THE GAME DESIGN OF A 2D RPG WITH A NEW MECHANIC COMBINING ACTION

AND TACTICAL DECISION-MAKING

by

Zhaokang Xu

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Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
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for the degree of Master of Science in Game Science and Design

in the Graduate School of the College of Arts, Media and Design of

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Northeastern University

December 2018
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ProQuest Number: 13423427




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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract 3

Acknowledgements 3

Introduction 4

Background 5

Approach of Version 1.1 12

Result of Version 1.1 19

Discussion of Version 1.1 21

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Approach of Version 2.0 22

Progress of Version 2.0 IE 27

Discussion 32

Conclusion 32
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References 33
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Abstract
When talking about top-down 2D action games, people usually think about fighting with
monsters in roguelike games. When mentioning tactical decision-making, the first thing comes to
mind is real-time strategy games. However, what if the action elements and tactical cooperation
are combined together? That is exactly what I have created to bring players a brand new
experience. In this paper, I will introduce this new mechanic and how I build a top-down 2D
game around it. The result of version 1.1 is not satisfactory. I analyze the result and come up
with solutions to improve the game. For version 2.0 I am developing, I apply some mechanics
from other games with similar elements and theories that can help me evolve the game based on
the core mechanic. The version 2.0 has not finished. But I exhibit works I have done to present
design changes I have made for the game.

Acknowledgments
I thank Christoffer Holmgård (Northeastern University) for providing advice for the game
project and the paper writing. I thank Xiaoqing Yang (Zhejiang University) for providing
assistance in game programming. I thank Yuliang Gou (Sichuan Conservatory of Music) and

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Feixue Gao (Shanghai University) for working on art design for the game.

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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Game Concept
The game is a brand new concept with my original idea of a mechanic inspired by the circular
formation (Figure 1) of ancient Chinese armies. I simplified the formation to a 4-man squad
(Figure 2) in which soldiers can be rotated around the main character.

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​ he circular formation of ancient
Figure 1. T ​Figure 2.​ The simplified formation in the
Chinese armies. game.

In the game, players can collect different types of soldier, including archer, general, lancer, and
the soldier with a shield, each of which has different skills and attributes. With this mechanic, I
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would like players to create their tactics of arranging the army and embattling to deal with
different types of enemies from different sides. What makes this game different from the
traditional RPGs is that it integrates the action and tactic into one avatar. On the one hand, it
requires the player to make the quick decision according to the environment. On the other hand,
the tactical cooperation in this game is not as complex as some real-time strategy games (RTS),
such as ​Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines (​ Pyro Studios, 1998) and other works in this​ s​ eries, in
which the player needs to control multi-units. In a word, the player can enjoy the fighting while
having the tactical decision-making experience.

1.2 Versions of Iteration

During this thesis project, the design and development of the game went through three major
version iterations: 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0. The current version (v 1.1) of the game has four playable
levels including a tutorial level, two story mode levels, and an endless mode level. V 1.0 is given
a theme of the army of ancient Qin, a Chinese Dynasty, versus the army of a future world since
the army of Qin Dynasty is one of the most overwhelming ones in ancient Chinese military
history. The Qin soldiers are designed as the image of Qin Terracotta Warriors as they represent
the civilization of the Qin Dynasty.

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The first level of the story mode was built as the ancient mausoleum while the second level was
designed as a high-tech laboratory to express the theme of “ancient versus future”. However, I
received negative feedback about the level design, both the art style and the playability, from
several playtesting sessions. The most fatal problem is that most players did not have much fun
from the core mechanic though they claimed that different soldiers rotating around one character
seemed novel. Also, they were not impressed by the art design. Some of them said it could not
appeal them to play the game.
Indeed, this rotating mechanic has never been in any other games. But why it could not give
players fun? According to Malone (as cited in Vieira et al., 2017), fun can satisfy curiosity and
foster learning. Fun is also about challenges which related to opportunities for action (Vieira et
al., 2017). Moreover, fun can be further detailed as immersion (Vieira et al., 2017). However, in
v 1.1, after players mastering this mechanic, there is barely anything else to get their interest or
require them to learn. In the game, there are not many chances for players to make full use of this
mechanic. Worse still, the history of Qin dynasty and the image of Terracotta could not attract
players to get involved in the game world.
Therefore, I decided to make big changes for the new version (v 2.0) including game narrative,

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art design, game control, and most important, the level design. First, I decided to change the
story background from the Qin Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, which is much more popular
around the world. Also, since the theme is ancient versus future, Tang Dynasty, the most
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prosperous one among ancient Chinese dynasties, would be a better choice to be the antagonist
of the future world. Second, the art style will integrate modern high-tech into ancient Chinese
world to create a whole new worldview that no one else has done before, which could be a big
attractiveness for players. Third, I will redesign game levels using the
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Mechanics-Dynamics-Aesthetics (MDA) framework (Hunicke​ ​et al., ​2015​). MDA is a formal
approach for clarifying and strengthening the iterative processes of game design. Players always
experience responses from playing the game. They can only determine the source in their
behaviors and mechanics that cause their action through further analysis. However, as game
designers, we should not only focus on creating mechanics but also understand how players feel
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the game. Therefore, for every element in the game, the idea cannot be limited to its setting or
how it will look like. I should first think about what is the targeted experiences or emotional
responses and what dynamics, or behaviors lead to them. Then I will come up with mechanics
that generate those behaviors.

2. BACKGROUND
2.1 Game Concept
I came up with the game idea while visiting Qin Terracotta Army (Figure 3), which is a
collection of ​terracotta​ sculptures depicting the armies of ​Qin Shi Huang​, the first ​Emperor of
China​. It is a form of ​funerary art​ buried with the Emperor in 210–209 BCE with the purpose of
protecting the Emperor in his afterlife. The terracotta figures were placed in the pits in precise
military formation according to rank and duty. During the war, the army of Qin did not only use
a single branch of the arm or a single formation. Instead, they made use of formations combining
multi-arms, multi-unit, multi-strategy, and multiple means to fight with enemies (王辉强, 1994).
That became the inspiration of the formation around Qin Shi Huang in the game (Figure 2).

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 ​ in Terracotta Army.
Figure 3. Q

According to the history, the Qin Dynasty fell into decay after the Qin Shi Huang’s death and
was destroyed rapidly because his successor blindly believed a traitor. However, what if the Qin

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Dynasty had survived and had developed for thousands of years? It could become a superior
kingdom. But the history could repeat itself. Another crisis is threatening the kingdom. This
time, Qin Shi Huang comes back from the tomb to save the kingdom from destruction. This
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motivates the theme: Ancient army versus future high-tech.

2.1 Related Games and Art Works

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2.1.1 Version 1.1
Though the core mechanic is a new concept, there are games in this genre I can refer to for my
level design, game art, and other mechanics like artificially intelligent (AI) behaviors.
I had planned to make this game a top-down 3D game, but I had to give up since I could not find
any 3D artist to assist me. Therefore, I referred to some 2D action games such as ​Juicy Realm
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(SpaceCan, 2018) (Figure 4)​ ​and ​Soul Knight (​ ChillyRoom Inc., 2017) (Figure 5), to learn their
camera moving, game space set-up, and animations, etc.

Figure 4. J​ uicy Real game scene.