As this project has started to develop more into a functioning idea i have had two questions that i ask myself with each piece of research and decision written in my notebook -
‘How do I turn a folk tale into a video game?’
‘How do I make this game about a goblin visually charming?’
Folk tales are usually short and I need to transcribe this into a game with hours of playability; my first thought was to set the game after the folk tale, perhaps the Hob has moved onto a new village? Or I could rework the folk tale by changing the ending to have no ending at all.
Researching the many tasks a Hob would do across these different folk tales reminded me of games like Harvest Moon / Story of Seasons and i believe the tales of the Hobs work lend themselves to similar mechanics - games like this are about living an idyllic countryside life and completing day-to-day tasks such as farming, crafting, foraging and caring for animals at your own pace.
This is the part of my pipeline where these sorts of questions allow me to reflect on the game designer side and the concept artist side of my project - being able to document initial ideas, problem solve, research and then communicate the functionality of these ideas in the form of concept art.
With the research I have collected I have started to formulate a brief and design document so I could have the story, characters and mechanics of the game refined.
Design Document & Brief:
My Brief - Create concept art based on an unknown folk tale for a game that captures the charm of a rural english village; you will be using your concept art as a ‘proof of concept’ and to communicate how you could transcribe a folk tale into a game. You will be concepting characters, environments, items and mechanics.
My Design Document: The game is inspired by the folk tale ‘The Hob of Hobthrush Hall’ - will also take elements from other Hob folk tales.
The game is set in the 1800’s in a fictionalised version of Over Silton, a village in North Yorkshire.
In-Game Locations
North Yorkshire Moors - Vast moorland filled with heather and home to folklore creatures, this is where the hob forages for plants.
Hobthrush Hall - A cave in the scarrs on the edge of the North York Moors, this is where the Hob starts and finishes each day, where he stores his foraged goods and works to craft medicines.
Hobbrush Farm - The local farm found on the trail to Over Silton from the North Yorkshire Moors
Over Silton - Over Silton is a small village that the Hob visits, it consists of old stone cottages,a local Inn, a General Shop, a post office and many other businesses.
Over Silton Church - A small stone parish church with a graveyard, it is located in a small wildflower field near the village.
The game will be a 2D side scroller where the player will simply move right and left to get to different locations; the assets and environments will be flat and layered to give depth.
The game will use life sim/farm sim genre and similar mechanics - these games have long playability as they don’t have a conventional ending.
Mechanics
Foraging - Hob can go to the moors to collect herbs, plants etc. Foraging items can be found once a day and will respawn the next day.
Crafting - With the foraged items the Hob can create medicine. All crafting takes place in Hobthrush Hall at the Hobs herbalism corner; a table filled with bottles, books and other equipment used to make medicine from the dried herbs and plants hanging by the work station.
Healing and Delivery - The Hob will be visited by villagers who will call out to him from outside his cave reciting the rhyme “Hob Hole Hob, My bairn’s gotten t’kink cough, Tak it off, Tak it off.”
When the Hob leaves the cave he will see he has received notes signed by different families in the village for medicine to heal illnesses - The Hob must then make the medicine and bring it to the right cottage.
Shopkeeper Tasks - Visit the shopkeeper to help him with food deliveries to elderly villagers.
Village Inn Tasks - Visit the Inn to make a fire in the fireplace to keep the Inn warm and also churn milk into cream and butter for the morning.
Farm Tasks - Visit the Hobbrush Farm to thresh corn and barley, repair fences, turn hay, top and tail turnips.
Rewards for Tasks - The Hob does not receive money for his work - his reward is either a jug of cream or a slice of buttered bread.
Cream and bread is left for the Hob to take before a task and put into inventory; the cream and bread replenish stamina.
Stamina - Stamina is used when doing physical tasks, similar to the mechanic in the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons games. Stamina is represented by hearts ♥♥♥♡
Physical Tasks - Churning cream, threshing, repairs, turning hay, topping and tailing turnips.
When the Hob runs out of stamina he will turn to stone.
Hob runs out of stamina → Hob turns to stone → Screen fades to black → Hob wakes up in the Hobthrush Hall cave with full stamina, starting the new night with new tasks and any tasks unfinished from the previous night.
Doing too many tasks in one night will drain stamina; however the player can do non-physical tasks to store up cream and bread.
Non-Physical Tasks - Foraging, crafting, medicine and shopkeeper deliveries
Day/ Night Cycle - The Hob starts his work when the sun is setting and must return to the cave before the sun rises in order to not be damaged by sunlight {5:00pm - 5:00am}
The game will have a standard Day/Night cycle.
1 real-time minute = 1 in-game hour 1 real-time second = 1 in-game minute
If the Hob goes to bed a new day starts {e.g Hob goes to bed Mon 5am wakes up Tues 5pm}
The game will start will Spring, Monday, Day 1, Year 1
Every day the Hob will wake up at 6am.
If the player does not go to bed and chooses to wander around outside the time will continue into the next day.
Time and Calendar
The game will have a 28 day calendar.
7 day week ‘Monday’ ‘Tuesday’ ‘Wednesday’ ‘Thursday’ ‘Friday’ ‘Saturday’ ‘Sunday.’
The game will have 4 seasons ‘Spring’ ‘Summer’ ‘Autumn’ ‘Winter’ {the environment will be affected by the seasonal change}
Items
Jug of Cream - An item used to replenish a lot of stamina.
Buttered Bread - An item used to replenish a little bit of stamina.
*more items to be added
Inventory and Storage - The Inventory is where the player keeps items collected during the game. When outside foraged items will be placed into the inventory at a capacity of 10; to stock up on extra foraged items the player can keep these items in the herb cabinet by the Hob’s crafting area.
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