The game Oru: The Last Light of Rhekari is a top-down adventure where the player controls a wisp of light defending structures from enemy waves. The player can explore to collect resources to upgrade abilities like a dash, light bolt, and nova. As the player progresses, enemies will mirror the spreading theme and become stronger as shadows advance further.
The game Oru: The Last Light of Rhekari is a top-down adventure where the player controls a wisp of light defending structures from enemy waves. The player can explore to collect resources to upgrade abilities like a dash, light bolt, and nova. As the player progresses, enemies will mirror the spreading theme and become stronger as shadows advance further.
The game Oru: The Last Light of Rhekari is a top-down adventure where the player controls a wisp of light defending structures from enemy waves. The player can explore to collect resources to upgrade abilities like a dash, light bolt, and nova. As the player progresses, enemies will mirror the spreading theme and become stronger as shadows advance further.
The game Oru: The Last Light of Rhekari is a top-down adventure where the player controls a wisp of light defending structures from enemy waves. The player can explore to collect resources to upgrade abilities like a dash, light bolt, and nova. As the player progresses, enemies will mirror the spreading theme and become stronger as shadows advance further.
Pirate Software Game Jam 14 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 3 Game Summary Pitch ................................................................................................... 3 Genre ............................................................................................................................. 3 Target Audience............................................................................................................ 3 Inspiration ..................................................................................................................... 3 Platform ........................................................................................................................ 4 Development Software ................................................................................................. 4 Third Party Assets ........................................................................................................ 4 Concept ........................................................................................................................................ 5 Gameplay overview....................................................................................................... 5 Theme Integration: It´s Spreading ............................................................................... 5 Primary Mechanics ....................................................................................................... 6 Secondary Mechanics .................................................................................................. 8 Art ............................................................................................................................................... 10 Style ............................................................................................................................. 10 Environment Design.................................................................................................... 10 Character Design ........................................................................................................ 10 UI.................................................................................................................................. 11 Audio .......................................................................................................................................... 12 Controls ...................................................................................................................................... 13 Keyboard ..................................................................................................................... 13 • WASD – Moves the player ................................................................................... 13 • Right Mouse Click – Light Nova Ability ............................................................... 13 • Left Mouse Click – Light Bolt Ability ................................................................... 13 • Spacebar – Dash Ability ...................................................................................... 13 • E – Interact ........................................................................................................... 13 • ESC – Escape from Vendor UI ............................................................................. 13 • Mouse – Player look ............................................................................................ 13 • Enter – Pause Game ............................................................................................ 13 Development Timeline ............................................................................................................... 14
2 Introduction
Game Summary Pitch
“Oru: The Last Light of Rhekari” is a top-down adventure with combat and exploration elements. Defend structures from waves of attacks, collect resources for character upgrades, and explore the game world.
Genre Singleplayer, top-down adventure
Target Audience The game caters to individuals who appreciate intense action intertwined with exploration. It provides a moderately challenging experience, making it accessible and engaging for a broad audience of gamers who enjoy dynamic gameplay and the thrill of exploration.
Inspiration Game One: The Mageseeker - A League of Legends Story.
The Mageseeker - A League of Legends Story, is a top-down action
adventure/roleplaying game with rogue-like elements. Our game draws inspiration from the visual perspective that this game very beautifully represents, as well as the idea of incorporating rogue-like elements with upgradable abilities.
Game Two: Othercide
Othercide is a horror tactical roleplaying game that inspired the creature designs of our game. Key influences include the creature design work of Alexandre Chaudret.
3 Platform The game is developed to be released on Windows.
Gameplay overview The player controls a wisp of light that must survive a journey through an open world with the help of its own abilities in order to ultimately achieve essential goals for winning the game. The player will encounter several enemies who will attack them under certain conditions. Most battles can be described as wave battles, where several enemies appear and attack the player at the same time. Through the careful distribution of valuable objects, the player is encouraged to explore the world to unlock powerful upgrades with the treasures and currency they find to improve their chances of survival as the game progresses. The player is only given a limited number of options when it comes to upgrades, so they have to think carefully about which improvements are better suited to their play style.
Theme Integration: It´s Spreading
To summarize, the game revolves around the idea of the power struggle between shadow and light. Due to a cataclysmic event in the past, the shadows have gained the power to engulf the world in darkness. The goal is to prevent this from happening. This is reflected in the gameplay in several ways: - The player must activate the great tower of light in their base to stop the spread of the shadows. To do this, they need 3 light essences, which they can extract from smaller, more distant light towers. As some of the protection against the shadows is lost after extraction, the shadows advance further and become stronger and more threatening. - The combat system is designed to mirror the spread of light, with the player unlocking chain reactions that spread amongst the enemy masses by upgrading their combat abilities. For example, a flash of light that jumps from enemy to enemy. - As the game progresses, the combat behavior of the enemies should increasingly match the theme of spreading. For example, an enemy type that can duplicate itself. Abilities are also closely linked to the theme of spreading; for example a pulse of light that spreads to damage the surrounding area. - More subtle ways of introducing the theme of it’s spreading is seen with the influence the player has on the world. Not only is the player activley working to stop the spread of shadows but they are also working to spread their light around the map through the re-kindiling of lanterns as well as restoring the light of the Towers.
5 Primary Mechanics Player combat abilities:
Base Sub Mechanic Description
Mechanic (Upgrade)
Dash Basic Evasion Mechanic. The
player can use a dash charge to move in and out of danger while being invulnerable. The dash charge has a cooldown.
Lightning Dash Dash deals damage on its Revisit at later
trajectory. time
Nova Dash Spawn Light Nova on Dash
Impact
Double Dash Increase the amount of dash
charges to 2.
Long Dash Double the dash distance.
Light Bolt Basic single target damage
dealing mechanic. The player shoots a light bolt towards a direction of their choice.
Piercing Bolt Light Bolt pierces through
enemies.
It´s Spreading! Light Bolt has a chance to Revisit at later
explode on impact, spawning time new light bolts that target other enemies.
Lightning Burst Instead of firing one bolt, the
player now shoots an array of light rays that has increased spread and fire rate.
6 Bolt Swarm Each time the player fires, a swarm of small light bolts that home in on enemies spawn around the player.
Light Nova Basic area of effect ability.
The player damages all enemies in close proximity to the player. The light nova has a cooldown.
Deep Nova The player spawns a
persistent AoE zone around themselves that damages and slows enemies that touch it.
Unstable Nova If a light nova kills an enemy
there is a chance that a new one will spawn at said enemy.
Big Nova Increase the range of the light
nova and add knock back.
Pure Nova Spawn a protective Ring of Revisit at later
light around the player. time Enemies outside of the ring cannot penetrate it.
Enemy combat abilities:
Type Abilities
Shade The basic enemy type.
Moves towards their target. Deals damage by touch. Fast movement Speed.
Phantom Enemy type that keeps their
distance to their target and shoots shadow bolts towards it. Can teleport over short distances. Medium movement speed. (intelligent)
7 Spreading Shadow Enemy type that moves towards their target. Deals damage by touch. Can duplicate itself. Slow movement speed.
BOSS
Secondary Mechanics Mechanic Description
Interaction System The Player can interact with NPCs and/or interactable objects in order to upgrade abilities, purchase items and trigger gameplay events.
Base Management The player spawns inside their base, which acts as a safehouse. They cannot use combat abilities or take damage inside their base. They can upgrade their abilities and interact with NPCs or other objects.
Base Tower The Main Light Tower in the base has to be “fed” with light essence in order to progress with the story. After each essence the radius of protective light around the base increases, giving the player a sense of spreading light.
Shadow Essence Currency for purchasing items. Obtained by defeating
enemies, finding treasures, etc.
Light Shard Currency for upgrading player combat abilities. Obtained
by extracting Light Essence, finding treasures and purchasing.
Light Essence Main resource to win the game. The player needs to interact with Light Towers in order to obtain Light Essence, which they will use to trigger the final boss fight.
Circle of Protective A circle of protective light forms around each dormant
Light light tower with yet to be extracted light essence. Enemies are not able to enter it.
Spreading Darkness Environmental effect, that happens after each
successful light essence extraction. Now the player
8 engages in wave combat constantly without the ability to fight back in order to force them to flee from the now “unsafe” environment. The longer the player stays outside of their base, the stronger the waves become.
9 Art
Style The primary style of the gameplay is pixel art inspired by classical fantasy rpg’s with a small modern twist. The variety of colors in are kept to a minimum to sell the idea of a corrupted world, slowly being consumed by darkness. A grim aesthetic paired with bright instances of light gives the mood a dark tone with a touch of hopefulness. The Specific palette chosen for the bulk of the environment was Cyan Abyss by Cabezinu. It's a dark color ramp with a bluey-green tint, tying all the outside world together under similar colors. The town itself and the people do not follow this light scheme, as they are not part of the spreading darkness. Palette can be found at: https://lospec.com/palette-list/cyan-abyss
Environment Design Environments will vary from Somber forests to vast ancient ruins. Each location was crafted to evoke a sense of wonder and discovery. The environment has visually distinct locations to help the player keep track of their whereabouts as well as alert them to any potential shifts in the nature of their enemies.
Character Design While human characters are not the main focus within the game, the villagers have been designed to evoke a feeling of friendliness towards the player. They are familiar townsfolk working to defend themselves from the spreading darkness.
The main character is designed after will-o-wisps from etiological folk-tales. A
suitable champion of light.
10 The creatures of the shadows where designed to visually signify disfigured almalgamations. Dark spiritual energy trying to become what they once were, human spirits. Now forever lost to the will of darkness and the corrupted forces behind it.
UI Key UI elements such as health indicators, abilities, and their cooldowns, as well as enemy health are kept very minimalistic to help reduce any clutter for the player. This is a key decision as the player may become distracted with UI instead of focusing on oncoming assaults by enemies. Ability Icons:
UI elements for upgrading or purchasing abilities and buffs will present
themselves in intuitive ways. Protecting towers will allow the player to interact with simplistic card-like options to upgrade their abilities. The player may also
11 interact with a shopkeeper npc who will have their own visually distinct UI to help breathe some life into the game. Shop Keep UI & Items:
Audio Drawing inspiration from “Hollow Knight” and “Ori and the Blind Forest”, the audio design in this game aims for a blend of somber, magical, and electronically infused tunes to complement its pixel art style.
SOund plays a pivotal role in shaping the atmosphere of the game. It oscillates between themes of light and shadow, mirroring the contrast between the protagonist, represented by a light orb emitting magical sounds, and the shadowy creatures, characterized by unsettling and grotesque noises.
The soundtrack and sound effects work together to immerse players in a world where the interplay of light and darkness fedines the environment. The aim is to create an audio experience that enhances the narrative and aesthetic elements of the game without overshadowing gameplay.
12 Controls
Keyboard • WASD – Moves the player • Right Mouse Click – Light Nova Ability • Left Mouse Click – Light Bolt Ability • Spacebar – Dash Ability • E – Interact • ESC – Escape from Vendor UI • Mouse – Player look • Enter – Pause Game
