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Aquamarine
Original Game Concept
Aquamarine is a top down, sandbox style farming survival simulator that features you as a survivor on a planet made out of water. Gather, manage, and use your resources to survive the elements and terrors of this watery world.
Project Overview
This project was a challenge in which I had to come up with the concept for a game and write a game design document for it. The game design document should provide enough information so that anyone who reads it should be able to produce the game. The game design document includes information about game mechanics, the game world, player experience, and characters. I also created sample assets and artwork for what some of the elements in the game might look like.
Game Backstory
Aquamarine takes place on a planet that is mostly composed of water. Different kinds of elements have allowed technology to become far more advanced than that of Earth. There was once an underwater civilization where people lived, but was destroyed long ago by creatures from the abyss. The people of this planet have since dispersed and are now living in small tribes. One day, your tribe is attacked and wiped out by a powerful abyss creature and you are the only survivor. You are cast out by the strong ocean currents and swept out to an underwater abandoned building on the ocean floor that once housed another tribe. The building has since been weathered down, but fortunately most if it is still intact and functioning. You decide to make this your base of operations to begin a new life.
Gameplay & Mechanics
Farming
Farming is a big part of this game as it will allow players to generate resources to upgrade their equipment and progress further in the game. Players will also be able to farm different types of aquatic plants/crops as well as certain species of aquatic animal. As players progress further into the game, they will unlock new types of crops and animals that will yield more powerful resources for them to use.
Base Building
There will be a base building aspect in the game where players will be able to expand their home and build a civilization. The more players expand, the more resources it will cost to maintain your civilization. Players will be able to construct different buildings that serve different purposes.
Upgrading
Players will need to upgrade a lot of equipment, machines, and buildings to progress through the game. Upgrading will cost resources but will also give benefits in the
long run. Upgrading equipment will allow players to be able to access new, more powerful resources.
NPCs
NPCs are survivors from different tribes that are now seeking refuge within the player's civilization. NPCs will be a useful tool for progression throughout the game as there will be many unique NPCs that all serve different purposes. NPCs will require housing and will arrive one at a time.
Exploration
Players will be able to explore the depths of the ocean and search for the resources that it has to offer. Encounter strange creatures of the abyss as you go. Not everything you meet will be friendly.
Combat
Simple combat system (click to attack) to fight against the underwater creatures that roam the ocean. The further the player progresses, the stronger (and maybe scarier) creatures they will encounter.
Leveling System
Players gain experience points (xp) as they progress by farming, exploring, defeating creatures, and more. Leveling up will unlock new recipes and also increase the stats of the player. This will be a points system in which the player will be able to choose which stats they want to upgrade. Maybe the player might want an all-rounder and put their stat points into each stat equally. Or if the player is more interested in combat, they can allocate more points into strength or speed to give them a better advantage against more powerful opponents.
Day/Night Cycle
The day/night cycle is associated with vision. During the day, most of the world will be very dim and players will only have limited vision in an area around them. During the night, any area that is not lit up by a light source will be completely pitch black.
Game Experience
User Experience
This game is supposed to give players a fun challenge. There must be challenging aspects because it is a survival simulator. However, it is also a base building game. Players may also feel satisfaction in watching your base grow larger as you
expand. There is also a therapeutic effect in sandbox style games that may help
bring players satisfaction.
Users should be able to play the game in different ways, for example, if a player enjoys the farming aspect of the game, they might engage in the farming related activities more than other activities. If a player enjoys the exploration aspect of the game, they might engage in exploration related activities more than other activities.
Gameflow
The main challenge that the player will face is their own survival in the underwater world. Specifically, these challenges will be starvation (being able to produce enough food to keep themselves from starving), power loss (being able to produce enough energy to keep their base functioning), and creature attacks (being able to defend themselves against attacking creatures). The player will attempt to overcome
these obstacles by using resources that the ocean has to offer and farming their
own resources too.
As the player progresses, they will be able to unlock new recipes that will allow them to create more advanced equipment to aid them in their survival. This will allow them to become more efficient in resource generation. A leveling system will also allow players to become stronger as they progress
UI Design
I created several wireframes for different interfaces that the player would use in the game. Each of these interfaces is a core part of the game. I tried to make the design of the UIs give players direction so they know what each UI is used for. This might help newer players in figuring out how the game works when they start the game. I later turned my wireframes into high-fi samples.
UI Wireframes
Player Stats UI wireframe - Aquamarine
Prismatic Fabricator UI wireframe - Aquamarine
Player Inventory UI wireframe - Aquamarine
Central Core UI wireframe - Aquamarine
High-fi samples
Player Inventory UI
Stats Menu
Amor Slots
Armor Power
Player Resources (HP, food, water, oxygen, hours awake, XP)
Crafting Menu
NPC menu
Hot Bar Slots
Inventory Slots
Locked Inventory Slots
Central Core UI
Fuel Cell Slots
Energy Core Power Level
Inventory
Prismatic Fabricator UI
Input Slots
Timer indicating when conversion takes place
Inventory
Output Slots
Prismatic Fabricator UI
ATK
HP
Shows how many points you have in a stat
Movespeed
DEF
Put points in stats
How many points you have available
Game Art
Finally, I drew some sketches for what some of the art in the game might look like. Some of the sketches include characters, items, and world terrain sprites. These sketches are drawn by hand in Adobe Illustrator.
Mineral Turtle (Crystal Variant) - Aquamarine
Mineral Turtle (Ore Variant) - Aquamarine
Mantacore - Aquamarine
Ghostly Mushrooms (Overworld & Item Sprites) - Aquamarine
Frozen Pepper (Overworld & Item Sprite) - Aquamarine
Frozen Biome Samples - Aquamarine
Kelp Forest Biome Samples - Aquamarine
Reflection
Overall, I am very happy with how the concept for this game turned out. I think I did a good job in being very detailed and intricate especially with the mechanics of the game. I wish I had a bit more time to add even more features to make it really pop and seem like a game in which there are a bunch of things to do. One of the most challenging things while writing the game design document was making sure all the features and mechanics connected with each other. I had to spend a lot of time going back and rewriting lines to make sure all the features matched with each other.
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