The Game Design Document [.pdf]

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equesting roads stay away automatically grants it, for example) in order to show the user what happens but not require them to balance economic and socio-political issues as well as their own environment. The town will also serve as the menu in between games, with different buildings serving as menu options (Town hall changes player, or a road out of town quits the game, for example) User Interaction Most environmental factors will be activated by the user upon clicking the appropriate interface icon, which then changes their mouse cursor into the appropriate manipulator. Each factor will have a "basic" manipulator which costs very little money but does not have a huge effect on the crop, which is useful for the start of the level. These manipulators will be held on the cursor and activated repeatedly or continuously, with each activation consuming money and affecting the crop without removing the tool. Examples of these tools will be a water nozzle, pest swatter, or the popular "Dog Bark" tool to scare away birds. Other tools, purchased later in the game, will be placed on the crop and work continuously for a short time, consuming money as they are placed and continuing to affect the crop until they disappear. To get to the town, there will be a picture of the town on the interface near the sunflower. Clicking that pauses the simulation and brings the user to the town. Different buildings will activate different features, for example, the town hall will allow the player to help pass or decline certain laws, and the bank will allow the player to apply for grants/ loans. All these interfaces will be very simple and explained by the narrator when they first become available, and can be re-explained with a help button. Level Design Levels will be designed based on the crop they are growing. Potatoes will be grown in a wide open field, corn and wheat will be grown in large circular fields, apples will be grown in rows of trees. The game will be roughly tile based, though the user themselves cannot select exactly how the tiles can grow. The tile growth and progression is determined by the environmental factors. If conditions are right for planting, a tilled tile may turn into a plant tile. If there are too many pests, tiles may start to exhibit insects. Tile growth parameters will be defined in the level file, with separate parameters describing each difficulty level. The Town The town will be the hub of all activity not related directly to the fields. It will consist of a few options to the player beyond the standard save, load, and exit. One simple option is to return to the fields. Another will be the town hall, where the player may lobby for or against policies that will affect their farm. Some policies will be outright beneficial or detrimental to the player and they must take the correct action to give them better or easier success. Other policies will be controversial and will both help and harm the player in different ways. It will be up to the player to determine which side they want to go with depending on their current situation. A short list of possible policies is below: Build a large commercial airport, increasing pollution significantly and allowing
cropdusters on demand. Build a small rural airport, increasing pollution slightly and allowing cropdusters, but less frequently. Create a city-wide composing initiative, reducing fertilizer costs. Require genetically modified foods to be marked, helping your final score if you are all natural but hurting it if you are not. Allow cloud seeding, costing money up front but increasing natural rain overall. Open lands initiative, increasing public open spaces. Increases bee and bird populations. The Environment Most of the game is about balancing environmental factors. A key component to this is that different factors will affect each other in unique ways that the players must learn. Below is a rough draft of the factors, how the player can manipulate them, and how they will interact with each other. Water: The most simple of the factors, the crop's water level will decrease over time, faster on sunny days. Water can be increased naturally through rain, or by the player activating a water nozzle or placing a water sprayer. Ideal water conditions depend on the crop. Water will decrease faster the more water there is, making it harder to maintain crops with high water demands. Pests: The bane of any crop, pests should be always kept at a minimum. The player can remove pests by swatting at them or placing a "Big Bag-o-Bugs" which will attract and kill the bugs. Pests reproduce exponentially, so they must be kept under control or their population can explode very fast. Birds: Certain crops don't mind birds, certain crops are eaten by birds. More birds can reduce pests, but will also reduce bees, and in the case of fruit crops, reduce the yield. Birds can be attracted to the area with bird houses, or driven away by dogs barking or a scare crow. These are one time purchases from the town hall. Pollution: Pollution should be kept at minimal levels to increase crop yield and quality. Pollution will also drive away birds, pests, and bees. Pollution can be reduced by policies in the town hall, and by setting aside part of your land for a forest. Nutrients: Most crops must be continually fertilized, and each crop is different. Increasing fertilization will increase the yield, but it will also increase pollution and pests. Nutrients can be spread by a spreader truck throwing fertilizer or sprayed. Bees: Some crops need to be pollenated, and bees are the answer. Local bee population can be increased by policy in the town hall, setting aside part of your own land for a forest, or by hiring beekeepers to place hives. Bee populations are reduced by birds and pollution. The Crops and Difficulty Settings The following common, easily recognizable crops will be featured in the game, in order of difficulty and deliciousness. The crops were picked with the following criterion: Later crops should be roughly more difficult to grow, be more "interesting" or tasty, and operate on a seasonal basis. For this reason Apples was struck from the running as I could not figure a way to incorporate the trees already having been grown and decided the Apple level would
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Page 7: factors in balance. The closer they

The Game Design Document [.pdf]

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