Working Title: Dark Testament

Concept Statement

Dark Testament follows the trials of a desperate warrior hellbent on hacking and slashing his way out of the dark depths and twisted mazes of his infernal confinement, only to find himself venturing ever deeper. Cut, crush, and carve your way through the dungeons with advanced physics-based combat mechanics at your disposal to truly experience the brutality of each and every fight.

Genre/Category

Dark Testament is a mix of both action and RPG elements, falling into a few specific categories.

Hack and Slash (Action)

Hack and Slash is a subgenre of beat ‘em up games (action) which emphasises heavily on combat using melee weapons. Dark Testament fits into this definition quite clearly given that the entire game is based around the physics-based melee combat mechanics and using them in each fight. Most of the titles it draws inspiration from are also considered Hack and Slash games.

Roguelite (Role-Playing Games)

Roguelites are a modern subgenre of roguelikes, commonly incorporating gameplay elements such as perma-death, procedurally generated levels, and a steep learning curve. Roguelites differ from their parent genre (roguelikes) in that they move away from many of the legacy elements of Rogue (from which roguelike bears its name) such as tile-based movement, turn-based gameplay, and the use of ASCII graphics, in favour of real-time free movement and more modern graphics. Roguelites also typically avoid many classical RPG elements such as player leveling and inventory systems which may be detrimental considering the characteristically short lifespan of the player-character, opting for more action-genre oriented features instead. Dark Testament is for these reasons a roguelite by definition.

Dungeon Crawler (Role-Playing Games)

The navigation of dark sprawling labyrinths and medieval fantasy themes come together to define the dungeon crawler sub-genre. The dungeon crawler label is given to games that mostly or entirely take place within enclosed but lengthy environments, be it an expansive cave, or ancient tunnels, or likewise, with a traditionally medieval fantasy setting. The dungeon crawler sub-genre overlaps considerably in definition with roguelikes; however dungeon crawlers differ in their emphasising of the setting and environment rather than the gameplay loop. Dark Testament is located in an underground dungeon in a medieval fantasy setting, so it would aptly be designated as a dungeon crawler.

Concept Creation Process/Influences

The game concept slowly came together over the course of the Unity tutorials, piecing together elements learned from them that could be brought together to form a game. This also helped manage my expectations for what I can do with the game, as almost everything in it was in some way also in the tutorials. The decisions to have semi-procedural generation of levels, a lack of RPG elements (such as player stats and inventory), and physics-based character animations are all in order to save time spent doing extensive artwork or a substantial amount more coding while creating a more enjoyable experience overall.

Influences

Exanima

While I wasn’t actively thinking about it when first conceiving Dark Testament, it certainly is the most dominant influence on the game. Exanima uses physics-based character movement and control to “realistically” simulate melee combat, although much of the time it looks more like drunks fighting drunks. It involves a short-medium dungeon-crawling campaign limited to a few expansive levels of premade dungeons, however the few RPG elements that it incorporates feel inconsequential due to the linear nature of the dungeons. This is the reason I am avoiding most RPG elements and using random level generation, to change the fundamental gameplay into a roguelite with much greater replay value.

Hotline Miami

The top-down fast-paced melee combat of Hotline Miami is both intensely challenging and incredibly fun, an aspect I hope to invoke within Dark Testament. While Dark Testament will be slightly slower and more methodical than the wild swinging of Hotline Miami, I intend to retain some of the unforgiving nature of its gameplay.

Like Hotline Miami, Dark Testament will also share the same visual perspective, looking directly down at the scene, with only the very tops of walls and objects shown, as opposed to many 2D top-down games which still show some sprites from the sides.

The Binding of Isaac

Not many games can boast both serene simplicity and endless variety like The Binding of Isaac can. The Binding of Isaac uses premade rooms connected together to make fully randomized levels, the ends of which lead to the next. This system compartmentalises level design into much simpler chunks while avoiding predictability in the gameplay loop. I intend to use a similar system in Dark Testament, but without the hard transitions between rooms, instead having a fully continuous level.

Dark Testament will similarly feature perma-death, with plans to include weapons that are permanently unlockable during runs.

Audience/Competitive Analysis

Target Audience

Dark Testament admittedly caters to a rather niche audience, with its steep learning curve and excessive violence, however titles such as DOOM Eternal and the Dark Souls series have garnered both mainstream success and cult followings despite it. While Dark Testament certainly doesn’t have anything near the same budget and scope, I believe it fills a gap in the market for medieval fantasy roguelites, although the actual size of that market is questionable.

To be more specific, the intended audience would primarily be 16–36-year-old males. According to studies upon the gender divide between genres, survival roguelikes exhibit a 25%/75% split between female and male video gamers respectively, which is unusual compared to most other genres (Yee, 2017). This may be related to roguelikes more commonly being single player, where women avoid the harassment or likewise treatment they face online (Tang, Reer and Quandt, 2019). Women also statistically prefer to immerse themselves in unchallenging fantasy games while men prefer competition and challenge (Yee, 2016), however roguelikes are commonly quite difficult, which is somewhat contrary to this idea. The difficulty and violence Dark Testament contains is certainly a dealbreaker for most women, so it helps that male gamers have a statistical interest in “destruction” in video games, an interest that intense gore mechanics hope to address in lieu of hopelessly appealing to the female demographic (Yee, 2016).

Competition

Most of the competition the game will face will be from its inspirators, however they are actually more of a blessing, as the intended audience for Dark Testament typically enjoys a variety of similar games, due to the replayability present in roguelite games.

Exanima

Exanima is obviously the main competition for Dark Testament, given its similarities. Where Dark Testament wins out however is that Exanima is still unfinished and hasn’t had an update in over a year. Exanima’s level design is exhausting and anticlimactic given its unfinished state, and the actual progression is redundantly slow. Given that Dark Testament has an end goal, and significantly streamlined gameplay, I would imagine many players who have experienced Exanima would be eager to try Dark Testament.

Enter the Gungeon

Enter the Gungeon is an action roguelike similar to Dark Testament but is a bullet-hell action game rather than hack and slash. I haven’t played the game myself, but its emphasis on weapon mechanics coupled with mainstream success may draw some buyers away from Dark Testament. Games similar to Enter the Gungeon may have the same effect.

Game Treatment and Concept Art

In Dark Testament, you are tasked with escaping the dreaded halls in which you have awoken to find yourself, but the only way forward, is down. Using any means necessary, you must descend through the dark depths of the dungeon, facing vicious monsters and horrors untold as you fight for your freedom.

Story

Awakening in a cold and dimly lit room, our hero picks up the rusty sword by his feet and ventures forth into the unknown. As his journey progresses, and he moves deeper and deeper into the abyss, he starts to lose interest in his own freedom, and soon enough his only drive is vengeance and glory.

Setting

Dark Testament takes place in a deliberately vague fantasy setting, with a blend of bronze-age to late medieval design, getting progressively more unfamiliar and even demonic as the player descends. The outside world isn’t important, since you won’t ever see get the light of day anyway; only the depths await you now.

Gameplay

Dark Testament uses a familiar roguelite gameplay loop, in which the objective is to survive for as long as possible as you move through each procedurally generated level fighting tougher and more dangerous enemies until you either reach the bottom, or die in the process.

Advanced Physics

Dark Testament uses advanced physics systems that the player controls and interacts with as a core feature of the game. Each and every weapon is physically swung, thrusted, or even thrown by the player character (or some enemies) in order to hack and slash their foes. Additionally, the player is able to move, pick up, and even throw a variety of objects they can find in the environment, which can even be used as projectile weapons if times are truly desperate.

Physics-Based Combat

Upon impacting a victim, weapons and thrown objects use a variety of calculations to deal realistic damage according to how and where the impact occurs, as well as figuring out how your weapon will react to hitting its target. Will your spear get stuck in the goblin you’ve just skewered, causing his companions to swarm the now vulnerable you? Can you cleave cleanly through the horde of ghouls before you with your greatsword, or will it lodge itself in the first one’s head? Dark Testament forces you to prepare and think about every engagement, lest you meet an earlier end.

Physics-Enabled Environments

Sometimes, maybe fighting isn’t an option. Some areas may be separated by sturdy doors, which you can try to barricade with the furniture around you, it might save your life. You could also kick a barrel into your pursuer, stunning them long enough to deliver a vital strike.

Perma-Death and Progression

In Dark Testament, death is almost certain, but it isn’t necessarily the end for you.

With each attempt, you carry on the lessons brutally taught to you, and you can unlock new and exciting weapons to find in your next run at the same time, each with unique and different properties and attacks for you to exsanguinate your foes with.

Weapons

Dark Testament offers a wide variety of weapons, some suited to certain situations, some more challenging to use, but all deadly, nonetheless. Weapons planned include: 

• Swords of all kinds – Shortswords, greatswords, and bastard swords. Some even come with a handy shield!
  

• Axes – Short or long, axes can deal devastating damage. Make sure to hit them with the head though!

• Polearms – The simple spear, towering pike, or the mighty halberd. Keeps the nasties at a distance, but keep an eye on your flanks!

• Blunt Weapons – Maces, warhammers, even rocks. Not too good for crowds, but hit like a train every time!

• Bad Weapons – The glorious stick, the self-destructive nunchakus, a rusty sword hilt. Misery is fun

Deadly Enemies

Each level presents new foes for you to paint the room with. The first you come across won’t be much of a problem, but as you go deeper, you better start watching your back. Enemies planned include but are not limited to: 

• Ghouls – Dumb as rocks, but always a threat, especially in numbers
• Goblins – Small and weak, working together to bring you down
• Stalkers – The darkness plots your end
• Demons – Large and extremely dangerous, good luck!

Levels

Each level is procedurally generated, using pre-made rooms connected together to form a continuous set. Each room may have a dozen enemies, or none. As you descend, prepare to paint the walls of: 

• The Prisons – Ghouls by the dozen, how long have they been here?
• The Caverns – A nest of goblins, tread carefully
• The Outskirts – You aren’t the only threat to the goblins
• The Cathedral – An ancient cathedral, all the candles have long since burned out
• The Abyss – The cathedral was built for a reason; containment

And more!

Control

The player will be controlled by the keyboard (WASD) and mouse, with each mouse button readying one of two attacks for each weapon when held, and attacking once released. When the player presses a movement key, the character is moved based on an applied force, meaning they can push and be pushed around by physics objects.

Design

Graphics

Dark Testament uses dense 2D pixel graphics combined with an array of techniques such as:

• Normal mapping – Pseudo-3D shading effect for extra detail
• Tiling – Rooms are made up of individual tiles
• Lighting – Realistic lighting and darkness, also included in gameplay elements
• Particle effects – Sparks flying, dust billowing
• Physics-based animation – Arms made of segments, less animating to do
• Gore system – Bodily damage throws chunks and sprays blood according to the impact, blood stains the environment after landing

Sound and Music

Many sounds will be custom recorded for effects such as:

• Physics/weapon impacts
• Player/Enemy noises
• Ambient sound
• Footsteps
• Weapon interactions

Other sounds required that may be sourced elsewhere include:

• Game music
• Gameplay sounds – blips and beeps related to gameplay if needed
• Anything else

References

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Tang, W., Reer, F. and Quandt, T. 2019, Investigating sexual harassment in online video games: How personality and context factors are related to toxic sexual behaviors against fellow players, Aggressive Behavior, vol 46, no 1, pp.127-135, viewed 29 August 2021, <https: onlinelibrary.wiley.com="" doi="" full="" 10.1002="" ab.21873="">. </https:>

Yee, N. 2017, Beyond 50/50: Breaking Down The Percentage of Female Gamers By Genre, Quantic Foundry. viewed 29 August 2021, <http: quanticfoundry.com="" 2017="" 01="" 19="" female-gamers-by-genre="">. </http:>

Yee, N. 2016, 7 Things We Learned About Primary Gaming Motivations From Over 250,000 Gamers, Quantic Foundry. viewed 29 August 2021, .<http: quanticfoundry.com="" 2016="" 12="" 15="" primary-motivations=""></http:>