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Dawn 离冥


[05/2019-07/2020]

Game Designer

3D Artist



Game Video





Introduction


Dawn is a role-playing (RPG) team game in an Eastern ghost culture setting. The game is divided

into two players, human and ghost, in which the human player can escape from the gate after finding

sacrifices, while the ghost player needs to extinguish the human player's soul lamp to convert it into

the human to leave. There is no death in the game. It can bring a different user experience through

ghost-human character conversion. The design of the game's character is based on the traditional Chinese

culture of marriage and funeral and the scene is set in the mansions in Shanxi.



Core Objective


Find sacrifices or collect the evil power of ghosts, and then open the door to escape.



Core Experience


Humans

dodge ghosts, corporate with the other player, covert roles

Ghosts

hunters, corporate with the other ghost, convert roles



Game Story


Two travellers wanted to climb mountains at night. A thick fog suddenly appeared in the middle of the

mountain and they lost their way. At the time they were exhausted, a house appeared on the hillside not

far away. Then they wanted to spend the night there and knocked at the door, but no one answered. So

they pushed the door and entered the house. All of a sudden, the door was closed with a sound of lively

Suona, mixing with a sharp and harsh crying. There were two women crying and laughing in the distance,

one was in red, and the other was in white. The two women were staring at the travellers horribly.



Game Worldview


The game is based on real life into which the ghost and God settings are integrated. It is a well-

ordered world where the sun rises, and sets and everyone has their way of life.

However, there is a lesser-known world that overlaps ours, which is enveloped by eternal night and full

of ghosts due to unjust death. Though a barrier exists between the two worlds, it will become weaker at

certain times of the year, and parts of the two worlds will coincide when psychic phenomena, also known

as "hauntings" will occur. Some people will be safe after seeing it, while others will lose their minds.

Moreover, it is said that some people have disappeared, such as the famous “Kisaragi Station” existed in

a Japanese urban legend. Although most people do not believe it, it happens constantly. The player

in the game, hit a psychic haunted event at the part of the two worlds overlap.




Rule

Humans
·Humans can squat, walk and run while squatting has no sound and running is the loudest.

·Soul Receptacle: Humans will immediately transform into ghosts when all the three shimmering soul

receptacles on either shoulder or head, which other team members can inherit, are put out by

ghosts. Any human with only one soul receptacle is easier to be found by ghosts.

·Props: all props are available to humans except mirrors


Ghosts

·Ghosts can fly (not silently) faster than walking humans, but the speed is the same as running.All the

physical obstacles can be surpassed by ghosts except for trunks, screens and rockeries.

·Evil power: The evil power is stored at a ghost’s birthplace and carried with a special receptacle.

·Props: all props are available to ghosts except amulets

·Evil power: A ghost will carry receptacles, which are containers for collecting evil power, such as the

bracelets on each hand of his corpse. A ghost can launch an attack when both his bracelets and

body is full of evil power. The less evil power a ghost has, the weaker he is. When the power

reaches the lowest, a ghost can only walk. A ghost can find the ghost’s birthplace to collect evil power

with his receptacles. But when a ghost leaves the ghost’s birthplace or if the containers disappeared

from there, he will be aware of it and become weaker. The evil power will be updated at regular

intervals. Some items can store evil power. A ghost’s evil power will surge with the help of these

items! A ghost can collect evil power from the ghost’s birthplace. But not for long, staying at that

the place can be dangerous for a ghost.


Humans & Humans

If another player kills a human, he will remain as a soul that can’t be killed, moving as a ghost at the

same speed but without the ability to attack others or return to his body autonomously. At this time,

his body may be possessed by any other ghost. His team member has to burn a rhinoceros horn, and his

staff to summon his soul.

Ghosts & Ghosts

A ghost can notice the dark evil power around his team member’s shoulder, which can be stolen and

discarded, but not be used by other ghosts.



PROPS & FUNCTION


EVIL POWER


Distributed around the ghost’s birthplace, it won’t be produced upto the set value until being

collected. (e.g. The set value is 1. If the actual value is 0.5, it will begin to increase and stop at

1) A long-time contact will transform humans into ghosts.



SACRIFICES


Distributed on the map, the specific types of sacrifices are linked to the map scene; for example,

fruits in the garden, jewels and rhinoceros horns in the treasure house. The number of sacrifices are

limited, which can be obtained and carried by both humans and ghosts and these sacrifices will not be

lost due to the change of identity.



SOUL LAMPS


Three soul lamps per person. Soul lamps can be exchanged. The full grid is 6. When the number reaches 5,

players can directly grab sacrifices from ghosts. But the longer the looting time, the soul lamps will

gradually go out. (The specific form only requires humans to touch the sacrifice 1 or 3 times, which is

tentatively determined as chasing. Yang Qi of the human can slow down the movement speed of ghosts and

shake the edge for a long time before passing through the wall.)



RHINOCEROS HORNS


Glow white on the map, and it is easy to find. Burning with the items of the dead will summon the soul of

the dead. (People can ignite items directly. Dead people have rings and other things.)



RELICS

Two evil powers can be carried up. When the number of ghosts and bracelets reaches the maximum of six

abilities- displacement, attack and teleport, and the attack speed will be faster.


There are conditions when the bracelet collects the last evil power, because the upper limit of the

bracelet is forcibly exceeded.

Duration is 40s-1min (six rounds).

Trigger condition: too many visits to or through the ghost’s birthplace will disturb the ghost's peace

and trigger fury mode.



MIRROR


·Identification: recognize the ghost's false identity.


·Teleport: Ghosts teleport through mirrors.

·It can be destroyed by ghosts. Although the mirror cannot be physically destroyed by the human, the

teleport function can be sealed with a spell, and the mirror can still identify ghosts.

· If someone passes a mirror touched by a ghost, his appearance will be recorded in the mirror for a

short time and the ghost can directly copy the human’s identity through the mirror. People can

hide through trees and bend over.



CIRCLE

Need to go to places like ancestral halls to find drawings; once players find them, they will learn to

use the casually.（It's better to have some restrictions, for example, circle of the wood property must

be around the peach tree, turn the function next to the apricot tree; The earthy must be in the house;

The water property must be near the pool.）



MASK


Ghosts have masks, which can copy human identities and become ghosts within a certain period.

But ghosts don't have soul lamps. They behave like people while can walk through walls. It will float up

on the verge of recovery.




SPELL


A separate system, the test focus on human behaviour, emphasizing human hiding behaviour and

gameplay.



HALLUCII


A separate system, a separate test associated with the spell system. Players must avoid ghost search

within a specified time after being trapped in the fantasy. Refer to hide and seek in a fixed position.



Tutorial of DAWN

Player’s character

ghost younger sister (white)

NPC

ghost sister (red)


Process Introduction
Stage 1: Born→Ghost sister provides introduction→player (ghost) practices moving（include going through

wall）→Ghost sister explains the function and types of sacrifices→Seek and collect sacrifices→meet

human（computer）→ghost sister explains rules of killing→player (ghost) controls killing

Stage 2: player’s character becomes “human”→move forward to the gate guided by ghost sister→player

(Human) sees the incantations→player (human) burns sacrifices

Stage 3: Escape




Game Screenshot