Cappy
What exactly is my dystopia?
This is a non-traditional dystopia, as it is literally my vision for what would happen if I died shortly after my boyfriend and I get married… assuming ghosts exist. I have told him that I would 100% haunt him until I knew he was happy again. While disgruntled ghosts in media are usually portrayed as angry or vengeful, I prefer to imagine that I would be a loving, if overbearing, ghost. I recognize that this is a little outside the scope of the assignment… but imagining the consequences of your own death is a little dystopic, right?
Premise
You play as Capybara the golden retriver, or Cappy, for short. Cappy is an 8-month old dog owned by a widowed man. The man lost his wife to a terminal illness a year prior and is racked by grief. What he doesn’t know is that his grief and depression is being amplified by the ghost that haunts his apartment. As Cappy, you can see the ghost, so it is up to you to get rid of it and make your master happy again!
Characters
- Cappy – the playable character who is a golden retriever
- The Man – Cappy’s owner, the widowed husband
- The Ghost – the ghost that terrorizes The Man… spoiler alert, it’s his dead wife who is just concerned about his well-being.
Rough Game Flow
- Stage One: Meet the ghost and learn how to get rid of it from The Man’s TV! There are late-night specials of the (fictional) show, Ghost Raiders. As a very smart dog, you can learn all the tips and tricks on how to banish a ghost.
- Stage Two: Collect evidence! Explore the apartment and find all the things you need to banish, or identify, the ghost.
- Stage Three: Get rid of the ghost! Help them move on or banish them into nothingness!
End States
- You identify the ghost as The Man’s wife and help her find peace and move on. She wants to know that The Man will be taken care of and happy again. Prove that to her!
- You use the knowledge gained from Ghost Raiders (and all the household items you collect along the way) to banish the ghost forever. Bye bye!
- You try to banish the ghost and it goes… lethally bad for you 🙁
(Loosely) Annotated Apartment Map
Concept Art
Title Screen Animation
Ghost Animation! She’s like one of those worms on a string (see below)
Rough sketches of Cappy to get a feel for the black on white art style. I’ll also include dog-friendly colors when relevant, using the show Bluey for inspiration (shown below)!
