Qbert 3D

Game Design Ideas

:Motivation for Playing:

The game is being marketed as an action puzzle game.  There is no finale to the game, players simply rack up the points to earn oh-so-precious bragging rights.  With each passing level, the enemies will become more cunning and more abundant, essentially increasing the degree of difficulty and setting players aside from their competing friends.

Game High Score

:Scoring:

All enemies are equal in intelligence and point value; however, Qbert is rewarded for wrecking havoc on his enemies.  Tumbling stones is the easiest method for Qbert to rid himself of danger and a minimal award is granted.  Use the special weapons blocks to rack up big points.  The more enemies that are killed with each bomb block the better!  Also, when an artic freeze block is activated, each enemy killed during the small time in which they are frozen awards an increasing point multiplier.  Watch your score sky-rocket on the on-screen score board.

:Beating the Level:

The level is considered over when Qbert successfully visits every block on the pyramid without being killed by an enemy.  When this occurs, Qbert's total score will be tallied and the game will transition to the next, increasingly difficult level.

:Qbert's Mobility:

Qbert is maintaining the same mobility pattern as the original game.  Although there are at most 6 blocks adjacent to Qbert at any given time, he can only move to four of them.  He can move up left, up right, down left, and down right.  Moving strictly right and left is prohibited.  This is done to limit the number of keys a player must use on the keyboard and adds to the difficulty of mastering the pyramid.  The only exception to the above rule is the use of a springboard block.  These blocks will always send Qbert to the top of the pyramid.  Save the springboard blocks, Qbert's enemies abide by the same motion rules.

:Rocks:

With the introduction of special blocks and rocks in 3D Land, we must define rules for their use.

First, Qbert will find rocks on the map which he can use to defeat his enemies one by one.  Some blocks on the pyramid will have a rock on them.  When Qbert encounters such a block, he automatically picks up the rock.  At any point from then on, he may throw the rock he is holding.  He can only hold one rock at a time.  The rock can only be tossed to down right or down left.  The rock will always fall to an adjacent block below; however, the bouncing of the rock to the left or right block will be random.  When the rock falls of the pyramid and out of sight, it will be placed back on the pyramid out of Qbert's immediate view.

If the rock hits an enemy on the way down, the enemy will be killed and the rock will continue bouncing down the pyramid until it disappears, possibly killing other enemies on the way down.  There will never be two rocks waiting on blocks on the visible pyramid at the same time.  

:Special Blocks:

As previously mentioned, there will be some special blocks in 3D Land.  The three briefly mentioned were the springboard, tornado, artic freeze, and bomb blocks.  These will be scarcely inserted onto the pyramid since they will be efficient enemies killers (the game must be a challenge).  Although the springboard blocks will always be activated, the tornado, artic freeze, and bomb blocks can only be used once per level or life.  Once these blocks have been used, they will be considered "visited" and treated like any other block.  

The tornado block will bring an enormous wind which will blow Qbert's competition right off the pyramid.  An artic freeze block will render Qbert's enemies frozen for a short period of time.  Higher scores will be rewarded for Qbert pouncing on more and more enemies while they are thawing.  Lastly, the bomb block is ignited when Qbert lands on it.  This explosion will kill enemies on any of the up to six adjacent blocks.

 

:Enemy Placement and Artificial Intelligence:

The placement of enemies will be random as long as they are a certain distance from Qbert.  This will ensure that an enemy is not inserted to the game adjacent to Qbert; that would be unfair to the player.

Like Qbert, his enemies can only move in the same four directions.  Therefore; at any given time, an enemy has a 50% chance of moving in the direction of Qbert.  For a beginner level, the choice of movement for the enemy will be random.  As the player's skill progresses and more levels are conquered, the enemies will have a higher probability of moving in the direction of Qbert.  

Qbert is caught by one of foes

:Player Perspective and Background Images for 3D Land:

The player perspective, also known as the camera, will have the same orientation throughout the game.  It will always show the side of the pyramid Qbert is on from top to bottom, with Qbert remaining in the relative middle.  The camera will be fixed in its height and distance perspective to the pyramid; it will rotate around the normal to the top face of the top block of the pyramid.

There will be more than ten different background worlds for Qbert.  The different backgrounds will be mapped to increasing level numbers so that no two adjacent levels will have the same background.  This is so players feel a sense of order in the levels.  The pyramid, enemies, rocks, and special blocks will always remain visually the same in each level.

:Sounds for Escape from Flatland:

While the game will not be sound heavy, it will need a variety of short sounds to aid in the interactivity of the game.  Below is a list of game situation in which a sounds effect will be required.

 

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