NameShadow World Brief DescriptionYou arrange toys and blocks on your bookshelf. These objects are projected onto the wall where a shadow man must make it from one side of the bookshelf to the other. The shadow man simply runs forward so you need to place toys and objects in order to help him reach the other side. Alternatively, the player can place objects on their bookshelf, and then control the shadow man, getting him from one side to the other. In either case, the toys placed will give the shadow man access to a wider verb set. Detailed DescriptionConcept:

The player can arrange toys on a bookshelf, such as a jack-in-the-box. These items then have a life of their own in the shadows. Gameplay:

Players can switch between the light world and the dark world manipulating objects.

The Jack-in-the-box, for example, constantly opens and closes.

Players can interact with the shadow object in the shadow world. For example, the jack-in-the-box can be used as a spring to get to higher places/get over obstacles. Visuals: Visuals can range from 3d to 2d just as long as the transition from the real world to the shadow world is readily apparent. The proposed aesthetic, in this situation, is a 3D world where you can move the placement of the toys and a 2D world where you play as a shadow. Scalability PlanSimple version: No projection aspect. A simple platformer game where you must place objects / toys in the path of the character to help him through the level. Mid-level version: Projection aspect is in place with the same general gameplay as the simple version. High-level version: Projection aspect in place with additional gameplay elements of being able to control the position of the light, etc.

Game Principles DiscussionPlayers will need to feel in control of the environment. Because of this there will have to be a lot of attention paid to giving the players proper feedback. The player must feel like they have meaningful choices in placement and choice of toys, objects, etc, if they are not able to actually control the shadow man. The ability to switch between the light an dark worlds at anytime may be a way to address this problem. The game might need other verbs in order to make it more interesting to the player. Currently we are operating under the idea that the verbs available to the player will be directly related to the toys on the shelf. For example, if the player wants to jump high, they have to have a jack-in-the-box. We need to make sure that the player feels rewarded for how they play the game. Since a great deal of the game will have to do with the placement of the various objects, we need to make the level challenging enough to keep the player’s interest and reward them accordingly. Design Challenges Designing levels which do not allow for dominant strategies or which are not too hard / easy for the player will be a challenge. Going along with this, the levels have to be interesting to the player. This means that they should be able to solve the levels in multiple different ways depending on their play-style. Making sure that the player understands the concept of the game and how they are meant to interact with the world is also another challenge which much be addressed. Finally, we need to make the player’s interaction with the light/shadow world more clear. Specifically: How often they can switch between worlds? Can they control the shadow? Technical Overview Basic 2d platformer mechanics, physics, and collision detection.

● Scrolling map, jumping and movement controls, simple physics.● Minimally square square collision detection, but probably want polygonal collision

detection which would allow for more interesting level design.Simple AI for the shadow man as well as his interactions with the environment.

● Probably just run forward unless you run into a toy at which point you would trigger that toy.

Game specific actions of moving / placing toys into the scene as well as their actions.● Toys / traps / obstacles modify the shadow man when they collide.

If enough time, the lighting / projection system, animation.● Could be a ray tracer from light source to shadow world, possibly easier ways to fake

this however (pan the camera away from the 3d setting to the 2d world which is actually just a 2d rendering).

Polishing everything up with menus, instructions, controls for projection aspect, etc. Technical Challenges

Option 1 Most of the challenges that we see with the 3d to 2d projection deals mainly with ray tracers. If a ray tracer is used for the lighting effects, the models for all of the toys and objects will have to have geometric complexity rather than just textured complexity. The ray tracer itself is somewhat of a technical challenge. Getting the polygonal collision detection working could also be a bit of a challenge. Making the lighting effects look nice could be challenging as well. How to make the animations if the objects are actually projected onto the wall via ray tracer. In addition to these challenges, each object/toy will need to be movable. This movement must then transfer easily to the level and environment that it’s effecting. Depending on how often we allow the player to switch, this may occur during gameplay. Option 2 This could also be done with a 2d representation of each object placed against the wall and that can be stretched based on the location of the light with respect to the real object. This would save on calculation time.