COME CLOSER

Team Lead

Julia Andrejczuk

Co-Lead

Ryan Boyd

Art

Iris Andrici, Sam Rashleigh Torres

Programmers

Shivanshi Gupta, Andrew Haman, Leo Li 

Music

Andrew Li, Brian Liang 

Brief Introduction

Game Title: Come Closer 

Genre: Single Player, First Person, Fantasy, VR Puzzler, Adventure

Core mechanic: The player can move the moon up and down if they can see it

Brief Description 

The Moon falls in love with the Ocean, so it sends a messenger to deliver a love letter to it. However, the messenger falls into a sinkhole and it must find its way out. The player will need to traverse a cavernous cenote, in which they will face the challenge of finding moonlight to change the tides or find the means to travel through large water basins without aggravating the cave dwellers. In order to find their way out, the player will have to solve elevation, position and timing based puzzles by calling the moon to elevate or lower the water level 

Game Design: Mechanics

VR First Person Controls

• Continuous Locomotion (Analog Stick)
• Climbing (Hold Grip)
• Move the moon ( Look at the moon, Hold 2 Triggers, push towards/pull away the moon)
• Item interaction (Hold Grip)

The moon can only be moved if the character can see it. Since the player will be in a cavern, there are only going to be small crevices through which the player will be able to see the moon. To move the moon, the player will need to move their arms up and down. This mechanic will add to the difficulty of the gameplay due to finicky controls. 

Game Flow Chart 

Our game is relatively linear.  The main goal is to access a boat that has been shipwrecked by solving a variety of progressively challenging navigation puzzles to eventually enable the player to sail to the heart of the ocean, triggering the game's conclusion.

Mechanics Inspiration 

We got inspired by the Pokémon water gym which uses water to elevate and lower platforms. We are trying to centre our game around this sort of navigation puzzle. 

 We also want the pizzazz of the camera work and object interaction that the Talos Principle offers. This game has many puzzles which require you to explore your 3D environment to find creative solutions that will expand your game field. Since you can only see the moon from certain angles, this will be the way we use this observation feature. 

Lastly, we got inspired by the game Lost in Shadow for its creativity in using 2D puzzles within a 3D environment. This strategy inspired us to look closer at how we can manipulate light, shadow and reflections to find more creative approaches to our puzzle design.

We are also exploring more VR game to get a better grasp of the feeling we wish to achieve when playing Come Closer. A particular title was suggested and we will further delve into: Luna VR. 

Feedback Received During Game Pitch Presentation

Recommendations

• Character Personality
  • The reviewers recommended that the moon should have a stronger and more relevant personality, and that we should make very good use of sound design.
• VR Motion Sickness and Sound Design for Crowded Presentation Space
  • The reviewers pointed out to us that if we will end up sticking to VR, we will have to ensure that we focus on a particular mood, be wary of potential motion sickness in players, keep puzzles and mechanics to a minimum to enhance the game feel. 
  • Feel is very dependent on sound, especially in VR, so have a high degree of focus on how you can implement it without disruptions during the game presentation.

How we will implement these suggestions:

• Moon Personality We decided that we will make the moon have a “tsundere” personality. We will make the moon more expressive and make its facial expressions highly animated. 

“Um… Hi.  I’m the moon.  I…made you… don’t be weird about it.”

• Sound Design To make sound more immersive in VR, we will be using spatial audio. → We will have different audio sources spread throughout the scene to give the player a sense of spatial awareness and distance between objects. In particular, there will be a lot of audio sources of dripping water sounds originating from the stalagmites. → There could be sounds of creatures diving into the water, and making “blub, blub” sounds.  → There will be a general ambience (whirring noise of the wind going through the cavern) → Moonlight makes a sparkly sound → When the moon moves, it will sound like a moving boulder kind of like in Zelda (to give a sense of its weight)
• Mood In addition to a VR headset, we will provide a TV for non-participating viewers of the game, and provide noise canceling headphones so that external noise is reduced.
• Motion Sickness We will most likely add a comfort vignette when moving and jumping which has been proven to reduce VR sickness. We are also considering replacing player jumping with climbing with stamina as a mechanic, so that the height of water is still relevant and so the player doesn’t become disoriented by jumping.
• Art Style Cohesion We will adapt the NPCs/creatures   The NPC creatures can be described as “strange”, “charming”, “loveable, “slighly psychedelic/trippy”, “endearing”, “dreamy”, “smooth”, “rounded”. Additional
• It could be annoying for the player to have to crane their neck in order to see the moon We will offset the placement of the cave’s crevices in such a way that they are not far above the player’s field of view. 

How we will address these problems: 

Additional Information

Possible Mechanics (Up for debate):

Ice Crystal (Findable Environmental Item)

- Throw into the water to create an ice platform

Fire Crystal (Findable Environmental Item)

- Throw into the water to create a geyser that lifts existing platforms into the air

These mechanics take advantage of VR so that players are physically interacting with the environment by grabbing items, lifting themselves up, throwing things like glowing mushrooms to light up a dark area, and throwing berries to distract or appease a creature.

Possible Level Design:

• First Puzzle Room:  Only Water Elevation based
• Second Puzzle Room: Water Elevation & One Crystal
• Third Puzzle Room: Water Elevation & Other Crystal
• Final Puzzle Room:  Water Elevation & Both Crystals (This way the puzzles are designed for what crystals they can access)
• Checkpoints - Flower Crystals
• Inventory System
  •  
  •  (Reference Animal Crossing New Horizons) There will be an inventory bag at the character's waist. When the player reaches into the bag, a circular menu (like in Animal Crossing) will pop up. The analog stick will be used to pick an item in the inventory. When the grip is held and the player pulls out their hand, the grabbed item will spawn in the scene. The item can also be picked up by the player and put back into the bag, in order to be deposited in the inventory. 
• Creatures 
  • The player will have to do something for them in order to unlock another area or be able to advance in a puzzle. Some creatures will be less friendly and block your way, and you must distract them to make way for the moon man. 

Visuals

Concept Art & Work-in-Progress Models

Moodboard Colours

Creature Design

Inspirations