Final Major Project (Game Design Document)
Note: Quick GDD is at the end of this page
The Idea
The concept of this game is a turn based game akin to Octopath Traveler (Square Enix, 2018), featuring a blended art style between Bloodborne (Sony Interactive Entertainment, 2015) and Enigma of Fear (Dumativa, 2024). Influence has also been taken from Bloodborne (Sony Interactive Entertainment, 2015) with the gothic Victorian style. The turn based combat will be comparable to Octopath Traveler (Square Enix, 2018), with the exception of how encounters are presented. Battles will not be random encounters but instead the enemies will be seen in the overworld. Each area will be designed similarly to the souls games where the player will need to run through the level again if they die. However shortcuts and secret paths can be unlocked once the player progresses far enough.
For the purposes of this project the game will be scaled down to a "Demo" build. Featuring one area for the player to play through. This can be expanded upon after the initial deadline, if there's time.
The Theme
The game will have a very similar tone and feel to Bloodborne (Sony Interactive Entertainment, 2015) with the gothic Victorian style. Our game will take place in a Victorian city which will feature disturbing a uncanny creatures for the player to battle. The streets will feel very lived in, like people have been living there, this will also feature corpses and blood to signify to the player that all of this has happened recently. In addition to this there will also be some environmental story telling to intrigue the player. This could be something like some dead bodies in a hidden alley to signify that people attempted to hide their.
Mechanics And Gameplay
For the combat it will take place in an isolated battle scene where the player will need to defeat the enemies (or run) to continue. The overall battle system will be similar to Octopath Traveler (Square Enix, 2018) with some differing features being concepted. One thing that will differ is with how battles are triggered. As opposed to random encounters the player will be able to see each enemy in the world. This way the player can decide to either engage in a battle or two simply run past them.
This prototype shows roughly how this would work. The player can see each enemy in the world and each (near by) enemy will be seen in the battle. Then after the player has finished the battle they will return the exact same spot they started at. Ready to progress further into the level.
Each zone will be made similarly the areas in the souls games. Central Yharnam in Bloodborne (Sony Interactive Entertainment, 2015) features several shortcuts and secrets for the player to find. These can consist of hidden path ways behind boxes or even a hidden item that's away from the main path. Shortcuts will only be accessible once the player has progressed far enough in the level, these can be later used by the player to more easily return to where they died.
Art Style
The art style for this game is very similar to the HD-2D style with a little bit of a twist. The twist is with the environments being high resolution with a stylised look. Enigma of Fear (Dumativa, 2024) is the main point of reference for this style. It features a blend between pixel art and 3D environments but does it in a much more modern way. Octopath Traveler (Square Enix, 2018) tries to take the classic 16 bit look and convert it into 3D, while with Enigma of Fear (Dumativa, 2024) it's taking pixel art and blending it into a modern 3D environment. However this style will blend Enigma of Fear (Dumativa, 2024) and Bloodborne (Sony Interactive Entertainment, 2015) together, to create a gothic dense Victorian city in the HD-2D style. In addition to this Berserk (Kentaro Miura, 1989) is being used as a point of reference mainly for it's uniquely disturbing creature designs. These will fit perfectly into the overall environment and should fit into the scene through the pixel art.
In terms of the Victorian city aspect of the style it's going to closely match what can be seen in Bloodborne (Sony Interactive Entertainment, 2015). It's a very stylised approach to this theme but it works really well. It's incredibly dense and busy but it achieves this without being too overbearing for the player. The city should be really compact with plenty for the player to see, including debris and abandoned carriages. However where this game will differ is with the dead bodies and blood that will also be in the streets. Bloodborne (Sony Interactive Entertainment, 2015) does have burning crucifixes but nothing in the way of fresh corpses in the middle of the street.
The colour palette for this is being kept really minimal. Consisting exclusively to red, orange and a blueish grey. The primary colour will be the blueish grey for things like buildings and even the player, the orange for fire and lighting and finally the red will be used as an accent colour, also for the blood. Of course these shades can vary so the red can be closer to a dark crimson red if needed. -
All pixel art will be rendered in Blender to create a unique style of pixel art. The target resolution is yet to be determined but sprites for the player could be expected to be at 196 by 196 pixels. This offers quite a bit of detail without losing the pixel art style. This method is also really quick and efficient, the only difficult part is the modelling and the rigging but there may be a work around for that.
In addition to to the pixel art normal maps for all sprite sheets will be generated in Aseprite using a custom script. The script will generate a normal map specifically for the edges of the sprites. Everything highlighted in green will react more to the lighting than everything in dark blue.
One thing to keep in mind is the posing of the sprite. By default Y-Axis mirroring is enabled and this causes a problem when the subject is positioned to the right. In this situation Y-Axis mirroring will need to be disabled to give a better result. As seen above the sprite on the right gives a much better result with the green edge being on the back of the sprite.
In terms of lighting every scene should be well light for player clarity, the scene will then be darkened by using a vignette in post processing. The scene will also feature some bloom to better highlight the lighting and the scene will also has decreased contrast, as well as decreased saturation. This brings the scene closer to the Victorian look with the decrease in overall colour.
The end result should look something like the above. This utilises both the colour palette and the edge lighting, while utilising by the art style.
UI Ideas
UI is something that will need to be functional and also fit in with the overall style of the game. The idea around our UI is to have all of the players options surrounding that character. Not only does this show which character the player is controlling it also presents the players options in an appealing way. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Kepler Interactive, 2025) and Persona 5 Royal (Atlus, 2019) achieve this style of UI really well and both can be used as a point of reference. One thing to note is that the UI needs to be stylish while not being difficult to read, otherwise it fails as a good UI.
Map Concept
The general concept for the environment has taken heavy inspiration from the souls genre of games. For the most part the entire area is linear with there only being one set path. However there's short cuts and some alternate paths that the player can take. In the case of the short cuts, these make progression quite a lot easier since the player has a good way to get back quickly. The side paths are more difficult secret paths that the player can take. These can present the player with several rewards, such as new weapons, or they can even have a boss fight. Additionally, these paths will end up taking the player back to the main path. This prevents the player from getting lost and it also rewards them with some progression.
To go along side of the map there's another version that has the map split into several sections. There are five in total each varying in size. The idea around this is that it's going to make development quite a bit easier, with the entire area being split into more manageable sections. It also makes the project quite a bit more scalable since zones can be cut to decrease the overall size.
Right now zone 1 has been blocked out, this is what was done in the pre production. While this is just a kitbash build of the zone it still gives the overall layout of what we're after.
In addition to the main map there's also level concepts that we're made by other members of the team during the pre production phase. Erica's here can be incorporated into the main game fairly easily. It matches the overall style quite well and the general concept can fit in quite well. The plan is to incorporate this into either zone two or three.
Adam's concept is a bit difficult to include but still possible. The idea for this is to make this into the fifth zone. It can be a big dungeon at the end of the game that leads the player into the final boss fight. The idea of a castle can fit in into the general theme just not quite in this style. This will be adapted to better fit with the style of the game. However the core idea will remain the same.
Quick GDD
-The idea:
*Turn based game with souls elements
*Gothic Victorian
*Project is scaled down to be a "Demo" Version
-The Theme:
*Dense Gothic Victorian city
*Disturbing and uncanny creatures
*Corpses and blood
*Feeling of dread and hopelessness
-Art style:
*Blends Bloodborne (Sony Interactive Entertainment, 2015) and Enigma of Fear (Dumativa, 2024) together to create a dense Victorian city in the HD-2D art style
*Disturbing and unnatural creatures like what's seen in Berserk (Kentaro Miura, 1989)
*Pixel art characters and enemies
*Colour Palette
*Sprite normal maps for edge lighting
-UI Ideas:
*Functional and Stylish
*Shouldn't be difficult to read or navigate
*Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Kepler Interactive, 2025) is a point of reference.
-Map concept:
*Inspiration taken from the souls games
*The map is split into zones to make development more manageable
*Features short cuts and side paths
*Final zone is a dungeon with a boss fight at the end of it.
Bibliography
Dumativa, Cellbit (2024) Enigma of Fear [Video Game] Dumativa, Nuuvem Inc
Fextralife (2024) Bloodborne Wiki [Online] Available at: https://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/Central+Yharnam
(Accessed: 11/03/25)
FromSoftware Inc (2015) Bloodborne [Video Game] Sony Interactive Entertainment
Kentaro Miura (1989) Berserk [Manga Series] Young Animal Comics (JP), Dark Horse Comics (EN)
Kotaku (2018) Octopath Traveler: The Battle System [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OG4nNJYZeE (Accessed: 07/03/25)
P-Studio (2019) Persona 5 Royal [Video Game] Atlus
Sandfall Interactive (2025) Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 [Video Game] Kepler Interactive
Square Enix, Acquire (2018) Octopath Traveler [Video Game] Square Enix
Square Enix, Acquire (2023) Octopath Traveler II [Video Game] Square Enix