Game Concept

Within The Darkness » Devlog

4 years ago by razer304

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Within the darkness

Concept statement

In a world in Light’s image a small spec of darkness plots revenge. The world once was evenly split between light and dark but a cowardly attack from light rendered the world in his sole control. Play as a smidge of darkness attempting to take back the world from the armies of the bright.

Idle Smidge 8 direction — Idle Player (Smidge) 8 direction

Genre or category of game.

This game is a top down, 8 way movement, adventure RPG with combat and tower defence elements and a pixel art, mostly black and white aesthetic. The combat elements will involve fighting several types of enemy’s including a boss with weak points. The tower defence element alludes to a game mechanic which allows the placement of totems which will be attacked as well as the player.

Concept creation process/area and influences.

My original thought was a Gothic aesthetic such as Hollow Knight but even a semblance of that kind of style would take much more art skill and time than what I have available so I have opted for a simplistic black and white approach based on the Chinese Yin and Yang symbol, shown below:

The outlines of the player and enemies are the opposite of what they are comprised of, implying the meaning of the Yin and Yang, (describing how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may be found in one another), as well as the aesthetic.

describes how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may be found in one another

Audience and competitive analysis.

This game may turn out to be quite hard with the game mechanic of visibility, so the target audience are teens and up, specifically people who enjoy difficult games. Competition for this game may be Hollow Knight and its upcoming sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong because of its similar difficulty and darker aesthetic. Players who enjoy more of the story aspect of a game will enjoy this as well as the lore will be involved in the game play and integrated into the environment.

Game treatment and concept art.

Totems will be chosen and placed by you, the player and an area of effect will power you up with different abilities such as a dash that allows traversing over holes, a health boost or a longer reach for a melee attack. These totems will be attacked by the enemies, hence the tower defence element. The most important use of these totems though will be to “darken” the field allowing for visibility, much like a torch would work in other games such as Don’t Starve Together or Forager but in reverse as shown below.

Totem concept

You are the character with the white outline and an enemy is the one with the black outline, the colours of the rings differentiate the different power ups (red for healing, etc..). The walls as shown are only visible inside totem areas as will be all obstacles including walls and pits.

Wall concept

The player and most enemies will not be as visible outside of their domains although a setting may be put in place to still see the players eyes or it might be made the default depending on difficulty testing. A potential power up might allow a limited time of seeing yourself outside the darkness or it might function similar to a stamina bar, recharging when staying inside the darkness This will allow for interesting combat and game play as too many totems will allow enemies to sneak up on you and to little means you might lose yourself as shown below.

Visibility mechanic

Totems are not the only way to see the surroundings however most enemies will “bleed” a particle effect which will land on the ground and stay there. Inside the totems area however, most enemies cannot be seen, allowing for interesting combat and game play.

The boss will be mostly white with no outlines where the light parts are invincible so the only way to damage it is to attack the obvious weak point as shown below. This will incentivize the player to put more totems down but there will still be small enemies to be careful of.