“Derring Do” Game Design Document
Table of Contents
Game Overview
Story
Weapons
Different types of weapons
Characters
All Characters
Humans
Elfs
Orcs
Dwarfs
Safe Zones
Where to find them
What is inside of Safe Zones
Potions and Wizards
Touch up a little on potions
Wizards and how they go hand in hand with Potions
First Level
First Level creation and how it will flow
UI Wiremap
Explanation of the UI wiremap
Gameplay
Movement
Fighting
Defense
Crafting
Concept for Future
Abilities
Game Overview
Storyline- You alone or with a group of adventurers will explore the land of Amer. Discover lands and treasures while fighting off other enemies who are after the same thing, to collect all of the riches! Gain power and riches by making your escape and exfil from raids. While in raids make sure to complete quests to get free loot from the seasonal battle pass to help upgrade your character and become the ultimate adventurer!
Gameplay
Movement, Fighting and Defense are all a key factor of gameplay. These three sets are determined on the way that you build your character. The way your character movement works is with the level weight of armor you decide to equip ranging from Light to Middleweight to Heavy. Fighting will depend on the various Weapons you can gather from looting or completing quests, as well as defense.
Weapons
There will be 6 types of starter weapons in Derring Do:
Short Sword- Lightweight, fast in combat, little to medium damage points
Dual sided Axe-Middleweight, semi fast and efficient with more damage points
Heavy Sword- Heavy weight, slow attacks but great damage points
Hammer- Heavy weight, has slower attacks then heavy sword but higher damage points
Bow (and arrow)- Middleweight, can shoot multiple arrows at once and can also be used as a melee weapon
Daggers-Lightweight, has very low damage points but is the quickest attack melee in the game
Safe Zones
Safe zones are a palace for the following:
Homes
Trading
Online Interactions
Crafting
Practice battles
Faction quest boards
And more to come
Faction Boards
Factions will be selected once you reach level 15 of the game. These factions will allow you to interact and come together with other characters to form teams of up to three when wanting to explore the land of Amer.
The faction boards will have two objectives you can select from the beginning of the game
Bounty:
Bounty’s are essentially a way for you and your squad mates to go out into the Land of Amer and find your target to kill (online players) and bring back their flag to earn rewards. Bounties will only have a 30 minute deadline and you will not be able to track bounties inside safe zones. Bounties will be assigned to online players who are already out in the pvp zones.
Scavenger: Scavenger contracts are a little more simple. These contracts consist of just doing small missions around the map that will be displayed in your quest log.
These missions will be as simple as:
Hunting an animal or creature
Destroying a dungeon or enemy
Collecting some sort of materials or resources
Characters
There are 5 different types of Characters you can choose from in Derring Do.
Human
Orc
Elf
Wizard
Dwarf
Potions and Wizards
Potions are for wizards to craft. Being a wizard is viable in this game because you can craft potions such as:
Healing
Stamina
Strength
Durability
Invisibility
When you are crafting potions, you as a wizard are the only one who can create them so this means the more you master the craft of potions the more you can sell to other online characters within the game to help you collect more money this way. Wizards will use staff (not listed as weapon because used for little to no combat)
Human
Humans are basic characters in the game of Derring Do, however instead of direct buffs like all the other characters have, humans have every single attribute buffed at a small percentage. They will be able to mine faster than everyone but the Dwarf, see at a happy-medium distance unlike the Elf and have a good strength to them like the Orc but not nearly as strong. Humans will come from the river villages and the grass flatlands.
Weapons will include:
Short Sword
Dagger
Heavy Sword
Bow and arrow
Elf
Elfs, from the Woodland realms this character selection will make your traveling and stealth a high advantage while in raids. Elfs will have a visibility buff that allows the player to see farther than any other character by literal miles. The elf will also have a buff called shadow step that allows elfs to walk silently and crouch walk fast, to allow you to get an advantage on your opponents.
The weapons for Elfs are:
Bow and Arrow
Short Sword
Daggers
Orc
Orc is the biggest hitbox in the game, Reigning down from the Red Rock Lands and the edge of Volcanoes, the orc is a greatly strong character to choose. When choosing the Orc your buffs are a great number in strength no other character matches with. His second visibility in darkness is buffed without needing a source of light.
His weapons will be:
Heavy Sword
Mace (In later content)
Dual Sided Axe
Hammer
DwarF
From the Caves and Mountains terrain the Dwarfs will be spawned
As this character you will start out with higher gold earned from Raids and have the fastest skill to mine and stack materials in greater sizes your loot that you have collected from raids
The weapons you are able to use as a Dwarf thus far are:
Dual sided Axes
Hammers
Pickaxes (by default as a starter Dwarf, also not listed as a weapon)
Game Modes
In Derring Do there will be 1 single game mode and that is the freeroam of completing the game as freely as you want. For you as a player that may be consistency in the campaign or side-quests. Finding all the nooks and crannies of dungeons or forests or becoming the highest online kill count the servers have ever seen! This is up for the player to decide. While this also means when joining a faction you will be able to go out into the Land of Amer with your friends in solos, duos and trios.
First Level Map
First Level Explained:
The first level starts with you completing various tasks to learn the first steps of character movement and combat,
The first bit of movement is jumping over and under obstacles to learn the jump and crouch buttons.
The next is the mount button to get to higher spots
After you have completed these steps you will face your first enemy and learn the simple hack and slash mechanics.
You will defeat this enemy and cross over a bridge that shows beautiful scenery in the Land of Amer.
You suddenly run into a group of spiders that come after you.
This will test your abilities to defeat them and successfully grab the key to unlock the dungeon door
You will head back the way you came and enter a wider area
There you will use everything you've just learned to take on three larger sized Orcs and open the dungeon door to complete your first mission.
UI Wiremap
UI Wiremap
UI Wiremap Explained:
Map- This will show what a broader aspect to where your character could be headed
Compass- shows you the direction in where you're going
Kill feed- Shows real players deaths and who killed them as well as npc deaths and whoever killed them
Abilities- These are the abilities that help you survive and conquer in your fights that will be different to your common weapons in your weapons slots. These abilities will have cooldowns for when you can use them again
Weapons- these will be your two weapons that you've equipped that help you fight with basic combat against enemies
Quest log- will allow you to see your quests and missions
Health- This is your health bar that shows you which percentage your health is, when low it's probably best to heal
Stamina- Stamina bar is a bar that is for your characters stamina that is an indication in movement and combat, you cannot spam movement and attacks without having a consequence in your stamina lowering
Mana- This is only shown for the classes that pick Wizard, it is for their magic when they are in combat, other player types will have only the abilities section with cooldowns
Movement
Movement in this game will be controlled using WASD, or with the controller it will be with the left stick. Movement will be determined on Armor types and character chosen at the beginning. Orcs and Dwarves being as stocky as the character models are in this game will have a movement nurf and will be a little slower as a base model. Depended on which armor you choose for the characters will determine how much movement speed buff you will increase or stay the same
Example 1: If I choose Orc, his movement base will be 20% less than Wizard, Human and 30% with Elf. Light armor movement increases 40%, medium armor increases 30% and heavy armor will be base movement speed.
Example 2: If I choose Elf, being light footed my Character is already a faster moving character. Light armor for him will give him a 10% movement buff, medium will be 5% movement buff and Heavy armor will be a -10% movement buff.
These examples show that your build can be various and your movement within the gameplay will vary on how you truly want to move as a character and p;rotect yourself with armor.
Fighting/Combat
Combat within Derring Do are intermediate mechanics. Determined on your weapon you have is how the skill of fighting will be played. Combat is used with right mouse button and left mouse button, and on controller it will be x and right trigger. Combat is very important for stamina bar, always keep watch of stamina bar!
Short sword: Short sword will be for medium to close combat, your main objective while using the short sword is to get your hits in to do medium damage while having faster attacks. The left click and right trigger will be an average attack that has a very minimal cooldown whereas your left click and x button on controller will be your heavier attack that will consist of a bigger cooldown at around 5 seconds per swing.
Dual sided Axe: Dual sided axe is a middle weighted weapon that has a medium cooldown for both average attacks and your heavy attack, however this weapon has a chance of hitting a critical combo, Dual sided axe and Heavy Sword are the only weapons that do so. This weapon will have a medium animation that allows for characters to maybe dodge easier but if you make a hit it will hit for a good amount.
Heavy Sword: The Heavy Sword is the second slowest of the weapons with an 8 second cool down for your heavy attack and a 2 second cooldown for your basic attack. Though this is also the only weapon in the entire game to have a crit chance to fully kill a player with one crit hit if struck correctly.
Hammer: The Hammer has heavier attack points than the Heavy sword however is the slowest attack in the game, with a 11 second cooldown t your heavy and a 4 second cooldown for your basic attack, this weapon is more for users who prefer fighting non players, its created more for the npcs you will be fighting within the game.
Bow (and arrow): Bow and arrow is a quick and fun weapon to use, and is the only weapon thus far that has range against enemies. Basic attacks will be with left click and right trigger and that's a simple arrow depending on what arrows you craft, yes arrows will be craftable and there will be different types you can craft like fire and poison arrows. To shoot multiple arrows at a time you will be able to hold down your right click and your x button to charge the amount of arrows you shoot up to 5, however it will take longer as you wait for arrows to charge
Example:
1 arrow will be instant
2nd will be 1.2 seconds
3rd will be 2.4 seconds
4th will be 3.6 seconds
5th will be 4.8 seconds
This makes it a challenge to get your arrows off but if you succeed against your enemies it will be very successful
Daggers
Daggers come in a pair. With the lowest damage points in the game the daggers may not seem too efficient but they are the quickest weapon in the entire game. Left click and right trigger for very fast attacks with the dagger that pierces armor and cuts deep make for a good quick attack but you can hit right click and or x to then throw in the combo with the double stab with both daggers.
Defense
Defense in Derring Do is a key factor but its a more simple gameplay then other games, it consists of blocks and evades. The defense will be the most valuable action in the game referencing your stamina bar, while blocking and evading these actions can take up a good amount of your stamina bar so make sure to keep watch of the stamina bar during combat against other online players.
Blocking- Blocking will always be determined on the weapon that you have, each individual weapon will have a certain block point, and blocking will be with E on keyboard and on controller will simply be with the left trigger. Timing attacks correctly can end in a parry and you will be able to counter attack for half the original damage of a normal attack.
Evades- Evades are as simple as rolling to dodge an incoming attack. If a dual sided axe is coming in hot for an attack you have the ability to parry and try and block but being a very dangerous weapon sometimes it's a better choice to evade the attack and steer clear and try to reposition yourself against your opponent.
Crafting
You will be able to craft two things thus far in Derring Do:
Armors and Weapons. The crafting mechanic will be essentially pretty simple. Its a 4 step process, starting with
Adventuring
Grabbing/finding/mining materials
Returning to a safe zone
Crafting at a smithing station
Crafting gives you the opportunity to create your own armor and weapons within the game. This allows you to use the materials found within raids and give yourself buffs and nurfs to help create a better build. You will also be able to use a short sword perhaps that you found in raid and take it back to the crafting table and add materials to it to make it more suitable for your build.
Abilities
Abilities will be unlocked once reaching a certain point in the game in the future and essentially they will be powerups that allow you to have an upperhand on your enemy in raids. They will each individually have their own cooldowns. They will not necessarily be all for damage either, they will help your character in raids all round, this means for example: popping an ability that gives you a health buff for 30 seconds of the fight. Another example would be going invisible for 4 seconds. These are new ideas that I would love to implement into the game.
