#lonewarrior

Lone Warrior: A 2d platformer in which the environment of levels change based on what the player does throughout the game.

Outline/basic rules of the game: The player, who is a lone warrior, has to traverse through 2 levels. They have a weapon with them at all times and decides what actions they will take upon having it. The start of the game tells the player that “to be a warrior, you must kill enemies and save people”. However the dairy next to the instructions give a slight hint to the player that they can do whatever they want since they are a lone warrior. With this advise taken, players will then go through first level and do what they feel is “warrior” like. Players could go traditional and kill all enemies in their way and save people. Or players could avoid everything they see and just try to reach the end of the level. Or players could kill everything they see including the people they are suppose to save. Depending on the players action are as a warrior, it will determine what their next level will look like. The next level is determined through 2 scores, one that represents the number of enemies the player has killed. And two, the number of people the player has “saved”. Based on these two scores, if a player does their usual good deeds for example, they will go on to level 2 as if nothing happened to the environment. But make bad choices and the level will have a darker tone and the game will become harder. In the end, the main selling point of my prototype is to have a 2d platforming game where choices matter and determines the players level and ending. 

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Things in my prototype that needs fixing: 

- Based on my personal and the peoples playtest of the game, the jumping is quite hard to nail. Players fall and lose in a certain part in level 1 very often, Fix the jumping height mechanic

- The attack hitbox is delayed and very weird. There are times when the player attacks and the enemy is killed but the sword animation does a delay reaction. Fix the attack animation and hitbox.

- The instructions in the “control page”. Players read the instructions and believed that they were required to kill enemies and saved people. Indeed my intention was for the players to believe that is how the game is suppose to be played but the long diary hints that you don’t have to follow what it means to be a “warrior” and can do what the player feels since they are a lone warrior. That message was not clear enough to many players and I need to fix it. 

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Things in my prototype I would add, edit, and improve to the game:  

- Based on the amount of feedback, there should be an “interaction” button when saving people. The collision idea made it hard for players to see if they killed or saved the people, so it would be better if there was a button instead.

- Adding on to the last suggestion, there should be an interaction button for enemies as well. Players get the choice of killing or not killing the enemy. 

- Add more personal text to the screen when saving and killing people to make the game feel more personal and interactive. 

- More levels, I ran out time to add a 3rd official bad and good level and only have 3 (level 1, level 2 good, and level 2 bad). 

“I don’t like chipmunks,” Nod wrinkled his nose, “they’re not very nice and they’re mean and they won’t share their food like chickadees and they chase you away if you get too close and they eat frogs sometimes and that’s icky, and in the fall they stuff nuts and stuff in their cheeks and they look stupid like this...”

The boy blew air into his cheeks, making them as big as he could. Ronin walked by and raised his eyebrows at him, then reached down and poked his cheeks, forcing him to let all the air out.

“Hey!” Nod giggled, “I was showing Lonewarrior how dumb chipmunks are and chipmunks aren’t people so I can call them dumb if I want to.”

“Ah,” Ronin nodded, “did you tell them that chipmunks are aggressive and sometimes attack our harvest caravans in the fall?”

“Yes,” Nod said, “no, maybe? I told them chipmunks were mean and didn’t share their food, and what does ‘aggressive’ mean?”

“It means they attack without us doing anything to them first,” Ronin explained.

“Oh, yeah, I told them that,” the boy nodded, “I told them that if you get too close to their food they chase you away even if you didn’t mean to be too close and weren’t going to take any.”

“They aren’t very friendly,” Ronin agreed.

“They’re bad, but not as bad as ferrets or mice and they look dumb with their cheeks all stuffed with food, and even thought they’re fluffy and have pretty patterns on their fur, they’re not any good for cuddling with,” Nod concluded decisively, “I don’t like them.”

Thank you for the question lonewarrior!

Finn and Ronin met in basic training. Finn was born and raised in Moonhaven, and Ronin is from a town about a half day’s journey away called Sweetfern. They enlisted at the same time and were in the same barracks during basic training. Afterwards they were assigned to the same unit (not actually a coincidence -  part of what happens in basic training is the assessment of who works well together so they can be placed in units that will function smoothly).

After they got out of basic training, Ronin and Finn shared an apartment. All Leafmen are entitled to housing, and if they’re willing to take on roommates, they get much nicer housing than the studio flats that people who opt to live alone get, so almost all Leafmen choose to have a few roommates.

When Ronin became second-in-command to the previous general, General Niraj, he moved into private officer’s housing (which is where he still lives – he never did get around to upgrading, even though he was entitled to when he became general, and again when he got Nod he could have applied for a bigger unit). Ronin just figured it wouldn’t have been very nice to his roommate to have to deal with all the disruptions that being on call 24 / 7 created.

When Niraj finished his term as general and Ronin took over, it just seemed natural to Ronin to request that Finn become his second-in-command. When Ronin had been a unit captain, Finn had been his second-in-command (Finn became captain of that unit after Ronin was promoted), so Ronin knew they worked well together and that Finn would be able to do the job well.