Concept Document

Premise
Chronic consumerism is a powerful, subliminal form of oppression. To overthrow the oppressiveness of lassez-faire capitalism, we must reconnect with nature.

Consumption, capitalism, materialistic lifestyle leads to the destruction of the earth through pollution. It also leads to destruction of the human heart because we lose sight of what is important: community, natural beauty, and freedom.

The Set
This world contains two continents but 4 main spaces:
-The Corporate City
-The Interior of central building
-The Ancient Forest
-The Gates to the forest

The City (Pre-history)
This city is choked with pollution, so much so that your view is very restricted. The sky, the sun and the upper segments of buildings cannot be seen from the ground. You cannot see the ends of streets when walking along. Propaganda and advertising, flashing neon lights and vehicles, sirens and footsteps clutter the atmosphere.

There are no birds, no trees, no clean running water and very little beauty.

The inhabitants of the city have lost their way. They are not aware that their surroundings are bleak because they are so obsessed with earning money and spending money.

They have also lost their sense of human spirit. They no longer know how to work together as a community. They are being controlled through their greed and fear of economic loss, by a regime of capitalist free market economic growth, where individual gain is the sole motivator. But they don’t even realize they are bound by this lonely world, so narrow is their view. These homogenous people march around the streets in monotony

The city was once a beautiful place. There was no pollution, no rubbish, people laughed and chatted in the streets. Where corporations now exist, market stalls once stood. Don’t you wish this beautiful city could once again become what it once was?

If only someone would save this city from being choked by pollution. Could you be the chosen one? The one who can show people the way? Only by reminding them of the beauty of nature, will we succeed. YOU ARE NOT ALONE – You must work you’re your comrades in the regime. And there is evidence all around the streets of a counter revolution. Pay heed to the subversive graffiti around you, it may help you in this quest.

You must find a way to plant a tree in the disused central city square. This will require gathering the four essential elements and bringing them back to the city.
Earth
Seeds
Water
Sun

However there are no trees or seeds left on this continent. You must find a way to escape the city and travel to the ancient forest. Once there you must find your way through the forest to collect the elements. Each time you find one element, make sure you bring it back to the city.

The Ancient Forest
This forest is a spectacular vision of natural beauty. Lush green rainforest with various canopy layers.

When players find the element, they will be rewarded with game points and will get to see a funny little animation involving the Ancient Gods or other beings on the island. If you are in multiplayer mode, only the first player to find the element gets to see this animation reward.

Collection of the element triggers three things:
1) A voice (sound file) that announces you have 20 seconds to leave the island before you will be struck down by the Gods (in a flash of lightning)
2) A timer that begins this countdown
3) It opens a door by remote trigger. This door is in the city and is the portal to the next stage of the forest.

Each element must be placed in a specific spot back in the city.


Forest Access
From the city, you can only access the forest from 4 secret teleports that have been built by the revolutionaries. Each one gives you increased access to the forest, as you get further into the game.

Forest Starting Point
You arrive at the forest at the top of a mountain, overlooking the entire forest. There is an open cloudy sky above. You are presented with four large ancient sculptures. Each sculpture visually represents an element and contains a doorway.

At this starting stage, you can only access one doorway, which leads into the forest. The others are blocked by a stone wall. These doors will open up to you one by one as you pass stages in the game.
Places in the World
Starting Point
Purpose
The starting point is where players are spawned. The purpose of this place is to;
a) Tell players the prehistory of the city
b) Make players aware of their mission
c) Hook players in so that they want to keep playing
d) Give players a chance to practice moving around

Intention / Objective
This should be the only safe-feeling private space in the city. The intention is that this room contains 8 arch windows. 2 of these show a different image, one of the city, 1 of the Element Gods. When walked up to, these windows display still images, played with a voice over, to give the pre-history about the game and imbue motive into the players.

Physical Surroundings
Top floor of central building. Enclosed room with archway windows but no view of city.
Ornate circular fountain at centre of room. Mosaic floor. Ornate mosaic domed roof. Ornate carved marble walls. Doorway leads to spiral staircase leading downstairs.





Mood
Quiet, peaceful, subdued.

Time of Day
It should feel like a dark overcast day at the beginning of the game. As each level is completed, the light should become stronger and the weather should clear until it is full sun on a clear beautiful day.

Colour
Bright colours and ornate textures that will be dull in the darkness but brilliant once lit at the end by sunlight.

Light
The room has poorly lit diffuse lighting. Players cannot actually see the roof and walls from the starting point. These will be revealed at the conclusion of the game when the roof opens to let in a stream of sunlight.

Sound
Mute, muffled city sounds. Some music playing: Fat Freddy’s Drop; “Hope for a generation” and “What’s a world with no soul”

Cues and directions for play
After being spawned into the room, players can walk around the room testing things out. If they walk up to the first window, they will be shown the prehistory of the city through a voiceover with black and white slideshow.

The First slideshow (Sepia)
The following images will flick through without order, as the voiceover tells the prehistory of the city.

1. Images of advertising and consumerist propaganda (4 pictures)
2. Pollution accumulating over a street scene (4 pictures)
3. Tree-lined street to street with empty tree boxes and dead trees (3 pics)
4. Picture similar to John Brack Collins St, 5PM but with our robots instead (1 pic)


View / vantage point
Whilst there is pollution, we cannot see much. However once the pollution leaves, we will be at the fourth floor level of the city.

Important objects or props
Dried up fountain in centre of room
Special spots to place 4 Elements in fountain
Back story buttons
Steep staircase

Obstacles / Game play
Walking up to the screens and observing prehistory

Bots
None


THE IMPERIAL CITY
Purpose
1. To give the players a sense of oppression and toxic pollution.
2. To provide an area in which portals are hidden
3. To show transition from dystopia to utopia through pollution levels

Intention / Objective
The city is the crux of the story line. This place has to be both the dystopia and the Utopia. It has to transform from dystopia to utopia in graduated stages as the players complete each level and bring each natural element back to the city.

This visual transition is intrinsic to the premise. The brief asks for three worlds – Dystopia, Borderland, Utopia. By having dystopia and utopia one in the same, we are stating that dystopia is not a place, it is a frame of mind and a state of control over freedom / nature. You can hide from dystopia by running, however you may even overthrow it by staying to fight.

Physical Surroundings
A street network combined of narrow alleyways and broad dominating thoroughfares. Monumental points of focus (ie Haussman’s Paris or the Shrine in Melbourne). A slightly confusing layout of alleyways will give players a sense of satisfaction once they work it out but wont be off-putting. City is a collection of architectural types: New and old, imaginary and real, decrepit and beautiful, mundane and awe-inspiring.

Think of the city in terms of vertical layers or levels.

City Layer 1
The street level is noisy, ugly, dirty, full of shops, concrete, plastics, neons, advertising, propaganda etc.
The shop windows all display the same products, simply coloured differently. The producst will actually be labeled things such as “Stuff you don’t need” Crap” “More Crap” Even more crap with NEW packaging” etc.

There are empty tree boxes where trees used to be.

The pollution prevents you from seeing above the eves of the ground floor. It also limits the visibility of the focal buildings at the end of each boulevard.

City Layer 2
Architecture becomes more interesting, colour palette becomes a tad less dull and dark. No more advertising at that level.

City Layer 3
Very ornate and imaginative architecture. Buildings increasingly have more interesting and ornate form. More organic shapes, more strange sculptures looming out of walls. Colour palette becomes brighter.

City Layer 4
Beautiful incredible spires, mosaic surfaces, ornate carved marble surfaces. Crazy organic architecture. Awe-inspiring cathedral tops. Colour palette is going nuts – golds and coppers and cobalt blues, greens and reds.

Mood
Street level - Oppressive, dark, smoggy, hectic. Consumers paradise. Lots of shops,
advertising, neon flashing lights noise. Mostly narrow spaces.
Robot shaped bots march around the streets drearily.

Colour
Varies depending on level of city.

Light
Some street lamps but you cannot see the shape of the lamps very well – spotlight style lights (some of them flickering)
Car headlights going past

Sound
Cars
People
Footsteps
Running
Advertising voice-overs
Tires screeching
Sirens
Car alarms


Cues and directions for play
Graffitti – where ever there is a graffiti quote it will contain a hidden message in smaller text so that you only get the hidden message if you stop to read the graffiti. Eg: “It only takes a few good men to stay quite … etc Go Left Next Intersection”

View / vantage point
Changes depending on level, due to pollution

Level 1
Can only see a few metres in front – cannot see to end of a long street. Can only see the street level, not up to the second story of buildings.


Level 2
Beginning to see second story and have more metres of vision in front.

Level 3
Can see basically whole buildings with ornate sculptures etc.

Level 4
Allowed access to the tree top or sky monorail so that you get a sense of the spaciousness and beauty of the city. Can go around in the monorail looking at the ornate upper stories of the city.

Interactive / moveable objects or props
Portal Gates
Pollution

Obstacles / Game play
Players must avoid the bots who can paralyze you.

Bots
Based on Collins St 5:00 – they drudge along to work, marching about, head down. Maybe looking at shop windows as they walk.


Forest
Purpose
The purpose of the forest is to
1. Provide the scenery and atmosphere of a dense rainforest for all stages of game play
2. A forest is the natural place we expect to find the elements
3. Create a sense of being in a natural, awesome and beautiful place in contrast to the city.
4. Be lots of fun and exciting to run around in
5. This stage has varying levels of access. Each time you complete a stage, you must go back to the city. When you come back, you will have increased access to the level.

Intention / Objective
This place must therefore be very exciting, interesting and visually impressive. This will hook players in so that they want to keep playing.

Physical Surroundings
Players are surrounded by tall trees, vines ferns, flowers, rocks, moss, and a ground cover of grasses.
Big spider webs hand between tree branches.

There is access to the upper canopy, here we can walk through the treetops along a swing-bridge made of vines.

Mood
Fast-paced – action game playing in contrast to the mood of exploration in the city.

The forest will have music – La Phat African drumming beats.

Colour
Tree Canopy: A selection of different shades of vibrant lush rainforest green – see design document
Tree Trunks: Multi colour browns red and green (see texture sample)
Earth: Humus brown (see pallet).

Light
Sunlight should be sparse once in the thick of the forest but could shine down in sun rays through canopy gaps in the forest. As each new level of access is allowed, light is used to reveal a previously unseen doors, underground passages, staircases and new avenues of exploration.

Sound
Sound will change depending on which access level you are in. At first, looking for the seed we will hear
• Australian rainforest bird calls
• Insect noises
• Footsteps crushing leaves
• African drumming

Then as we look for different elements, the sound will change to convey a change in mode. For instance while we are searching for water, we should hear waterfall or water dripping, running water etc.

Weather
There should be different whether or climate in some of the areas.

Emitters
Insects such as butterflies, bumblebees, beetles etc

Cues and directions for play
The spirits / gods will give directions for play. Once the element has been collected by a player, a voice over will give the cue to return to the Forest Teleport as soon as possible. A vocal countdown will begin. Fast-paced urgent drumming music will play.

View / vantage point
When on ground level, we won’t be able to see the forest for the trees.
Once in the canopy on the suspension foot bridge, it will feel like this forest goes on for a long time.

Important objects or props
Obstacles / Game play

Bots
None

Game Play
Mazes
Tricks
Swing doors
Doors requiring co-operation to operate
Water volume that leads to new playing area
Jump downs that you cannot jump up
Broken bridges
Swing bridge ?
Moving platforms
Sinking platforms

~The Concept Team~