Status |
Description |
Comments |
| Installation | Players will find one .exe file from their CDs or
directly from the internet. After double clicking the file, they will see
a pop-up installation window with a default directory on their C: drive
showing C:\Program Files\Cloud
Players can choose to change the installation directory manually or start extracting the game file into the target folder. |
Create a shortcut on the desktop or in the start menu. (Optional) |
| Start Game | By double clicking a file named ¡°Cloud.exe¡± with a cloud icon on it, player will be able to start the game. The screen turns to black. | |
| Logos | The first thing players will see after they enter the game is the Interactive Media logo and USC logo with sky blue background and white symbol and text. After about 2 seconds pause, the USC and IM logo fades out, followed by the team logo. Team logo fades to black. | Team logo and name will be decided near the end of the production. |
| Opening | Introduced by the background music, as the main theme starts in, the title screen will fade in.
Players will be able to access the main menu after the title appears by clicking any key or mouse. |
Intro animation is considerable later during the production. |
| Main Menu | The main menu is composed of main character Yun¡¯s silhouette, game title and a group of clouds. On each of these clouds, players can find different options like Start Cloud, Profile, Credits and Exit. Players can move the mouse onto different clouds and those clouds will be highlighted into a shiny purified cloud. | The transition between Main Menu and Sub Menu can be done by changing pictures all moving clouds if possible. |
| Start Cloud | If the player clicks Start Cloud, they will get access
to the next menu with two options: New Cloud and Continue. On the left bottom
of the screen is a Go Back button that returns to Main Menu.
If the player clicks on New Cloud, the game will reset to the first level and initialize all the data. Start Cloud menu will fade to black and the Game Intro will start. If the player clicks Continue, the game will start from loading the latest saved game. Start Cloud menu fades to Loading Screen. |
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| Profile | After the player clicks Profile from the Main Menu,
he will see the sub menu come appear with the go back button and two options:
Create Profile & Load Profile
Create Profile will open a new window with descriptions of what a profile is and text input area (like virtual keyboard on console) for entering a profile name. Once the profile is created, player will log as this profile automatically. GAme progress and options will automatically be saved into this profile, until the profile is switched or the game exits. Load Profile opens a new window with a list of available
profiles in the user's machine. Player can click and choose the profile.
Once the profile is chosen, it will automatically jump to the Start Cloud
menu. |
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| Credits | Credits will trigger an .avi file. Player will see the list of development team, advisors, sponsors and school. Meanwhile he or she can also see the early concept sketches with background music. |
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| Exit | Program stops. Jump back to windows desktop | |
| Game Intro | Yun and his story will be introduced to the player through a very ambiguous and dream like way. The intro consists of provoking painting panning, text, voice acting and music. After the intro, player will see Loading Screen. |
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| Loading Screen | A static image shows Yun, who has fallen asleep while reading a meteorology book. Below, a progress bar indicates progress of loading the level. The book has pictures of different kinds of clouds and weather, and their descriptions. The content of the book will change depending on the level being loaded. The book will show pictures of cumulus and stratus clouds in the early levels, and will move on to storms and thunderheads in the later levels. After the loading bar is full, the game will start. | |
| Story Beat 1 | o Once there was a boy named Yun, he lived among his friends the Clouds, in the sky of Dao. o Raised thereby the Cloud elders, he learned the ways of the wind. |
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| Quest 1 | In Quest 1, the player will start with his avatar,
the cloud boy. The quest requires cloud boy to find his treasure (purified
cloud). The camera starts pointing down to the terrain. Cloud boy is in the center of the camera. If the player starts moving his mouse, the camera will pan to the back of the cloud boy. By scrolling the mouse, the player can change his flying speed.If the cloud boy stops long enough, the camera will returen to top down angle. The player can fly freely in the 3D world vertically between 6,000ft - 20,000ft, horizontally based on the requirement of the level. If he moves close to the boundary, he will be informed that he is not large or powerful enough reach the outer space. The theme in level 1 is playful, colorful and peaceful navigation experience. Players will encounter some small scale cumulous at Quest 1. The area he will fly through is covered with green forest and natural civilizations. Wind is mild so that the player can have an easy starting. After the player find his purified cloud, the camera will change to top down angle again. Basic game interface will show up, and player will be able to capture his very first cloud. He can also drop the purified cloud and return to the cloud boy mode. |
The detailed control method will be decided after we test the prototype. |
| Quest 2 | In Quest 2, the player will be asked to collect a large
cloud. He will be taught about the basic cloud collecting rules and realize
that big clouds absorb his own cloud if he ran into them carelessly. |
Some exiting and admiring voice or folly will be very helpful here. |
Quest 3 |
In Quest 3, the player will have a more complex task
to do. He has to move certain clouds from the forest to the desert. During
this quest, he will learn to pick up clouds and drop them. The player will
also start dropping shadows on to the terrain when he become large enough. Some landscape will have suggestive shape which will inspire the player's cloud creation. In the end, player will watch the cloud from the ground again. |
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| Quest 4 | In Quest 4, the player starts reaching a new level of
scale, they will be able to see the coast lines. Player will require more
skill on control the clouds because of more and more larger clouds he
may encounter. |
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| Quest 5 | In Quest 5, players will start making the first weather,
raining. In order to create rain, player needs to have enough clouds and
matching different conditions. Player will start paying more attention about
the terrain and wind directions. Players will be required to bring water
back from the ocean, so that he will move in a larger scale. The terrain
will react the rain like turning green or growing trees. Player won't be
taught more about the other weathers. He will discover them during the gameplay.
. Players will be able to see the rain from the ground view in the end. |
The reaction of the terrain needs to be exaggerated. Player should see the reaction obviously and smoothly. |
| Quest 6 | In Quest 6, the player will be asked to travel to another island. He needs to pick up enough clouds in order to travel through the storm between the two islands. Player will reach the Second Layer of the sky in this level. Player will encounter stratus since there. | |
| Story Beat 2 | o One day while playing in a cumulous valley he saw a dark cloud that laid a putrid precipitation on the planet of Urr far below. o The cloud absorbed Yun and despite his powers he could do little to fight it. o Luckily the dark cloud spat him out, for small boys where not of his taste. |
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| Quest 7 | In Quest 7, the dark clouds appear in the game for the first time. All the dark clouds are larger than the player's cloud. The player needs to run away from the surrounding of the dark clouds without been sucked up by them. | |
Story Beat 3 |
o When Yun awoke he found himself far away from his home sky of Dao. o He followed the sun for a day but it was no use, his cloud family could not be found. Making friends with the local Clouds, he settled down for the night. |
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| Quest 8 | In Quest 7, the player lost nearlly all his clouds. So in Quest 8, he
has to regain his power, and explore the new area. The goal is to start
from the minimal size and reach the stratus layer again in a short period
of time. Player will started notice the changes brought by the dark clouds. The polluted terrains and oceans. Some small clouds are turned into the dark clouds. |
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| Story Beat 4 | o As he slept a great wind carried him, unknowingly, to a new sky; and when he arose the next morning a great sky city lay before him. Excited, Yun explored the ancient, seemingly abandoned, civilization and found many a curious thing. o While wandering the cloud gardens he discovered a doorway that was just his size, he thought ¡° Surely this place was not made be Cloudkind.¡± Traveling down the corridor he found another entranceway, this one larger. o Upon entering, a massive hall was revealed unto Yun. In the nicest way he could Yun shouted, ¡°Hello, I¡¯m a friend¡±, as not to make enemies. The echoing of the chambers shook the great hall and as it shook a great spirit awoke from a shrine centered in the room. o The spirit surprised to see a CloudKeeper alive revealed to Yun his origins and purpose. o For a time Yun stayed in the city and trained with the spirit, learning his peoples ancient ways of service to the sky, and the planet Urr. |
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| Quest 9 | In Quest 9, the player will be taught to reach a new scale which makes it possbile to generate lightnng. Lightning will hit and burns the forest and buildings while rain will put them off. The player will be conscious about these basic mechanisms. | |
| Quest 10 | In Quest 10, the player will start fighting smaller dark clouds around
the sky city. The goal is protect the Sky city from polluted, and purify all
the clouds around it. In the middle of Quest 10, player will find the source of the polluted clouds are the factory like building around the world. He will be taught to destory those factories. Once the factory is destroied, it doesn't generate dark clouds any more. |
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| Story Beat 5 | o One sunset a dark cloud could be seen on the horizon, it gave Yun a fire in his heart, so he set out to save the Sky of Urr, a CloudKeeper dedicated to cleanse the darkness. | |
| Quest 11 | Quest 11 is the largest and most open quest. Which will served as a shortcut to demo the game. |
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| Story Beat 6 | Player will see the ending animation and credits |