1) Write a high concept statement: a few sentences that give a general flavor of the game. You can make references to other games, movies, book, or any other media if your game contains simlar characters actions or ideas.
It is a 2D sidescrolling platformer in which you play as a cat or a dog, and the goal of the game is to smell as many things as possible in your town before your owner finds out that you snuck out of the house.
2) What is the player’s role? Is the player pretending to be someone or something, and if so what? Is there more than one? How does the player’s role help to define the gameplay?
The player controls a cat or a dog. There is only one player, and they are represented by a cartoon cat or dog. Just like a real pet, the pet's primary action will be sniffing, which is what the gameplay's all about.
3) Does the game have an avatar or other key character? Describe him/her/it
Other key characters will be other animals or people that you run into. Some will be friends and some will be enemies. A friendly human may give you a small bowl of milk or a treat, and an enemy human may chase you away with a broom. Friendly animals may lead you to a new smell (or stand still so you can smell them while they smell you), and enemy animals may bark to defend an area, or try to fight you, scare you, or chase you away.
4) What is the nature of the gameplay, in general terms? What kinds of challenges will the player face? What kinds of actions will the player take to overcome them?
The core gameplay is running and jumping around in a 2D platforming environment. The challenges will be locating smells, and smelling them. Smells will be represented by colorful lines "wafting" across the screen. Depending on the smell, they might quickly fly by like the wind, or slowly emanate from something with comic book-styled "stink lines."
If there is a jar of doggy biscuits high up in a pantry, the player may try to push some boxes around to form a makeshift staircase, or try to bump the pantry really hard several times to knock the jar over. Once broken, many smell lines will come out of the jar, and the player will press their "sniff button" to sniff them in for points.
Other smells might quickly blow in through the window and be harder to catch. These lines will move much faster and be harder to reach. A player may have to jump and press their "sniff button" in mid-air, just as they reach the height of the smell lines.
The harder the smell is to reach, the more points it will be worth. To represent the frantic existence of a pet, some areas will have 5 or 10 smells at a time, and the player will feel the animal's sense of panic and frustration as they rush to decide which smells are "more important," or in this game, "worth more points."
5) What is the player’s interaction model? Omnipresent? Through an avatar? Something else? Some combination?
The player's interaction model is through the avatar, but slightly omnipresent due to the camera angle. While a small animal might not be able to see what is on top of the refrigerator, the player will. Then the player may try to find a way to climb up there so the animal-avatar can smell whatever is up there.
6) What is the game’s primary camera model? How will the player view the game’s world on the screen? Will there be more than one perspective?
The game's primary camera model is a 2-dimensional side view. This will be the only perspective.
7) Does the game fall into an existing genre? If so, which one?
The genre is 2-D platforming, and is mainly based on collecting things (the smells), and solving some basic physics puzzles to reach some of them.
8) Is the game competitive, cooperative, team-based or single player? If multiple players are allowed are they using the same machine with separate controls or different machines over a network?
The game is single player.
9) Why would anyone want to play this game? Who is the game’s target audience? What characteristics distinguish them from the mass of players in general?
Hopefully this game will be popular with children and pet enthusiasts. While the game's primary goal will be collecting smells, it can also have some other pet jokes. A cat player will be able to meow, purr, yelp, whine, stretch, wag its tail, or roll around, and a dog player will be able to bark, growl, whimper, play dead, or wag its tail. While seemingly thrown in just as jokes, many of these commands will end up having hidden uses. For example, wagging your tail at an angry human might melt their heart, at which point they'd go "awww that's so cute," and maybe give you a snack or let you pass without trying to hit you with a broom. Or barking/growling might help scare off a scary enemy animal (but not all of them, many will need to be avoided and passed in other ways).
10) What machine or machines is the game intended to run on? Can it make use of or will it require any particular hardware such as dance mats or a camera?
The game is intended as a browser game that can be played with a keyboard. Arrow keys will move left and right, up will jump, and all the other actions can be set to various keys.
11) What is the game’s setting? Where does it take place?
The game starts in the owner's house. The owner leaves, and the pet is left alone. The pet can then find one of several ways to escape the house, and then explore the garden, and sneak into many other neighbors' houses and various stores around the town.
12) Will the game be broken into levels? What might be the victory condition for a typical level?
It won't be broken into levels in the traditional sense, but each area may have its own goal. If the player is able to find all the smells in an area, they may get a decent amount of bonus points, and a treat. If they are able to find some secret smells in a hidden area, they can get even more points.
13) Does the game have a narrative or story as it goes along? Summarize the plot in a sentence or two.
The story will be that the animal is trying to smell as many smells as it can. When the owner leaves, the game will start with a small cartoon of the animal jumping in the air and saying "I want to smell EVERYTHING!" with a flashy rainbow behind it. Then the game starts. After 3 minutes, no matter where the player is, the owner will appear and say "There you are! I've been looking all over for you!" and you will be taken home. Then another short cartoon will play, showing the animal really tired and going back to sleep, dreaming about all the amazing new smells it smelled that day. (At this point, all the smells will come by and this will be the high score screen.)
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