Ilmendur - Heirs to the Elven Sword

# Game Mechanics

This document outlines the game mechanics.

## 2-player system

The game can be played with either one or two players on a single

computer (no network computing; this would be too complex to

implement). Each player receives its own view of the world, but the

make progress they have to work together.

Below, specificalities of 2-player mode are mentioned where appropriate.

## Camera

The camera will be hooked up above and behind the player. By pressing

a button, the player can switch to first-person view.

### 2-player mode

In two-player mode, each player receives its own camera and window. If

a machine has two monitors, it should be possible increase both

windows to full size, each on one monitor. Each player's

camera-related actions only relate to his own window.

Cinematic scenes are always shown on both windows. If text is shown in

such scenes, both players have to press the "accept" button for it to

vanish, which is indicated with colours at the bottom of each text

box.

## Steering

The game is to be played with a game pad. In single-player mode, the

player can choose which character to play (Freya or Benjamin) and

change at any time. The other one is taken over by a very simple

algorithm which works as follows. On switch, the player chooses one of

two options: standstill (1) or follow (2). In standstill mode, the

character simply stands still. If a monster approaches, it will defend

with a simple algorithm, but the player is alerted in some way so he

can switch back; normally, monsters should ignore the standing

character. In follow mode, the character follows the player's

character simply by going the closest way towards him. If the distance

between the two characters gets too high, the algorithmically steered

character shouts and switches to standstill mode. If the player climbs

up platform or does similar difficult things, the other character

immediately enters standstill mode. Switching characters should come

with some nice animation and sound.

Both characters always have to be on the same map (except where

divided for story reasons). To leave a map, in single-player mode it

is sufficient if the only player moves to a teleportation point; the

other character is warped right behind the camera and then also moves

through the teleportation point.

### 2-player mode

In 2-player mode, each player simply plays one character. To leave a

map, both characters need to enter the same teleportation point.

## World Navigation

There is no world map. All areas are connected directly as only this

generates the necessary feeling for the covered distances in the

world. Without this, there would be no use for the Mail system.

The typical overworld area should be rather small, so that a feeling

of many and different areas arises (contrast this with the quite

boring central Hyrule Field in Zelda's OoT). The world is not to be

constructed in a star form (again, see OoT, where everyhing emerges

from Hyrule Field), but in a more organic mannor with multiple

possibilities to go to places (within story bounds).

In a 2D world, implementing this is easy because one can easily make a

screen identical with a map. This is more complicated in a 3D world,

because the player may at any time enter first-person view and look

into the distance horizontally, which makes it impossible to use

camera bounds for map bounds. Instead, different concepts need to be

used. The basic idea should be to load adjascent maps once the player

approaches a teleportation point, but keep the map freezed until it is

actually entered. That should make it possible to implement a

reasonably smooth switch between overworld maps. Combined with

distance fog it should be possible convey an impression of an organic

world.

As for the actual map design there should be plenty of inspiration

available in real-world places.

## Time system

The game has its own time flow which is decoupled from the PC clock. A day in the game world lasts significantly shorter than in real time. For comparison, OoT's days lasted 2:30 minutes (nights 1:30 minutes), MM's days and nights were each 10 minutes long. OoT's variant is probably too short, but it should be bearable for the player to wait until night approaches during a single playing. The time's velocity should be chosen in such a way that travelling between the larger cities

takes several days.

On day/night switch on the overworld a standstill picture of the sun is shown while some sound is played; for morning dawn the new day's date can be shown as well. This little trick allows to exchange NPCs and other elements on a map without  he burden of having to animate their coming and going. In areas where this is not important (most notably dungeons) a simple message can be printed onto the screen on

day/night switch.

## Inventory and Equipment

### Restrictions on equipment carrying; Mail system

It is not possible to always carry around all equipment items. The

player has to plan forward, namely for dungeons. Equipment can be left

in taverns or similar places, where it can later be retrieved to

exchange the inventory.

Since the world has a certain size, it is annoying to travel large

distances just to retrieve equipment left in an entirely different

place. Maybe one even forgot where it was stored! The Mail system

comes to the rescue. In any Mail Office one can request the items to

be send here. Thanks to a well-engineered horse relay station system,

all ordered equipment will always be available at the post office on

the next day to retrieve.

## NPCs

### 2-player mode

TODO: Define how text-based talking works in 2-player mode. Maybe

display other user's text at the edge of the window?