Concept statement

In this action/puzzle game you are chained to a boulder. Navigate challenges during the day so that you may gain new powers to survive the monster-ridden night!

Outline

Boulder Game [Working title] is a third-person action/puzzle game. The player is connected at all times to a large boulder, which moves independently of them and has a greater mass of weight than the player, causing them to be anchored to it. Manipulating the boulder is key to all facets of the game, such as hitting it to increase its speed, bringing the player along with it. Gameplay is divided between two distinct phases, day phase and night phase. The day phase has several puzzle islands accessible to the player, all of which contain a singular puzzle, with a reward at the end. The night phase places the player in an open area with several enemies, which they must defeat (using the boulder as a weapon) or outlive until the night is over. With each passing night the game grows more difficult and the rewards from the puzzles more necessary to survive.

Inspiration

Our game takes inspiration from Greek mythology in its aesthetic, and most notably the tale of Sisyphus in the core concept behind a character that has to use a boulder. Other, more game-centric inspiration came from titles such as Katamari Damacy or Super Mario Galaxy that have elements of this ‘ball’ rolling mechanic, however we wanted to lean more into the physics side of things and have the player connected but not in direct control of the boulder, which leant us more towards the physics of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for inspiration. Inspiration in the form of the games structure and loop came from roguelike titles such as Hades (which also has a nice Greek mythology setting to take inspiration from) and Binding of Isaac.

Gameplay

In the game, the player is attached to a large boulder with a chain, the gameplay comes in the ways that the player can use this scenario to solve puzzles in the day phase, trying to beat a timer counting down to the night phase and get upgrades from solving puzzles to help them in the night phase, where the gameplay focus shifts to using the boulder and chain attached to the player to fight enemies.

The gameplay loop has two phases, the day phase and the night phase. The day phase has the player choose a puzzle island (or multiple) to conquer in the light, and the night phase has the player defeat rounds of enemies on the central island in the dark. The two phases are split up into drastically different styles, both artistically and gameplay wise.