Bubbles was once a happy-go-lucky goldfish living in the aquarium with his parents. Some say Bubbles’ parents raised him too soft, and would have described him as a “bleeding-heart liberal” when it came to sharks. But after coming home from a long day in the ‘School of Fish’ to discover that his parents were brutally eaten by a vicious shark, Bubbles underwent a change.
No longer could anyone describe him as a nice little goldfish. Bubbles had become a homicidal goldfish, disgruntled at the aquarium, and bent on revenge. Using the only weapon he has, his bubbles, Bubbles is going to seek out and kill the shark that killed his parents. His anger toward the aquarium’s incompetence at preventing this terrible crime causes him to kill everything that moves in the aquarium. Of course, Bubbles must avoid the usual dangers that threaten all life in the aquarium: the Cat’s paw, and the little boy who keeps trying to squeeze fish to death. Along the way Bubbles loots the aquarium of all its treasures.
The following list of reactions must be met for the game to be playable.
The following section describes how the player responds to the world, i.e., the aquarium.
Basically, we will use the parallax scrolling technique in our game. Bubbles will appear at one third of the screen at the beginning of the game. When the Bubbles reaches two third of the screen in the forward direction, the scrolling will start at the same speed as Bubbles. Same technique applies to the backward movement. When Bubbles moves back to one third of the screen, the scrolling will move at the same speed as Bubbles. If the scrolling reaches the end including forward direction and backward direction, the scrolling just stops. When the opponent moves fast enough, the water in aquarium will produce the effect of vibration.
The player can move up, move down, move forward, move backward and move diagonal. However, we will give a limited space of aquarium. When the player moves to the end of the scrolling including forward direction and backward direction, or moves to the top of the aquarium, or the bottom of the aquarium, it will collide with aquarium, so it knows that is the edge of the aquarium and turn around to swim to another direction.
When the player dies, as we wish the game to continue, we shall reset the player’s position, and in order to avoid the opponents constantly attacking the player, we remove the opponents from the game and reset their positions during the next round of the game.
The user can move around in 2D in the world, and shoot bubbles forward from the mouth at victim fish. The user can kill victim fish, the level boss, and collect treasures along the way.
When the bubble shot out by Bubbles gets too close to an opponent (victim goldfish or starfish), both the opponent and the bubbles (the weapon) die. The bubbles (the weapon) will of course live again when the player fires again, but the opponent will not be so fortunate for this round of the game. When Bubbles shoots at the level boss (the shark), bubbles (the weapon) need to hit the head of the level boss for three times, and then the level boss dies.
We will space out the opponents in the aquarium.
For our statistics, we shall inform the user how many lives the user remains and which level the user is playing.
Each will be assigned with a point. Those ones with higher points will be located more close to the opponent. The number of treasure chests will be random but no more than a certain limit at a time. We will use a random timer to control the appearance of the treasure chests. When the player is close enough to treasure chest, the treasure chest will be disappear and point assigned to that disappeared treasure chest will be accrued to the player’s winning point.
In general, we will give our opponents the appearance of intelligence by letting them move towards the player, the Bubbles. When they are looking in the right direction and the player is close enough. The following section describes how the individual opponent responds to the Bubbles in the aquarium.
Victim goldfish, the opponent, attempts to kill the Bubbles by spitting bubbles back at Bubbles. Victim goldfish tries not to be killed by not being with the Bubbles at the same level in the aquarium. It dies when Bubbles hits it by shooting bubbles.
Starfish, the opponent, tries to kill the Bubbles by spinning towards Bubbles. In order for the starfish to be smart and not easy to be killed, it does not spin at the same level as the Bubbles. It spins towards the Bubbles from different angle. It dies when Bubbles hits it by shooting bubbles.
Shark, the level boss, attempts to kill the Bubbles by trying to eat the Bubbles. It moves at a speed towards the Bubbles. It dies when Bubble kills it by firing bubbles and hitting the shark’s head for three times.
The following is a list of reactions that, while would be nice to include, are not required for the first version of the game, but may be included if time permits.
Cat’s paws randomly reach into the aquarium and try to touch the Bubbles. Bubbles needs to doge the cat’s paws in order not to be killed.
Little boy’s fingers randomly reaches into the aquarium and tries to touch the Bubbles. Bubbles needs to doge the little boy’s fingers in order to be alive.
Obstacles will be created and randomly put in the aquarium. Bubbles needs to doge them to avoid hitting the obstacles.
Tasks the player should accomplish.
The player collects points by killing victim fish and by collecting treasures.
The player advance to higher levels by killing the victims in the current level and the level boss at the end. (low priority).
The player must avoid coming in contact with cats’ paws and little boys’ fingers, otherwise the player looses a life. (low priority).
The player finishes a level when the player kills the level boss at the end.
Further levels look the same but are different in the following ways: there are more enemies, the enemies move around faster, the enemies shoot faster, there is less treasure, and it is harder to kill the level boss (i.e. the level boss must by struck 3 * level_number times to die).
A player’s lives are persistent across the levels of the game. For example, if the player had 2 lives left at the end of level 1, then when the player start level 2, the player still has 2 lives left.
The points the player accumulates across levels remains when the player advances to the next level.
The following list of characters, items and objects must be met for the game to be playable.
Characters that are encountered at each level of the game.
Bubbles, the player, is a homicidal goldfish bent on killing all other fishes such as victim goldfishes, starfishes and the level boss, shark in the aquarium. Rationale: Bubbles represents the player and the main character in this game. The player can move the Bubbles around and kill other fishes in the aquarium.
Victim goldfish is the enemy that tries to shoot and kill the Bubbles in the aquarium. Rationale: This allows the Bubbles, the player, to kill the victim goldfish in order to win the points and keep the game going.
Starfish is another type of the opponent that tries to kill the Bubbles in the aquarium. It usually spins towards the Bubbles. Rationale: This allows the Bubbles, the player, to fight the starfish in order to keep alive and win the points at the same time.
Shark is the level boss, the final enemy at the end of each level. It also tries to kill the Bubbles. Rationale: This increases the difficulty for the player to play at the end of each level. The Bubbles, the player, needs to kill the shark in order to play the next level and win the big points at the same time.
Items that are encountered at each level of the game.
Aquarium is a glass container for Bubbles, victim goldfishes, starfishes, shark and other water plants to live. It provides the environment and background for the game. Rationale: This allows the player to visualize what the game environment is since all characters in this game are the water animals.
Treasure chest is the item that the Bubbles needs to collect in order to get points. The treasure chest usually locates in the bottom of the aquarium. Rationale: This allows player to win more points.
Bubbles, the player, and victim goldfishes use bubbles, the weapon, to shoot the opponent. Rationale: This allows the player to use bubbles, the weapon, to kill the enemies. Also, the victim goldfishes use bubbles, the weapon, to shoot the player.
Objects that are encountered at each level of the game.
There is an indicator that shows how many lives the Bubbles, the player, has. It usually displays at the upper right corner of the scene. Rationale: It allows player to know how many lives the Bubbles remains in any stage of the game.
Level indicator is used to show the player what level he/she plays. It may locate at the lower left corner of the scene. Rationale: This allows the player to see what level he/she is playing in any stage of the game.
Score indicator is used to show the player how many points the player has. It may locate just below the level indicator. Rationale: This allows the player to track how many points he/she won.
The following is a list of characters and items that, while would be nice to include, are not required for the first version of the game, but may be included if time permits.
Characters that are encountered at each level of the game.
Cat’s paws may be in the aquarium and try to touch the Bubbles. Bubbles needs to doge the cat’s paws in order to keep alive. Rationale: This tends to create the difficulty for the game.
Little boy’s fingers can be in the aquarium and try to touch the Bubbles. Bubbles needs to doge it in order to not lose life. Rationale: It just another feature to make game difficult to play.
Obstacles are used to put in the aquarium randomly. So the Bubbles has to make a detour in order to avoid hitting the obstacles and losing its life. Rationale: This is used to increase the degree of the difficulty for the player to player.
Bubbles is a homicidal goldfish bent on killing the shark that killed his parents and all other fishes as well.
The following list of sound effects must be met for the game to be playable.
When the homicidal goldfish game starts, cute background music will accompany.
When fighting the level boss, shark, different “angry” background music plays.
This is the sound when Bubbles shoots.
This is the sound when victim goldfish shoots.
This is the sound when starfish fish spins and tries to hit the Bubbles, the player.
This is the sound when the bubbles collects the treasure chest from the bottom of the aquarium and wins the points.
This is the sound when Bubbles kills the opponents such as victim goldfish and starfish.
This is the sound when Bubbles successfully kills the level boss, the shark.
The victory music plays after the bubble kills the level boss and passes the current level.
This is the sound when Bubbles gets killed by the enemies.
The following is a list of sound effects that, while would be nice to include, are not required for the first version of the game, but may be included if time permits.
This is the sound when cat’s paws touch the Bubbles.
This is the sound when the little boy’s fingers touch the Bubbles.
This is the sound when Bubble hits the obstacles in the aquarium.
The player controls the game by using keys on the keyboard.
Moves Bubbles up.
Moves Bubbles down.
Moves Bubbles backwards.
Moves Bubbles forwards.
Moves Bubbles forwards and up.
Moves Bubbles forwards and down.
Moves Bubbles backwards and up.
Moves Bubbles backwards and down.
Quits the game.
Fires bubbles (the weapon).
Starts a new game.
The number of lives the player has left is displayed at the top left of the screen while the game is in progress.
The number of points the player has is displayed at the bottom left of the screen while the game is in progress.
When the player starts the game the opening menu/screen is displayed. This menu allows the player to start a new game by pressing the ‘Enter’ key, and to quit the game by pressing the ‘Esc’ key. This also displays instructions and credits to the user.
Player starts a new game by pressing ‘Enter’ on the keyboard. This is displayed on the opening menu/screen.
Player can quit the game by pressing ‘Esc’ on the keyboard. This is displayed on the opening menu/screen.
Game instructions are displayed on bottom left of the opening menu/screen.
Game credits are displayed on the bottom right of the opening menu/screen.
The game title is displayed across the top of the opening menu/screen.
The player is not allowed to save the game.
The player is not allowed to load a game.
See 'Art Bible' section.