Mosh Pit: TAoT Design Doc

ABSTRACT

Mosh Pit: The Alibi of Tyrants is an action game where the player must liberate people from the control of the government's twisted machinations. This will be the first beat-em up in history to have two characters controlled simultaneously by drawing lines across the play space.

OVERVIEW

1. Story

The year is 2012 and the United States is in turmoil. The government has banned all independent music. Installing themselves as the only distributor and creator they begin to brainwash the masses through the songs. The twisted regime keeps agents at every state sponsored concert to keep order should someone fall out of the trance. A group of rebels determined to free the people from the totalitarian grip of the state.

2. Characters

The player controls two metal heads named Albert and Ozzy. Ozzy is modeled on a combination of Ozzy Osbourne and Dave Mustaine (Megadeth). Albert is modeled after Mike Muir (Suicidal Tendencies) and Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society).

3. Game-play

Albert and Ozzy move entirely through the use of the mouse and a rage meter. The player must first decide which person he wants to move. Ozzy is fast with a long range while Albert is slow and powerful with a short range. For example if the player wanted to move Ozzy he would click in the left mouse button and draw a line. Ozzy would then launch himself in that direction smashing everything in his path and the rage meter would drain. The remaining meter is then used by clicking the right mouse button and moving Albert. The meter would then reset back to full and more movement is possible.(see movement diagram)

4. Winning/Losing Conditions

The game ends when both of the player's characters are killed. If one character is killed the other has the option to revive him by helping him up. The game is won by the player defeating all of the enemies in the level.

5. Team Maneuvers

As in Tony Hawk 3, in order for the player to do more damage he must string together combinations for as long as possible. This is done by drawing lines through multiple enemies. Albert and Ozzy will gain momentum with every hit increasing their speed and damage by a maximum of 3 times normal. The enemies are then propelled by the hit into their cohorts and the edges of the stage for a lesser amount of damage. Ozzy and Albert can then combine forces by running into each other. If Ozzy runs into Albert, Ozzy will bounce off of him for increased range without using the rage meter. If Albert runs into Ozzy, Albert will pick him and use him as a battering ram, plowing through enemies to cause massive damage at the cost of most of the rage meter. The enemies, however, also have the same ability to build momentum and use teamwork attacks against the player. If Ozzy or Albert cannot match or beat the momentum of the enemy they will take damage.

(see team moves)

6. Enemies

There will be 4 types of enemies: The tank, the grunt, the speedster and the stationary. Large 'tank' style enemies cannot be attacked head on by Ozzy. He must smash into them from behind. Albert, however, can attack them head on. Grunt style enemies can simply be defeated by matching or beating their momentum, extra damage is awarded for hitting them from behind. Speedster style enemies can easily out run Albert so they must be overcome with Ozzy's superior speed. The stationary enemies can only be fought with one character when they're out of attack mode and moving. A stationary enemy is easily taken out with a team attack.

Grunt Power/Momentum: 1 to 2/1 to 2

Tank Power/Momentum: 4 to 6/ 1 to 2

Speedster Power/Momentum: 1 to 2/ 4 to 6

Stationary Power/Momentum: 0/ 4

7. Art Direction

The art style for Mosh Pit will be a simplified cartoon style much like Rock Band and Guitar Hero. The simplified style allows an increase in the number of frames in each animation The main characters, Ozzy and Albert, will move in the same style as Mike Patton and Randy Blythe while the enemies will have very sharp corporate movements.

The levels are themed for locations all around the east coast. There will be everything from giant fire spitting pinata dragons in China Town to gritty parking lots illuminated by car headlights. The levels will be split up by band. Each level will have it's own background interaction and it's own boss. The goal of the design is to be as outrageous as possible.

The first level will be the China Town level.

SCENARIO

Little Jimmy has just found Mosh Pit thanks to the wonders of the Internet. He loads up the game and is immediately hit with a wall of Lamb of God. As his face is being rocked completely off he slips the mouse over the start button. The introduction animation plays and he's introduced to the world of Mosh Pit. Jimmy is now part of a group of rebels determined to free music from the totalitarian grip of the state. The introduction finishes and he is run through the movement tutorial. He meets the characters and is shown how to properly harness their power. The tutorial finished Jimmy throws himself head long into the first level. Jimmy watches as his allies take over the stage and start to play as his characters enter the crowd. He cackles and throws his characters into the action with reckless abandon. The mosh pit has begun.

PRECEDENTS

1. Mario Kart
Nintendo
The simple art of bouncing the green shells off of surfaces and planning trajectories has a lot to do with my game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhlI2XrAFPs

http://www.mariokart.com/wii/launch/

2. Brutal Legend/Guitar Hero/Rockband

Microsoft/Red Octane/Harmonix

The art style is very similar to what I'm trying to pull off. Simple clean and cartoony.

http://kotaku.com/5183260/the-brutal-art-of-brutal-legend

3. Metalocalypse

Brendon Small and Tony Blancha

The world that they inhabit is both hilarious and awesome with over the top metal references.

http://www.adultswim.com/shows/metalocalypse/index.html

4. Tony Hawk 3

Neversoft

The seamless formation in building combos and multiplying score is what's important here.

http://ps2.ign.com/objects/014/014284.html

5. Def Jam Vendetta series

Electronic Arts

Simple game-play thanks to Aki's grab system. It allows for a huge number of choices with very limited buttons.

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/770/770966p1.html

6. Mike Patton/Randy Blythe

Faith No More/Lamb of God

The way they throw themselves around on stage is exactly how I'd like Ozzy and Albert to move.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRFPs7L9Vgw&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.metalsucks.net%2F2009%2F01%2F16%2Fsnow-inspired-angel-dust%2F&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xy0vIubcdA

7. Kirby's Canvas Curse

Hal Lab

The player needs to help Kirby platform in 2d by drawing paths for him. This is a lot like my mechanic.

http://ds.ign.com/objects/711/711828.html

8. Okami

Capcom

Player's must draw specific shapes in order to use certain attacks. I picked the Wii version over the PS2 because the wiimote relates better to the mouse controls in Mosh Pit.

http://wii.ign.com/objects/884/884970.html

The Party People Video Documentation

The Party People

They're animated. CLICK THEM!

They live only commit unspeakable horrors upon the world and
also to dance with you if you're cool. You're probably not.

Mosh Pit: The Alibi of Tyrants

Mosh pit is an action game, made in flash,where players control two characters trapped in an alternate reality 1988. The characters follow the paths drawn by the player in order to attack and build combos. The player builds combos by rebounding off of enemies which in turn rebound off of other enemies and the crowd.







Gameplay:
- The winning conditions are met by the player being able to eliminate all of the enemies on screen. Points are awarded based on how long the player can keep the enemies bouncing off of each other.

- If the player rebounds off of one enemy and into a second, the second enemy will have more damage done to it. This can happen a max of 3 times the normal amount of damage.

- There will be no health bars instead the health of the player and the enemies will be displayed in 3 character animations: Healthy, moderate and near death.

- This a real time game, the enemies will be moving around and attacking themselves. I've carved out 3 varieties: Large guy who will have a high defense and be able to shove the players throwing them off their line, fast guy that will attack constantly and stationary scene kids who will flail at set times and can only be attacked when not freaking out.

- The strategy is in keeping a large combo going to defeat the enemies before the song time runs out sending a wall of death in which crushes everyone and triggers a game over.

- This is something that I probably won't have time for but I'd like the player to be able to have time to prep their team. There would be people with different stats that you could pull from.

Rebug Interface

It's looking pretty sweet with Grace's help doc added to it.

Popularity + Balls = Fun

My Omar and Ingrids Yearbook Proposal

ABSTRACT
Yearbook Revisited is an installation that reinvents the yearbook photo experience to recreate the awkwardness of social interactions based on high school identities. There are two elements are at work. First, the experience of taking a portrait photo, and second the stereotypes prevalent amongst high school students. The audience member’s portraits are taken in a similar manner as a yearbook photograph. The portraits are then randomly assigned a stereotypical high school identity. These identities are then used to group the photos as they are displayed, however, guests are instructed that there is special facial recognition software involved in the sorting process. As participants circulate through the exhibit to find their picture, cliques are automatically formed to create a model for high school interactions.


OVERVIEW
Yearbook Revisited is an interactive art installation that explores identity and social interactions from within the context of traditional high school stereotypes. Viewers of the exhibit are asked to participate by placing themselves in the scenario of a yearbook photo shoot.

1. Portrait
Guests enter the exhibit through an anteroom where a camera, intensely bright lights, a stool, and a backdrop have been staged. A terminal is setup with a prompt to enter a first and last name. After a name is input, participants are instructed to pose for their picture in a typical yearbook manner, by an automated instructional video. Through observation it was determined that the predominant yearbook pose is one in which the body is turned away from the camera, no more than 20º, so that the right shoulder is closest to the lens. The subject’s gaze is turned back toward the camera with their head slightly tilted towards the left shoulder. Once the instruction set has played the system asks the subject, “Are you ready,” and waits for a response. In reality there is no function behind the voice communication, it is actually just a count down that is well timed. At the end of the count down the system states, “I am going to take your picture.” After the photo is taken the participant is then prompted to continue to the next stage of the installation and the system is reset for the next guest.

2. Projection
In the next part of the installationviewers observe the portraits taken in the anteroom being projected on one of four walls in the main room. Each photo is assigned a stereotypical high school social designation or category at random, although the audience is told that there is a special logic at work here. Each wall represents one of four categories: Jock, Prep, Nerd, or Burnout. Prop images are superimposed over the photos that help illustrate and exaggerate these categorizations. The layout for the photos will follow the grid like structure of a yearbook page and cycle with a page turn as more photos are added. A randomly chosen subcategory, of type ‘most likely to’, is associated with every photo to add extra dimension to these groupings. As guests file through the room to find their photo these social categories will begin to take shape in reality amongst the crowd.

3. Identity & Social Interaction
It is often that people cannot help how others perceive their identity. Even though there are many facets that form a person’s identity Yearbook Revisited is designed purposely to reduce people to very simplified terms. This is setup by an illusion of the technology in place powering the installation. Viewers are told that special facial recognition software is used to profile them and place them in the predetermined social categories, but in reality this is a totally random process. As viewers pool themselves into the various cliques created by the exhibit there is an opportunity to observe how people react to the identity determined for them. It can also be seen how people interact with others within their social circle, and how they interact with people from other social circles.


SCENARIO
John sauntered into the dim light of the gallery, the day had gone well and he was in high spirits. The first exhibit to catch his eye was Yearbook Revisited. Yearbook Revisited promised to predict his high school identity exactly, by means of complex facial recognition software. John was immediately intrigued. He moved to the entryway where a camera and bright lights where setup. He entered his name into a glowing prompt and then an authoritative voice instructed John on how to pose as it snapped his picture. Bewildered by the bright flash, he stumbled away from the machine and into the next room where he saw portraits of other people from the gallery. He looked around finding his among the Jock category, a smug smile formed. It faded immediately when he read his tag “John: Most Likely to commit date rape”. Confused and enraged he started talking with the other people viewing his wall. They all began to talk about the other walls and how they must have gotten a better result. Subconsciously, a clique is formed and John experiences memories of social awkwardness from his days in high school.