Dueling Dragons: Pitch document

General information

Working title:	Dueling Dragons
Most recent prototype:	Prototype
Genres:	Action, Party game

Concept statement

In Dueling Dragons, players engage in combat with each other by attempting to eat their opponents. Players can bite their opponents' body parts until they are weak enough to consume. Once a player has become large enough, they can swallow their opponent whole to defeat them.

Background

The main reason why I decided to work on this game is, because I want to publish a game by myself. I chose for a party game, because I want to create an experience that people can enjoy with their friends and family. I want the game to be fun for casual players, while experienced players can increase their winning odds by using strategy.

Unique Selling Points

• The semi-3D circular playing field and eat-or-be-eaten combat system provide a unique gaming experience.
• The voxel fantasy art style and epic soundtrack create an immersive environment for players.

Player Experience and Game POV

In Dueling Dragons, the player takes on the role of a powerful dragon competing in the Soaring Cup, a prestigious competition held only once every thousand years. As the player triumphs over their opponents, they will feel a sense of power and strength. The game offers a fantasy where the player gets to experience what it's like to be a mighty dragon. As they perform well, they will feel even more powerful and in control.

Visual Style

The game's voxel fantasy art style creates an immersive environment where dragons feel at home, and supports the game's core mechanic of eating other dragons. This art style allows players to fully engage with the game's fantasy world and enjoy the unique experience of controlling a dragon.

Audio Style

The game's epic soundtrack combines the nostalgic charm of chiptune with the grandeur of a fantasy orchestra, perfectly complementing the game's fantasy setting. As players compete to become the mightiest dragon in the land, they will be swept away by the game's immersive audio experience. The combination of chiptune and fantasy orchestra music allows for a wide range of emotions and moods to be conveyed throughout the game, enhancing the overall gameplay experience.

Game World Fiction

The game will take place in a world full of magic, with the addition of an ancient civilization that left advanced technology behind.

Platform, Technology, and Scope

The game would be made in Unity using C#. The first playable prototype could be finished in a month’s work. This prototype would only contain the most basic version of the battle system. The biggest risk is to get the calculations of the dragon movement right, considering that it’s constantly rotating while performing other actions.

Core Mechanics

Players become bigger if they eat other dragons body parts, or smaller if their parts are eaten. These size changes have consequences:

• Larger dragons are slower, while smaller dragons are faster.
• Certain areas are only accessible for small dragons.
• Larger dragons are able to destroy parts of the environment.

To keep the game from being too competitive a negative feedback loop was implemented. Larger dragons are closer to winning the game, so they have been made slower. In order to not only let it feel like a drawback to become bigger, additional changes were designed that allows bigger dragons to destroy and shape their environment to their benefit.

Objectives and Progression

In battles, players have the short-term goal of finding resources that allow them to win the first “clash” (small scale battle interaction with their opponent) against their opponent. After that their goal will be to prey on weaker opponents and find other resources to increase their power.

As players advance in the game, they will be able to unlock additional dragons and cosmetics, giving them the ability to tailor their gameplay experience to their liking. These rewards can be earned by meeting specific criteria, such as defeating an opponent within a certain time limit. By unlocking new dragons and cosmetics players can customize their experience to their liking.

Key Features

• Intuitive gameplay that is easy to learn but offers challenging gameplay for experienced players.
• A looping world that allows players to continuously engage in combat and explore different areas.
• Dragons can collide with each other, and damaging a body part will provide a visual indication of the damage.
• When a body part is completely damaged, players can eat it and grow larger, becoming more powerful.
• Players can eat each other if they are bigger than their opponent, adding an element of conflict to the game.
• Dynamically changing levels, which players can infleunce to their whims.
• Power-ups scattered throughout the map provide additional challenges and opportunities for players to gain an advantage over their opponents.
• Multiple maps with different gimmicks offer a variety of gameplay experiences and challenges for players to enjoy. 

Systems

The unique systems that Dueling Dragons requires are the following:

• An editor script, that simplifies the process of positioning game objects along cylindrical levels.
• A dragon manager, that manages the movement of all the parts of a dragon in relation to its head.
• A movement manager, that calculates dragons their movement in relation to the rotation of the world.
• A battle manager, that keeps track of statistics of the current battle and dynamically changes the battlefield.

Target audience

It’s marketed at young adults, for play at local parties. The PEGI rating will be 12+, considering that dragons eat each other in a non-gruesome way.

Monetization

Dueling Dragons will be available on Steam for a currently unknown price. The game will be sold as a standalone product, allowing players to purchase the full game and access all of its features and content. This monetization model allows players to enjoy the complete gaming experience without having to make additional in-app purchases. By offering the game for purchase on Steam, the game will be accessible to a wide audience and players can easily purchase and download the game to their computers.
The game will also feature a demo with two levels: a basic level for players to learn the fundamentals, and a complex level that explores level-dependent mechanics.

Inspirations

I was inspired by multiple games, yet I don’t think that any of them is very similar to Dueling Dragon. The first game that I would like to mention is Nebulus. Nebulus is a platforming game where you play as pogo and you need to maneuver your way to the top of a “3D” tower. This was quite impressive at the time, because the game sort of fakes the 3D effect.

Another big inspiration would be New Super Mario Bros. DS, and then specifically the vs mode. In this game mode your main objective is to collect 10 stars. The stars spawn on random positions on the map and can be collected when you touch them. The entire game world loops around, and you can spot the stars and your relative position on the bottom screen of the DS. In this game you play against another opponent that you can steal stars from by attacking them by using powerups or by jumping on his head. When your opponent gets damaged, a star will shoor out of them and it will jump around until collected or it will despawn after a while.

Dueling dragon took several aspects from this game, such as a looping world mechanic, the fighting over resources and the use of powerups.