstand
  the evil magic, so the player must reflect the
  evil magic back at the enemies.
• Each stage consists of enemy sprites firing a
  barrage of balls into the playing field
• Your mage must reflect these projectiles with his
  spells(paddle) back into the play field
• The spells can reflect in multiple directions

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Game Controls (pending)

• Left/Right movement Arrow Keys
• Swing wand left Z key
• Swing wand middle X key
• Swing wand right C

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Strategies and Motivations

• Motivations
• The object of each level is to quickly reflect
  back the balls to knock out all of the enemy
  sprites.
• All enemy sprites must be eliminated in the time
  allocated for that level
• When the ball collides with a brick or enemy
  sprite, that object is destroyed (like in regular
  breakout)
• Strategies
• Balls that reach the bottom of the playing field
  behind the enemies are lost player should try
  different reflections and positions to hit the
  balls at the enemies
• Balls that reach the top behind the hero do not
  cause the player to lose like in regular breakout
  player should not worry about hitting every
  ball back

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Level Summary/Story Progression

• Each level increases the number of sprites and
  bricks involved.
• This concept represents your mages struggle
  taking on more and more of the tower.
• Example
• Level 1- One row of bricks and one enemy orc to
  eliminate
• Level 2 Two rows of bricks and three enemy orcs
• Level 3 Three rows of bricks, five enemy orcs
  and one evil mage enemy
• Level 4 Four rows of bricks, five enemy orcs
  and three evil mage enemies
• Level 5 - Formal boss type scenario (time pending)

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Hardware

• Development Hardware
• OS Windows Vista Ultimate
• CPU 3.0Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
• Memory 4GB
• Video Card ATI Radeon HD 512MB

• Recommended Hardware
• OS Windows XP
• CPU 1Ghz
• Memory 1GB
• Video Card 128 MB

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Software

• Visual Studio 2008 Professional
• Microsoft Paint
• DirectX 9
• C coding language
• Lamothe T3 Libraries

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Algorithm Style

• 2D 3rd Person arcade style
• Sprite animations
• One non-scrolling full screen per level
• La Mothe code examples and libraries

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References

• Sprites CharasProject Online Resource
  Generators http//www.charas-project.net/