All For The Winner

Simulation

Target Age 

Niche

Synopsis: 

A Gambling Simulation game inspired by 1980s, 1990s Hong Kong Gambling films takes place in the year 1993. A man down on his luck and swimming in debt attempts to take his own life. After much thought and consideration, he realizes he cannot commit to this action. The next day, he is back out in the slums of Hong Kong to gamble away the little money he has. The audience learns of the man's nickname, meant to mock his "poor" gambling skills (nickname is still undecided). After getting considerably lucky back to back in a match, he begins to realize his gambling prowess.

Structure:

The beginning stages of the game will follow the structure of a typical tutorial. The protagonist is meant to lose these first few battles to learn the gameplay loop and the rules of each game mode. This will also establish the protagonist's situation to the audience without having to do a typical 'protagonist-explains-everything-to-the-audience' trope that is common in today's market of gaming. After the beginning set of stages, the game will remove the training wheels for the audience. This is where the protagonist pays off their debt through his winnings in the Hong Kong slums. The protagonist will, then, begin competing in casino tournaments until he reaches a status where the best gamblers in the world wishes to privately battle him. [This creates the connection of the audience and the protagonist rising through the ranks together, almost associating the audience with the protagonist as one]. After reaching such a high status, a man known as the "God of Gamblers" wishes to take the protagonist under his wing to train him to beat the legend's fellow rivals. He will teach the protagonist new game mechanics specific to the final battles in the game, where the protagonist has to understand these advanced strategies to beat these notorious opponents.

Summary: 

The primary action of the game is to bluff your enemies through dialogue. You must also understand your opponent and what category of player do they fall under; "Passive", "Aggressive", or "Logical". The "Passive" opponent only does safe bets, not willing to risk their earnings on a huge risk. The "Aggressive" player is much harder to read, they are willing to take risky bets and bluff their opponents. The "Logical" player is hardest to read as they play extremely safe when they do not have the best deck however, are extremely aggressive when they believe they have the best deck.  The camera view in this game is cinematic with many close-ups to act as hints. There will also be music ques to act as hints whilst also adding to cinematic flair. The game will build in challenge with each opponent becoming harder to read and some will even begin to rig the matches. It will be up to the player to catch their cheating and their bluffs and find a solution to beat them at their own game. The gameplay environments will be directly inspired by 1980s and 1990s Gambling Casinos in Hong Kong and other countries including Macau, U.S., to name a few. Some environmental inspiration will also be taken directly from the God of Gamblers series of films. The notable features of my game is finding out ways to 'out-cheat' the other contestants later in the game, almost as like a puzzle you slowly figure out with each attempt. This game will also serve as an introduction, to a new generation of players, to older styles of gambling like 5-Card Stud, Mahjong, and Dice.

Inspirations:

Poker Night At The Inventory / Poker Night 2

Serving as the base to understanding what my game is attempting to achieve, specifically in terms of gameplay and character interactions.

It is important to pay attention to the character interactions throughout the match as the tone each character says "Fold", "Raise", or "Check" can reveal their confidence of the hand they have. Little details like this can go a long way into rewarding the player for paying attention to detail. This can separate a seasoned player from a first-time player. The characters also comment on the moves the player performs, immersing the audience into actually being in the world and having their own role in the game.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game

UI / Player HUD Elements

The concept of visual elements in the environment giving the player information on their current stats (i.e. health, ammo, etc.) as shown in here would play into rewarding the player for attention to detail.  It encourages the player to pay attention and focus to get the information they need to win. This would also declutter the rest of the screen, giving room for more angles and shots that won't be obstructed or ruined by having a clunky / distracting UI.

D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die

Presentation / Cinematography

Asides how absolutely insane some of the QTEs are in this game, the game has many scenes following this format where actions are given weight visually through slow motion and repeated scenes showing different angles of the action. There is also a bit of a psychological aspect to the visual weight as the actions David Young (protagonist of D4) performs in game the player has to recreate (if using a Kinect) or follow the general motion of the action. Although I currently don't plan on doing any QTEs involving player action, this is a great way to add cinematic flair to the most basic of actions.

God Of Gamblers

The main source of inspiration for the game.

Notice the cinematography (specifically perspective), use of audio ques / soundtrack, voice tones, and acting. The heavy use of shots to portray to the audience who has control in the moment can be converted into gameplay. The audio ques can play into attention to detail again, rewarding the player for noticing the que for someone cheating (as an example). The use of tone and the acting is extremely well done in the last battle, leading the enemy into a false sense of security and even deceiving the viewers to think the protagonist has lost. The battles in this movie essentially capture what this game is truly aiming to achieve.

Besides the scenes and soundtrack of the movie, the cover has also provided many ideas for the Box and Disc art which is very important. As it serves as a first impression to many players.

Soundtrack Inspirations

Here is a small list of soundtracks that have inspired for the sound I'm attempting to achieve with this game. The main title screen and grand scenes will have more of the bombastic, grandiose sound whilst when playing the game it will be more ambient (as to not distract the player). The ambience take most inspiration from the early 2000s demoscene and soundtracks of the time such as Deus Ex and Silent Hill 2. This will help fit into the semi-low poly PS2 style I'm attempting to achieve with this title.