[Ninja Dodo]

In the light of recent discussion about non-violent games, I thought I'd show this design I wrote for uni a while ago.

I'm not sure I'll ever get to actually develop this, not least because all projects submitted as coursework are copyrighted by the university, but it was fun to work on anyway...

the concept

You are a monkey in a zoo that suddenly discovers that his cage is unlocked. You can then go out and explore the zoo and do various things like helping other animals or teasing the visitors... all the while avoiding the keepers.


the game

In the cage next to you is a chimp, who acts as your guide and mentor. He explains a few things about the zoo and gives you your first challenge; he'd like a banana. You then set out exploring the zoo keeping in mind what he said:

There are a number of keepers in the zoo and one always patrols the area. When that keeper passes your cage, you have to be there or all the keepers will go looking for you. The other keepers will generally stay in one place most of the day, doing a particular chore. Above all, you need to avoid being seen (outside your cage) by the keepers. It's best to not be seen by the visitors either, but not essential, and it can be interesting to see how far you can go in annoying the visitors before a keeper notices.

...but not to worry, all your friends in the zoo will call out in warning if they see the patrolling keeper. So whenever you hear the chimp you know the keeper is very close to your cage and you need to be there very soon. The more friends you make the more you can explore the zoo, because you'll always know if the keeper is getting close. You can make friends by helping other animals in some way. So, to go where you want in the zoo you need to make strategic alliances. Some animals will dislike you from the outset, making it very hard to win them over, some will like you immediately (like the chimp), but most will be indifferent to you until you do something to change that. Friends will also often help you with items or information. You can also make enemies, though, so you need to be careful not to upset any animals unnecessarily.

If the keeper does find your cage empty he'll radio the others to go looking for you. If you manage to get back to your cage without them finding you, they will be surprised but think nothing more of it. If you actually get caught however, they will become very suspicious. The chimp then warns that if you get caught again they'll probably find the open door and lock it.

So, one of the first things you'll need to do is try to steal a spare key from one of the keepers and hide it in your cage, so that if you do get caught you can still get out again. This key will also enable you to get into other cages.

OR... you can venture into the lion's den to steal a bone splinter that you can use to pick the lock on your cage, or try and find a nail somewhere, or steal a visitor's pocketknife... the possibilities are endless. Finding a a lock-pick will be easier than stealing the key but picking a lock takes time, so in the end it may be safer to get the key instead. However, some locks don't open with the keeper's key so in some cases a lockpick will still come in handy.

Should you fail to do all these things and get caught a second time, the chimp finds something that can be used as a lockpick in his cage. This way, players who are able to find a means of escape on their own will feel challenged and those that aren't will not feel cheated and frustrated.

There are maps standing in various places in the zoo, but in order to have a map constantly visible to you, you'll need to steal one from somewhere. When you do, it'll show your location as a red “you are here”-dot and will also highlight where calls of warning are coming from.

Though you can sneak around on the ground to get where you want in the zoo, most of the time it's better, and sometimes even essential to go into the trees and atop the buildings. Climbing is a big part of the game. You can climb quite fast and when branches (or building surfaces) are level enough you can also run across them and jump from branch to branch (or roof to roof).

When someone sees you, be it a visitor or a keeper, they will go “huh?” and look again to make sure they saw what they saw. You can use this split-second to get out of sight, or in the case of visitors you can just try to look stupid and lost, and they'll think you're cute. If you're trying to steal something and the owner notices, you can hide the item behind your back quickly (holding it with your tail) to fool them. Naturally, this will not work on keepers, because they'll lock you up no matter what.

The game plays in 3rd person view with action-adventure/platform-style controls.


the challenges

When you meet an animal they will generally pose a challenge to you, most of the time to help them in some way but sometimes just as a dare. For example, the elephant would like a good scratch on the back (you'll need to find a brush), the polar bear is bored (he would enjoy a ball to play with), the penguins are roasting (and would like some icecream), the tiger dares you to steal some meat from the lion, and so on...

Although the player is of course able to read signs and other things, Monkey himself can't read. The chimp however can. He asks you at one point if you can get him a newspaper and a pair of reading glasses, so he can read the news. This is a crucial challenge in that it introduces the player to the chimp's ability to read.

Monkey is quite young. He was transferred from a different zoo without his parents due to lack of space. Though he has no desire to escape the zoo (the city is a scary place for a little monkey), he really wants to know what happened to his parents. Unfortunately, none of the animals know where his parents are. After some time exploring and getting to know all the various animals, you learn from an owl that often sits outside the director's window, that there is a file in the director's office that might have information on their whereabouts. To find out where they are, you have to break into the office and steal this file. You then need to get it to the chimp, who can read it for you. But this is going to be extremely hard. You will need to create some sort of diversion, for example by setting loose particular animals across the zoo, and then quietly making your way to the office. Then you have to get past the director's dog and through the door or one of the windows, steal the file from under the nose of the director and finally make your way all the way back to your cage without any of the keepers seeing you with the file. If they do see you, they'll try and catch you or follow you back to your cage. Unless you manage to succesfully hide the file before they get to you, either on the way there or in your cage, you'll need to do it all over again.

When the chimp finally reads the file it turns out the parents were in the zoo all along, just in a remote observation cage. You then set out to free them. For this you have to wait till night-time for the researchers to stop observing, then you sneak out again and break into the research department. Because of the theft of the file, the director has become worried that someone may want to steal the monkeys so he has asked a keeper to keep watch in the building. When you've managed to free your parents and sneak them past the keeper, you head back to your cage to hide. Your parents, it turns out, want to leave the zoo and head home to the jungle. But Monkey actually kind of likes the zoo. The player is then allowed to choose to escape with the parents or to stay behind.


the graphics and sound

The game is in real-time 3D, with a stylish cartoon look. This would not involve toon-shading but instead would be achieved with nice painterly textures, not unlike Rayman 2. Animation is over the top and full of character.

Sound plays an important role in the game, notably in alerting the player to the presence of keepers, but also in establishing the atmosphere and believability of the game world. Sound effects are mostly realistic but exaggerated where appropriate. Music is dynamic and so, varies based on the things happening in the game. The soundtrack is in a range of different styles, from African percussion to classical.


the appeal

The fun of this game lies in the freedom to experiment with the game world and its rules. Most of your time is spent just exploring the zoo and seeing what you can get away with without being caught by the keepers. There is a distinct stealth element, which is always interesting, and when the keepers are hot on your heels there's plenty of frantic action, scrambling to get back to your cage before they see you. The player can choose to amuse the visitors or annoy them, both in highly entertaining ways. The various colourful characters serve to make the game world more interesting and further the story... a story which the player can follow but can also choose to ignore, just playing about with the game. The game is structered in such a way that it is helpful without being patronizing, challenging without being frustrating and regardless of skill level any player should be able to play the game without ever referring to the manual or going through a boring 'tutorial mission'. The game mechanics are gradually introduced to the player by the characters in a way that fits the game world and flow of the gameplay.

What do you guys think?