Project Overview

Working Title:

Red Runner

Concept Statement:

Red runner is a side scrolling platformer in which you play as young “Red” hacking, slashing and dashing your way through the dark woods with nothing but your father’s axe to make it towards your Grandmother’s house located within the ferocious forest -- Its rumoured that evil lurks within these woods, why would someone ever choose to live there!?

Genre

Side scrolling platform game

Due to the nature of the level design my aim for the game is to be developed as a side scrolling platformer with elements of the hack and slash subgenre.

“A platformer is a video game in which the game-play revolves heavily around players controlling a character who runs and jumps onto platforms, floors, ledges, stairs, or other objects depicted on a single or scrolling (horizontal or vertical) game screen. ”  -(Klappenbach, 2021)

Concept development

The origin of the idea for this project was inspired by a childhood experience of reading the book “Revolting Rhymes: Little red riding hood and the Wolf” by Roald Dahl in which the story of red riding hood is retold in a way that displays little red riding hood as not so helpless.

This initial inspired concept could then be converted into a game through the genre of a platform game in which the protagonist progresses through stages as enemies and the woods grow to be more sinister/grotesque.

Other inspirations for design choices of the game come from the pixel art style and how it can bring something down to the bare bones of appearance which I believe could add to the idea of classical storytelling coinciding with more retro ideas of game design.

Audience and competitive analysis

The target audience for this project is persons from the ages of 14-24 years old as the memories of classical fairy tales should (hopefully) still linger within their memory while also being old enough to understand the darker setting of the project when compared against other similar adaptations.

 I also would like to appeal to older aged gamers who may be more inclined to look for a game with some challenge following the motto of “easy to play yet challenging to win”.

Other games the fall into this similar market space of fast paced platformer would be games such as the 2D game “Dead Cells” or the 3D game “Ultrakill” in which have proven to be relatively well received for the niche that they area apart of.

Game Treatment and concepts

Setting

The game is set in the countryside of 1812, you play the character of 14 year old girl red as she is asked to venture into the dark woods by her family in order to check in on her grandmother. Under the potential dangerous circumstances you are given your fathers axe to protect yourself from whatever lurks just out of sight.

Mechanics

Player

As a platform game the movement options available to the player will focus on left and right movements as well as the use of jumping to navigate over obstacles focusing on the A/D keys for left and right movement and the W key for jumping/vertical navigation

Weapons

The only weapon available to the player will be your fathers axe which can be swung by pressing the spacebar. However there is the possibility of unlocking skills that could allow you to dash and slash at greater distances as things get more challenging.

Enemies

Contact with enemies will gradually decrease health by a set amount, some enemies will be easily avoidable but others could possibly pose a challenge through use of faster movements or unusual behaviours. Current types of enemies in mind include small, fast, tough and flying enemy types as well as a potential boss fight at the end allowing for careful planning from the players perspective.

Level/Stages concept

Levels will include a combination of traps (pitfalls, spikes) as well as enemies with levels taking on a darker appearance as you progress until you reach grandmas house. There is intended to be multiple stages of progressing difficulty that coincides with the players familiarity of the games movement.

• -Basic concept art of the protagonist and level colouration (By Me)

This is incredibly basic barebones of what the protagonist may look like or similar to as well as what kind of coulours may be expected in levels where the player is yet to enter the forest.

• -Example of the setting Darkening (By me)

Bibliography

Klappenbach, M. (2021) What is a platform game?, Lifewire. Available at: https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-a-platform-game-812371 (Accessed: 17 April 2024). 

Dahl, R. (1982) Revolting rhymes: Little red riding hood and the Wolf. Johnathan Cape.