“A Macabre Masquerade” is a level design for a single player 3d platformer game, in which the player takes on the role of a young boy trying to find his way home after finding that his pet hamster he got given for his birthday is actually undead – and is wrecking havoc with a vengeance! The little monster ran away from his master, the illustrious retired evil genius Lady Marionette and was rescued by a kind pet store owner – then given to Erik – the protagonist of the story.
The hamster, Reggie, needs to be given back to his mistress before all hell breaks loose, but that’s the very last thing he wants! The mischievous rascal loves nothing more than bringing inanimate objects to life to do his bidding, or ringing your doorbell and running away!
In this level, Erik finds himself running through the Travelling Carnival which is in town – trying to reach the big top where the now elderly Lady Marionette has promised to meet Erik and imprison the little devil forevermore. Avoid all sorts of creepy creatures along the way, Erik must keep control of Reggie and reach Lady Marionette before the beast destroys the whole town!
INITIAL LEVEL LAYOUT
- Entrance of the Carnival – various stalls can be found here, including traditional fair games like Coconut shacks and cotton candy.
- Arcade – broken arcade machines can be found in here, un-nerving noises and clown faces on the walls to create a feeling of unease…
- Rollercoaster – here the player must either use the haunted rollercoaster carriages or walk along the rails avoiding obstacles to reach the top, where a level to open the next section is.
- An enchanted Merry-go-round stands in the way of the player here. Avoid the obstacles to reach the next section.
- Here stands a Ferris wheel, which the player must use to bypass a broken fairground ride and other rubble.
- Hall of Mirrors – the player must navigate through here by finding a lever and then the emergency exit.
- Haunted house – navigate through here to the next section.
- Big Top – Tattered and torn, this is where Lady Marionette will be waiting for Erik.
FULL LEVEL WALKTHROUGH
Since this level is for a game which will be pretty linear, and therefore follow a designated path through a level, each player will have a similar experience when playing the level. The target audience for this game would be casual gamers, or fans of the platformer/puzzle genre. It will be aimed at a younger generation, around 7-15, but will contain creepy and frightening stylized art and gameplay which could be likened to Tim Burton or Neil Gaiman, with dark and quirky fantasy horror themes.
- ENTRANCE – The player spawns in front of a pair of big foreboding iron gates, which are slightly open. Walking backwards will return him to the previous level. Above the gates is a huge clown head, dark and twisted, blowing in the wind. Passing through the gates, the player can see a set of stalls typical to carnivals, including a Coconut Shack, Cotton Candy stall and other miscellaneous. Due to the power of the evil undead hamster Reggie, all sorts of inanimate objects around the Carnival are coming to life. Teddies which used to be prizes for the carnival games begin climbing down from the stalls and heading towards the player, with zombie like walks and crazy eyes. The player must then engage combat with the creatures to prevent being taken down. The battle system works as follows:
- Jumping on their heads to squish them
- Using the pea shooter he brought from home to shoot them and knock them out
Once the player has defeated all of the zombified prizes, he can move onto the next area of the level – which is marked by a sign with the words “ARCADE ADVENTURES” which is lit up and flickering on and off, finally settling with only the letters “D E A D” lit up, for a dramatic (albeit cheesy) effect.
ARCADE ADVENTURES – Once the player has entered this area, he must navigate through the winding rows of arcade machines, some broken, to find the exit. Strange haunting music will be playing from the machines, along with cackling laughter. The enemies in this area are creepy versions of video game characters, and zombified arcade attendants who are repeating the words “Can….I….help….youuu….Sirrr??…” in droning voices, while trying to catch the player and stop him. The pace of this area is meant to be very chaotic, and as if the player is being ambushed and has to take on alot of monsters at the same time. Some of the machines which are not broken can be played in a mini game mode which can be activated by walking up to the machines and pressing “Enter”. This includes some mini games based on retro arcade games such as “Pong” and “Space Invaders”. Once the player has defeated all the enemies in the area, he can get past into the next area, which brings him back outside again.
ROLLERCOASTER RAMPAGE – Once the player gets outside carnival music starts and doors in the walls open – letting loose mobs in the shape of clowns on tricycles and stumbling around juggling. They are also carrying water pistols which the player must avoid, or he gets stunned for 3 seconds, meaning the clowns have more chance of catching him. Again the player must use his pea shooter and stomp on the monster clowns to defeat them. Across the courtyard is a giant brightly coloured rollercoaster, the carts whizzing around the track with no-one controlling them. Lights along the track lead to the top, where a control box is with several levers inside. To the South East of the area is another set of iron gates, this time locked. In order to get through to the next area the player must avoid the monsters and in some way get to the top of the rollercoaster to the control panel. This can be done in a few ways:
- Climbing up and walking along the tracks, avoiding monsters along the way
- Climbing up and hijacking a cart, riding all the way to the top
- Waiting for the cart to come round at the bottom, and ride all the way to the top, avoiding monsters along the way.
Once up at the control panel, the player will encounter 3 levers. There are a multitude of different patterns in which these levers can be pulled, one way will stop the ride, one will open the gate, and the rest will do nothing. Using a method of trial and error, the player must unlock the gate without stopping the ride, since stopping the ride will trigger the attention of all the monsters in the area and they will all attack him.
The possible sequences for the lever would be:
- 1, 2, 3
- 1, 3, 2
- 2, 1, 3
- etc
And the correct lever switches could be (for example):
- 1, 3, 2 – Opens the gate
- 3, 2, 1 – Stops the ride
- All other outcomes do nothing.
Once the player has opened the gate without triggering the ride stop code, he can make his way back down the rollercoaster in the same way and make his way through any remaining mobs through to the next area.
MERRY-GO-ROUND MAYHEM – Once the player has got through the locked gate, the main thing in eyeshot is an old crooked Merry-go-round, with ghost riders and undead horses, struggling to break free. The music slows down from the crazy clown music from before to an eerie tune, with whistling wind and creaking branches. The gate posts lead the eye upwards to the sky, which carries a full moon overshadowed by cloud. This area provides great contrast to the last two, which were chaotic and jumpy, whereas this one it eerie and quiet, with the connotation of things jumping from the shadows. To get to the next area the player must jump onto the Merry-go-round (which is going in the opposite direction) and make his way across to the other side. Around the merry-go-round are traps, which, if triggered, cause a cage to drop around the ride and clockwork creatures to drop from the ceiling, all aiming to kill the player. The player must defeat these creatures in the same way as before. In order to release the cage, the player must reach a control panel in the center, and press the “Enter” button. Each time a trap is triggered in this way, the player must repeat this action. Once the player has beaten the enemies in this area, and bypassed the merry-go-round, he may move to the next area, which is again outdoors.
FERRIS-WHEEL FRENZY – This area is again pretty eerie, all the rides in this area are broken to some degree. There are 3 rides blocking the path, the biggest being a huge creaking Ferris-wheel in the center. It is turning slightly in the wind and making lots of noise. Using the Ferris-wheel to pass over the wreckage of the other broken rides is the only way for the player to bypass this obstacle. In order to use this ride, the player must walk to the control box, press “Enter” on the lever, and jump into the nearest carriage. The wheel will begin to turn, but creaks dangerously and pieces begin to fall off. The camera shakes to create anxiety in the player and warn them that danger is afoot. While the ferris-wheel is slowly turning, a Quicktime event begins, where the player must press the correct button at the right time to avoid falling debris. Missing just one of these debris will cause the player to fall back to the ground, having to start the event all over again. Once the Ferris-wheel has turned all the way round and the player has dodged all falling debris, the player drops safely to the ground on the other side, although unable to travel backwards through the level now, so there is no turning back. What the player can see around them is a brick wall in front, trees and bushes to the right, and along the left – signs for a hall of mirrors, and a dark entrance way with a crooked doorway leading into the Hall of Mirrors itself.
HELLISH HALL OF MIRRORS – When the player enters the hall of mirrors, the music increases in tempo again, once again creating the feeling of chaos and unease. In order to get through the exit of the hall of mirrors (once the player has found it) he also needs to find the key from the secret office in the center of the maze. The enemies in this area are in the shape of live puppet dolls, brought to life by the powers of Reggie the hamster, made all the scarier by the reflections in the mirrors. In smaller areas of the maze, the walls become increasingly close to each other, emulating a feeling of claustrophobia and increase the need to escape. The player must again use the combat techniques used before to beat the enemies and find his way to the exit. Once he has the key, he can escape the labyrinth of mirrors and make his way to the next area.
HAUNTED HOUSE OF HORRORS – After escaping the Hall of Mirrors, the player finds himself in a Fairground haunted house. There are only a few rooms, which contain a few enemies, but also some power ups such as ammo and potions for the upcoming area. The enemies in this area are little creatures such as prop ghosts and ghouls, and are slow and less frightening than other areas. This area works as a sort of “down-time” space for the player, and allows them to rest.
THE BIG TOP – Once the player leaves the Haunted House, a cut scene begins in which he walks up and in to the Big Top. It is tattered and blowing in the wind and eerie music plays. The colours are slightly off, with connotations of blood and death (red/black). Inside is the ring where Lady Marionette stands, and around the edge are Escher-esque steps with undead creatures walking around aimlessly. The Lady promises to disenchant the hamster, and the player’s avatar carries the hamster down to a pedestal below. While being disenchanted the hamster gets angrier and angrier and begins to bring even the tent itself to life, which then grows and tries to squish all inside! The player’s task is to then defend the Lady against the Big Top while she works her magic on the evil Reggie! The way in which he does this is by using the crazy stair ways to get up high while it turns and twists, to reach the top of the Big Top and shoot down the ropes to collapse the tent before it crushes all inside. There are 8 ropes in total holding up the tent, which all need to be shot down at their root. The player is given a specific time limit (for example, 2 miniutes) which is how long it takes the Lady to work her magic, but if the 8 ropes aren’t collapsed in time, the tent will crush them all and the boss fight will begin again.
If the player does manage to collapse all the ropes in time, Reggie will become a normal hamster all over again, and the day is saved! Happily ever after!
DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
The main design considerations surrounding this design involve the target market for this game. Although it has fantasy horror themes, it is still aimed at a younger audience and so needs to be considered carefully so as not to be too scary. Therefore all the enemies which are being fought began as inanimate objects, so destroying them will not result in any real violence or gore. The story also, although scary, has elements of silliness and humour which will further make it appeal to younger audiences. It also appeals to the imagination of younger audiences who often ask the question “what if this happened…?” and similarly imagine wierd and wonderful situations occurring in normal day to day life. The story also has a happy ending, obviously, where all problems are resolved and none of the original characters get hurt. This also helps to make it safe for younger children.
The gameplay and battle system also remains very simple, so it is easy for younger generations and can also then be easily be ported as a casual title to any platform.
The art style and layout of the level also takes into account the fact the avatar is a child, in the sense that all the buildings are slightly taller than they would be in real life, and proportions are slightly off, with tapering edges to give an impression of quirkiness and the bizarre.
All models and characters also have a super-deformed look about them, and are to some degree rather stylized, which will help with efficiency when modelling, since they all have distinctive silhouettes and can remain somewhat low poly. This will help performance with running on all platforms and also means it can be a handheld title if needs be.
