MUD CITY

Game Concept Document

Dorian McIntyre

1. Title: Your game’s (tentative) title.

Tentative Title: Mud City

2. Executive Summary (250 words or less): A summary of your game (in a few sentences up to a single paragraph) that includes key information such as genre, type of gameplay, story, overview, premises, etc.

Salehi, Rovan, and Nora have been working year-round to prepare for the known universe’s biggest ceramics showcase of the year. They’ve made countless pieces, and a couple of extras too, just to be safe. Unfortunately, all of their hard work blew up in the gas kiln, and they are left with nothing just weeks before the showcase. Now Salehi and her friends have to rush to find new clay and make new things for the showcase that funds their livelihoods. Travel across the known universe with Salehi and her friends in this cozy RPG game to find different clays, learn new processes, and complete projects for the final showcase in the Mud City.

3. Genre and Core Mechanics: A brief (250 words) explanation of the genre and core gameplay mechanics.

Mud City is an open-world cozy simulation game with RPG elements intended for an audience aged 7 and up. Players will be able to customize and play as Salehi, Rovan, or Nora. They will be able to change hair color, eye color, clothing, and accessories, but the general build of the characters will stay consistent and not be customizable. These three characters run a pottery studio that sells production pottery and hosts classes to afford supplies for the ceramics showcase that occurs every year in Mud City. This showcase, if they win, will fund their lives for three years, allowing them to work on their personal art practices without having to depend on the income of the studio, every artist’s dream come true. This studio is located close to Mud City, however, you will be able to explore different parts of the known universe to look for supplies and learn processes for pottery. Players will be able to explore the Mud City or follow a branching storyline that will open other cities in the world. These other cities will open by completing quests. These completed quests will also grant you access to creating new pottery forms that you can create in real life, and lead you towards the overarching objective of the game, which is to beat their enemy potters in the ceramic showcase that ended up being the cause of their kiln failing in the first place. The art style of this game will lean towards being heavily stylized with a vibrant color palette. Geometric and Organic shapes will be sprinkled throughout to emphasize the stylized approach to the art style.

4. Platform: A very brief (under 250 words) explanation of what platform your game is for (ie. is it a mobile game? A PC game?). Here you can also explain opportunities for transmedia narrative.

Mud City will be designed for Nintendo Switch and Mobile. These are the chosen platforms because while the game does have a linear narrative, players have the option to ignore that completely and take a more cozy approach to their gameplay. This game will allow you to explore Mud City and run the pottery studio without interacting with the branching narrative. This game would also be a great candidate for PlayStation 5 and Xbox. This story can easily be adapted into a how-to book for pottery as well, or a how-to animation. The animation would consist of the narrative and be organized in a way that allows a viewer to learn a lot about different pottery processes.

5. Story Summary (250-500 words): An expanded description of the gameplay and story.

Salehi, Rovan, and Nora have been working all year to create pieces for the ceramics showcase, FluxFlame, held every year in Mud City. People come from all over the known universe to attend this major art showcase. The artists who participate in this showcase can sell their work and win prizes that set them up for years. It’s difficult to be a featured artist. Your work has to be pre-approved even after you’ve gone through the process of obtaining your initial invitation, and people work hard to make sure that they keep their spot or take someone else’s. Salehi, Rovan, and Nora all brought skills that make them some of the best ceramics artists in the city. Salehi creates large sculptures of people and places. Rovan creates large forms on the pottery wheel, and Nora creates production pottery like no other. She can create the same form over and over with ease. In addition to the sculpture, Salehi is excellent at creating unique glaze recipes. Nora can make perfect slip casts. Rovan creates truly unique surface design. This makes these artists a great team.

Salehi, Rovan, and Nora have created all their forms and put them into the kiln. A fellow potter, Garasys, begs them to let him use the extra space in their kiln because his kiln is not in working condition, and, because they are so nice, they let him use it. They open up the kiln after a firing to everything in pieces. Garasys’s pieces were riddled with air pockets and exploded, destroying all their hard work. Now, Salehi and her friends must scramble to have work ready for FluxFlame. They are burnt out and want to make art for the sake of making art, not working every day to pay their fees, and this was their way out. They also want to get even with Garasys. They may be nice, but they don’t let people walk all over them. Salehi and her friends run their pottery studio. They make pieces to sell, host classes, and clean the pottery studio. You can also explore the world and find wild clay and new chemicals to make glaze. You can use this to make different pieces for the art show. You can also follow a branching narrative that explores different parts of the city, and two other cities off-world that are nearby. Through this narrative, Salehi and her friends go on quests, plot revenge on Garasys, and create ceramics for the show to win the prize and sell pieces so they can focus on their personal work.

6. World Description and Major Locations (500 word maximum): Provide a brief overview of your world/setting. You should provide enough background information for your audience to know where this game takes place. (NOTE: You may use text from the world-building exercises if appropriate).

This game will mostly take place in Mud City. Mud City is located on the planet Ashyno Terra, a planet very similar to Earth apart from the periwinkle day sky and indigo and green nights. Mud City takes inspiration from Korean ceramics hubs in Incheon and Yeoju. Icheon has a World Ceramic Center. Jingdezhen, Chaozhou, and Zhuzhou in China also house long histories of pottery, especially porcelain. Jingdezhen is known as the ‘Porcelain Capital’. Bat Trang Village in Vietnam is known for handcrafted ceramics. These places have a long history of ceramics processes, and you can find many pottery studios and artists in these spaces. People come from all over the world to learn new and old techniques from masters who know 1000’s of years of acquired knowledge. Mud City is filled with ceramic sculpture and pottery studios. You can find any type of pottery in the space, and collectors come from around the known universe to source art. The weather is always warm and arid, which allows clay to dry quickly and is great weather in general. It rarely rains but has many freshwater sources that allow for you to easily find wild clay. If you explore the outskirts of the Mud City, you will find a slightly different climate. Its much more humid and contains mangroves that allow you to find other clays and chemicals from the soil. There are a lot of banyan trees and palm trees in the outskirts of Mud City. Many artists use banyan trees as inspiration for art present in FluxFlame. We are also able to explore two more cities on a different neighboring planet. One planet is frozen but has many chemicals to be used in glazes. The other has exotic clays like porcelain that are not easily acquired in Mud City.

7. Protagonist Brief Bio: Give a brief (250 words or less) bio of your protagonist.

Salehi is a lanky woman with sepia skin and freckles. Her mother introduced her to ceramics when she was young, and she never looked back. She knew this was what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. She met Rovan and Nora in a beginner pottery class, and they were fast friends. They have been working together since they met. Salehi likes working big and enjoys making glazes that you can’t find anywhere else. She’s never been good at surface design. She leaves that to Rovan. She also never creates the same thing twice. Nora excels at that particular skill. Her mom comes to all of her shows and buys a ton of her art to support her through her slow years. Salehi is boisterous and enjoys the spotlight. She’s self-assured and always believes in herself. She’s positive to a fault.

8. Description of Your Game’s Beginning (250 words or less): Describe where the game begins. Where does it start? What inciting incident brings us into the narrative?

Mud City begins at the pottery studio. Salehi opens up the kiln and notices that all of their work is in crumbles. Salahi and her friends always make sure their work is kiln-ready, and she surmises that the acquaintance they let add work to the kiln sabotaged them. She notices a piece of his work has air pockets littered inside. Nora and Rovan come to see what the fuss is about. They notice the destroyed pieces and plot how they will recover. They also begin to plot their revenge.

9. Game Structure/Quest Outline: Describe your main quest structure. What are the major beats for the player? Where do they go and what do they do? Show how this structure builds narrative progression (250-500 words).

If you choose to play the game through the branching narrative, the game relies heavily on quests. These quests don’t have to be played in order, and players can choose whether or not they want to pursue a quest. The quests should produce a certain work of art. Based on which quests you choose to pursue, you will end up with a different body of work at the end. One such quest would be acquiring Kaolin and Cobalt oxide for a blue floating glaze that will represent water for a piece. Salehi will travel to the neighboring planet, Jaatynyt, to source kaolin and cobalt. An NPC lets Salehi know that the best oxides are in lower Jaatynyt. There she finds an old potter who has plenty. After throwing some of his pieces to save his wrists, he gives Salehi all his stores. Salehi is grateful and happy. These are the only blue oxides available right now, which means Garasys won’t be able to make his famous blue glaze recipe. She goes back to her studio to whip up the glazes for her and her friends. Completing this quest allows you to earn the recipe for a floating blue glaze. It also offers what settings your kiln should be in to obtain the best glaze results. Doing different quests will allow you to make a unique body of work for FluxFlame that will be sure to win, and sabotage Garasys. You can also play the game without pursuing the branching narrative. You will make sure the pottery studio runs smoothly, makes money, and obtain supplies by foraging through the city's freshwater reservoirs.

10. Gameplay Highlights (250-500 words): Define the gameplay highlights—most interesting and immersive—moments of your gameplay.

Salehi and her friends find a rare black clay in the mangroves on the outskirts of Mud City. Salahi make a sculpture of a girl surrounded by flowers that is sure to be a standout piece at FluxFlame. Garasys attempts to destroy this piece by breaking it apart when it is greenware (fully dry but not fired clay), but he fails because Salehi uses fresh clay to glue it back together. Nora and Rovan plot to get back at Garasys by knocking over freshly thrown pieces he has sitting in the window of his neighboring pottery studio. Garasys falls to his knees outside of his studio.

Salehi, Nora, and Rovan get all their pieces to FluxFlame. They display everything and win first place in almost every contest. They also sell many of their pieces and celebrate not having to work so hard for the next three years. They decide to go off-world and party in the arts district of the neighboring planet. While there, they acquire lots of new supplies for their future work. Players are able to unlock many new processes that they can use in real life to improve their pottery.

MUD CITY SCRIPT CUTSCENE

Written by

By Dorian McIntyre

FADE IN:

INT. INSIDE SWIRLFIRED POTTERY STUDIO - MIDDAY

SALEHI notices that the kiln is finally cool enough to open. She grabs her gloves and lifts the compartment, but is greeted with nothing but pieces of the work her NORA and ROVAN were working on. She looks devastated.

SALEHI

Aww, fudge!

Salehi bends to pick up some pieces in her hands and drops them back in the kiln.

SALEHI

(Yelling)

NORA!

NORA

Huh? You call me?

SALEHI

Everything's Fudged!

NORA

You want Fudge?

SALEHI

NO! Everything's Destroyed. We're Fudged.

NORA rushes over to the kiln beside Salehi and looks down to see all their hard work destroyed. She picks up one lone piece of pink clay and notices that it's riddled with air bubbles.

NORA

(ANGRY)

Garasys fudged us.

SALEHI

What are we gonna do now? I can't do this much longer, Nor. I'm so burnt out. Yesterday, that girl, you know, Umberly, right? Well, her daughter smudged clay all through my hair. It took me an hour to get it out.

NORA

Don't worry Sal. We'll get the pieces we need. We just might have to hustle a little more. Rovan! Come have a look.

ROVAN

Coming, coming. Ah! Oh no what happened

NORA

Garasys happened.

ROVAN

I think I'll have a word with Garasys

SALEHI

No, I think we'll have revenge.

FADE OUT.