Game Concept

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eQtn_nr2Z1cPKJpT_DfM5evdoUEnLyPZXWOjij6NbgQ/... 

Lich in Limbo 

Play as Lich, an undead sorcerer, and explore the strange, shadowy 2D world of Limbo, collecting as many souls as you can find, so you can escape Limbo. Conjure blue fire balls to defeat enemies, and explore every corner, solving challenges to unlock chests.  

Genre:  Single player, casual, exploration game

Lich in Limbo will have a dark but neutral aesthetic. The world will have an angled top down view and the camera will be set close to the player to restrict the user’s visibility of the world. The user must explore thoroughly to find most of the chests containing souls. When Lich enters doorways a scene will be loaded in which challenges must be completed or enemies must be killed to open the chest inside. There will be three types of enemies (seeking, wandering, and pathfinding) that periodically come after the player. Lich can attack with a fireball using a mouse, which costs a soul to fire. Once enough souls are collected, the user can choose to leave through the gate and end the game.  

I’ve been really into 2D sandbox games such as Stardew Valley and Moonlighter, so I’d like to create a casual, roam as you please game. I built my idea up from wanting a maze that the player must get through, adding elements that I enjoy from the aforementioned games, such as the mines in Stardew Valley and the dungeons in Moonlighter, and then adding my own interest in fantasy and shadow realms to shape the aesthetic of the game. 

Lich in Limbo’s target audience is teens and above, though anyone can play this game. The game is a casual and relaxing stripped back RPG. Fantasy lovers will enjoy the aesthetic of Limbo and the creatures who dwell within.  Explorers will enjoy the style of gameplay, as the only way to end the game is to have collected enough souls from thoroughly exploring the world. The occasional challenge to unlock chests, and the steady stream of enemies, will keep the user entertained as they traverse Limbo.

Lich in Limbo is somewhat similar to dark souls, since defeating enemies is rewarded with souls, and souls can be found throughout the map, as well as the general dark aesthetic. However, Lich in Limbo focuses more on exploration than survival, and is much more relaxing and easier to play. 

Treatment:

Player:

You are Lich, an undead sorcerer, exploring Limbo looking for souls. Traverse Limbo, an angled top down, grayscale world of undead creatures, using your sorcerous power to shoot balls of blue fire and eliminate enemies (see figure 1), and use your wits to find and unlock chests containing souls. Collect enough souls to return to the outerworld and leave Limbo.

Lich can move in four directions and dash in short bursts. Casting a fireball uses souls, but defeating an enemy will reward you with souls. Lich can regenerate health however, if you do die, you will respawn at the start but you won’t lose all your souls.

Enemies:

• Bats will simply seek you out, flying over walls to attack you. They are faster than Lich but have low health. 

• Grims have a pathfinding behavior and take longer to kill than bats, but they are slower than the Lich.

• Friendly ghosts will not harm you unless you hit them either with a fireball or walk into them, then they become malicious ghosts. Friendly ghosts have a wandering behavior, while malicious ghosts will seek you out, both can float over walls. They move as fast as Lich but deal double damage as grims and bats. 

Lich can enter doorways in which a challenge must be completed to get to a chest containing souls. Some examples of these challenges are:

• Hit all targets from a distance with fireballs
• Find a chest hidden within waterfalls
• Kill all enemies within the room
• Traverse room avoiding lasers, as can be seen in Figure 2

Figure 1: Lich traversing Limbo and fighting enemies

Figure 2: Lich in a laser challenge room

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