Design Concept: Monster Portal
High Concept: Mobile game where players raise, train, trade and battle teams of monsters.
Target Audience: 10-40 males and females
Comparitive Analysis: Pokemon/Farmville
Competitive Analysis: There are pokemon clones, but none of them have really made a big splash on the mobile market.
== Monetization ==
The following features will allow us to monetize this game:
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Early Unlocks
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Stable Upgrades
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Technique Scrolls
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Summoning Items
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Portal/Building Upgrades
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Village Decorations
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Premium Decorations
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Seasonal Decorations
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Special Monsters
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Alternate colors, patterns etc
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Monster Accessories
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Hats, Bows, Etc.
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Energy Packs
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Special Energy packs which last longer, or offer boosts to the player’s monsters
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Converting Premium Currency into standard currency
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Insta-Level
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Special item which instantly raises a monster’s level by 1
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Charge 1 dollar per Insta-Level
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== Social Features ==
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Battle friends / Random Opponents
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Trade monsters with friends
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Help friends train their monsters
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Visit friend’s villages
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Maintain Gardens
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Maintain Paths
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Help out around friends’ villages
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Gift items to friends
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Leaderboard - Battle History which records numbers of Wins/Losses
== Retention ==
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Lots of monsters to raise/train
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Battles offer competitive side to the game
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Ability to customize/personalize village
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Missions provide a light story for players to progress through
== Village/Forest ==
The area where players spend the most time in the game will be their Village/Forest.
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Villages will have several structures which the player can interact with
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Portal
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Monster Stable
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Magic Gardens
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Mana Towers
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Refineries
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Players will be able to decorate their village to be unique.
As players progress through the game their village will grow, to include more structures.
== Forest / Resources ==
The Forest surrounding the player’s village provides the major resources used in the game.
Primary Resources
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Wood - gained from chopping trees
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Gold - gained from mining
These resources are then able to be used to build and upgrade structures
== MONSTERS ==
Raising, training, battling, evolving, trading and playing with monsters are the core components of this game.
Each monster has the ability to evolve along various evolutionary paths. How a monster evolves depends upon which combination of items the player puts into the monster portal along with the monster.
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Branching evolutionary paths allow for a wide array of possible monsters, and provide a level of replayability, by raising the same type of monster numerous time, but training them differently in order to achieve different evolutions. (This will allow us to get much more use out of each monster type)
== Stats ==
As monsters train they earn XP towards leveling up their stats. Each stat must be leveled up individually, or have the player spend XP earned in battle to enhance the monster’s stat.
A monster’s level is determined by the total amount of XP the monster has earned (including all XP that is put towards the monster’s stats)
Monsters have the following Stats:
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HP - The maximum number of hit points which the monster has
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Attack - The monster’s ability to inflict damage with physical attacks
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Defense- The monster’s ability to resist damage from physical attacks
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Special Attack - The monster’s ability to inflict damage with special attacks
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Special Defense - The monster’s ability to resist damage grom special attacks
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Speed - How quickly the monster can attack, also determines which monster can act first.
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ex: When Pumpkat’s S. ATK stat bar fills up to 100%, Pumpkat’s S. ATK will upgrade to level 8, and the bar will be reset back to 0%.
== Raising Stats ==
There are two methods in which a monster’s stats can be raised:
Training Structures:
One method of raising the stats of a monster is to train that monster using training structures. Players must have that monster train using these structures which can be placed within a player’s village. Each type of structure can help raise various stats.
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Players may choose from a selection of different training options, each option costs a different amount of gold, and 1 energy.
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5 minutes - 5 points
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30 minutes - 25 points
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2 hours - 80 points
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8 hours - 150 points
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Dojo - Raises Attack
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Obstacle Course - Raises Defense
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Monster Wheel - Raises Speed
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Magic Tower - Raises Special Attack
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Mystic Well - Raises Special Defense
Battle XP:
As monsters battle they will earn XP. XP earned in this fashion will be added to a monster’s XP pool, much like skill points. This XP can then be assigned to 1 of the monster’s 5 core stats. (ATK, DEF, SPD, S. ATK, S. DEF)
== Elemental Affinities ==
In addition to stats and techniques, another key component of the game shall be the elemental type of each of the monsters. This will help to make each type of monster feel unique, and also serve to give it strengths and weaknesses.
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With the exception of the Neutral type, each of the 9 elemental types have one weakness and two resistances.
== Battle System ==
To Be Added
== Obtaining New Monsters ==
Monsters can be obtained in a variety of ways.
1) Purchasing Base Monsters at the store (or) Find them in the Forest
2) Evolving monsters via the Monster Portal
3) Won in Tournaments
4) Through trades with other players
= Journal =
One of the goals of the game will be to fill the journal with the data of all the Monsters in the world.
The Journal serves several functions
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Bestiary
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Each Monster type has it’s own journal entry including a short writeup about the monster, stats such as average weight/height, and a list of the locations which the monster is known to habitate.
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Conjuring Recipes
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Displays all known conjuring recipes.
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Once a player successfully conjures a monster it’s “recipe” will be added to the player’s journal
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Achievements
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Player Stats
== Nickname Monsters ==
When monsters are first obtained they can be nicknamed
Players can rename their monsters, afterwards, for soft currency
== Monster Portal ==
The Monster Portal is a key part of the game, the players use the Portal to synthesize new monsters and items.
Each monster in the game (with the exception of Base Level Monsters) will have a summoning/evolving spell which may only be invoked if the player has the proper items. This gives out “collection system” a great deal of significance as the player will use the items they collect in order to advance their monsters.
== Evolving Monsters ==
Stage 1 - Base Level Monsters/ Baby Monsters
Every monster starts out in an egg. Once that egg hatches it will yield a Base Level Monster or a “Baby Monster”. These baby monsters should be fairly plain looking with only 1-2 distinct features.
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Monsters should not stay in the Baby state for long, for they are easily evolved with 1 item. (ex: Blip may evolve into Gobby if he is put into the Monster Portal along with a Black Shard)
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Some Monsters may have rare forms which are only obtainable by Synthesizing the monster with a rare item.
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Base Level monsters always have a Neutral Elemental affinity
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Each Base Level Monster shall have 3 possible evolutionary forms.
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The item used in synthesis will determine the evolutionary form the monster will take.
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Stage 2 - Form II Monsters
Form II Monsters should be amongst the most common monsters. These Monsters are the result of synthesizing a Base Level Monster with a single item, most commonly an Elemental Shard.
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Form II Monsters may have a Single Elemental Affinity (EX: Fire, Water, Nature, etc.)
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Form II Monsters should all have two possible evolutions
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The item used in synthesis will determine the evolutionary form the monster will take
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Stage 3 - Form III Monsters
Form III Monsters should include most of the mid-level monsters. This is the first form during which monsters may have a dual Elemental Affinity.
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Form III Monsters may have dual Elemental Affinity (Ex: Fire/Water, Fire/Air, Dark/Light)
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Form III Monsters only have a single evolutionary option.
Stage 4 - Form IV Monsters
Form IV is the final form a monster can take. These monsters have the highest stats in the game, and should have access to the best techniques.
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Form IV Monsters may have dual Elemental Affinity (Ex: Fire/Water, Fire/Air, Dark/Light)
== Synthesizing Items ==
In addition to evolving monsters, the monster portal can also be used to synthesize items. For example, 3 Red Shards may be combined to form a Red Crystal.
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Many high level items may only be obtained through synthesis.
== Limiting Factors - HP & Energy ==
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HP
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A monster’s HP (Health Points) represents a monster’s vitality and ability to battle. The goal of monster battles is to reduce the HP of all of your opponent’s monsters to 0, while retaining as much of your own monsters’ HP as possible. As monsters execute attacks upon each other in battle, HP will be deducted from the defending monster’s HP pool. If a monster’s HP hits 0, that monster will become unconscious.
Monsters whom have entered the unconscious state can be revived in two ways.
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Resting - When returning to their village any monster that is currently unconscious will automatically enter “Rest State”. Resting shall be described in more detail in the next section of the document.
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Monsters cannot rest in any location but from the player’s village
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Smelling Salts - Special items which restore a monster to health
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There may be various types of smelling salts, each restoring a different percentage of the monster’s total HP when used.
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Energy
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== Energy Bar ==
Players will have global pool of energy which is drawn from whenever the player performs an action.
Actions such as chopping down trees, mining or cutting stone take 1 energy per action.
Initiating a monster to train at a training structure consumes 1 energy
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Replenishing HP
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= Resting =
When a player clicks on a monster a info bubble should appear, displaying the monster’s stats along with several options. One of these options should be [Rest].
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When players tell their monster to rest, they will go into their rest state and display “Z”’s streaming from their heads to indicate that they are asleep.
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As a monster rests it’s HP will recover.
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Monsters in a resting state cannot leave the village, players must either wake the resting monster, in order to bring it out of the village, or select a different monster to take it’s place in the player’s team, while the monster rests.
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Replenishing Energy
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Food is the primary method of replenishing energy for the player, in order to get more energy players simple convert a portion of their food into energy.
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Growing food- There will be several farm plots on the player’s island for the player to grow food in, growing food will function similar to many farming games, where the player must plant the crops, and wait for the crop to be ready to harvest. The player will then have a window of time, in which they may harvest their crops. If the player does not harvest their crops in time, the crop will be withered.
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Harvest time = Growth Time x 2
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Whithered plants can be cleared, when the player clears a withered plant they receive no crops, but they are able to recoup 33% of the initial plant cost.
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ex: if carrots cost 30G, clearing a withered carrot would yield 10G
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As a general rule, the longer the growth time of a crop, the more energy it should yield when used by the player.
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Food should also replenish a monster’s HP
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Buying Food- Players will be able to purchase Monster Chow directly from stores for premium currency. Instead of having to wait for monster chow to grow, like the fruits and vegetables players can grow, players are able to use these items instantly.
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Monster Chow should function in exactly the same manner as Energy Packs work in many other games, however, making them food items instead of energy packs, wraps them into the story more neatly than an energy pack would.
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There should be several types of monster chow, each one yielding more energy when used.
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Town Hall - One of the main buildings in each player’s village will be the town hall. The town hall shall produce food at the rate of 1 turnip per 5 minutes. This way the player will never run out of food
== Food to Energy Conversion ==
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25 units of food = 1 energy
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50 units of food = 3 energy
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100 units of food = 7 energy
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200 units of food = 15 energy
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400 units of food = 31 energy
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== Resource Gathering ==
= Clearing Vegetation =
In order to obtain lumber for constructing and supplying buildings, players will need to use their monsters to chop trees/bushes/etc.
Clearing trees/bushes is also one of the primary ways players will go about clearing land so that they can expand their village.
5 stages of trees:
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Sapling - 1 tap
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Small Tree - 2 taps
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Normal Tree - 3 taps
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Large Tree - 4 taps
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Grand Tree - 5 taps
Bushes appear in two varieties:
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Leafy Bush - 1 tap
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Thorn Bush- 2 taps
Rewards for Clearing Vegetation:
Each tap yields 1-3 pieces of lumber and 1-2 XP (to the monster performing the action)
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Lumber should be visualized, and be tappable by the player in order to collect it
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If player does not tap on the lumber within 20 seconds, it shall auto-collect.
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XP gained should be displayed briefly above the monster’s head
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Special items may also drop while clearing vegetation.
= Mining =
In order to obtain ore/stones for constructing and supplying buildings, players will need to use their monsters to mine mineral deposits that will be randomly generated upon the playspace.
There will be various sizes of mineral deposits
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Small [Mineral Type] Deposit - 2 tap
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[Mineral Type] Deposit - 3 taps
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Large [Mineral Type] Deposit - 4 taps
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Grand [Mineral Type] Deposit - 5 taps
There will be different types of mineral deposits, each type of deposit yields that type of mineral
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Copper
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Iron
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Thorium
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Mythril
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Ruby
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Sapphire
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Diamond
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Elementium
Each tap yields 1-3 units of the corresponding mineral and 1-2 XP (to the monster performing the action)
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Minerals should be visualized, and be tappable by the player in order to collect it
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If player does not tap on the minerals within 20 seconds, they shall auto-collect.
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XP gained should be displayed briefly above the monster’s head
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Special items may also drop while mining.