Note: The name will be changed to Mazu Marbles — u9

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Introduction

Mazu Balls is an action puzzle game.

In One Sentence

Mazu Balls (pronounced Matsu) is an action puzzle game where the player shoots balls of various color at various colored targets.

Abstract

There is a stream of different colored balls that the player must get rid of by shooting them at the proper colored target before they reach the end of the rail they entered on.

Mazu Balls focuses on anxiety and panic. For the player to be successful, he will have to remain calm.

Target Platform

The target platform is the PC and the GP2X hand-held console, which has a touch-screen and a stylus, well suited for controlling such a game. The screen on the GP2X is a 3.5" 320x240 resolution tactile touchscreen, which is relatively small compared to the average home computer or laptop. Therefore, graphics are optimized for the GP2X and scaled to double size (640x480) for a better playable game on a computer.

Target Audience

The target audience is Extraverted Sensing types, specifically the ESTP and ESFP.

• http://www.cognitiveprocesses.com/extravertedsensing.html
• http://www.cognitiveprocesses.com/esfp.html
• http://www.cognitiveprocesses.com/estp.html

Extraverted Sensing types are strongly in the "here and now" and are looking for present opportunities.

Most likely those drawn to an action puzzle like excitement but do not play action games.

Unique selling points

List of USPs

• Elastic firing mechanism.
• Physically controlled balls.
• Highly focused on use of stylus as controller.
• Inverse mechanics to typical ball shooting games.

Game Flow

The game is an abstract action puzzle game with a top-down view of a rail or path, on which a chain of balls of different colors slowly roll along. The objective is to shoot these balls quickly onto their designated target, of identical color. The targets are conic holes which has the effect that if a ball is fired with too much power, it may miss the target and slingshot back into the rail of balls.

The player's task is to fire balls in the chain at their designated target. However, as the rail bends, balls may reach positions from which the line-of-sight to their target is blocked by other balls on the rail, obstacles, etc., and as such cannot be fired until the path is cleared.

This is a "Priority Panic" game. The strategy of the player will be based on prioritizing their attention and actions. For example, it's easy to sort out the balls at the first colored target, but as the balls continue down the rail, the player will have to split their attention progressively between the targets as the balls progress. Therefore, the rail near each target will be an "attention" area and possibly obstacles could be placed around the targets so that they can only shoot successfully from certain parts of the rail.

If they fail to remain calm they could enter a "panic" thus the penalty for throwing the ball too hard at the target, missing the target.

Game-over Criteria

The game is over when there is no more room on the rail for more balls coming in, i.e. the player is not able to empty the rail faster then it is filled.

Any levels that are unlocked at the time the game is over, will remain unlocked, and the player can try the same level again.

Level Structure

The level consists of a rail or path, which the balls role along, and some target holes spread around the level where the balls are to be fired. The level is the same size as the screen, and as such, does not scroll. Rail and target holes are graphically depicted so the player knows the path the chain of balls will take. The rail enters the level at an arbitrary position on the border of the level, and curves around the level and stops at an end-point. The game will be over should the chain of balls reach this end-point.

The rail may circle around and cross its own path going under or over the path much like a tunnel or bridge, making balls underneath the rail impossible to reach until they exit at the other end.

Player Controls

The player's only action is using the stylus (mouse) to select a ball and in a throwing motion fire the ball as if there is an elastic between the ball and the stylus position for a short time. The ball is fired upon release of the stylus or a predefined timeout, at which point the ball is shot in the specified direction with a force proportional to the distance between the stylus and the ball at the time of release.

The ball to be fired will, while being held by the stylus, become inactive, i.e. collisions with it will be canceled until the ball is fired or released. It will be as if the ball was lifted above the playing field while firing. The rest of the rail still moves along while a ball is being fired.

If the player fires with too little force the firing is canceled and the ball reenters the rail.

Special Features

• Special ball that can be shot into any target. it's worth more the farther the target is from the beginning of the line. Or the longer the ball stays on the rail. This creates more areas for the player to focus his attention on. Therefore it is the player's choice to let it through, a bit of "attention gamble."
• More to come

Scoring

Points are given for hitting the target hole, while points are deducted if you miss and the ball reenters the rail. Combos are possible by firing many of the same-color balls consecutively. The combo is terminated when another color ball is fired, or too much time passed since the last fired ball. Scoring is as follows:

• 100 points base score added per ball in target
• +20 added to base score for each consecutive ball of same color in target (combo)
  • When combo ends (timeout or another color shot) base score is returned to 100 points
• Bonus points are added for completing a level quickly enough (suggestions pending)
• 20 points are deducted should a ball reenter the rail

Story

One part of several stories from wikipedia.org:

According to legend, Mazu (mother-ancestor) was born Lin Moniang in 960 BCE (during the early Northern Song Dynasty) as the seventh daughter of Lin Yuan on Meizhou Island, Fujian. She did not cry when she was born, and thus her given name means "Silent Girl."

There are many legends about her and the sea.

Although she started swimming relatively late at the age of 15, she soon became an excellent swimmer. She wore red garments while standing on the shore to guide fishing boats home, even in the most dangerous and harsh weather.

According to legend, Lin Moniang's father and brothers were fishermen. One day, a terrible typhoon arose while they were out at sea, and the rest of her family feared that those at sea had perished. In the midst of this storm, she fell into a trance while praying for the lives of her father and brothers or dreamed of her father and brothers while she was sleeping or sitting at a loom weaving. Her father and brother were drowning. However, Moniang's mother now discovered her and tried to wake her, and diverted Moniang's attention, causing her to drop her brother, who as a result drowned. Consequently, Moniang's father returned alive and told the other villagers that a miracle had happened.

Mazu is usually depicted together with two guardian generals known as "Thousand Miles Eye" (Qianli Yan) and "With-the-Wind Ear" (Shunfeng Er). Their iconography, apart from resembling fierce demons can vary but "Thousand Miles Eye" is often red in color with two horns, while "With-the-Wind Ear" is green with one horn. They are said to have been two demons whom Mazu conquered and subdued, turning them into her own loyal guardians and friends.

Lin Moniang died in 987 at the age of 28, when she climbed a mountain alone and flew to heaven and became a goddess.

According to the story, levels can be played out at sea with cut-scenes continuing the story as the player progresses through all the levels. This should build up to a final climax when Mazu climbs the mountain and flies off and becomes a goddess, because she failed to save her brother. The "happy ending" is that she now protects other sailors as the goddess of the sea.

Characters

• Mazu
• Father
• Brother
• Mother

Narrative

Narrative needs to be written and divided into x number of cut-scenes between levels.

Visual Style

Japanese manga with Chinese references. The style is soft enough to appeal to a broader audience then the hard-core manga fans, i.e. appealing characters and settings, vivid pleasing colors but still governed by the story.

Cut-scenes are animated with fixed layered images that move. I.e. by scrolling forground and background differently, depth is created and the scene looks more alive.

Visual references

	Inspirational style. Appleseed featured film
	Inspiration for Mazu
	Chinese clothing
	Balls made of marble.

Game Screens

Graphics

• 5 16x16 balls.
• 5 32x32 targers.
• Many individual tiles for the "track"

Assets

• Logo
• Title screen
• Menu and options (could be the same as title screen)
• Rolling ball animation
• Numerous level designs
• Cut-scenes (exact number unknown until narrative done)
• Characters
  • Mazu
    • as adult
    • as young girl
    • as goddess
  • Father
  • Brother
  • Mother
  • General folks (are they called statistics?)
• Particles
  • Points scored (with arbitrary number)
  • Points deducted
  • hit
  • ball-ball collision
  • ball-enter rail
  • ball fired

Audio Style

The music lays the setting for the story. During gameplay the music is important to set the pace of the level and build up players anxiety. During the cut-scenes telling the story, the music should be fitting to the current part of the story. Soft pop with a little reference to Chinese musical influences, but still be appealing to western listeners.

describe audio style and any narrative. Audio designer needed her. Please step up… help help..

Assets

• General
  • Theme music played on title screen and menu.
  • Menu selections sound
• Game play
  • Level music. This could be several different scores as levels progress, or same music sped up to fit challenge level. It is important that this is a catchy easily recognizable tune.
  • Ball fired sound
  • Balls collide sound
  • Ball hits target sound
  • Ball returns to rail sound (negative effect)
  • Bonus points jingle
• Story
  • Background music. Various versions of similar scores as they fit with story and mood in current cut-scene.
  • Actor doing the narrative.
  • Background sounds befitting story (sound of winds, sea, people struggling, ancient fishing boat sounds, e.g. walking on wood. etc.)

Technical Specifications

The game is build from scratch using C++ and the SDL library with an ARM cross compiler for the GP2X build, and MinGW for the PC build, both Linux and Windows version. There is in theory no reason the game should not compile on Mac OS X also, however the developers do not have a Mac available to do this.

Tasks:

• Implement a mathematical spline model to represent the rail.
  • It is important to have linear lookup of positions along the rail, as the balls need to move linearly along this rail.
• Create gravitational pull of the target holes which should affect any loose balls, not on the rail.
• Model the chain of balls, possibly as a linked list.
  • Glide balls smoothly along the rail governed by momentum. Only the last ball in the chain is propelled giving the illusion that the chain is being pushed from off-screen.
  • List must be dividable into two or more lists when a ball in the middle is shot out of the chain.
  • Any part of the chain not being propelled forward off-screen, should start moving backward governed by some force, and build up momentum.
  • When the front of one chain reaches the end of another, these two should be connected and the momentum merged.
• Implement the drag-and-fire effect which cuts a list (chain) of balls in two and frees the clicked ball. Then add a force to the newly freed ball proportional to the dragging distance and relative to the dragged direction.
• Menu screen.
• High score screen.
• Game-over screen.
• Cut-scenes.
  • Animated layers.
  • Narrative and sub-titles synchronized.
• Text pop-ups.
  • Next Level.
  • Game over.
  • Get ready.
  • etc.
• Particle effects.
  • When a ball is fired.
  • Sparkles when a ball pops back into the chain of balls.
  • Tiny point-billboards when points are scored.
  • Other such tiny feedbacks to the player about what's going on.