Fill My Life With Colors is a catch game. Players need to catch the different color drops to get points that will represent their life. When the marker reaches a number under 0, they will lose the game. Also, these drops will be their ammunition against Ni, the evil Ink Demon. They must be careful to don’t catch the black drops, or they will lose XP quickly and the colors will get dirty, which will result in a loss of XP. The goal of the game is to endure the longest time with «life».

Amanda is a little girl that loves play under the rain because she believes that each raindrop has a beautiful story behind that fills her life with the colors of the imagination. However, she must be careful with Ni, the evil Ink Demon, who wants a grey and boring world, where everything is «clean» and «perfect».

The exciting part of the game is that the drops that the players catch aren’t just the XP also represents their life and their ammunition. So, players must be careful when they will decide to use the drops as ammunition, or they could lose the game easily in the next move.

If the darkness never changes, our happiness shouldn’t change either ever.

Play under the rain.

Bonus Level on Mick & Mack.

The mechanics are simple. Players must catch the colored raindrops with the umbrella and avoid the black drops.

Each color will have a value that will be added to their XP bar. This XP will also be their ammunition and Life Points (more information below). The black drops will subtract XP and will dirt the colored raindrops. This event will produce that the colored drops have half of their value during a time (more information below).

Also, the game will have:

• A Fever Mode that players can activate when they have it. This mode will give them double points during a time (more information below).
• A Curse Mode that will appear randomly and where they will be attacked by Ni (more info below).
• A Power-Up that will give them a shield (more information below).

The raindrops’ colors and their values are:

• Orange – 80
• Violet – 40
• Pink – 20
• Green – 15
• Teal – 10

The raindrops’ colors and their valuers as ammution are (this is the cost and the damage of the «bullet»):

• Orange – 160
• Violet – 80
• Pink – 40
• Green – 30
• Teal – 20

The drops’ sizes will be change randomly, except the orange ones that will always be the tiniest of the game, making them more challenging to catch.

The goal of the game is to endure the longest time with «life».

The Raindrops that the players catch has two functions: the first one is to give «happiness» to the players that will be represented as a «life bar». When the number of that bar is under 0, players will lose the game. The second is that the players can use that «happiness» (their life points) as ammunition to defeat Ni when he appears in the Curse Mode. Each drop has value as a life point and other as ammunition. [Read more about the raindrops as ammunition here.]

The black raindrops will be subtracted X XP from the marker. These drops are the biggest and heaviest of the game, which means that they will fall faster than the rest, making that avoid them is more complicated.

Also, these drops will have the chance to dirt the colored raindrops, and this means that the colored drops’ value will be cut to half for 10s (or so). If during this time players catch another black drop, this will mean that the colored drops’ value will be cut again for another 10s (the timer will be restarted so that it will always be 10s, never more). If players catch another black raindrop during this time, all the drops will become black for 10s.

NEW MECHANIC

The Fever Mode will be available when players reach 500 points.

When players activate the Fever Mode, Amanda will say something like, «A storm is coming. I will need some extra help!». After that, it will appear on the screen a series of keys that the players need to memorize (like the left, right, up and down arrows, or just some letters or numbers). The first Fever Mode will have an easy combination (as a tutorial mode), and with each Fever Mode that the players activate, the combinations will be harder (with more keys to remember and less time to do it [Ref. Raving Rabbits]). After this, it will start to rain heavily on the screen. The rain will cover Amanda, so players only will see the colored rain. To prepare the players, Amanda will say something like, «It’s coming! Guide me!» and the players will need to introduce in the correct order the previous combination that they memorized.

The first storm (when the rain is falling) will dure maybe 30s, and during that time, the players need to introduce the combination. The next storms will dure less (until some reasonable point), so the players need to enter the new combinations faster. (This mechanic provably will need to be adjusted during the beta).

If they win, Amanda will say something like, «Yay! We did it! Now we can fight!» after the storm and some XP will be added to their scoreboard (maybe 200 or 300 points, it needs to be adjusted during the beta).

If they fail, Amanda will say something like, «Oh no, I have slipped! Auch! It hurts!» and players will lose the Fever Mode, with no extra points in their scoreboard. When they fail, the storm animation will stop.

When the rain stops (either if they win or lose), the screen will show Amanda with the umbrella as usual, and they will be able to move her immediately after the Fever Mode.

As a help for the players, it will not fall any black drop right after the Fever Mode. We will give a 1s or 2s edge for the players to be ready.

OLD MECHANIC

(The cross out parts are the ones that I eliminated for the new mechanic)

The Fever Mode will be available when players reach 500 points. This mode (that the players need to activate) will give a color storm (I need to design this part, I imagine something like a rainbow. Check the Sprites Section) for 5s (or so) that will provide to the players a lot of XP.  This mode will be useful after the players spend their XP as ammunition to defeat Ni.

The Fever Mode has two functions:

1. Make the raindrops worth the double, and that doesn’t fall black drops for that time.
2. A wind cloud that will make that some leaves or petals fall slowly. These items will give lots of XP to the players, like 100 or 200 each.

Each half minute or a minute, it will be a possibility to the Ni appears and drop big black ink drops over Amanda. Each of these drops will cost -100 or so to the players. Ni will rain for 15-30 seconds. When this happens, it only will rain black drops, so players can’t restore ammunition.

Attack · Raindrops as Ammunition

Amanda can defeat Ni using her umbrella and the drops that she caught. When she uses this drops, she will lose happiness (life points). When the players’ marker reaches 0, they will be out of ammunition. The players will have an ammunition box where they will be able to choose between the different ammunitions and see the cost/damage of each bullet.

When players reach 300 points with any loss, they will activate a shield that will protect them from one black drop. The best would be that the players could activate this power-up when they wanted. As long as they have an available power-up, they won’t be able to get another.

The HUD need to show:

• The Happiness (life) scorebar on the top right corner.
• The Timer on the top left corner.
• A Pause button on top right.
• A Power-Up button on the right side of the screen.
• A Fever Mode button on the right side of the screen.
• The progrees bar for the Fever Mode
• The Ammunition Box

I want the menu in black and white, with changing buttons when they are pushed, with dripping colors. I want Amanda (the girl of the game) in the background with her umbrella, more detailed than inside the game. Some rain animation in the back and at the bottom, like raindrops on the ground.

The menu must have the buttons, START, EXIT, EXTRAS and CREDITS.

Inside the game, the players will have the Pause menu. With the buttons EXIT, MENU and CONTINUE.

The panel must be in black and white with some ink details. Buttons must have colors when they are highlighted.

The Game Over menu, with the buttons EXIT, RETRY and MENU.

The screen will show Ni’s Face with the buuttons beneath

I designed this game for Android. And the engine that I will use is Unity.

My Inspiration for the Soundtrack

The experience of this game is: «play under the rain». Where I come from (Galicia, in the north of Spain) rain is something regular, so frequent that we have a saying that said «se chove, que chova», that means «if rain, let it rain». This saying represents the optimism that characterizes my motherland. That even in the rain, we can find joy and happiness. That strength of not let a storm erase our smile or ruin a day. That is the essence of the game. Always look for happiness and use it to fight against the darkness that we all have inside.
I love rain, and the traditional instruments from my motherland remind me of its sound. Also, the traditional songs are very characteristic, as melancholic as full of joy. However, a lot of tradition got lost in time, with war and the dictatorship, for that reason, Galicia is a hodgepodge of cultures that fills the holes that the war left. When I was a kid, I loved to go dinner to the Chinese restaurants and see Chinese and Japanese movies. I fell in love with their melancholic music and with their art. These cultures have a special place on my heart and my art, and for that reason, I wanted to represent them. I base Ni, The Ink Demon, on the Japanese oni, the Umbrella Dragon on the Chinese dragons, and the background and the experience on my motherland. So I want that the music represents them as well.

The Main Soundtrack

«Let it Rain!»

I want a song that sounds melancholic, as the rain is, but at the same time, feels playful and funny.

Because I based on my motherland for the background and the experience, I want the main track to remind it. The tambourines (that the Galicia’s folklore music uses very often) reminds to the sound of the rain.

But I want something that joins this song with the Ni’s song. Like the yin in the yang. A little bit of darkness in the light. For that, I think that some string instruments, like the guzheng or the koto, could do that part with their melancholic sound.

The idea behind this song is to be able to use in the menu as a complete song and in the background, as a loop song (so take only the playful part and loop it)

Here some references:

Curse Mode and Game Over 

«Ni’s Song»

Ni. The Ink Demon

This WIP drawing shows how the Curse Mode must feel. Amanda and her dragon fighting against Ni.

Ni is the Ink Demon. He represents the depression and darkness that we all have inside. This song needs to represent a battle and the sadness of the defeat.

I like the drums for Ni. They remind me of a storm. Also, I want, like in the main soundtrack, a little light inside the darkness. And again, I think the string instruments can do well the sad part. That way, both songs will be linked to each other.

The idea behind this song is use it in the Game Over screen as a complete song and in the Curse Mode as a loop song (so take the battle part and loop it).

Here some references:

• 🌧🦄A sound for the colored drops. Something like an angelic bell, magical and cute.
• 🌧🏴 A sound for the black drops. Maybe something sad or slimy, I am not sure yet.
• 👹 Ni’s laughing when players lose the game.
• ⚡ Stormy sound when the Ni is approaching.
• 🌧 Rain Sound on the Background
• 🌟 The Power-Up need a sound (like in Sonic), something bubbly. When the players have it and when they lose it.
• 💧👣 Amanda steps over a wet floor. So maybe a splash sound.
• ✨ A heavy rain sound for the Fever Mode.
• 🔫 A sound when the bullets hit Ni’s face. Water splash, like a water ballon.

• Intro/Trailer of the game [My name is Amanda…]
• Before the Fever Mode
• When players win the Fever Mode
• When players lose the Fever Mode
• Before the Curse Mode
• When players lose the game
• Before Secret Mode

I want to use my own aesthetic, with everything painting by hand and play with my watercolors for the rain. I want all the UI will be in black and white, so the only colors come from the rain.

Amanda’s Movements

👣

• 💀When players lose the game, maybe made Amanda falls on her knees. Two sprites.
• 💀 Amanda melting, two or three sprites.
• 👣 Random colored splashes in her steps.
• 🚶‍ Walk.

💥Amanda’s attack.

I have the idea that when the Nin curse began some watercolor smoke appear around Amanda and then her umbrella transforms into a dragon around her that will shot.

POST-ALPHA 01 NOTE

📌

There are 8 CLOUD sprites and 88 frames that make this animation the way I designed.

Frame speed is 0.05s

First frame of the animation shows Amanda (Sprite 0) blocked (so players can move her) in the back and while the black clouds are entered in the scene by the left upside corner, the orange cloud must begin to appear. First, at 10% opacity and make it more visible with each sprite adding more opacity, until 100% opacity. Then do the same with the rest of the clouds by order.

When we reach the Sprite Green Cloud Up with an opacity 50%, then the Sprite 0 (Amanda in the back) should start to disappear. So in that sprite [the first on the image below] the Green Cloud opacity it’s 50% and Amanda’s it’s 90%. Next ones:

1. Green Cloud 60% and Amanda 70%.
2. Green Cloud 70% and Amanda 50%.
3. Green Cloud 80% and Amanda 30%.
4. Green Cloud 90 % and Amanda 10%.
5. Green Cloud 100% without Amanda.

The next sprites will show all the clouds disappearing, and the new Amanda with the Dragon (Sprite 0 – Amanda’s Attack) will be appearing behind the clouds. I did it the inverse process for this set of sprites (so I lowered the opacity to the clouds, and I raised it to Amanda’s Sprite).

The whole animation lasts 8s. It could be too much inside the actual game, so maybe I should change this design or accelerate the animation.

ANOTHER DESIGN · THE SMOKE BOMB

💣

Another design was to use all the clouds in one single sprite (like in the previous image). Make it appear with Amanda and the umbrella disappearing behind. Then, make the clouds disappear with Amanda and the dragon appearing beneath. This would reduce the animation’s time considerably at the expense to take off some fanciness from it.

Ni · Curse Mode & Game Over

👹

• • ☁ Make the clouds move in different directions.
  • 👹 Make Ni’s face appear from the clouds.

Raindrops

💦

• • 🏴💦☔A big, slimy black splash on Amanda’s umbrella when players catch a black drop.
  • 🏴💦A big, slimy black splash when the black drops hit on the ground.
  • 🌈💦☔Small colored splashes when the colored raindrops hit the umbrella.
  • ‍🌈💦Small colored splashes when the colored raindrops hit the ground.

Background

👀

👀 An old town with a café and some trees or plants. Need to be raining.

Fever Mode

🍃

🌧🎨 A curtain of colored raindrops that will cover Amanda and the background for a few seconds.

Power-Up

🌟

🌟 Amanda gets a shield that will protect her from one black drop. (Sonic’s shield) I want to have colors that change like a soap bubble.