KC_Ext3_GDDweek15

Designed by Mark Musetti
For the PC
Genre: Action-Adventure
Sub-Genres: Puzzle, Christian
Target Audience: Children 5-12 years
Target Rating: E (Everyone)
Content Descriptor: Fantasy Violence
Kingdom Chronicles: Full Armor of God July 2013
Mark Musetti 1 GDD Version 1.3

Index
Section 1:
• One Sentence Explanation 3
• Story / Back Story 3
• Gameplay Summary / Parental Controls 4
Section 2:
• Game Flow 5
Section 3:
• Characters (Description, Style, Voice) 6
Section 4:
• Game Style (Art, Music, Writing) 8
• Controls 9
Section 5:
• Main Gameplay Concepts 10
• Unique Selling Points (USPs) 10
• Platform-Specific Features 10
Section 6:
• Game World 11
• Level Design (Game World and Level 1) 12
Section 7:
• Interface 13
Section 8:
• Mechanics/Power-ups 14
Section 9:
• Enemies 15
• Bosses 16
Section 10:
• Cutscenes / Bonus Material / Comps 17
Section 11:
• Plan of Execution / Milestones 18
• Alternate Game Design / Concept 19

• SWOT Marketing Analysis 20
Section 1:
One Sentence Explanation:
You are a squire seeking to become a knight through spiritual and physical training
in time to save the kingdom from the evil dragon.
Story / Back Story:
The Old Testament recounts the history of many people whom God used in spite of
their circumstances or abilities to defeat mighty nations and armies. When these
leaders fought for the Lord, many battles were won, even against seemingly
impossible odds (Gideon, David, Joshua). However, when the people fought for
things aside from God’s glory, they were doomed to fail (Achan; Battle of Ai).
The New Testament speaks of the process by which we may become modern-day
warriors of the faith. While the tutelage that a young squire must receive to
achieve knighthood is extensive, the training received in order to fight in God’s
Army is both physical and spiritual. Staying true to not only the Bible in general
but specifically the Answers in Genesis (AiG) curricular outline, you are the squire
that is embarking on a journey that will literally and figuratively train you as
described in Ephesians 6:10-18, specifically:
“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of
the devil.” (Ephesians 6:11, KJV)
By learning scripture (spiritual warfare), fighting techniques (physical warfare) and
the ways of a Godly knight you will become the best warrior that you can be. This
training will serve you well when the kingdom faces its greatest crisis to date as
you fight the giant dragon. This dragon tale is allegorical with respect to Satan and
his influence upon the world that is dark with sin. We ultimately must make a
series of choices such that if any of them are wrong or are made with hesitation,
Satan will attempt to fight you in a spiritual battle of life and death. This is
analogous to the dragon battle in that even the correct move must be made soon
enough to keep you from physical death. Only when you completely obey without
delay will you defeat both the evil one (in life) and the dragon (in the game).

Gameplay Summary:
You wander around the outskirts of the Kingdom of Lourdesville, where you hope
to find the legendary Sir Trainsalot. You must successfully complete a puzzle in
order to convince him to train you to become a knight. The training takes place
over the course of 5 days, each consisting of 3 stages. Each morning is comprised
of a scripture memory verse and a puzzle that must be solved to unlock the day’s
skill. Afternoons are your training time to learn attack and defense moves in hand-
to-hand and jousting combat as well as basic rules of chivalry. Evenings are used
for fellowship (skits and music) and worship time; however, you will be using your
skills to forage for the king’s food each night. On day 6, you will need to be
physically and spiritually equipped, donning the full armor of God in order to
defeat the fire-breathing dragon that threatens Lourdesville and gain knighthood.
Parental Controls:
A unique feature of this game is a password-protected login that enables the user to
control the amount of time that a user can play the game each day (or a minimum
break time between game activity). The parent user can also control the creation of
new accounts to prevent duplicate instances of games. These controls are designed
to curtail addictive behaviors in gamers. The default setting is 2 hours per day,
with additional game play no earlier than 7am of the next day.
Another feature that can be used for the purpose of formative and summative
assessments of the gamers themselves is the ability to control the meeting of
established learning objectives before moving on to the next day or checkpoint.
For instance, the parent user can set the objective to memorizing scripture for each
day and spending a set amount of time in prayer and/or reading through the
attached curriculum that goes along with the software. In the locked setting, only
the parent user can go into the game and move the gamer on to the next area. The
default setting for this feature is set to be parent-controlled, as it is the purpose of
the VBS curriculum personnel to have the family engage in meaningful dialogue,
even if only 1 player is actually playing the game.

Section 2 (Game Flow):
Kingdom Chronicles is an action-adventure, third person camera game with
character-relative controls that teach you how to be physically and spiritually ready
for the battles that we face on a daily basis. Through the use of puzzles, scripture,
trivia questions and skills-based training, you become prepared to fight in God’s
Army within the kingdom (world) of Lourdesville, where the castle and the
training grounds are located. The back entrance to the castle is located just inside
the confluence of 2 creeks, while evergreen trees heavily line the drawbridge.
Each day (level) is broken up into morning, afternoon and evening (sublevels).
The morning stage takes place at the campsite where the fire is still smoldering
from the previous night. The daily Bible study time is based on the scripture
memory verses that you must learn in order to answer trivia questions throughout
your training to receive various power-ups (see p. 7, power-ups). Two puzzles are
also given to you to solve each morning. The first requires your knowledge of
scripture from what you just learned and builds upon previous days. Both the Old
and New Testament are used in the puzzles and may involve matching warriors,
verses, locations, weapons and circumstances in either a timed test or a test giving
you a maximum number of attempts to correctly match items. A second type of
puzzle requires you to either manipulate objects (blocks, pulleys and ropes,
switches) or to complete a jigsaw puzzle of a diagram that exposes the dragon’s
weakness. Afternoons are spent at the jousting tilt actually learning and practicing
the attack/defense and jousting skills that Sir Trainsalot has taught you. You must
achieve at least a minimum rating from the knight after each afternoon session in
order to attend the dinner festivities. As each skill and Biblical principle is
mastered, you will have more tools in your arsenal to defeat the dragon and be able
to forage more efficiently for food. While evenings are dedicated to fellowship,
worship, rest and recuperation, dinner must first be caught for the chef (who can
only wait so long for your catch). Once you have succeeded in bringing food for
the dinner party, a royal feast is prepared to celebrate the end of a long day of
training before the cycle starts over in the morning. Failure to complete a task
results in repeating that task again, but puzzles can be attempted as many times as
necessary before moving on. After the 5th
night, you must defeat the dragon that
has infiltrated the castle in order to achieve knighthood (victory condition).

Section 3:
Characters (Description, Style, Voice, see section 9 for enemy/boss descriptions):
• Although God is not necessarily the first character that you encounter in the
game, He is the beginning and the end and is omnipotent, omnipresent and
omniscient. Therefore He exists throughout the game in any form He
chooses, but typically as a voice combined with a motion that is contrary to
the other parts of the screen (a tree with immediate growing and ripening of
fruit, a talking animal, et al). When He does speak, you would expect to
hear either a reassuring Charlton Heston-type voiceover from the 1956 film
The Ten Commandments (when God has heard your prayer) or a faint
whisper reminiscent of Ray Liotta in Field of Dreams (1989).
• You are the young squire (approximately 14 years of age) ready to take your
knight exams (those who completed their training would typically become a
sergeant before becoming a full-fledged knight), except that the person who
would be training you is helping and his own son prepare for knighthood.
While grounded in the Lord from your father, you can be a bit naïve and
clumsy. You are however a quick study and capable of learning both skills
and scripture easily, both of which you will need in battle. You wear
greenish-brown rags and sandals that barely hold together with twine. Tall
(about 6 feet, the standard metric unit for this game) and gangly with
shoulder-length brown hair, you carry little more than an old water-filled
wineskin attached to your cloth belt and a stick holding a bag with your
papers and dried snacks for the journey. Your voice is nervous but hopeful,
much like the main character in Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist (think of the
classic line, “Please sir, can I have more?”).
• Only seen in the opening cutscene prior to the encounter with Sir Trainsalot,
your father (Sir James (Jim) of Brazzell) is a faithful servant and well-
known knight in his own right. Slightly shorter than you are, his heart and
faith are the only things larger than his stomach. He walks with a slight limp
and proudly carries an armored crest and sword with a cross covering much
of each object. He speaks much like a more mumbled, mellower and softer-
spoken version of Jimmy Stewart’s character (George Bailey) in It’s a

Wonderful Life. He was jailed for sharing his faith when the former king
ruled over Lourdesville but was released after numerous prison guards were
saved. It is his optimism and faith that you have inherited from him.
• Sir Trainsalot is as famous for his unique training methods as for his
extensive model train collection. Residing in Lourdesville, he is officially
retired but is willing to make an exception based on your father’s reputation.
He will be training you in the full armor of God to be a fearsome warrior.
Short and portly, he is an unlikely choice to be such a warrior, but God
chooses men that the world would not consider based on appearances. With
the wisdom of King Solomon and many years of tactical experience, he is
the perfect trainer for a young squire who wants God to guide him.
• The bi-vocational chef/jester has an Italian accent (consider a slightly faster
speaking Chef Boyardee from the commercials) and is as quick with a joke
as he is to whip up lasagna. He is very well versed in scripture and can
speak to people of all ages, assisting the king and queen with their decisions.
He wears a white chef’s outfit and hat. Mark Musetti supplies the voice for
this character.
• King Bobby, half of the newly crowned royalty puppet duo of Lourdesville,
loves all things food and is both smarter and dumber than he looks for a 5-
year-old. His short-cropped brown hair and wide brown eyes give the
appearance of a pudding-eating grin. He is saved but often takes scripture
too literally. In an anachronistic twist, he wears denim overalls to support
his rotund frame. Mark Musetti also supplies the voice for this character.
• Queen Weezie, the other half of the puppet duo and half-sister to king
Bobby, is more practical than Bobby but is prone to behaviors typical of a 2-
year-old. Their skits act as object lessons for the scripture memory verses.
She has shoulder-length blonde pigtails and wears a yellow shirt. Her voice
is loud and cacophonous. She also often acts incredulously towards King
Bobby when he says something that doesn’t fit into her world. Donna
Springer supplies the voice-over for this character.

Section 4:
Game Style (Art, Music, Writing):
Much of the 3-D art for this game is generated from 2-D imagery in the Kingdom
Chronicles VBS curriculum in terms of buildings, animals and townspeople
(NPCs). However, character descriptions (section 3) and voices are used to
develop the renditions of the characters and personalities in the cutscenes and
character interactions in the game levels. A realistic yet ethereal feel to the
characters reveal a sense of lightheartedness that sets the tone of the game. Soft
outlines and nebulous shadows eliminate the hardness and edginess of the
protagonists while the dragon (boss) displays the exact opposite qualities (sharply
contrasted shadows and contours) to accentuate the imposing and terrifying nature
of the beast (see picture of dragon in section 6, game world). The atmosphere
starts out very dreary (mist, fog, twilight) in the first two scenes with you, your
father and Sir Trainsalot. The skies brighten considerably upon learning that Sir
Trainsalot will train your character, staying that way during the morning and
afternoon sublevels in days 1 – 5. This gives way to twilight during the dinner
quests and a starry clear pitch-black sky (only interrupted by dragon taunts and fire
streaks) at the evening worship and meal before your character turns in for the
night. The boss stage has a decidedly different atmosphere due to the impending
doom. A morning sun is shielded in a crimson sky with dark clouds gathering to
produce vivid lightning and deafening claps of thunder to create the climactic
scene. After one final taunt by Satan, the skies brighten once more, as the evil
dragon has been defeated before the closing credits appear.
The music for this game is almost entirely based on the Minstrel’s Music CD-Rom
that contains both lyrical and instrumental versions of each song (see section 6,
game world for scene-specific songs). You can choose from 9 tracks (below) in
either contemporary (ESV) or traditional (KJV) settings in the options menu. A
video track is embedded in the DVD-Rom game that plays the songs to dance
moves in the evening worship.
5) The Kingdom Chronicles, 2) The Battle, 3) Admit, Believe, Forever
Receive, 4) Do Right, 5) Whose Side Are You Leanin’ On, 6) The Sharpest
Blade, 7) God Answers Prayer, 8) Stand Up for Jesus, 9) You’re My Praise

Biblical verses for puzzles and lessons as well as the Bible itself may be set to KJV
or ESV in the options menu. Other writing is based on prompt descriptions in the
drop-down menus for in-game functions. However, most of the writing is based on
skits developed by Mark Musetti to accompany the VBS curriculum. Attachments
are provided for both the morning and evening skits that act as training sessions
prior to the puzzle challenges as well as the review of the daily scriptural verses.
Filename (morning skits): KC_Day_1_5_ArmorGodTrainingSkits.doc
Filename (evening skits): KC_Night_1_5_PuppetSkits.doc
Controls:
Basic Moves:
• Left Double click: opens object or skill/selects answer
• Left Single click/hold: manipulates object (game/puzzle)
• Left single click: selects menu option from list
• Right click: Opens drop down menu options
• Home button: Pause: Options menu (save, progress, skills)
• End button: Returns to gameplay
• Up/Down/Left/Right (Directional buttons):
Attack/defense/character movement
• Space bar: First level (basic) Attack/Defense move
Advanced (Combo) Moves:
• Shift & direction buttons: Moves character or
reticulating target more slowly
• Ctrl & = buttons: Zooms in (closer view for those with
poor eyesight)
• Ctrl & - buttons: Zooms out (wider view)
• Ctrl & A buttons: Special Attack move (QTE w/ enter
button on moving target)
• Ctrl & D buttons: Special Defense move (QTE w/
enter button on moving target)
• Ctrl & P buttons: Divine Intervention (a drop-down
menu will appear from the top of the screen asking you to
select what you would like to pray to God for); prayer
request will be answered according to God’s will

Section 5:
Main Gameplay Concepts:
While the game is technically an action-adventure game, puzzles can be found at
regular intervals while Christian themes (Bible study, music, 50% of knighthood
training and puzzles) are also pervasive throughout. Play is broken up into 6 days,
the first 5 of which follow a pattern of mornings (devotional time followed by
puzzles), afternoons (learning and applying combat and horse-riding skills) and
evenings (catching food followed by dinner, fellowship, skits and worship). If a
task or puzzle is not successfully completed, the game returns to that event for you
to complete before moving to the next task. Because younger children are playing
the game, the intent is not to frustrate them by going back too far. However, once
a skill is learned, you can always access it from the main menu (any day’s skill or
lesson) or by interacting with your trainer or the day that the lesson took place.
Mini-games are comprised of scriptural and skill-based puzzles. Scriptural puzzles
are twofold: solving a jigsaw puzzle with the daily memory verse followed by a
Biblical puzzle to match items (names, places, enemies, weapons and tragic flaws
using Bible searches). Skill-based puzzles give hints as to how to catch food and
defeat the dragon (bow hunting, trap making, pulley systems, manipulating blocks
to affect the enemy and jigsaw puzzles that expose the dragon’s weaknesses.
USPs:
• Fun gameplay in-line with both doctrine and mission statement of AiG
• First ever VBS-themed video game; pipeline exists dating back from 2008
• Non-threatening way (puzzles, songs) to learn Scriptural memory verses
• In-game Bible included with curriculum guide
• Great way to reinforce VBS instruction and/or target unchurched families
Platform Specific Features:
• Materials (songs, video, teaching guides) from VBS curriculum can be
downloaded free to computer with product code that comes with purchase
• Computer hard drive can store progress internally
• Computer flash drive can be used to store progress externally
• Characters, music or locations can be modified using JavaScript and saved
as files to a server (monitored by AiG for content) for player access

Section 6:
Game World:
Each day (1-5) starts with Bible study/puzzle time in the mornings followed by
training at the jousting tilt in the afternoons and dinner/fellowship at the castle.
The red arrow indicates the change in venue at day 6 (fighting the dragon).
Level Design (Game World and Level 1):
Songs
First/Last Scene: The Battle
Morning/Afternoon/Evening:
(Choose from drop-down menu)
Opening/Closing Credits: The
Kingdom Chronicles

Section 7 (Interface):

Although certain sections of the game have music set by the computer, you get to
control the songs used during the majority of each day. A music note icon on-
screen gives you the ability to select any track from the Kingdom Chronicles CD
(already installed into game) from a drop-down menu. This is done because you
should have control over the music as much as possible when the exact mood is not
necessary. However, the song The Battle is used in the opening (searching for the
trainer) and closing scenes (dragon battle) to convey a foreboding sense of fear and
anticipation. The theme song The Kingdom Chronicles is used in the opening and
closing screen/credits because it is a catchy tune that represents the instruments
that you might hear in medieval music. The words are also easy to remember, a
must for any opening or closing song.
The main navigational features in combination with gameplay mechanics include
walking (for stealth hunting), mounting and riding a horse (jousting or to cover
ground faster), interacting with objects to activate drop-down menus to choose an
action, picking up, moving or throwing objects and attack/defense moves. The
moving target (see below) is an interface that response to various factors.
The HUD screen contains a health bar, number of arrows remaining and dual (x-
and y-) axial moving target on the upper-left. Since there is no score, the day
number, time of day, task description, and timer (if activated) are all on the upper-
right. An internal HUD exists by right-clicking the mouse to activate a drop-down
menu, where left clicking will select a choice. Any icon or person that can be
interacted with during the course of the game will display a small mouse overhead
(context-sensitive prompt). If you left click the icon or person on the screen, a
drop-down menu will also be activated (e.g. music note for playing a variety of
songs, your trainer to ask a question or to review a skill move). The targeting
reticule is a key component for hunting, which is designed using the AI aspects of
proximity to target, calmness and skill to increase or decrease the likelihood of
making a successful food kill with the bow and arrow (or strike against the
dragon). A circular infrared radar map is located on the bottom-left to display “hot
spots” and their silhouettes (human, animal, dragon) where up is the forward
direction of your player.
Section 8 (Mechanics):

The first mechanic type in this game is an object that you can carry, interact with
or throw at your enemies. Using your double left-click on the mouse will either
pick up an object on the screen (hand icon) or reveal information or speak to you
(dialogue cloud icon). In addition to the spiritual and physical armor that you
collect throughout your training, you will receive weapons that will aid you in
inflicting damage upon enemies from a longer distance. They are always picked
up for completing tasks to make you feel more empowered. Your horse can also
be mounted and rode upon in jousting tilts as practice for certain dinner quests.
Another type of mechanic is the “spells” that are invoked during gameplay are
essentially the interaction between you and God in prayer, where He intercedes
when necessary to help you with certain items and characteristics that you lack
(regaining health, sharpening weapons, receiving encouragement, removing doubt
et al). The drop down menu gives you the options to kneel and pray as well as to
access the Bible when seeking guidance to make important decisions.
Many mechanic types appear in the castle area; a moving drawbridge, ladders,
chutes, climbable walls, platforms to jump across/to and a moat to swim or hide in
are useful for both evading the dragon and finding locations to make an attack
when the dragon becomes vulnerable. Using the levers and pulley systems inside
the arena, a skill mastered in the puzzles, will also help you to stun or hurt the
dragon dependable on its vulnerability state at the time of the move. A moving
target that affects your ability to attack is easier or harder to control based on your
calmness and skill parameters (see power-ups).
Power-ups:
Because of you dependence on both God and your trainer to help you on your
quest to achieve knighthood, power-ups are not typically found in this game.
However, your regular meals add health while spending time in prayer and
correctly answering trivia questions related to the curriculum scripture will
increase your strength, calmness, health and skill. The aforementioned attributes
will also increase when you exceed objectives in the daily puzzles.
Enemies:

The first “non-enemy” type of enemy is time. Each stage of each day has timed
events where a task(s) must be completed or else it must be repeated. For instance,
you have 1 hour to kill a wild boar for the next night’s meal or to kill the boss
enemy (dragon) before it destroys the castle and its people. Puzzles are also timed,
but can be adjusted in the menu options for various skills levels.
The more traditional enemies in the game include animals that you must kill for
your next meal using your skills. While some are meant to evade you, others like
the wild boar and the bull can be deadly, using sheer momentum as well as their
melee attacks (horns, teeth) to inflict significant (possibly fatal) damage. They will
stun and knock you back if they make a successful attack, and their persistent
damage is twofold. If you have been cut, the blood will draw other animals
nearby, making your task more difficult. Also, your health will be slow to recover
if you survive (overnight) which is critical because reduced health slows your
ability to attack and defend. The biaxial moving target must reflect a combination
of perfect aim (x-axis) and a high-impact shot (y-axis) such that both dots must
simultaneously meet in the center of each axis. If a shot hits the target animal but
does not both hit the “sweet spot” (main vessel or organ) and hit with enough
force, the animal may be stunned (for a second shot), run away or attack you if it
was irritated enough. The animals that must be brought each night for dinner (with
conditions) are:
Night 1) Kill 5 pigeons with up to 15 rocks from a slingshot; 1 hour
Night 2) Kill 5 rabbits with up to 10 traps; 1 hour
Night 3) Kill 2 sheep with short sword while on ground; 1 hour
Night 4) Kill 1 wild boar with long sword while on horseback; 1 hour
Night 5) Kill 1 bull with bow and arrow; 1 hour
Since the passing of each portion of a day effectively passes you through an
automatic checkpoint, you can repeat the dinner quest if you fail any part of the
task. Many of these hunting techniques will serve you well in the boss battle with
the dragon on the morning after the final dinner quest.
Bosses:

There are technically two boss enemies and they both act as tormentors (another
non-enemy type) throughout the game. The nightly fellowship is interrupted by
distant sounds of the dragon. While Satan himself is the chief tormentor and
tempter as he is responsible for the evil throughout the kingdom and the world,
both characters are found in several of the cutscenes to increase your resolve to
defeat them (Spoiler Alert – Satan never dies, even when his instrument of death
and destruction is defeated; he just finds others to tempt into sin).
The dragon is the boss enemy that we can see, although it is a tormented animal
that Satan has demonized. It is very large (5 times the player height and width),
red (personifies danger), can fly well in short bursts but not run, can breathe fire
and has an amber pendant. It has a variety of attacks (tail whip, fire breathing,
launching spiny scales with its tail) while stunning its opponent with a ground
pound as it flaps its Kevlar-coated wings. See picture in section 6 for art style.
While the boss battle is a difficult one due to the dragon’s immense size and broad
spectrum of skills and tools, it is not impossible to win. The move sequence is
complex but predictable. Fortunately, the dragon has 2 “tells” for attacking; a
pendant that turns green to show vulnerability and an intense white-hot glow at the
top of its head just before breathing fire (water defense). No matter where you
stand, the dragon will always face you, even finding an aerial platform to reach if
you are standing above the ground. The telegraphed sequence is as follows:
5) Ground stomp (you are stunned for 3 seconds if you don’t jump in synch)
2) Move 1 step forward and spin its tail (lose 10% health and stunned for 3 seconds
if you don’t jump in synch) followed by pendant color change that lasts 2
seconds (weapon strike to head or spell fire to pendant causes 10% damage)
3) Move 1 step back, coils tail to release the spiny scales, and then lobs them over
his head with the tail (lose 15% health for each spiny scale that hits you)
4) Flies backward out of view and then forward to original location within 3
seconds with an intense white-hot glow for 2 seconds before releasing fire (lose
40% health for any flame that hits you but only water thrown on dragon’s head
will cause 10% damage)
5) Repeat steps 1 – 4; once the dragon is defeated it turns into fire and then a cloud

Cutscenes:
The game opens with a cutscene from the VBS promotional DVD in mp3 format.
Starting with a wide-angle view of the castle, the camera zooms in and then shows
a 360-degree view of the castle and a young squire that sees both the good and evil
forces at work. The song The Battle from the Minstrel’s Music soundtrack plays
during the cutscene leading to the start/menu screen (The Kingdom Chronicles).
Prior to your journey into Lourdesville, a scripted cutscene is shown between you
and your father that describes your objectives (finding Sir Trainsalot and
convincing him to train you to be a knight) and the knight’s back-story.
At regular intervals during the game, starting with the moment that Sir Trainsalot
agrees to train you, the distant sound effects of the dragon are apparent. It
screeches and makes fire-breathing sounds, cutting to a scripted scene showing the
utter destruction of a nearby hamlet at the handiwork of the dragon. At the end of
the scene, the dragon can be seen in the distance flying past the screen.
Cutscenes are displayed each afternoon prior to training and each evening after
dinner to display each theme related to putting on the full armor of God. Both are
FMV cutscenes largely acted out by teenagers for the jousting scenes and puppets
with toddler-age voiceovers (King Bobby, Queen Weezie, Chef) because younger
and animated characters are more relatable to the target audience (songs: Admit,
Believe, Forever Receive; You’re My Praise).
On the final night of your training, you are displayed in a puppet-show cutscene
where you can control your head movement (where to look around) as you pray.
The song God Answers Prayer plays in the background as the campfire dies down,
before the dragon makes its way to the castle.
Bonus Material:
When you defeat the dragon at the end of the game, a movie trailer of the sequel is
available to play (International Spy Academy). After you achieve the objectives
on each training day you can unlock demo versions of Amazon Expedition,
Operation Space, The Egypt File, Gold Rush and IncrediWorld (nights 1 – 5).
Comps: Journey of Moses (FB game), The Interactive Parables (PC)

Section 11:
Plan of Execution/Milestones:
With only about 10 months to release the game by 6/1/2014, a larger than normal
team will be used (most of temporary help is from the programmers) to complete
the project.
• Pitch/Presentation/10-20 page GDD/story: due 8/1/2013
• Marketer pitches idea with Lead Programmer/Developer/Producer to answer
questions to AiG ~ 8/15/2013 (approval, venture capital)
• Concept sent by producer to www.kickstarter.com for venture capital ~
8/20/2013 (lead programmer, marketer, AiG contact listed for questions)
If game is approved for development and venture capital is secured:
• Full-scale GDD: due 8/31/2013 (Developer and Producer)
• Level design sketches, Character development/graphics and game box
design: due 9/30/2013 (graphic artists)
• Cutscenes (w/ music/voice): due 10/31/2013 (graphics, programmers, actors)
• Vertical Slice for initial cutscene and level 1: due 11/30/2013 (programmers)
• Initial PR and press release: due 12/152014 (AiG’s PR department)
• Music insertion from licensed software, non-skit writing (drop-down
functionalities, first draft of game manual) and voice-overs (non-cutscenes):
due 12/31/2013 (graphics, actors)
• Alpha Version released by 2/15/2014 (programmers)
• Beta Version released by 3/31/2014 (programmers), game testers should be
playing and commenting by the time the alpha version is released
• PR/marketing/advertising (magazines, websites, Christian publications and
media, AiG literature: due 4/30/2014
• Retail and online stores to accept pre-orders at $29.99/unit (secular and
Christian) for 5/31/2014 consumer delivery: due 4/30/2014
• Validation testing complete by 5/10/2014 (programming, game testers); first
production cycle of 100K units to be manufactured by 5/15/2014
• Gold version (game released in stores and online) 5/31/2014
• Pitch Classic AiG VBS Series by 6/30/2014 (VBS themes 2008 – 2013)

Alternate Game Design/Concept (Feedback):
As the current director of our church’s VBS program at Westerville Free Will
Baptist Church I sought the advice of my wife Jessica, a former VBS program
director and DBA candidate. She is well versed in both business models and
executing church-wide projects using AiG. After much discussion, we were
reasonably satisfied with the initial GDD but wanted to explore a new avenue for
release of the VBS series while adding a SWOT analysis (page 20) for the game.
• While we have added vertical slice demos into the game as bonus materials
for completing challenges at each stage of the game (days 1 – 5), we believe
that that the design of a game that explores all 6 VBS themes used by AiG
from 2008 to 2013 could alternatively be produced and sold either alongside
or in place of the existing single-theme game.
• The 6 themes would be linked together as a dodecahedral (12-face) world
where you can select any theme first to play (faces 1, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11) and
upon completing the 5 days of the theme enter a portal to the opposite face
of the polyhedron to defeat the boss character. Upon defeating the boss
enemy, the remaining 5 themes are opened for game play, as the faces are
adjacent to the boss enemy face (see below for structure).
• Faces 1 (days 1 – 5) and 12 (boss): Amazon Expedition
• Faces 7 (days 1 – 5) and 6 (boss): Operation Space
• Faces 8 (days 1 – 5) and 5 (boss): The Egypt File
• Faces 9 (days 1 – 5) and 4 (boss): Gold Rush
• Faces 10 (days 1 – 5) and 3 (boss): IncrediWorld
• Faces 11 (days 1 – 5) and 2 (boss): Kingdom Chronicles

SWOT Marketing Analysis:
Strengths:
• Has support of major VBS and Sunday school curriculum provider AiG.
• Potential for built-in profitability by including game as a component of the
company’s Ultimate Starter Kit.
• Niche market already exists for product (kids who have been to VBS)
Weaknesses:
• Christian game genre is historically weak in terms of crossover interest and
profitability.
• First title of video game series has little name recognition outside of the
Christian community.
Opportunities:
• First VBS-themed video game sub-genre created for the marketplace; with 6
VBS themes already to AiG’s credit, a successful first game virtually
guarantees a product pipeline with future profitability..
• Outstanding opportunity to reach unsaved/unchurched families individuals
using alternative methods.
• Rave game reviews can generate additional contracts from other VBS
publishers looking to seek residual cash flow from their curriculum by
having their products developed into video games.
Threats:
• Ultra-niche market can be dominated by as few as 1-2 additional competitors
(Lightside, Left Behind Games, Inc.), diminishing chances for profitability.
• Games must be developed quickly to keep competitors from entering the
marketplace and taking market share; game quality could potentially suffer.

KC_Ext3_GDDweek15

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