Nourish

Gameplay

The game is a 2D platformer with some precision platforming and puzzle elements. The game focuses more on having the player explore the environments and immerse into the atmosphere of each area rather than challenging them with difficult challenges.

The theme of the game is the process of healing, more specifically, dealing with trauma. As such, the game’s main mechanic must illustrate the theme.
The 2-dimensional world space has layered elements in the foreground and background of the playing space to help create an illusion of depth in the levels. These elements can be animated (either through keyframes, particle effects or shaders) to create beautiful environmental animations, e.g. grass and plants swaying in the wind, dust falling, fire or light-emitting plants glowing.

Grid Based

The layout of the levels will be based on a grid.


We can build prefab variants based on a pre-defined set of platforms (3x1, 4x1, 5x2, etc. ) where the only thing that changes is the graphics.



Movement: The player is able to control their horizontal movement at all times.
The player character can jump once.
Double jumping may be implemented if it adds to the platforming.

Wall Jumping

The player character can jump on walls up to 2 times before touching the ground.


Having two wall jumps helps with moving vertically and having platforming sections where the player has to move up.


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Lantern Dashing

Lanterns and plants will be present in the world and the player character can dash past them when near enough.


Lantern dashing can help create more interesting platforming sections, especially when combined with other elements like wall jumping.


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Other possible movement abilities:
- dashing horizontally
- running vertically on walls
- grabbing and swinging on chains/vines that hang off the ceiling

Recall: After Rabbit jumps off a horizontal plane, the player can activate Recall to teleport back to the last horizontal platform they were on before jumping. Does not work on impermanent platforms. Has a short coolown, 1-2 seconds.
If the player misses a jump, they can recall back to the previous spot instead of having to redo the whole section to reach it.
If the player lands on another stable platform, after 3 seconds, the recall point will be set there.

Structures: Each level is based upon a structure. Structures can be buildings, pieces of environment, giant flora or magical beings that the player can scale. Each of these structures is several hundred meters in height. The character usually starts at the base of the structure and must climb to the top.

Inside / Outside

The player is able to navigate inside buildings and then outside again.


Levels can begin with the character outside, with sections happening inside the structure.


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Energy: In and around the structures there are energy orbs the player can collect.

Rebuild/Nourish: In the area of the structures there are environment objects (pillars, platforms, activatable devices) that can be repaired and used/climbed on by the player character. The player can expend the energy orbs collected so far to temporarily rebuild these environment objects. After a set amount of seconds (3-4), the objectsfall down again and the player automatically retrieves the energy expended.
Seeds and Plants: In the levels, the player may find plants that have to be nourished back to life. By expending energy, the player may do so and be rewarded with a seed.

Hub: The player may view all of the seeds that they’ve collected in a hub area. The seeds are displayed as plants in pots around the room.

Story & World

The world in which the game takes place represents a person's mind, manifested into a physical space. Each of the locations can be interpreted as a faculty of said mind or an important personality trait. The player character enters this world to help heal its wounds, by retrieving energy and restarting generators in each structure that they visit.
One way they could enter the world is to literally fall from the sky.

The player character starts off by restoring small pieces of the structures (platforms, pillars, interactable objects) to continue moving through the structures towards the generators.

Further in the story, objects will appear that are broken, but when the character tries to rebuild them, these objects crumble violently and cannot be repaired anymore. These objects represent a person’s resistances to the healing process or to the therapy.

Eventually, the character encounters a structure that crumbles violently when the player tries to Rebuild an object. At this point, the character must entirely Rebuild the structure.

This moment in the story represents the point where a person’s resistances are revealed to their fullest and only after they are broken can the healing process continue. This can also serve as the story’s climax.

The final level, the space tower, ends with the player reaching the portal in the uppermost dome. The portal launches them upwards towards the sky and the game ends.

Characters

The main character enters the world with the aim to bring it back to working order.
She carries a magical lute that when played restores and repairs things.

When reaching each of the structures' generator, she plays a short song on the lute that powers it.

I think we can have the main character have a bit more personality than just a silent robed character travelling for some mysterious reason.

She could have voice lines reacting to what she sees in the world.


The lute acts as an instrument and as a pet that follows the protagonist around.

When the character jumps off a platform, the lute can stay behind to mark the place for recalling until the character lands on a different platform and the lute can fly to her.





Giant Tree

All the inhabitants of this world come to rest under the shade of the giant tree, a place of purity and calmness.


The Giant Tree serves as the first level and represents the archetype of the Hero, or the Self.


Warm and gentle colors (peach, salmon, pink, pale blue) communicate to the player that this is a safe environment.


I just really want to make this level where you climb this huge tree and there's wind and nice music.

Wall Temple

To go beyond the mountains, one must go through the mountains. The wall temple serves as a place of meditation and of passage. To open the gates, one must light the brazier atop the temple. Yet the bridges that form this passage have crumbled and now there's no way to reach the brazier.


The wall temple is a structure built in the side of a wall in a cave. Warm, yellow light comes in through holes in the ceiling.


The temple has multiple floors that the player must escaladate to reach the restore device that is at the top of the temple.


I think we can make something cool with godrays and particle effects on the metal so it looks shiny.

Colossus

The Colossus walks the world as a protector, guarding it from whomever would want to harm it. Yet the Colossus has forgotten its purpose and now walks aimlessly, slowly crumbling.


The Colossus is a lumbering giant signifying the father figure in the psyche that is Nourish's world. Unlike the other structures, the Colossus is constantly moving.


The player must escaladate towards the Colossus' head to activate the restore device.


I hope we can make this work and have the colossus move (slowly) while the character climbs it
Eventually, this can be the structure that is completely "corrupted". There could be bad weather while he is corrupted that gets clear when he is restored.

Persona Temple

The Persona Temple represents the multiple facets of one's personality. Faces with varying shapes and features adorn the walls of this place.


One mechanic of this level can be floors that move or change their colors (akin to a person changing moods). The player must solve a puzzle by interacting with these changing elements.


I'm thinking this might be interesting if there are big rooms inside with walls and pillars with decorations.

Observatory

The Observatory can represent the wise old sage archetype. In game, it is a tall and wide tower that the player enters.


The player must escaladate to the top of the Observatory by climbing staircases and jumping on platforms.


A defining feature of this level would be that the player has to exit and re-enter the building at different floors to continue.


Floating Island

The floating island appears in the desert and it seems to be unexplainable by whom and why it was built.


It looks like a floating city, with a pyramid that towers over all the other buildings.


The player can enter buildings and has to jump from building to building to reach the pyramid and climb to the top of it to activat the generator in this level.


Not 100% sure on the colors on this one. Also I'm thinking the insides of the buildings can be dark green and teal while the outsides are purple and red.

Forest Swordsman Statue

The statue of the swordsman in the forest has been long forgotten.


The statue is situated in a forest of tall, thin trees and it depicts a character holding his sword towards the sky. The statue is big enough for the player to escaladate.


At the top of the sword there's a shrine with a lotus flower and here is where the restore device for the statue is located.


This might actually be more interesting if you have a section where you walk through the forest first and only then do you reach the statue.
I want it to be cool when you reach the top of the sword and you can see the top of the trees and the hills nearby.

Water Temple

I don't know, I just want to have a location with water and glass windows and make it all cool with the water flowing and light coming through the stained windows.

Space Tower

The Space Tower in the desert looks for signs of other life.


The space tower represents the final level of the game.


In the dome at the top of the tower lies the portal that the player character goes through to exit the world of Nourish.


The level starts at midnight and by the end of the level it's morning.

Music References


Day theme, desert


Night theme, calm

Forest?

Water temple?

Peaceful

Dark, Regretful

Extra, Notes & Other Art References