Creating Cocozee
The first monster and the most important one to design was the nature monster that you would start and play the game as if you had picked it beforehand. The starting monsters have to be appealing in a cute way as they are meant to represent a younger maturity of their monster race but also appear to have potential as they will eventually grow.
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Middle stages of maturing (also referred to as evolution in most games) have been cut entirely from this game for a few reasons. The first one is that they are simply unmemorable, a lot of the time they are awkward and forgotten due to them not going for cute or cool, more of a balance of both. But more importantly, maturing works a lot differently in this game due to a lack of any level system, rather you have to complete a certain task/s explained to you by a special NPC. I have also implemented narrative elements into this maturing system, having a thought out reason on how this strange method of progression makes sense.
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Moving on from that design choice and back to the starting nature monster, I had a clear idea of what I wanted to create. My first idea was a coconut monkey, having both themes relating closely to tropical areas made sure that this monster would fit nicely into the environment. I tried to come up with some other ideas, some other tropical animals came to mind but for the most part I was already settled on the first idea I had come up with. When looking for references, I obviously chose to look at a lot of Pokemon monkeys and a few from other monster collection games as well, along with pictures of coconuts.
The finished design of character that I have named Cocozee features a lot of inspiration from the references above. I especially used the Pokemon Chimchar (reference #2) to understand what basic features a monkey themed monster should have as well as how to balance a starting monster design's cuteness as well as it's potential.
One problem I do see with the final design that I have made is that the frilly part of the coconut may look more like some form of facial hair to some people. Luckily this is only a problem with the concept art's perspective and a lack of 3D viewing and so this shouldn't be a problem in-game.
Creating Cocozee
The first monster and the most important one to design was the nature monster that you would start and play the game as if you had picked it beforehand. The starting monsters have to be appealing in a cute way as they are meant to represent a younger maturity of their monster race but also appear to have potential as they will eventually grow.
​
Middle stages of maturing (also referred to as evolution in most games) have been cut entirely from this game for a few reasons. The first one is that they are simply unmemorable, a lot of the time they are awkward and forgotten due to them not going for cute or cool, more of a balance of both. But more importantly, maturing works a lot differently in this game due to a lack of any level system, rather you have to complete a certain task/s explained to you by a special NPC. I have also implemented narrative elements into this maturing system, having a thought out reason on how this strange method of progression makes sense.
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Moving on from that design choice and back to the starting nature monster, I had a clear idea of what I wanted to create. My first idea was a coconut monkey, having both themes relating closely to tropical areas made sure that this monster would fit nicely into the environment. I tried to come up with some other ideas, some other tropical animals came to mind but for the most part I was already settled on the first idea I had come up with. When looking for references, I obviously chose to look at a lot of Pokemon monkeys and a few from other monster collection games as well, along with pictures of coconuts.
The finished design of character that I have named Cocozee features a lot of inspiration from the references above. I especially used the Pokemon Chimchar (reference #2) to understand what basic features a monkey themed monster should have as well as how to balance a starting monster design's cuteness as well as it's potential.
One problem I do see with the final design that I have made is that the frilly part of the coconut may look more like some form of facial hair to some people. Luckily this is only a problem with the concept art's perspective and a lack of 3D viewing and so this shouldn't be a problem in-game.
Planning the Idea
Starting my planning, I already had a general idea of what I wanted to do. When thinking of a "walking simulator" type game my mind goes straight to exploration and so I've chosen to make a section of an open world monster collection game. The reason I picked monster collection is because any form of collection works really well alongside exploration gameplay and also simply because I personally enjoy that form of gameplay.
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Of course I'm not going to be able to include a lot of the features that monster collection games usually have as I will be focusing on the art and environment side for this project but I will have at least a few of the creatures designed, a playable monster and a playable portion of the tutorial questline for that monster.
Mindmap Planning
First Mindmap
The ideas on this mindmap are obviously using a much bigger scope than what I'm actually going to create but it's mostly to help give me a good idea of what this game could be like if it was a full game so that I have a clearer view of how the tutorial section of this game should be like.
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The mindmap above features planning of gameplay, exploration and satisfying collection is the most prominent feature that I want within this game idea and so it is required for a lot of the progression, whether that's unlocking new monsters, evolving your current monsters or completing quests.
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Another prominent part of the planning on the mindmap is the setting of this game. One thing I knew is that a tropical theme would be perfect for the first island that you explore, the way I have chosen to make players complete the main questline without ruining the open world exploration with linear gameplay is separating islands that you unlock overtime from completing the main questline. The reason I felt a tropical setting would be suitable is because of the fact that I want to have three areas on this island to be based around the three starting creatures' elemental types, being traditionally nature, fire and water. All these elements together work most suited for a tropical environment, with the natural forests filling the island, a distinct, volcanic area and oceanic beach sections circling the island.
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The final prominent part to discuss is the story and narrative for this game. I knew that I don't want this game's story to be very tense but I do want it to be intriguing. I felt the best way to achieve this is by making the mechanic for players to be able to transform into any unlocked monster a concept to base the main storyline around.
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The tutorial section I'll be creating is going to focus around the finding of new monsters, this is to allow myself to create a short walking simulator experience. completing the tutorial will cause your monster to mature as I will call it, being a clear introduction to the mechanic of evolution. In summary, the tutorial section I will be creating will start with a clear goal, some walking and exploration required to achieve that goal and finally, a new permanent form as a reward.
Second Mindmap These ideas will/likely will change overtime when doing further research
I made this second mindmap to focus on idea creation for the starting tutorial section that I will be creating. Starting with the setting, out of the three elemental themed areas, I picked the natural forest section (the one you start at if you picked the elemental nature monster). I chose this area because it's got plenty of surroundings to base unique monsters on, it's not too complicated of an environment to replicate and it's environment allows for simple-to-create but unique methods for unlocking the monsters.
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The setting is obviously tropical but I also wanted an emphasis on nature. Most of this area is all natural except the character's grandmother's house and the invasive species of snake themed monsters ruining the natural purity, but I will explore that idea for the environment more in depth later on. The grandmother's house will be old to signify that you and her have been living here for a long time, maybe even your whole life and it's also going to have a traditional, tropical style to emphasise your family's culture and your grandmother's ritualistic tendencies.
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I decided to give your playable monster one action, the ability to make a sound. The sound is used to unlock a monster by waking it up/disturbing it, possibly based on an animal sensitive to sound or one that is commonly associated with sleeping such as a sloth.
The bash action in the mindmap was scrapped for a couple of reasons, the first reason is because I want to use the coconut concept for the starting nature monster that you play as and also because having three unlockable monsters and another action will take to much time to implement considering the art side of this project is what I'm trying to focus on, as well as making it so that there's just one, harder to find monster will make this feel more like a walking simulator experience.
Tropical Research
Some basic information I've gathered about tropical forests:
Click for source
- They are commonly wet and rainy. (Rainy environment)​
- Temperatures are uniformly high.
- They suffer from large amounts of deforestation. (Possible idea to make this related to the invasive species of a certain monster)
- Rainforests have layers such as ground, vegetation, canopy etc. (Could be used as inspiration for the style of terrain I'll be using, being layered)
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Tropical countries and their cultures to use as inspiration:
1. Caribbean islands
- Melting pot of cultures and their vibrancy. (Could include a lot of diversity within the characters in the environment)
- Food is important to family life. (Instead of the grandmother character performing magical rituals as it's culturally incorrect, she could cook magical meals for the player)
- Culture heavily influenced by Africa. (Could be another thing to consider within inclusion of cultural diversity)
2. Central America + Top half of South America
- Lots of Spanish culture. (Yet another thing to consider for cultural diversity)​
- They have Mayan history. (A source to take inspiration from when developing any historical narrative for the environment)
- Many indigenous tribes have existed here and some still do. (More cultural diversity and an idea for some character appearances)
3. Hawaii
- Extremes of nature in Hawaii are commonly understood as forces from gods or goddesses. (Lots of interesting potential within ideas for the narrative + could be related to an idea of tropical forests being commonly rainy)
- Stories are told through hula dancing. (Possible idea for cutscenes/context)
- Luau dishes such as poi (pounded taro plant root) and haupia (coconut pudding). (More potential on what grandmother's magical meals could look like/ include in terms of ingredients)
Tropical countries and their environments to use as inspiration:
1. Caribbean islands
- Hot springs. (Would not be included in the forest part of this tropical island but could be a cool idea to include in the hotter and more volcanic part)
- Lots of water features such as rivers, reefs, waterfalls etc.
2. Central America + Top half of South America
- Blue hole in the Bahamas. (Gives me an interesting idea about the concept of a god/goddess being the cause of the rain in the forest, blue hole inspired location could be where the god/goddess monster resides)
- Arenal volcano in Costa Rica. (Location to use as inspiration for how the volcanic part of the tropical island can look)
3. Hawaii
- Has a problem with invasive species. (Where I originally got the idea for an invasive species of a certain monster from another island being a part of this island's narrative)
- Heavily features palm trees/coconuts in the environment. (Tropical forest environment may feature many palm trees as well as coconut themes)
Short summary of what this research has done for the project:
I now have a clear idea how the different characters/monsters need to look, being as diverse as possible due to many tropical countries featuring such diverse cultures. The grandma character has also changed, visually I have a clearer idea on how she may look/dress and through the cultural research I have planned for her actions to be more culturally accurate by replacing the idea of magical rituals with magical meals. I now have many more ideas on what directions I can go in for the narrative of this game such as gods/goddesses causing extreme weather and potential to take inspiration from Mayan history.
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Through research into tropical environments I have a much clearer idea of how this island could look, through unique water features, volcanic environments and tropical foliage. I even found a very unique water feature called the "Blue Hole" for which gave me even more narrative inspiration, linking it to the idea of Hawaiians believing in the concept of gods/goddesses causing extreme weather conditions and therefore giving me the idea of using this blue hole location as inspiration for where this godlike monster would reside.
Tutorial Research
As I've mentioned, the part I will be creating is the introductory tutorial stage. This means that I will need to do research on what makes a tutorial effective so that my tutorial stage can be both clear in teaching the player how the game is primarily played while also not being too long that the player will get bored and frustrated due to them wanting to go and explore for themselves.
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What makes a tutorial effective:
Click for source
- Wise Mentor Figure: A mentor that makes the tutorial area feel like a "safe space" and should know about the world, ready to send you off on your journey. (In this case I luckily have already planned for a mentor character in the form of the player's grandmother who both will create a "safe space" and has a wise knowledge)
- The Drip Feed: This method of teaching the player how to navigate the game's mechanics works better in an environment with many varied tasks that may be too overwhelming to teach all at once. (Although it wont be made in this project of course, in a full game I would use the drip feed method as well throughout the first island in Soulmon as it will have other things to learn such as maturity guides, being NPCs that will give clues on/explain how the monster you are currently playing as matures in exchange for possibly currency or a certain item)
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After learning a couple different methods used in tutorial creation, I now needed to have a look at how tutorials are made in games similar to Soulmon, being monster collection games. I will actually be avoiding Pokemon in this case for a key reason, their tutorials are effective at teaching the player about how to play but doesn't take more mature players into consideration by keeping the tutorial short and instead makes it a gruelling experience for players who don't need much explanation.
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Instead I will have a look at the game Temtem, for which it has a briefer tutorial while still being able to teach the basics it needs to teach. I will mostly be trying to understand how to replicate the length of this game's tutorial as well as its method of teaching the player the main mechanic of the game rather than how combat is taught as it's not a part of my game's tutorial and would be featured using the drip feed method later on in the game when it becomes important.
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This game's tutorial lasts around 8 minutes (excluding the character creation at the start). The tutorial features a mentor figure, Professor Konstantinos, who helps you pick your first monster as well as a challenge, in the form of your rival named Max. Konstantinos' role is to present you with a challenge in the form of Max to help you learn the main gameplay of the game, being combat. There's a little bit of welcome narrative between you and your mother but for the most part I like the tutorial because it's short and straight to the point, it doesn't hold your hand for too long and introduces little bits of narrative to give context on why you are about to set off on your journey.
Rough idea for Soulmon's tutorial:
The way I will try and replicate this format is by shuffling parts a little to further suit my game, you start by picking your monster as that is how your starting area is actually chosen. Because you play as the monsters it makes sense for you to start in a different "home" environment depending on your choice. Picking the nature character will have you start at your grandmother's house in the middle of the tropical forest of the island. Your grandmother, being your mentor, will help teach you the main mechanic of the game, being "soul-sharing" (the mechanic that allows you to transform into other monsters). She will describe some narrative relating to why you need to harness this skill and tasks you with finding a certain monster and having it share a part of it's soul with you. Your grandma rewards you upon completion through a special meal that matures your nature monster into a stronger one and she sets you off to explore.
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I will go into more detail on the narrative part of this tutorial within pre-production but mostly wanted to focus on what makes the tutorial effective mechanically within this explanation.
Walking Simulator Research
Walking simulators are a fairly new genre of games. A successful walking simulator usually appeals to people through it's mysterious narrative and giving the player the feeling of uncovering unique mysteries.
What makes a game within the genre of walking simulators:
- Has little to no action. (Soulmon features not much action elements)
- Heavily focused on their stories. (Boring parts of the tutorial are filled in with narrative elements surrounding why you must do what you're told to do)
- Usually has a mystery to uncover within the narrative. (Narrative at the beginning of the game surrounding how an invasive species of a certain monster came to the island and how to get rid of them)
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The walking simulator, "The Unfinished Swan" is a good example of an effective walking simulator. The game starts with introducing the narrative clearly. It tells you exactly what the story is going to be about, being a character named Monroe trying to retrieve a painting of an unfinished swan which was painted by his now dead mother. Following the footsteps of the swan leads him to where the game is set, a surreal world made up of mostly black and white imagery.
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There's plenty of mystery within the narrative that stays unanswered in the beginning but is slowly answered as a reward for exploring the game.
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Within the game is some simple gameplay mechanics that compliment the aspect of exploration within walking simulators. Due to the game being surreal it has the advantage of more opportunities within gameplay for exploration. The Unfinished Swan has portions within the game where the only way to navigate where you are going in blank white environments with no shadows is to splatter black paint around, allowing you to identify corners, obstacles etc in the environment.
Within my game I would like to take inspiration off of the aspect where you are rewarded for exploring with narrative pieces. Within my tutorial the current narrative is based around you helping to solve the mystery behind an invasive species who is damaging the island. The way I could reward the player with narrative pieces here is by having the player be told about how the species is causing issues but only getting to see what they have actually done visually.
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When exploring beyond where you need to explore you may encounter lots of deforestation. There will be no explanation behind the deforestation, allowing the player to put two and two together and realize the reason other monsters are suffering is because the invasive species are ruining the wildlife within this tropical island.
Target Audience Research
My game is supposed to target people who enjoy the collection and adventure aspect of monster taming games as well as draw in new audiences who may not enjoy traditional monster collection games and their tendency to feature primarily combat etc. Because of this, it's ideal that this game would most likely be played on a Nintendo Switch as that has the audience I am mostly looking for.
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In terms of the age range I am looking for will be represented through the art style. Colourful and stylized games are more likely to appeal to younger audiences and the Nintendo Switch probably features the most games of that appearance compared to other consoles. This doesn't mean that the audience is made up of entirely younger players, a lot of older players also enjoy these visuals and so it's important that I include features within this game that appeal to both age ranges.
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Features for younger audiences:
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Easy to understand tutorial
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Lack of intense action
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Simple prompts and hints for puzzles
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Easy to understand game mechanics
Features for older audiences:
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Optional challenging puzzles
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Optional postgame puzzles
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Interesting narrative elements to discover through the optional puzzles as reward
Features for both audiences:
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A main narrative that's easy to follow
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Variety of playable character designs
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Variety of uniquely themed areas to explore
This game should also appeal to both genders due to the variety of playable character designs. It shouldn't matter what is appealing to people, there likely will be at least one character that looks appealing to a person's interests.
Colour Palette and Lighting
The colour palette of the level and characters needs to be tropical and very natural. Another thing to consider is stylized colours such as more vibrant colours rather than realistic ones.
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For the palm trees, coconuts, parts of the house etc I'd like to use vibrant browns. For the leaves, bushes and grass I'd like to use tropical and vibrant greens, this means leaning more into warmer greens for the tropical setting rather than colder greens that'd be used in a more colder setting. for the ground and rocks I would like to use colours similar to Animal Crossing: New Horizons terrain, being light but still earthy.
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The level is set during sunrise, this means that the lighting needs to reflect that. To do that I'll need to set the directional light to be offset in a way that makes the scene appear as if it's early in the morning.
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