Inspiration:
Poker Night At The Inventory - Game Design

Ghostbusters: The Video Game - UI

D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die - Presentation

God of Gamblers- Overall Concept and Goal

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.

Exploratory Design Concepts:

Itch Page Design

World Map Design:

Color Scheme Variants:

Original Character Design:

Pixel Arts:
   

Sprite Animation:
   

  

UI Design Concept: