Game Concept: Camouflage

This is an old design document for a game I called Camouflage, a casual puzzle-platformer for the web built on the Adobe Flash Platform.

I was inspired by artistic games like Continuity and Closure, which taught me that game mechanics matter far more than graphics, storyline, or marketing. Like those two, Camouflage uses only black-and-white graphics.

The setup from the image above:

• You control a stick figure (black).
• You need to get through the door, which is locked.
• The white character in the middle holds the key. Kill it to get the key.
• When a character moves in front of a background of the same color as itself, it becomes invisible to its enemies. That is the camouflage.

• WASD or arrow keys — move left/right, jump, and duck.
• Space — interact: pick up items, open doors, or kill enemies.
• Esc — pause and open the in-game menu.

One of the enemies on the current level holds the key to the door that leads to the next level. Kill that enemy to take the key, then go through the door.

The main character is a stick figure, either black or white. It moves across the level, gets the key by killing one of the enemies, and goes through the door to the next level.

When the character stands in front of a background of its own color, it becomes invisible to enemies and can secretly kill them without being noticed. So the player can still see it, the character is drawn with a white dotted border (for a black character on a black background) or a black border (for a white character on a white background).

Enemies whose color contrasts with the background they stand on are visible to the player. Each enemy has a meter above it showing how close you are. When you get too close, the meter fills and the enemy attacks. The meter only fills while you are visible to it (your color differs from the background color).

One of the enemies holds the key to the next level's door.

Some enemies stand still; others pace left and right. Sneaking up behind an enemy does not raise its suspicion, but if it turns around, the meter fills almost instantly.

Walk through the door in each level to proceed to the next.

On certain levels, the black or white squares scroll periodically along a pre-defined path. You have to act quickly, stay hidden, and avoid being spotted.

Passing through this special door inverts your player's color: black becomes white, and white becomes black.

Activating the bomb permanently inverts the colors of the environment on that level. Useful for spotting hidden enemies, since their color does not change.

Drinking it makes you invincible, so you can walk past enemies freely. The effect lasts only 30 seconds.

Drinking it makes hidden enemies visible. Lasts 30 seconds.

• Trampoline — a large platform that launches the character into the air.
• Ladder — climb to higher or lower platforms.
• Spikes — falling on them kills the character instantly. Pushing enemies onto them kills the enemy.

• Sneak Attack. The standard kill: sneak up behind an enemy and press Space to trigger a random animation like a backstab, a slit throat, or a hit to the head.
• Air Attack. If you are on a ledge with an enemy directly below, press Space to drop onto it and kill it.
• Throwable Knives. On certain levels you can collect knives to kill from a distance. They are rare, so use them wisely.
• Pushing onto the Spikes. When near an enemy that is close to spikes, press Space to push it onto them.

Coming soon…

The game would have 30 levels: 10 levels across 3 floors, with a boss battle after every nine levels. Each level has a door on the main screen, just like Fancy Pants Adventures. Instructions are provided as you play.

To be continued…