Design Document for King's Feast
Version # 0.4
November 06, 2002
<< Design History >>
This I suppose, is a history of the design document.
Version 0.4
Added Section
- User Interface
Version 0.3
Fixed typos
Updated the following sections:
- Feature Set
- The World Layout
- Object Rendering
- Game Engine
Changed copyright
Changed 'Dural' to 'Levbolne'
Changed 'Character Rendering' to 'Object Rendering' (section titles)
Added Section - 'Incomplete Sections'
Added Section - 'Credits'
Added GFDL/GPL information to document
Edited the Document for readability
Version 0.2
Updated the following sections:
- Game World
- Game Engine
- Musical Scores and Sound Effects
Version 0.1
Version 0.1 is the initial document.
- Everything is new :)
<< Incomplete Sections >>
Incomplete Sections
mostly all of them could use additional information
Completely-Devoid-of-Info (need the most help with these)
Rendering Systems
Lighting Models
The World Layout
<< Game Overview >>
Philosophy
Main Game Focus
The main reason to do this game is to get a step by step documentation
how to design a game. Also, if we have a good mechanism to make
decisions based on taste, we could get our code into Worldforge
development, thus helping to conquer the world...er...to make it an
even better platform for games. Last but not least, we do it to
learn/improve our C++ skills and to have lots of fun.
(Kai Blin)
Supported Platforms
Currently the game code compiles and runs on Linux, most UNIX variants,
and versions of Windows. (At least we think it should)
<< Common Questions >>
What is the game?
You are Levbolne's best chef. Unfortunately you are stuck with
Levbolne's second best kitchen. The best kitchen is, of course, in the
king's palace. Alas, that's also where Levbolne's second best chef is.
So in order to get where you belong, you have to prove you simply are
the best. You have to prepare the best menus for guests and your local
duke and become really famous. Eventually, the king will decide you're
the best and hire you. Or so you hope.
Why create this game?
King's Feast is a WorldForge project that aims to teach, both C++
programming and WorldForge game design techniques.
Where does the game take place?
The game, as one might expect, takes place in a kitchen, where you are
the best cook in the land with the second best kitchen. You must prove
that you are the best and earn the job of King's cook.
What do I control?
The player controls recipes, assistant cooks, and anything that is in
the kitchen.
How many characters do I control?
There are other assistants that one can control or order to prepare
items. However, it is just a simple order, not an in-depth guiding
process for these other characters.
What is the main focus?
The main focus is to create innovative dishes that taste good, in order
to win the favor of the King and earn the job of cook in his court.
<< Feature Set >>
General Features
Large Castle for the Cooking Contest
Gameplay
The basis of the game is to create dishes that will effectively pass the
test of the neural network and please the King. Creativity and variation
are required in order to have new and innovative dishes to please the
King and get the job as his chef.
The game is organized into days. The flow of a day will be as follows:
1.Get your orders ("100 peasants and 3 dukes for supper tonight,
m'lord," says the messenger.)
2.Review information about your diners.
3.Prepare a menu.
Use recipes from cookbooks
create recipes
divide into courses
4.Finalize everything. Chose who gets what. (The dukes get the
roast, the peasants only get dry bread) (could possibly have to
go to #3 if you don't have enough money)
5.Cook.
6.Get Results (Dukes hated the food, peasants loved the bread)
7.Get money for the next day.
8.Quit/Save/Continue
Following a prescribed amount of time, the game will end. That way you
don't get an unlimited number of chances to impress the recipient of the
meal.
<< The Game World >>
Overview
King's Feast takes place in a Medieval Castle setting. There are various
locations in the castle that the cook will utilize in order to
successfully craft a meal.
The Physical World
Overview
The entire world is inside a castle. There are various rooms that a
player will need to utilize in order to be successful in crafting a
meal.
Key Locations
Kitchen – Cooking is done here.
Pantry
Cellar
Feast Hall
Lesser Hall - for guest interaction
StoreHouse - order and obtain supplies
Meeting Room - create menus/budgets
Scale
The game will encompass multiple rooms. Therefore, the scale of the
world will not be very large. The entire world will be about the size of
a large castle.
Objects
Bowls – For mixing ingredients
Utensils – for mixing and cutting
Ingredients – Quantity of these will be limited (?). And they will be
used to create dishes.
Sink - For washing ingredients
Oven - cooking food
Open Fire - boil water, cook
Time
The game will progress in Days. The player will cook for a day and then
after the results of the cook's efforts are in, the day will end and the
cook will return the following day to cook again.
<< Rendering System >>
Overview
Give an overview of how your game will be rendered and then go into
detail in the following paragraphs.
2D/3D Rendering
Describe what sort of 2D/3D rendering engine will be used.
Camera
Overview
Describe the way the camera will work and then go into details if the
camera is very complicated in sub sections.
Camera Detail #1
The camera will move around like this and that.
Camera Detail #2
The camera will sometimes move like this in this special circumstance.
<< Game Engine >>
Overview
The game engine features a neural network to evaluate the dishes created
by the player/cook.
Game Engine Detail #1
The game engine will keep track of everything that the King has
previously eaten. This will force the cook to continuously come up with
new dishes. The neural network will also store information about how a
dish tastes.
Collision Detection
I do not envision collision detection being a major component of the
game. It might be beneficial from the perspective that if the cook it
walking around and bumps into one of his hired hands, he might drop his
dish or something.
Data Persistence
Here are some solutions to the data storage problem:
1. stdin/stdout: Many unix commandline tools don't store data at all,
but instead expect that it will all be provided through stdin. They
don't store anything, either, but just regurgitate it all to stdout.
For much software, this is a damn good approach because you can link
tools together via scripts or on the commandline. Of course, this is
completely inappropriate for games, so nevermind it. ;-)
2. ASCII File I/O: This is a pretty straightforward way to go and since
most new programmers run into file input/output early on in their
studies is the preferred approach for pedagogical efforts like King's
Feast. It is also simple and portable, from the standpoint that all
operating systems have standard, built-in file handling approaches.
The downside is that you'd need to select (and implement) parsers to
read and write the files. The upside is that you will be able to edit
the files using regular text tools.
3. Binary File I/O: With cleverness and care you can design a binary
format to store data in, which will be faster and more space efficient.
The downsides are that you can't easily read or edit the files, and it's
a tad more complex. Some C++ frameworks include built-in means of
storing and loading objects from binary files, which is called
"serialization".
4. Berkeley DB: Pretty much all UNIX systems have the Berkeley database
system available, as it's used for a lot of system level stuff. It's
small enough to be distributed with your app if you want to use it on
Windows, too, I believe. As a database system, it's pretty lightweight;
it supports key-value records, but isn't really relational or object
oriented.
5. Relational SQL Database: There are several relational databases
available, including mysql and postgresql, which provide very powerful
ways to store and manage large amounts of data. The downsides are that
it can be quite involved to add the db support, and it forces an added
dependency - anyone wishing to install the software would first need to
install and configure the database software.
Hmm, I think that covers all the options, but there might be more.
Personally, I think for King's Feast the optimal policy would be ASCII
files (#2), because of the simplicity and flexibility. I doubt space or
performance will be any sort of design driver, and most of the files can
just be loaded right into memory.
Bryce
<< Lighting Models >>
Overview
Describe the lighting model you are going to use and then go into the
different aspects of it below.
Lighting Model Detail #1
We are using the xyz technique to light our world.
Lighting Model Detail #2
We won't be lighting the eggplants in the game because they are purple.
<< The World Layout >>
Overview
Help is needed here! (for going through the castle paper)
http://www.worldforge.org/project/newsletters/June2002/Castles
World Layout Detail #1
??
World Layout Detail #2
??
<< Game Characters >>
Overview
The main character in King's Feast is the cook. The cook can control
npc's to do menial tasks for him.
Creating a Character
There will be a standard character (standard appearance, qualities,
etc). Customization could be done by replacing the media used in the
game.
<< User Interface >>
Overview
The User Interface will be written using SDL and OpenGL.
User Interface Detail #1
The player/cook will manipulate the items in the kitchen with the help
of npc cooks who will do the simple things for him.
Kitchen features will not need knowledge of the other kitchen gadgets.
However the gadgets (sinks, ovens, etc.) will need to know what they are
being used on, so they can properly manipulate the ingredient(s).
<< Musical Scores and Sound Effects >>
Overview
King's Feast will use a combination of Ogg files, mp3 files as well as
MIDI files for music and sound effects. The sound will be played through
the SDL libraries.
Sound Design
There is currently very limited work occuring as far as sounds go. An
expedition will be organized to journey into CVSROOT/media and see if
any suitable sounds can be found.
<< Single-Player Game >>
Overview
You are Levbolne's best chef. Unfortunately you are stuck with
Levbolne's second best kitchen. The best kitchen is, of course, in the
king's palace. Alas, that's also where Levbolne's second best chef is.
So in order to get where you belong, you have to prove you simply are
the best. You have to prepare the best menus for guests and your local
duke and become really famous. Eventually, the king will decide you're
the best and hire you. Or so you hope.
Single Player Game Detail #1
??
Single Player Game Detail #2
??
Story
The player is attempting to impress the King by cooking a grand meal for
him. This will enable to cook to be hired by the King and therefore be
acknowledged as the best cook in the kingdom.
Hours of Gameplay
The game will not last for an extended period of time. However, the
player will have to cook until the objective of satisfying the King is
met.
Victory Conditions
The game is won when the King is happy.
<< User Interface >>
Overview
The GUI in King's Feast should be very intuitive and easy to program.
The following contains information about what information should be in
the GUI. It also gives some ideas as to where everything should be
placed in the GUI.
The following description uses the general layout of the UClient GUI as
a starting point.
Screenshots of UClient (in Acorn 0.4) are available here:
http://www.worldforge.org/dev/eng/clients/uclient/screenshots/acorn_04/
Information Conveyed to User
The following information will be conveyed to the user through the GUI.
1. Status of Current Action (mixing, rinsing, etc)
- These actions are ones for which the cook is required to be
present
- Bottom Display Bar
2. Status of Actions in the Background (baking, oven stuff, rising
bread, etc)
- These actions are ones for which the cook need not be present
- Side Display Bar
3. Status of the Meal as a whole (Individual Courses)
- Side Display Bar (towards the top)
4. Scrolling Window for debugging messages
- This will be there for debugging of the game.
- Bottom Display Bar
<< Object Rendering >>
Overview
Object rendering will be done using OpenGL polygons and texture mapping.
The OpenGL will be done inside the game's SDL interface.
Character Rendering
Characters will consist of x number of polygons. And I have no other
ideas as to how the rendering will be done specifically for characters.
Ingredient Rendering
A pile of a specific intgredient will be assigned a certain polygon
number. That number of polygons will be drawn (in a way to imitate a
pile of stuff). Each polygon will be texture-mapped with the appropriate
texture.
The purpose of giving a pile a large number of polygons is to make a
smooth transition if a cook picks up some of the ingredients. The
appropriate percentage of polygons could be moved, making the pick-up
seem very smooth.
The major problem I see with the above idea, is that it could become
very CPU/video card intensive.
<< Credits >>
The following people's contributed to this document:
Kai Blin (various descriptions and paragraphs)
Bryce Harrington (Data Persistence, mentoring on copyright issues)
Matt Raykowski (provided the template for the document)
The following websites were consulted as well:
http://www.worldforge.org/dev/systems/kingsfeast
http://victoria.worldforge.org/games/feast/notes.html
If anyone else contributed to the document, please let me know, and I will add
you to the credits.
<< Copyright Info >>
This document Copyright ©2002 George Privon
This document is distributed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation
License (GFDL) and the GNU General Public License (GPL).
Written by George Privon
