Ian Snyder's Fantasy Bout

Game Mechanics

Core Game PlayIn Fantasy Bout, you will primarily be fighting an assortment of enemies in one-on-one boxing matches. You will be introduced to increasingly complex moves and strategies from opponent to opponent in the Quest Mode. The primary game play involves learning the attack strategy of the opponent you're facing and exploiting their weaknesses (similar to Super Punch-Out!). The fun really comes from having:

Challenging and varied enemies Fun, intuitive touch controls Game progression that makes you feel like you're accomplishing something with every win

When a bout begins, it continues until one of the contestants is taken down in either a knockout or a technical knockout (KO or TKO). A knockout happens when an contestant is so weary they can't get up from being knocked down after the first or second time. A TKO occurs when a contestant is knocked down three times in a single bout.

Once the enemy starts attacking you, it's up to you to dodge, counter, and block their attacks, while looking for weaknesses in their style to exploit and land some heavy blows. Throwing quick jabs, hooks, uppercuts, and heavy punches, you'll soon learn the timing of your moves and see openings for taking down the stamina of your opponent.

When either contestant's stamina reaches zero they fall down and are given ten seconds to get back up again, unless they've been knocked down three times, in which case they lose due to TKO. If a contestant is knocked down with a Power Attack they have a small chance of getting knocked out completely and losing the match. If they get back up, that contestant has some of their stamina replenished and can keep fighting.

Stamina is very important as it is the gauge of how well a contestant is doing. Stamina is only reduced by:

Being punched Blocking punches (stamina is reduced much less by blocking than by just taking a punch)

Whoever is left standing wins!

Between FightsAs you fight, instead of having a score you gain experience (XP). As you gain experience, you level

up. Level ups happen after you have finished a fight, and they show your character gaining Special Abilities. Similar to the point add-up screen from Super Punch-Out!, your XP from the fight is tallied, and you see if you've leveled up.

After this you go back to the world map and travel to the next boxer.

Characters

The Player The Player is an adventurer, capable of learning many different styles and disciplines, rather

than being specialized in one area. The Player will pick up different abilities and special attacks that are explained more fully in the Game Play Elements section.

The following are the enemy boxers, in order of difficulty from easiest to hardest. They all have at least one special attack, but more difficult boxers will have a variety of combos that would be explored through gameplay testing.

SkeletonSkeleton is a, you guessed it, skeleton! He is very slow and doesn't do much other than throw some punches. He's mostly just practice for learning the basic controls.

Slow Telegraphs punches Special Attack: Strong punch

GoblinThe Goblin is a small, green goblin that has to jump to punch the player and can only be hit with low blows. He's quite fast, but his attacks are very weak and he doesn't have much stamina. The goblin teaches the player how to use low blows, as well as how to move side to side and duck.

Small Fast Weak attacks Special Attack: Jumps on your face; you have to move around to get him off. This can be

dodged by moving to either side or ducking.

OrcThe Orc is a human-sized orc with strong attacks, but he's kinda slow and stupid. The orc is used to teach how to block and dodge.

Strong, so The Player needs to learn to dodge and block Slower than the player Any time he is hit he's momentarily stunned Special Attack: Spits at you, leaving you momentarily blind. Can be dodged.

OwlbearThe Owlbear is a terrifying beast; a magical fusion of a bear with an owl. It looks like a bear, but covered in feathers and with the head of a giant owl. It will try to grab you and peck you with its beak.

Strong Slower than the player Resistant to blows to the body Special Attack: Grabs you and pecks your head. Can only be avoided by ducking.

VikingThe Viking is a burly Nordic boxer that uses his woad rage to execute a chaotic barrage of attacks. The Viking introduces the idea of countering.

Same strength as the player Same speed as the player More stamina resistance to attacks Special Attack: Woad Rage. The Viking yells violently, and begins a barrage of alternating

quick attacks that must be dodged and blocked. To stop the barrage you must dodge one of the attacks and pull off a counter.

LizardmanThe Lizardman is a humanoid with scaly skin and a lizard-like head. He has twitchy, quick movements that force the player to improve their reaction time, as well as teaching them to slow down the opponent with quick jabs.

Weaker attacks Fast attacks and defense Lower stamina, but is great at dodging Special Attack: Spits acid. Can be dodged by moving to either side.

KnightThe Knight is garbed in full plate mail with a helmet. Doing any attack other than a heavy or special attack doesn't affect the Knight and causes the Player to be momentarily stunned. Doing a powerful attack that lands causes a resounding *CLANG*, and stuns the Knight, leaving him open to a series of attacks.

Slow Powerful attacks High stamina Special Attack: Punches of the Round Table; thirteen consecutive power attacks that must either

be dodged, parried, or disrupted by a well-timed counter combo.

GolemThe Golem is a huge humanoid made from clay and stone.

MinotaurThe Minotaur is an ancient creature of immense strength and size.

Powerful Fast Special Attack: Charges straight in with his horns. Dodged by moving to either side. This is

followed up by a series of powerful punches.

VampireThe beautiful vampire princess is a fast and formidable foe. She can bite to syphon The Player's

stamina. Fast; very good at dodging Weaker attacks, but attacks in quick flurries Special Attack: The Vampire quickly grabs The Player and bites their neck, sucking away their

stamina and replenishing her own. This can only be avoided by punching her right before she grabs you and continuing with a combo.

CyclopsThe cyclops is a huge, powerful monster. You must land low power punches to get it to bend over, then a power punch to the eye to really knock his stamina down.

Powerful... very powerful! Slow Special Attack: The cyclops does three smashing downward attacks; one on the left side, one in

the center, and one on the right side. These must be dodged by moving to the side away from the blows (or in the center just dodging) or else you are knocked down immediately.

Death KnightThe Death Knight is a terrifying knight eternally bound to the service of the Lich Lord.

Fast Powerful Special Attack: The Death Knight can give a piercing gaze, which can be avoided by punching

right before it begins (it will be telegraphed slightly by a twinkle around the Death Knight's eyes). The gaze will stun you and drain your stamina for a few seconds, also opening you up to the Death Knight's powerful combos.

WarlockThe Warlock can cast several spells and attacks with a staff.

Fast Weak attacks, but attacks in flurries with the staff Spells: All the spells have a moment of casting where the player can interrupt the spell by doing

a well-timed power punch or special attack.1. Freeze: Freezes you for several seconds.2. Fireball: Reduces your stamina by more than half.3. Recharge: Restores about ¼ of the Warlock's stamina.

Lich LordThe Lich Lord has been a blight upon the lands, and it's up to you to stop his madness... by defeating him in the ring! He is an imposing, majestic, undead lord.

Fast Powerful Special Abilities:1. Raise undead; the Lich Lord can summon a Skeleton to fight for him while he recovers stamina.

You can power punch the Skeleton as it's summoning to destroy it, otherwise it fights the same as the first Skeleton. Meanwhile the Lich Lord recovers stamina!

DragonAs the Lich Lord falls, he loses control of his most powerful pet; the Dragon! The Dragon makes you use every trick you've learned for defeating other boxers. This is the moment everything has built up to.

Super strong and agile Special Abilities:1. Fire Breath

Game Play ElementsAbilities

These are all of the basic moves that every fighter learns, and are necessary to beat the game.

Block – Blocking decreases stamina loss by about 75%, but some attacks can't be blocked.Dodge – Dodging completely avoids an attack, but leaves you momentarily defenseless as you come

back to your center position.Counter – Countering is simply timing a punch RIGHT before an opponent executes an attack, which

will cause them to be dazed for a moment.Power Punch – The Power Punch is available when you've filled up your Overdrive Meter at the

bottom of the screen. The Overdrive Meter is filled by landing blows.

Special Moves

These are all the extra moves that come from XP, but aren't required for winning.

Super Power Punch – The Super Power Punch is one of the first Special Moves you gain from leveling up. It's a more powerful Power Punch, and simply replaces it.

Flurry of Blows – Flurry of Blows is a series of quick, powerful punches, executed by QUICKLY tapping Right Jab, Left Jab, Right Jab, Left Jab.

Stamina Regen – Stamina Regen is gained after several levels, and allows you to regenerate your stamina when holding a high block.

Items

These items are found along the path of your quest, in between fights, or by completing things like time attack mode or just playing through the game.

Vambraces: Makes you lose less stamina when you block.Ring of Power: Makes your punches more powerful.Ring of Agility: Makes your attacks and defense faster.

Artificial IntelligenceEach character has a unique fighting style, so using a script file would probably be best. The file

would have a section for each boxer that allows the designers to input the boxer's movement and attack patterns. Basically, each boxer would have a set of patterns that it chooses from for each knockdown, so they could have a separate set of patterns after they had been knocked down once or twice. A pattern list would be something like:

Left hook (1 second), Right hook (1 second), Pause (.5 second), Uppercut (2 seconds), Pause (1 second) [35% probability]

Each pattern would be a list of actions with the timing for each action (each action will have a modifiable speed), as well as the probability of that pattern being used once another pattern is up. Patterns would also include single punches and so on. As a simple example, The Skeleton's first round pattern set would be something like:

Left jab (1.5 seconds) Right jab (1.5 seconds) Move left (2 seconds) Move right (2 seconds) Power Punch (3 seconds)

The amount of time an attack takes to complete is the time from when you first see the attack animation starting to the time the impact takes place.

MultiplayerWhile multiplayer could be supported, the connection speed of the iPhone could hinder network head-to-head play, as well as adding significantly to development time on a feature unlikely to be explored by most players.

In-Game ControlsThe controls for Fantasy Bout are what really set it apart, and are very important. Moves are either done on the left or right side of the screen, so the game is played ideally by holding the iPhone/Touch like a regular controller, horizontally oriented, and played with the thumbs.

Jabs – Quickly tap the left or right side of the screen for a quick left or right jab. Hooks – Right and left hooks are performed by doing this:

and

Uppercuts - Uppercuts are performed by doing this:

and

Power Punches – Power punches are executed this way:

and

Blocks – Blocking the lower body is done automatically when you stand still. To block the upper body simply hold two fingers on the screen.

Dodging – Dodging and ducking is done by tapping the respective edges of the screen (anywhere in the highlighted areas):

Art

Overall Art GoalsThe style of the game is stylized fantasy; main reference for the graphical style is a bit of a mix of Battle Fantasia and The Phantom Hourglass. It is definitely meant to be arcadey and non-realistic. Big, flashy hit effects and glowing special attacks are important.

GUI

1. Boxer's portrait and Stamina Gauge2. Number of knockdowns3. Overdrive Meter4. Experience Points

The match time is shown in the center (90 seconds in the mockup). By pressing the timer, the game pauses and brings up a menu:

Resume Options Quit

CameraThe camera is similar to Super Punch-Out!'s; The Player is see-through, with the camera located behind the player. It will only pan left and right. You should be able to see the background of the stage you are fighting in.

3D Art and AnimationFantasy Bout is fully 3D, so all of the characters will have to be modeled. It would be nice to have a unique stage for each character, but only having four or five stages would suffice, depending on project time.

Music and SoundFantasy Bout is a unique fantasy setting, and this should be reflected in the music. Classical music with synth undertones, interspersed with guitar solos and hammering bass lines are what we are aiming for. The music from the game Lord of Vermillion is a great example.Sound effects will for the most part be over-the-top; this game doesn't take itself TOO seriously!

StoryYou are an adventurer, boxing your way through life, when you are drawn into a conflict you could never have imagined. The Dark Lich Lord of Nargoth is bringing evil into the world, and only you have the boxing ability to stop his madness! You will travel across a world, fighting minions and others that would stand in your way, to reach the Lich Lord and bring down his dominion!

World MapYou will travel a linear path from the first boxer to the final enemy, but it will be presented as if they are traveling across a world. Each boxer has a location that is in the path to your final battle:

Level DescriptionsIdeally, each boxer would have their own level, but at the minimum there should be several generic types of rings. Each ring will be a stylized boxing ring with a fantasy setting in the background:

Forest:

Castle: The main hall of a stone castle, with a roaring fire in the background. Cave: A dark, scary cave with stalactites and bats. Wizard's Abode: An ancient library with various alchemical devices in the background.

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