Sokoban Alchemist

Hi, welcome to Sokoban Alchemist! This is our thesis project for NYU Game Center MFA program.

Sokoban Alchemist is an action game based on the Sokoban framework. 

Keyboard: 

• [WASD] to move
• [Space] to kick
• [LShift] to 
  • Dash: press arrow keys and [LShift], only available when no box in front of you.
  • Vault: vault over the box in front of you (swap position with the box).
  • Lift: face the Trap Box and press [LShift], then you can lift the trap. Press LShift again to put it down.
• [F] to interact
• [Q] / [E] to rotate the camera
• [TAB] to show the key bind manual.
• [J] / [K] / [L] are special skills.

XBox Controllers: 

• [Left Stick] or [DPad] to move
• [LT] to kick
• [RT] to 
  • Dash: press arrow keys and [RT], only available when no box in front of you.
  • Vault: vault over the box in front of you (swap position with the box).
  • Lift: face the Trap Box and press [RT], then you can lift the trap. Press [RT]again to put it down.
• [A] to interact or confirm
• [LB] / [RB] to rotate the camera
• [Select] to show the key bind manual.
• [Start] to open/close the menu
  
• [B] / [X] / [Y] are special skills.

Artist statement

Sokoban Alchemist is an action-adventure game based on Sokoban. The game world is special. Everything in this world is a box. Different boxes have different attributes and functions. The player acts as a cat alchemist who wants to get stronger and find the secret of the world. It can fight with enemies by interacting with these boxes, such as pushing, kicking, and even merging them into powerful box-weapons. 

Features ● No soft-lock as a Sokoban game

Most Sokoban games usually have an undo function to deal with soft lock. In Sokoban Alchemist, the player can vault over the box to swap position with it, which prevents most of the soft locks and adds more action flavor to the pace.

● Element attributes

Different boxes have different functions and element attributes. The boxes can interact with each other and their attributes may be combined or vanished, with special effects stimulated. In dungeons, players are rewarded with elemental skills, which can power up corresponding elemental boxes and make combats more exciting. 

● Utilizing the Environments

Since there is no approach to directly deal damage to enemies and no inventory for players to store boxes, the player can only utilize the surrounding environment to survive. The combination of the types of the box varies from terrain to terrain, which requires dynamic strategies according to different situations. 

● Combination of authorization and procedural generation

The procedural-generated open world and the authored dungeons consist of a versatile world, which satisfies the player's desire for exploration. The open world not only acts as a space worth exploring but also connects the dungeons together. The dungeons provide more intense combat, with higher rewards and higher risks.

Design Goals ● Standing on the classic game and explore more

It’s a good chance to practice our game design skills by constraining us in the Sokoban theme and the action genre. We do want to explore more possibilities from this classic game series.

● Establish the world with special logic to show the alchemy origins and cultures

There are few games telling the history of alchemy’s development. Alchemy, though has been proven falsified, played an important role in science and religions. We make this special Sokoban world for these special alchemy cultures. Our next step is to do a lot of research on alchemy, from the ore in the Iron Age to the priest and the metallurgical ceremony.

● Exploration of the AI design

Making AI act reasonably under our Sokoban rule is a big challenge. An ideal AI will behave as the player, who can interact with the boxes by pushing, kicking, or merging. They should be able to utilize the boxes to fight. Such AI will contribute to the diversity of combat experience and the uniqueness of our game.

Credits

Designers: Julia Wang, Steven Chen, Williams Xue, William Jiang

Audio Designers: Jae Seo, Josué Vera

Instructors: Matt Boch, Naomi Clark, Winnie Song

Advisor: Bennett Foddy

大家好，欢迎来到Sokoban Alchemist (推箱子炼金术士)！这是我们的纽约大学Game Center的硕士毕业设计项目。经过九个月的设计和开发，我们的作品雏形终于面世。

顾名思义，《推箱子炼金术士》是一款基于传统推箱子游戏机制的动作角色扮演游戏。在游戏中，玩家扮演一只炼金术士猫，通过推、踢、翻越等基本动作与场景中 各种箱子进行交互，利用箱子本身 特性进行解谜和战斗。在未来的游戏中，我们将会引入更多关于炼金术的历史和文化，并构造出一个充满魔法和奇幻的中世纪炼金世界。

键盘：

• [WASD] - 移动
• [Space] - 踢
• [Shift]  
  • 冲刺: 当前方无箱子阻挡时，朝前方冲刺一定距离；
  • 翻越: 翻越面前的箱子（即和该箱子交换位置）；
  • 举起: 靠近并面向陷阱箱子按下Shift键，可以举起该箱子，再次按下Shift可放下箱子。
• [F] - 交互键
• [Q] / [E] - 旋转视角
• [TAB] - 显示键位信息
• [J] / [K] / [L] - 特殊技能释放

XBox手柄：

• [左摇杆] 或 [方向键] - 移动
• [LT] - 踢
• [RT]  
  • 冲刺: 当前方无箱子阻挡时，朝前方冲刺一定距离；
  • 翻越: 翻越面前的箱子（即和该箱子交换位置）；
  • 举起: 靠近并面向陷阱箱子按下Shift键，可以举起该箱子，再次按下Shift可放下箱子。
• [A] - 交互键
• [LB] / [RB] - 旋转视角
• [Select] - 显示键位信息
• [Start] - 菜单
• [B] / [X] / [Y] - 特殊技能释放

设计师陈述 游戏概述

在《推箱子炼金术士》构建的世界中，所有的物体都是由箱子组成的。不同的箱子有不同的功能和特性，玩家扮演一只炼金术士猫，其本身没有任何直接对怪物造成伤害的能力，玩家只能利用周围环境来击杀怪物，获得奖励，变得更强。

由于引入了翻越这一基本操作，传统推箱子游戏中的“死锁”现象将不再出现，取而代之的是一种更加统一、流畅的动作游戏体验。但翻越这个动作会消耗角色的行动力，玩家需要稍加规划战斗策略，以免因行动力不足而陷入危险的处境。

场景中有各种“元素箱子”，如木箱子、火箱子、冰箱子等，合理利用箱子之间的相互作用会使战斗更加刺激和有趣。

关卡组织形式为随机生成的大世界，外加人工设计的地下城副本。大世界是玩家可自由探索的广阔世界，也散落着通往各个副本的洞穴入口，而副本中则有更加紧张刺激的战斗场景，以及丰厚的奖励。

未来目标

• 在未来的游戏世界观中，大世界中将会存在城镇、NPC、触发事件等元素，大世界和副本的设计将会围绕着中世纪炼金术主题展开。
• 目前的版本里，玩家已经可以见到一些玩家可学习的简单技能，如冰墙、驱火术、电力护盾等等。在未来的开发中，我们还会引入更多更丰富的技能组合，并允许玩家构建自己喜欢的流派Build。但我们的宗旨将始终如初：玩家不可对怪物直接造成伤害。
• 未来敌人AI设计将更加有趣、灵动，每个生物都会拥有自己 生存领域和行为习惯，并能够主动地和场景中的箱子进行交互。
• 更多的箱子类型、合成公式、元素交互，更大的开放世界……

开发团队：

程序: Williams Xue

原画/UI设计: William Jiang

3D 美术: Julia Wang

角色建模/动画: Steven Chen

音乐: Josué Vera

音效: Jae Seo

任课老师: Matt Boch, Naomi Clark, Winnie Song

导师: Bennett Foddy