Sunrise and Sunset:
Myths and Legends :
42: The Blades of Power :
Sunrise and Sunset:
Design Document For:
Sunrise and Sunset
The Greatest Event of Human History
Copyright © 2007, Trent Garner
Written by: Trent Garner
Version 1.0
September, 6 2007
Table of Contents
Name of Game___________________________________________________________________ 1
Table of Contents_______________________________________________________________ 2
Game Overview__________________________________________________________________ 5
Philosophy_____________________________________________________________________ 5
Philosophical point #1____________________________________________________________ 5
Philosophical point #2____________________________________________________________ 5
Common Questions______________________________________________________________ 5
What is the game?_______________________________________________________________ 5
Why create this game?____________________________________________________________ 5
Where does the game take place?____________________________________________________ 5
What do I control?_______________________________________________________________ 6
How many characters do I control?___________________________________________________ 6
What is the main focus?___________________________________________________________ 6
What’s different?________________________________________________________________ 6
Feature Set_____________________________________________________________________ 7
General Features_______________________________________________________________ 7
Game play______________________________________________________________________ 7
The Game World_________________________________________________________________ 8
Overview_______________________________________________________________________ 8
Scope__________________________________________________________________________ 8
Population_____________________________________________________________________ 8
The Physical World_____________________________________________________________ 8
Overview______________________________________________________________________ 9
Key Locations__________________________________________________________________ 9
Travel________________________________________________________________________ 9
Scale_________________________________________________________________________ 9
Objects_______________________________________________________________________ 9
Weather_______________________________________________________________________ 9
Day and Night__________________________________________________________________ 9
Time_________________________________________________________________________ 10
Camera_______________________________________________________________________ 10
Overview_____________________________________________________________________ 10
Game Engine___________________________________________________________________ 10
Overview_____________________________________________________________________ 10
The World Layout______________________________________________________________ 10
Overview______________________________________________________________________ 10
Engrossed_____________________________________________________________________ 11
Game Characters_______________________________________________________________ 12
Overview______________________________________________________________________ 12
Creating a Character__________________________________________________________ 13
Enemies and Monsters___________________________________________________________ 13
User Interface__________________________________________________________________ 15
Overview______________________________________________________________________ 15
Active Screen__________________________________________________________________ 15
Menu Screen___________________________________________________________________ 15
BATTLE SCREEN/MENU 15
Weapons_______________________________________________________________________ 16
Overview______________________________________________________________________ 16
Weapons Details #1_____________________________________________________________ 16
Weapons Details #2_____________________________________________________________ 16
Single Player Game_____________________________________________________________ 17
Overview______________________________________________________________________ 17
Single Player Game Detail #1____________________________________________________ 17
Single Player Game Detail #2____________________________________________________ 17
Story_________________________________________________________________________ 17
Hours of Game-play_____________________________________________________________ 17
Victory Conditions_____________________________________________________________ 18
“XYZ Appendix”__________________________________________________________________ 19
"Character Appendix"__________________________________________________________ 19
Game Overview:
Philosophy
Philosophy 1:
The game should be an immersive experience for any player type, be it through the world, the story, or the characters.
Philosophy 2:
The characters will be interesting enough to nearly simulate a multiplayer experience, even though there is only a single player game.
Common Questions
What is the Game?
Sunrise and Sunset is:
- A 3rd person action role-playing game.
- Fantasy/Horror/Suspense.
- Realistic graphics, with a hazy environment and huge emphasis on lighting.
Creating a world of supernatural beings and creatures that maintains a system of order and law. It is not a commonly approached view of vampires and other such things. Most stories put such creatures ahead of humanity, ruling them, or slinking in the shadows unknown to the greater majority. In this game these beings are known but not dominant. The idea itself is enough unlike others in the genre that it should open a fine niche for itself among gamers and have no problem selling.
S&S takes place in this world (allegedly) at an unspecified point in the future. Supernatural and paranormal creatures have finally revealed themselves to humanity. A very important delegation is being brought together to decide the course of the future.
Trevor Demetrius- Protagonist. You will control Trevor throughout his travels. Recently released from a five year incarceration at the Granid Super Security Prison for unknown charges. He learned a great deal about the factions of alternate humans from his cellmate Joseph, a Spring Jack. He is easy going and terribly aloof. Though to survive in a Super Security Prison he would have to be much more dangerous than he seems.
You are in control of Trevor; everything from his work to social life is up to you.
You will generally always have someone joining you on your adventures if you take an active role in the story. You can have up to three active members in your battle party (other than yourself), though you will only ever be in control of Trevor. The other characters will be AI controlled.
Game: The characters are the main focus of the game, meeting them, befriending them, and, if desired, joining as a member of their affiliations (vampires, werewolves, shades, etc.)
Story: Humans had nearly accepted a world also inhabited by the supernatural, but after the assassination of the man leading the way to this new world tension begins to build. With powerful leaders and radical groups emerging quickly the world seems on the brink of a civil war.
Most games now days rely very heavily on visuals and place story in nearly as a secondary aspect. Though I do not wish to diminish the importance of aesthetics, I still believe a solid story (by which I mean characters, world, and, obviously, plot) is the backbone to a great game.
This is what sets S&S apart from competitors; it is not just a beautiful world, but a world to draw you into the story, more than to be just visually appealing.
- Huge world
- Over 500 characters to interact with and befriend
- Gorgeous Lighting system
- Player based character role in story
Gameplay
- Free roaming environment
- Real-time Battles
- AI battle script unique to each character
- Player has influence over Trevor’s importance in the story.
- Influence system to check your relations with various affiliation and your current standings with different characters. Ranging from Unknown to Friends.
- The game world is set up similarly to the real world as far as appearances.
- Taking from the real world several land marks and cityscapes.
- The world will also be set in a darker tone; daylight hours are not nearly as illuminated as in real life.
- Characters within the world are basically realistic, though with slight exaggerations and stylizations.
- They will maintain true life proportions and scale, but may feature a slightly longer nose than is believable, or other such features.
- Battles within the world will be slightly more realistic in the sense that good planning, strategies, or timing can win the day against much stronger opponents.
- In many RPG’s running into a strong enemy too early in the game means you are dead, however I want S&S to emphasize the importance of guarding, dodging, and forming a strategy on the fly. A powerful enemy may be able to kill you in one hit, but will not be able to simply kill you because you are too weak compared to them. Meaning, to kill you in one hit they still have to try and hit you.
- There are social rules and etiquette that the player will have to feel out. Similar to entering a different country, you must tread carefully at first so as not to offend anyone.
- Characters will react negatively to poor manners or rude actions, if they are not your friends. In some instances even friends may have a bad reaction to poor etiquette.
Scope
The world is simply humongous, titanic, and vast beyond conception, within reason to video games, which are mostly closed worlds.
Population
As stated before, S&S has a very broad assortment of characters, each with their own personality and history. They will move through the world in a day to day life.
Huge, dark, and gritty. This is the simplest explanation of the world of S&S. Several cities, small towns, and expansive country-side will all be open to wonder through. A hazy lighting atmosphere exists during the day, with the night resplendent in almost complete darkness.
The following describes the key components of the physical world.
- Granid- a Super Security Prison located off the New England shore line. The game begins here.
- London- Home city of the Spring Jacks Embassy, and the home of Francis Pim.
- Jerusalem- Home city of the Vampires Embassy and home of Cyrus.
- New York- Home city of the Shade Embassy and home of Loraine Gust.
- Paris- Home city of the Werewolf Embassy and home of Akrin Schall.
- UW Capital Building- All the delegations, milestones, and set backs in the unification take place here.
The form of controllable travel is to simply make Trevor walk from one place to another. To get around the cities or across the country vehicular transport is available, ranging from taxis and subways, to airplane and helicopters.
These are short cut-scenes however; the player will not control these vehicles.
In effect it is an entire world with several towns, cities, wilderness, and continents to explore. The entire world will not be explorable; simply because of the time it would take to model an actual interactive world.
The areas that can be explored however will still be quite vast. Taking maybe several hours to fully wander through.
You will be able to equip any weapons you want, though very few good weapons can be found in the field. For the best tools you are going to have to pay, quite severally most of the time.
The weather will shift between thunderstorms, rain, sunny, fog, snow, and overcast. The weather will be more of an aesthetic touch as it will not affect the characters or story in any harsh way. If you go out in the rain without an umbrella, you will get wet and people will think a little less of you for not grabbing one. On the other hand if you run into a good friend will traipsing through the rain they will most likely offer you their umbrella.
Time in game is passed vicariously in a night to day to night cycle. Aside from being there to draw the player into the world, the times of night and day will actually effect characters of different affiliations positively or negatively. Vampires have stat deduction during the day and stat bonuses at night, etc.
S&S incorporates a twelve-hour time, AM&PM for a total of twenty-four; system sped up at about a four-to-one ratio. A small clock analog clock face will be in the bottom left hand corner of the active game screen.
Along with this will also be a Calendar system. S&S will actually go through time and a change of seasons and weather.
S&S has a simple follow camera for the most part with player controlled rotation if desired.
Game World Logic:
- Physics:
- The physics of the world are construed slightly.
- You can jump higher than you could in reality, run faster, never fatigue from fighting or running, never physically need sleep, or other such physical limitations.
- In battles factors such as gravity, physical exhaustion, and conservation of energy are reduced greatly from the real.
- Characters can continue fighting at a constant pace until they win or lose.
- Characters may exhibit exaggerated hang time after jumps, and some characters defy gravity altogether with combos or attacks that they maintain a constant height through no real explanation.
- Characters may be able to generate seemingly uniform attack strength despite their size compared to the size of the enemy.
- If a character has a bounce (knocks enemy into the air) attack and an enemy several times larger than them is not immune to a bounce, then that enemy will be knocked into the air with no noticeable extra effort.
- Logic:
- You are in a world, you are not the world.
- You control a character in a story and you see it through Trevor’s eyes, but you are not the focus of that story.
- You can affect the “lives” of other characters, but you cannot rule the world.
- You can choose your friends, but you will also take on their enemies. You cannot befriend everyone.
- You can not be killed while guarding in battle.
- In real life if you were to guard you would still have to be strong enough to take the hit. Your guard can be broken, and if so then you can not guard again immediately.
- Not everyone will like you, and you are not expected to like everyone, but you still may have to work with them.
- You can become powerful, but never all powerful.
- The path you choose may lead you to great power, but there will be someone stronger.
Difficulty Levels:
- The game has one predefined difficulty, but the straying from a directed path may lead to greater, but not insurmountable challenges (strong enemies, secret areas, meeting powerful characters, etc.)
- The game becomes more difficult as you play. Enemies and Several characters will grow stronger as time within the game passes, even if you are not increasing your own abilities at that time.
Engrossed
To become entangled in the story, you must be willing to hop a jet every now and again, and leave the country.
Main Character Details:
- Name: Trevor Demetrius
- Age: 31
- Sex: Male
- Species: Normal Human
- Personality: Laidback, Friendly, Strange Sense of Humor, Somewhat Aloof
- Social Standing: You decide where Trevor stands on the debate of unification between normal and alternate humans.
You will control Trevor throughout his travels. Recently released from a five year incarceration at the Granid Super Security Prison for unknown charges. He learned a great deal about the factions of alternate humans from his cellmate Joseph, a Spring Jack. He is easy going and terribly aloof. Though to survive in a Super Security Prison he would have to be much more dangerous than he seems.
Nearly every aspect of Trevor, from his position in the debates to his ability and desire to fight are up to the player to define through play.
Support Characters:
- Joseph Burke- A Spring Jack and Trevor’s friend. They have been watching each others backs for five years and Trevor is greatly indebted to him. He is still serving out the rest of his sentence.
- Akrin Schall- Leader and Representative of the werewolves. He is a powerful man with a lust for life. He has a good sense of humor.
- Loraine Gust- Leader and Representative of the Shades. She is quiet and stoic. She wishes for peace, though she doesn’t really care for humans.
- Tamren Dak- Leader of the Mutates. He is lively and reckless. He believes Mutates are superior and should rule over the rest.
Cyrus- Leader and Representative of the Vampires. He is calm and extremely reserved. He has dreamed of peace for several millennia.
Throughout the course of the game you will meet a large variety of characters both normal and alternate humans.
An alternate is the term given to all members of the twelve different affiliations outside of simple mortal humans.
The thirteen different affiliations in S&S are:
- Humans- Normal humans, it’s just that simple. During daylight hours, humans have a defense bonus.
- Vampires- Children of the night. Vampires are one of only two true immortal beings. Vampires have a stat penalty during the day and a large stat bonus at night.
- Werewolves- The most populated affiliation as well as one of the oldest. Werewolves have a constant agility bonus and a transform ability at night.
- Spring Jacks- The agile and wily tricksters. Spring jacks have a constant large agility boost and a powerful jump attack.
- Shades- The shadow people, they are something between the ghost and the living. Shade’s have a teleport ability and teleport attack, as well as a defense and attack bonus at night.
- Mutates- A more or less genetic evolution in normal humans. Mutates have low level telekinetic, pyrokinetic, or cryokinetic abilities.
- Banshees- The spirits of death, banshees are somewhat belligerent in nature. Banshees have an attack bonus and special shriek attack at night.
- Homo Heterocera- Also known as Mothmen. They have a constant agility, defense, and hit bonuses, but they have an attack penalty during the day.
- Mers- In the past they have been known as merfolk, sirens, and other aquatic legends. Mers have constant attack and hit bonuses and various range increasing abilities, but they have a defense penalty during the day.
- NJ Devils- Taking their name from the first of their kind, Devils are extremely long-lived. They possess an auto-heal ability and several transform abilities that increase certain stats.
- Gremlins- They are dwarf-like, impish looking characters who are very technologically savvy. You cannot join this affiliation.
- Immortals- True immortals, they appear human but are immune to all diseases and never age past their prime. Immortals have large constant bonuses to all stats.
- Ghouls- Far removed from the legends, Ghouls are not quite the corpse devouring monsters they seem. Ghouls have the regenerate and assimilate abilities and a huge attack bonus at night.
You are stuck with Trevor as far as which character you control, though you will have a great deal of influence on his development. You have the option of choosing who he will befriend, which side of the debate he will be on, and whether or not he will remain a normal human. At the start of the game you can set his birth date and you will go through a quick little self introductory by Trevor, where you can select options that affect his starting stats.
In the past centuries many alternates had taken it upon themselves to protect their former brethren from the true terrors of the world. As they came forward to prove their own existence to the world though, several of these other creatures have also made their appearance.
- Leviathans
- Behemoths
- Ziz
- Bogeymen
- Trolls
- Hodag
- Tailypo
- Scyllas
- Dovers
- Liaths
- Wendigo
- Harpies
- Ogres
The interface of S&S is going to be similar to most RPG’s. It will be divided into three main interfaces, active screen, menu screen, battle screen
Active Screen
In the active game screen the player cannot select anything, but a small analog clock face and the date (in game) will be at the bottom of the screen.
Menu Screen
In the actual menu screen the player will find the necessary menus to prepare Trevor for whatever adventure you may go on.
- Status- basic information about characters (stats, health, equipment, etc.)
- Equipment- choose weapons, clothes, accessories, etc.
- Items- an item list.
- Factions- Takes you to a sub menu.
- Political- Your current standings on the Unification Debate.
- Affiliation- Your current fame within each faction
- Characters- Characters you have met and your relationship with them.
- Save- enters save/load options.
- Main Menu- Returns you to title screen.
Battle Screen/Menu
In battle your health and stamina (needed for abilities) are displayed at the bottom of the screen under each character’s name.
To use abilities or items you need to open a battle menu. While the menu is open battle speed slows down. Once you have made your selection or just exited the menu normal game speed resumes.
In S&S you can use almost any weapon with no limitations to specific classes. The best way to acquire weapons is to buy them yourself, but as you become better friends with people they will sometimes give you things on your birthday, usually items, clothes, or money, but sometimes if you take them into battle with you a lot they will give your really good weapons that you cannot find yourself.
There is a large variety of melee weapons which can be purchased or found in S&S. As the game takes place in the future, melee weapons may seem dated but in a world this infested with danger, it never hurts to have a weapon you determine the power of, plus they don’t require ammo.
You also have the option of purchasing firearms. The downside is that they have preset attack stats, cost more than melee, and you need to purchase bullets also, but it is always nice to be able to fight out of harms way.
Unfortunately, to make S&S what I want it to be, it would just be too difficult to create a multiplayer platform for it. So S&S offers only a single-player game.
As stated before you play as a man named Trevor Demetrius. He is just a witness to the Unification Debate between normal and alternate humans. As the game progresses Trevor can become a more centralized figure to the story as it unfolds.
S&S will actually take place over the course of several months/years (depending on how quickly the player activates certain events.) At the end of each major event, the player is given an option to skipping forward in time to just a few days before the next major event or to wander freely until then (if the player decides to wander, then the remaining time may be skipped at any time that Trevor is at home.)
Here is a breakdown of the key components of the single player game.
Even though S&S has no multiplayer, I hope that through unique and varied character design, the player will actually begin to forget that the characters are not other people.
The player has the choice of how involved they wish to be in the story. A few events require Trevor’s presence, but most of the game will go on even in his absence.
Near the end of the 22nd century many dark culture came to light revealing the existence of many thought to be mythical creatures (vampires, werewolves, banshees, etc.) For several years there was a great deal of hostility and resistance to these hidden branches of humanity. Things seemed as though they would never improve, until John Lawrence O’Kally became president, and the world met its first immortal political figure. O’Kally worked to help normal humans except these beings. His work can still be seen many decades later. It wasn’t until his unfortunate and completely unexpected murder that people began to drift from his ideals.
The figures whom stepped up to O’Kally’s vision did there best to move forward with his plans but found his dream to large for a normal human to reach. Many alternate human representatives have stepped forward expressing their shared dreams of a united world, but at the same time several resistance groups have formed declaring dominance over humanity. It is a dark time for the world as peace and war are equal distances in the future.
At its longest I would expect S&S to take somewhere between 80-100 hours to complete. This is of course given that the player takes full advantage of the time between events to wonder.
The game can be completed in several ways.
- Trevor never takes an active role in the delegation (either side) the game reaches its climax as Trevor sleeps at home. (ambiguous ending)
- Trevor takes partial role in the delegations (unification) but is late to the embassy. On his way he comes across the result of the final battle. He takes the documents and continues to the UW building. (hopeful ending)
- Trevor takes partial role in delegations (rebellion) but is not trusted enough to take part in the final operation. He sits in the HQ watching the UW meeting as a haggard but alive unification committee arrives to finish the delegations. (rebel failure ending)
- Trevor takes active role in delegations (unification) on the way to the final meeting the committee is ambushed by radicals. Cyrus sends everyone else ahead to deal with them himself. You run into Joseph further up the road. He is your final battle of the game. You beat Joseph into submission, but as the police approach you carry him away. The screen fades into Cyrus arriving at the meeting, he smiles and the screen fades to black. (good ending)
- Trevor takes an active role in the delegations (rebellion) and is brought along to the final battle. Cyrus sends the rest of the committee ahead to deal with you himself. He takes out your comrades before the battle starts. You fight Cyrus alone. After the battle you return to the HQ, you are informed that the Unification failed, it is only a matter of time before you make your next move. (rebel victory ending)
- Trevor fully participates in the delegations (rebellion) you are chosen to lead the final assault. All of the leaders stand and prepare to fight you. Screen fades to several days later. Trevor and Joseph are back at the HQ arming themselves for battle. They smile at each other and head back into the field. (war ending)
- Trevor fully participates in delegations (unification) you become the radicals’ main target in the ambush. After becoming wounded, you see O’Kally’s ghost kneeling beside you offering you his hand. After you take it you stand up and your wound is gone. You send the rest of the delegations ahead. You awaken to your own immortal blood for the final battle. The screen fades to you standing in front of the UW building with the rest of the representatives, shaking hands with the human representatives, while a picture is being taken. (famous Trevor ending)