Bonus Material
During this section of the project, I've collaborated with the level design team to discuss some of the bonus material that could work within our game.
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Most likely, this will not be created for the game demo being shown at the exhibition, but I the task was to explore some of the possibilities that could, however, work in our game if the full version was to ever be created.
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Pre-Production Bonus Material (Also shown on GDD)
Bonus material could take a number of different shapes or forms for our game. As we will be pushed for time, we won’t be implementing side quests into the game demo that we’re creating. However, if the full-fledged game was to be created we’d hope for some sort of quest system to be in the game, which focuses on carrying out tasks requested by NPCs throughout certain levels to obtain a reward (which would vary depending on the other material of the game)As we are hoping to make use of an inventory system, one area of bonus material would be additional weapons the player can obtain/collect throughout the different levels by adventuring around the world, or even by completing side quests.
Another bonus that many other games also make use of is character customization. This is something that we would have also liked to implement, even if the customization was simple colour changes to the player characters model (so the same clothing, just different colour variations), or if different clothing items could be obtained (such as an outfit for each island, which could give the player a specific power-up related to the island the outfit was obtained from).
While on the note of customization, another are of this would be the sidekick. During the levels we plan to create, the sidekick will hopefully appear and get to be shown off, but they're more than we would have like to do with her character, which is just to give her some fun little customizations in the form of different hats that can be obtained and equipped to her (such as a stereotypical pirate hat and other themed/styled items).
Gameplay wise, these bonuses have little impact on the gameplay experience as most of the themes make use of customization (for the protagonist and sidekick). However, in terms of the different collectable weapons throughout the world, these could impact the game by having different ‘strength levels’ (so the different weapons deal different amounts of damage possibly). However, if this was to be made use of effectively, the enemies would also need to become more difficult (so stronger weapons make defeating them easier).
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Bonus Material - Production
Now nearing the end of the production phase of the project, there is a section of bonus material/content that is in the game. However, it is a separate section of material than the areas that we had made concepts for above.
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This section of bonus material was fully conceived and created by the groups lead level designer, Ben, and so I take no credit in this task. But my reason for talking about this task is becuase I wanted to talk about how this could fit in with the story (possible for the exhibition game, but more so for if the full game was to be created).
For the bonus material, Ben ended up creating a card game that can act as mini-game within the actual game.
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Ben's explanation of his Bonus Material
I asked Ben for an explanation of the bonus material he created, and he replied with the following.
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"So it's basically Hearthstone mixed with some rule sets of Yugioh but you can't directly attack your opponent, the objective of the players is to kill the Kraken situated in the center of the field. "
"You have 3 attack slots and 3 defence slots, attack slots are used to both fight the Kraken and the other players Attack field minions. Defence minions cannot be attacked nor can they attack but they do repair the ship based on the total defence value divided by the total attack value of the defence field."
"You both take 1 turn each and then the kraken attacks and it repeats, each time it is your turn you draw a card from the top of the deck."
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Shown below are also some screenshots of his game
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Image of Ben's design mockup
Image of the actual game.
How could this be implemented within the story
As this piece of bonus material was not my idea (in the slightest), this concept wasn't fitted into the story when I wrote the story outline or the game script. However, there are still ways that this could be added into the game.
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For the exhibition, Ben has told me that he plans to have this mini-game accessed via the title/menu screen, but I plan to explore some of the ways the full game (if it was ever to be created), could do this.
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One of the main ways this could be introduced to the player could be while the player is sailing from one island to another. Usually, during this time the player would control their ship and fight off enemy pirate ships.
However, during the journey from one island to the next (most likely from level 2-3, so its introduced relatively early), instead of just controlling the ship until the player arrives at the island, the player could control the ship part way, and then be forced to play the card game as a scripted event.
This would not only introduce the player to the mini-game itself, but it would also act as the tutorial and teach the player how to play (and how they could access the game at a future point in time).
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Once the player had completed the tutorial, there could be a number of ways to play the game. One way could be just to interact with the first crewmember NPC, Leonard (who would always be standing by the ship while being on a level), who would give the player the option to sail or to play the game.
In addition to this, the game could possibly be played at a time like it was introduced. Maybe the player could pick if they want to control the sailing to another island, or play the game instead? (so when they decide to leave, they could pick to play the game, and by the time the game ends, the player would be at the next island?)
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However, these are just all concepts for how the game could be introduced/accessed, as like I stated, it is planned to be accessed via the menu for the exhibition.