island | QiQi Yang

Peace Between Us

Peace Between Us is an adventure video game with the theme of exploring and finally escaping from an island.

Design Goal

To offer players great playing experience in this game

Target Audience

People interested in playing adventure type video games

Overview

Genre

Single Player

Third Person

Adventure

Top Down View

World Setting

Small Open World - Island

Factions on Island

Peaceful Primitive Environment

Island Diagram Rough Sketch

Narrative

Backstory

Player landed on the island due to plane crush

+

Player’s initial motives were to help father

(build medical center, search for medicines) and escape from the island

Hero Goal (Final):

As player learn about others on the island, the motives become helping everyone survive

Player's father was sick/wounded

Faction Theme Descriptions

Original Group

It is formed by new arrivals to the island, and it splits into 2 through the half way of game due to conflicting viewpoints.

Different viewpoints:

1. Stay on island for long terms

2. Escape from island as soon as possible

Break into 2 subgroups:

1. The rule-breaking subgroup

2. The order-structured subgroup

2 Family Feud Factions

They landed on the island together due to cruise ship crash 10 or 20 years ago.

Relationships:

1. Hate each other

2. May fight for resources for survival

Romeo and Juliet (Antagonists):

1. From each of the family feud faction

2. Got banished from their factions

2. Scare players to join them to revenge

Native Tribe Faction

This is the oldest faction in the island, which is formed centuries prior.

What it is like:

1. Very old and mysterious, like The ‘Aztecs’

Current situations:

1. The ‘Romeo and Juliet’ character crowned the newest leader

2. Players can get medicine by doing quests for the faction

Overall Factions Organization

1. Original Group (1 faction becomes 2)

(1a) The Rule-Breaking Subgroup

(1b) The Order-Structured Subgroup

2. Family Feud Factions

(2a) Family 1 (Rule-Breaking - ‘Romeo’)

(2b) Family 2 (Order-Maintaining - ‘Juliet’)

3. Native Tribe Faction

(3) Island Natives

Characters

1. 2 Original Groups

(1a) - Person can't stand island life, try to leave as soon as possible

- Leader, break rules

(1b) - Person live life on island as prior life

- The Wise Man, encourage players to explore backstory of island

- Leader, follow order

2. Family Feud Factions

(2a) - Romeo, banished, becomes antagonist

- Romeo's brother, stand on Romeo's side

(2b) - Juliet, banished, becomes antagonist

- Juliet’s Father/Mother, hates Juliet

3. Native Tribe Faction

(3) - Leader

- Advisors (2), give players instructions

Art Spectrum on Factions Characters

Player Types

Factioner

Team up with whoever you want, build status with Factions, and choose to go against any Faction

Explorer

Discover more of the island to find more about it's backstory and discover factions/ruins

Skill Builder

Level up the skills/abilities needed to get off the island or to make it easier/faster to complete tasks

Progressive Player

Motivated to advance the story or progress of their character/playthrough (encouraged to complete tasks)

Story Arc Flow

ACT 1

Set up: After players wake up at the beach, form Original Group, game characters introduce them to mechanics

Progress:

Sub-area 1 - Main Quests start

- Machete as reward

Sub-area 2 - Meet Family Feud Faction

- Choose faction to work for

- 1st Fast Travel System unlocks

ACT 2

Set up: After completing quest for faction, 1st Fast Travel brings player back to the beach, Split to 2 original groups because of a fight

Progress:

Sub-area 2 - Main Quests continue

- Know about medicines for father in sub-area 3

- Build bridge to access sub-area 3

Point of No Return

Set up: Game characters warn player about "Point of No Return" (cannot return to sub-area 1 and 2), fast travels of all areas open after finishing quests

Progress:

Sub-area 3 - Explore Native Tribe Faction

- Found one "Romeo and Juliet" crowned the new leader of Tribe - Do dungeon-like puzzle activity for quests and get the medicine

Act 3

Set up: Final update of island map, have access to whole island, players see how their previous actions and relationships affect the game play

Progress:

- Player return to the beach and deliver medicine

- Found out father is dying

- Father gives final words of wisdom to player, and that may affect player's end game decisions

End Game + Reflection

Fast Travel System Diagram

These are fast access to different sub-areas and beach of island.

Mid-Level Game Loop

Game Features

High Level Vision Canvas

It displays major elements in game including Genre, IP/World/Environment, Player Types, Player Experience, Inspirations, Core Pillars, Core System Breakdown, Required Hidden Systems

high level vision canvas

Overall Beat by Beat

It describes the step by step game play, including detailed game loop and narrative elements.

beat by beat document

Tone Target

The overall tone of this game and some inspirations for game design.

tone target

Detailed Features

All the game features reflect player experience and core pillars in game's vision canvas.

Feature 001 - The Individual NPC Relationship

Purpose: Displays the player’s relationship with each NPC directly to player

Allow player to better manage the relationships with NPCs

Core Pillars: “Users can build relationships with individual NPC characters”

Player Experience: “Users will feel like they need to think about which factions they want to work for, if any, and balance their relationships against opposing factions”

Five Star Systems (display method):

- More stars means better relationship

- Gain 1 star after successfully complete a quest, Lose 1 star after failing same quest for 3 times

- Can find this feature in Individual NPC Relationship Menu and appears above NPC's head when moving close

Inspirations:

GTA's Five Star System

Stardew Valley's Relationships Menu