The Designing Process

By Cory Helson

A short history of DOTTS' Progress

The path to making DOTTS has been a long and tumultuous process. At first, it was to be a 2D RPG along the lines of Secret of Mana. We had quite a few demos made in the preliminary stages of functionality. You could run around on huge tiled maps.

The original game was 320x200x8bit.(Most of our really old screenshots came from this version)

But, our artists wanted more freedom to make more impressive characters and areas. So, we increased the sprite size from 30x30 to a max of 128x128... but the color palette problem began to get in our way. So, we decided to go up to 640x480x16bit (which we stuck with through the final released beta version that only testers saw.)

We put menus in, with really neat, but slow, transparency effects. However, there were many versions that beta testers never saw, that incorporated new and improved features, like shops and ... oops, can't say, that's a secret thing ;-)

Too bad all the screenshots from our advanced demos were saved as "*.16b" files, so I can't put any here.

At this point, the programmers became interested in 3D programming. We considered making a game in 3D, and thought it was a good idea. Eventually, the thought crept over into DOTTS, and after extremely careful consideration (and a rather heated debate) we decided to convert DOTTS over to 3D. I will say this again: We did NOT chose 3D for pretty graphics, we chose it for ENHANCED GAMEPLAY features. I personally do not like how blocky polygons look. A polygon world can't compare to a 2D handdrawn world. But, the gameplay features that 3D enabled, made it the overwhelming choice to go with.

Chosing the path of 3D, I was determined to keep the all-important aspect of gameplay firmly in tact. A free-floating camera would severely impede this aspect. The controls should always remain the same. Up makes you go Up, Left-Left. Simple control, not shifting depending on which way you're facing. The fixed camera of 2D games would also feel more natural in this transition, keeping the nostalgic feeling, while leaping ahead in gameplay and exploration options. In order to make use of the 3D environment, though, it was also deemed necessary to allow you the option to look out directly from the character's eyes, while standing still, so you can get a good look around you.

So, now continues the process of designing a 3D game world, and all the aspects that go with it.

Designing the Characters

This has to be one of the most fun parts of designing a game. There is a lot of thought that goes into the design of a character.

First of all, the look has to fit the character's personality. This "look" can instantly tell an entire story about them, without saying one word about them in the plot (while other times, knowing the plot suddenly makes how they appear make sense)

In this case, I'm not trying to create any mascots. These are characters in a story. (if one of them turns out to be a neat mascot, so be it :) I'll take you through the design of one of the characters. I would have chosen Neco, but Frank designed him LONG before I arrived on the team (although, Neco has since been minorly changed by me as the story dictated, adding the 3 Moon gems to his Headband and 2 wrist-guards.) So, I'll introduce you to Lance.

This is Lance, Commander of the Royal Guard in the country of Dama. He's a master of using technology, making gadgets, and destroying things with said gadgets and technology. He started out looking like this:

I sketched Lance in my little notepad, while I was at work. It was originally thought that he'd wield a sort of elecrto-axe and a gun weapon.. but big guns suit lance much better :) I turned Lance into a color sketch next:

Here, you can see that I added a few touches to make him look a bit more like a commander. The tassels and the cape. So far, his head has been pretty generic, aside from the reflective visor that he wears, which is a functional part of his outfit, as well as portraying his "coolness."

From here, we started making the sprite designs.. (you can see Lance in the group of sprites above, minus visor)

But, those are pretty bad sketches. I felt I had made quite a bit of advancement, and I got the urge to re-draw all the characters, to make them look a lot better. Lance needed some personality, so I decided to get into more detail with him.

Those satisfied me with his look for a long time... but the cape never looked quite right... maybe for formal occasions it would be OK, but I just couldn't see him running around in a cape. The original thought behind it was explained above, as well as the idea that he'd whip out a HUGE gun from behind his back, under his cape, and fire quickly, surprising enemies. This flare for the dramatic is still running through Lance's veins, but the cape didn't work... thus, I re-drew him here. (besides do you know how hard it is to get a cape to animate fluidly in 2D? it's even harder in 3D)

This is the current "Final" version of Lance. It captures all the original concepts behind his character, and he looks great :)

Sorry, there are no 3D models to show you at this time.

DESIGNING THE BATTLE SYSTEM

This process was a logical extension of fixing the problems we saw in other battle systems as described on the battle page. I wanted to provide a battle system that was more fun than holding down one button the entire time, so we combined "street-fighting" games with the RPG battle system of swords and armor.

The decision on real-time or menu based, was really an easy choice to decide on. We chose both. Real time is fun for fast players who have good reaction time, and nimble fingers, who like action. Menu based is for those who like to think things through, to plan their battles step by step. The hardest part about having both systems, was making sure the Menu system could emulate real-time battles without sacrificing the speed and power displayed by attacks. The split-second timing needed to use the pre-emptive strikes, and using weak spots _during_ attacks, like hitting someone out of the air while they're doing a jump attack, was one such situation. This can cause menu battle to seem like it's going in slow motion compared to the fast and furious "street-fighting" real-time combat.

We have many new features added to combat, going well beyond a simple merging of RPG with Street Fighting. Many of these will make DOTTS a very unique game, and I can't go into detail about them. (in fact, I won't even mention them here)

The battle system itself was designed so that players can take advantage of their environment, instead of always being restricted by it. Learning the range of your attacks, and where in 3D space they hit, will be important to getting yourself into the best places to use your attacks. Also, the environment isn't simply a pretty backdrop. For example, low branches of trees can be used, jumping up, and swinging from it, to do special attacks only available in such situations. You can also take advantage of the environment to sneak up on enemies, and hit them when they least expect it, or to completely avoid them.

Careful observation of the enemies will yield important information about them. Monsters and other enemies have lives... they're not simply there to be killed. Some animals will be completely oblivious to your presence, while others will run away, or attack you on sight (or smell, or sound >) Each enemy will use their strengths to get at your weaknesses. Enemies will also use their environment to their advantage.

The A.C.S. will also add new life to the game, once you know how you like to fight... oops, I can't go into that system.

Well, that's all I can say about battle for now. You may wish to take a look at the battle page for some additional insight into what we have planned.

Here's one of the planned "common" attacks:

DESIGNING THE WORLD

This is one of the most complex and time-demanding parts of designing DOTTS. The world of Talmos is being designed so as to be able to be used in multiple games. Unlike the Final Fantasy games, the DOTTS series will take place in the same universe (at least one Pre-quel -The Crimson Talon- has been planned) Not all the games in the series will be in the same style. DOTTS is an Action RPG (or a standard RPG, if you play menu based), while The Crimson Talon will be an Action Adventure/Shooter/RPG. So, this world is being planned to host many many many games of different, but similar cross-genres. The style will be chosen to best suit the story.

The planet itself is extremely detailed in how its landforms were created. I tried to form the planet with the scientific views of how plate techtonics would form mountains and oceans, and islands. Also, how weather patterns would affect where forests would form, and deserts, and fertile fields. Rivers and lakes and hills and plains and oceans and bays and islands and mountains were all created in this way. I do not claim that it's totally perfect according to science, but it makes it much more believable. I'm not doing a SimEarth thing here, so don't get mad at me when it doesn't turn out that way ;-)

Even smaller areas of the world, such as islands that will be explored, such as this one, are created in detail.

A system of time had to be created for this world. It doesn't have 365 days a year, and 12 months.. etc. (Although they do carry over the same second/minute/hour standards for familiarity) The 10-day weeks and their seasons were created accordingly, named after ancient people and myths in the history of Talmos. Having 3 moons drastically changes the way the oceans tides work on the world, and had a huge influence on their ancient cultures.

That brings me to the cultures of Talmos. Each group of people have a culture and language. Different architechture, and art forms also arise from this. Their separate and distinct views of the history of the world each cast a different light on the events, and have become parts of their myths and legends (some are more deeply engrained with the actual truth than others.) Of course, they also gain new terms and expressions from these histories and childhood stories, which flavor their speach, beliefs, and actions.

The world of Talmos is inhabited not only by billions of people (no, not a few dozen living in tiny groups of homes), but also by a diverse and inter-related selection of plants and animals. These animals are quite different, but also similar, to Earth's, but they share a common "fantasy" element. Take for example, the Trajas - the "horse" of Talmos.

Designing the world also includes designing towns and villages and cities and enemy fortifications. Most RPGs so far, aside from FF7, have only a handful of people inhabiting the entire world, but DOTTS has a full world, including many cities with millions of citizens. The world also has smaller villages and towns. This same dichotomy can be seen in today's world right here on Earth. It's not as far-fetched as some would think.

This is Laoa, a small village living in the Yosara river valley. It is Neco's home.

This is one of the heavily populated cities, the Daman Capitol City:

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