Ubatu’s Mask

Version 2

Last Modified 3/15/08

Updated storyline & floor plans

An Introduction

Ubatu’s Mask is a third-person adventure-puzzle/action-strategy game for the PC utilizing the Unreal 3 engine. You are 8-year-old Tommy in search of clues as to the whereabouts of your grandmother & mother after they mysteriously disappear in an old Victorian house. Your adventure will span two worlds while never setting foot outside: one, in the real world; the other, in the Bogeyman monster realm.

Description

You are Tommy Jacobson & your grandfather Frank has just recently passed away. Your grandmother Cheryl has just moved into a smaller, 1890’s Victorian house. While visiting her new home, both she & your mother mysteriously disappear while touring the upstairs rooms. When you are off in search of them, you quickly discover that the old house has more going on than what it first appeared. Through each mirror exists a portal to a reverse world of the Bogeyman monster realm.

A friendly monster named Gilly becomes your confidant & guide as you traverse both worlds in search of clues as to the whereabouts of your grandmother & mother. Along the way you will be sure to find some interesting twists & turns as you negotiate mazes, puzzles, & enemies bent on stopping you from completing your tasks & discovering the true secret behind a mysterious old African tribal mask.

Key Features

• Both mental & physical puzzle negotiation & achievement
• World to world transportation portal discovery & traversal
• Non-linear exploration capability while on a linear story path
• Found objects acquisition & retention to complete tasks & objectives
• Physics ability to turn on/off lights & move objects around a room to complete a task

Genre

PyschoNauts meets Little Monsters for some Beetle Juice & has a Nightmare Before Christmas about a Corpse Bride. Tommy & the mystery behind Ubatu’s Mask draws a lot of inspiration of the lighter-side & the-good-clean fun to be had amidst freakish monsters & the undead from the creative minds of Tim Schafer, Tim Burton, Terry Rossio, Ted Elliott, & Michael McDowell.

Platforms

Since little Tommy can neither be injured nor killed & monsters are friendly misunderstood brutes, this game will appeal to a larger family demographic. Its initial release will be for the PC, to be followed a month later by adaptations for the Wii, Xbox 360, & PlayStation 3. If the game carries well on the platforms, there’s the option of going to the handhelds as well.

Game Assets

Characters

(Character Sheet on page 25)

Humans:                      Tommy (The Player) Third Person

                                    Grandmother Cheryl (NPC)

                                    Mother (NPC) 

Monsters:                     Gilly (Main Antagonist)

                                    Nash (NPC)

Mentioned, but not seen: Grandpa Frank (deceased)

Kenny, Frank’s junior Associate Professor from the nearby college where Frank used to teach.

Emperor Ubatu, evil ruler of the monster realm who was cast out & imprisoned in an African tribal mask.

Objects

Portals:                        Mirrors & TV set, but you can’t use the same portal to enter & exit through in the same mission. Example: If you use the TV to get in, you need to use a mirror #1 to exit. On the next task, you’d have to enter through mirror #2 & exit with either mirror #1 or the TV. Going through a portal creates a portal transition puzzle.

Journal pages:              The player will be aided in the storyline, clues, & tips by a series of Grandpa Frank’s journal pages left randomly around the real world house.

Found objects:             Items found & collected to help accomplish a task. Such items include key, vanity mirror, framed portrait, etc.

Décor:                          Items that populate the rooms of both worlds such as furniture, nick-knacks, doors, etc.

List of Assets: Living Room/Den/Family Room

Kitchen/Dining Room

Bedroom (Master and Kids)

Bathroom

Optional

Functional & Technical Specifications

Technical Walk-Through

A list of rooms in the house (normal and monster world have the same rooms)

o   Family Room

o   Kitchen/Nook

o   Living Room

o   Den

o   Stairwell

o   Entry Way

o   Master Bedroom

o   Master Bathroom

o   Bathroom

o   Bedroom #2

o   Loft

A list of items in the level

-          African Mask (hanging, bedroom #2)

-          Globe (den, stationary object)

-          Ruby (grandma’s necklace, master bedroom, used in globe)

-          African Mirror (upstairs landing, broken on the floor)

-          Vanity Mirror (behind door in master bath, for trap)

-          Family Pictures (8 total, master bedroom, living room, den)

-          Door key (unlock door to Gilly, monster world kitchen)

-          Portal Mirrors (3 working including TV, family room=one-way, living room, master bedroom)

-          Broken Mirrors (bedroom #3, master bathroom, bathroom, bedroom #2)

-          Cross Bow (living room, destroy mirrors)

Critical Path

The player starts off in the family room facing the TV. They must travel upstairs to the bathroom and trigger the toilet paper roll starting an animation sequence that leads the player into bedroom #2. Once in bedroom #2 the player must switch off the room lights, switch on the desk lamp that is illuminating the African mask hanging on the wall.

After deciphering the word puzzle the player must travel downstairs back into the family room. They must then toggle the TV knobs to turn to channel 15. Once set, a portal will become enabled, warping the player to a room containing the TV maze. The TV maze will require the player to successfully navigate the maze avoiding partial systems that are pulsing and a set interval. Upon reaching the end of the maze another portal will warp the player to the family room inside the monster world. 

A cinematic sequence will begin when the player reaches the monster world for the first time. The sequence will show Tommy (protagonist) talking to Gilly (antagonist) developing the main story arc. The player will have to travel up stair to the master bedroom and trigger the portal mirror. The player will be warped to a hallway where they will have to trigger doors to open and close in sequence to open the final door complete the warp back to the normal world.

The player returns to the normal world inside the previously locked master bedroom. The door can now be unlocked by the player and access the master bedroom for the remainder of the game. Two family pictures hang throughout the house and must be gathered by the player. The pictures are located in the master bedroom, the den and the living room. After collecting the pictures the player uses the TV portal to return to the monster world.

After returning to the monster world, the player discovers Gilly has been locked up in bedroom #3. The player must travel downstairs and into the kitchen. In order to obtain the key to opening the door the player must complete and combination puzzle using the kitchen drawers to open the final drawer. Drawers will be toggled open or closed and only the right combination will allow the access to the key.

With the key the player unlocks the door to bedroom #3 (this also unlocks the door to bedroom #3 in the normal world). Gilly gives the player 3 numbers and the player must correctly input the numbers into the lock to release Gilly. The player is then faced with a timed, collection puzzle. The player must travel around the house collecting bombs that have been placed by Nash (support character) next to all the mirrors in the house. After collecting all the bombs the player triggers a cinematic sequence with Nash.

After the sequence with Nash, the player must travel to the dollhouse to save his family members. The player must use the clues inside the houses set the clock to the proper time in order to access the dollhouse. Once inside the dollhouse the player must navigate through the house to find the jack-in-the-box and trigger the crank and release the family members.

Returning to the normal world with Nash, Mom and Grandma the player discovers the African mask has fallen into Gilly’s possession. Gilly attacks Mom and Grandma knocking them to the ground, leaving them unconscious. Nash explains to the player that they must collect some objects from around the house and set a trap for Gilly.

Gilly is now wandering around the house shooting laser beams from his eyes. If the player comes into contact with the laser beams they are randomly transported to the monster world. The player must return to the normal world and continue collecting the items for the trap.

The player must collect the crossbow located in bedroom #3 and use it to destroy the portal mirrors in the house (including the TV). The African mirror located in the loft, the vanity mirror located in the master bathroom and the triangular, ruby pendent around Grandma’s neck must be taken to the den downstairs. The items must be properly placed in the den to set up the trap. The African mirror must be placed on the shelves along the right side of the room, the ruby pendent must be place in the triangular slot on the globe located inside the country of Africa and the vanity mirror must be placed on the floor in the center of the room.

Once all items have been placed in the room and the all the mirrors have been destroyed, Gilly will enter the den and trigger the ending cinematic. Upon completion of the ending cinematic the production credits will scroll across the screen and the game will be completed and restarted.

Puzzles

Portal Transition

There are 6 transitional portal puzzles: 4 Good with known exits. 2 Bad with uncertain results.

4 Good

1. Normal ß TV à Twisted via TV maze
2. Normal ß Master Bedroom Mirror à Twisted via Circle of Closet Doors puzzle
3. Normal ß Dining Room Mirror à Twisted via Piano Tune sequence
4. Normal ß Guest Room Mirror à Twisted via Light Switch Sequence puzzle. (Conditional: The guest room mirror in the real world can’t be used until after Tommy unlocks the door & frees Gilly in the guest room of the Twisted World)

2 Bad

1. Normal/Twisted à 2^nd Floor Bathroom Mirror à Random of two transition puzzles =/= yield two random results of either returning to starting point where the player first entered the mirror or spawning randomly anywhere in the Real & Twisted Worlds that has a functioning mirror.
2. Normal/Twisted à Master Bathroom Mirror à Random of two transition puzzles =/= yield two random results of either returning to starting point where the player first entered the mirror or spawning randomly anywhere in the Real & Twisted Worlds that has a functioning mirror.

• One transitional puzzle will consist of Tommy finding himself in a room that is up-side-down. He must stack boxes to reach the door that is some 6 feet above the ceiling (the floor of the up-side-down room).
• Another transitional puzzle will consist of Tommy jumping from piece of furniture to piece of furniture floating in space above an abyss. His goal is to reach the door on the other side of the room. If he falls, he resets back to the beginning of the puzzle.

Puzzles

1)      [TOUCHING ITEMS][N 2^nd Floor Bathroom à N Guest Room] You can examine that area of the bathroom. You can look out the window, but it doesn’t open. You can lift the toilet seat, look at magazines, etc. Once you touch the toilet paper dispenser, the roll falls out of its cradle, rolls across the floor, out the door, does a 90 degree turn to the right into grandma’s guest room where it comes to rest against the exterior wall. Directly above the toilet paper roll, mounted on the wall, hangs a spooky looking African tribal mask.

2)      [COMBO PUZZLE][N Guest Room] As you enter grandma’s guest room the overhead light is off. You can turn on the room light & examine the mask but there is nothing inscribed on it anywhere. You can collect things in the room & notice a desk lamp on a shelf or pile of boxes. This is a combo puzzle. When you turn out the room light & turn on the desk lamp, it shines on the mask on the wall & projects a static shot of “Adventure TV, Channel 15” onto the ceiling.

3)      [TV KNOB TURNING][N TV Room] After the mask projects the image, you must return to the TV downstairs & flip the channel to 15. An Adventure TV promo starts up for a few moments to let you know that you have found the right channel from the clue. After a few seconds of the promo, there is a blinding light that sucks you into the TV.

4)      [PORTAL TRANSITION PUZZLE (Normal TV Room à Twisted TV Room)] When the light subsides, you find yourself standing on a giant circuit board maze of electronic components. Behind you is the back side of the TV tube. In front, you see the light of day shining through the air vents at the back of the set. That is where you must go to escape. Along the way, you must be mindful to jump over the random electrical pulses coursing over the board circuitry solder paths creating a navigation & rhythm jumping puzzle. Three shocks & you start over at the start of the maze.

5)      [MOVING OBJECTS][T Entire house] Gilly says he will help you rescue your mom & grandma from Nash but wants you to go back to the real world to retrieve their pictures so he can be sure what they look like. He says he’ll wait for you in the TV room. He tells you that there are a couple mirrors in the house that you can use but warns you that a cracked mirror isn’t worth the risk. There are two obvious mirrors in the rooms, but both are cracked or chipped. Each of the damaged mirrors have two possible (randomized each time) results each time you risk using them; either ending up in a monster realm piano where you must play a key combination to move on to a random location in the real world or in a dead-end room still in the flipside world where you have to stack boxes just to get out of there & return to your original starting point. There are two good mirrors in play but they might be obscured by furniture that must be moved or are hidden behind an open door.

6)      [PORTAL TRANSITION PUZZLE (Twisted à Normal)]

7)      [ITEMS COLLECTION][N scavenger hunt] Once back in your grandma’s house, you scourer the rooms for pictures of your grandma & mom. There is a picture of you & your parents hanging in the Living Room above the mantle. There is a picture of grandma & grandpa sitting on a shelf in grandma’s den (and/or one on grandma’s dresser in her room).

8)      [PORTAL TRANSITION PUZZLE (Normal à Twisted)] The real world guest bedroom mirror is unusable at this time.

9)      [ITEM COLLECTION][T TV Room à T Guest Room à T Kitchen] Once you return to the flipside world & go back to the TV room, Gilly’s nowhere to be found. You begin to search the house looking for him. In the master bedroom on the second floor you spy a set of foot prints & drag marks leading to a locked door. You hear a muffled cry coming from inside the room “Tommy! Find the key!” You search the house in the flipside world for a key & find it in a drawer in the kitchen counter under a plate with crumbs on it. Apparently Nash made himself a sandwich & forgot about the key.

10)  [COMBO LOCK DECIPHER][T Guest Room] With the key you unlock the room & find Gilly gagged & tied up on the bed with a chain wrapped around him secured with a padlock. You uncover his mouth & he tells you that Nash tied him up & that he threatened to hurt your mom if he finds out that Gilly told you the combination to the lock. “I gave my word not to give you the combination . . . but I never said anything about talking you through it,” says Gilly with a grin. “OK, here it goes, there are three numbers in this order:

a.       What is the sum of Adventure TV’s channel numbers? [Answer: 1+5=6]

b.      How many pictures were hanging on the wall in your grandmother’s living room? [Answer: 8, remember to include your family portrait that you removed. Maybe the wall still has the nail in the wall to remind the player.] Note: The player might have to go back to the real world to count pictures & that would mean a couple portal transitions. If you don’t want portal transitions, this question can be simplified to something like how many TVs & Pianos are in this house?

c.       How many tables are there in this flipside world house? [Answer: 7. The coffee table, night stands, dining room table, etc.]

When you first enter the combo of numbers, nothing happens. Gilly reminds you that this is flipside world & everything here is backwards. When you enter the numbers in reverse order & the lock opens. “Well done Tommy! “We make a good team, you & I.”

11)  [BOMB SEARCH & DEACTIVATION][T Guest Room à T entire house bomb deactivation frenzy] Gilly tells you that Nash mentioned something about blowing up the portals to trap you, your grandma & mom here in flipside world forever. Just as he finishes his sentence you hear a muffled explosion somewhere in the house. “Hurry, we have to disarm the explosives before time runs out & there is no way back! “Let’s split up . . . we’ll have a better chance that way,” Gilly says nervously. This is a priority task, timed puzzle. Save the TV set first, then the three good mirrors, leaving the damaged mirrors as the last priority.

12)  [JUMP & DODGE][T Stairwell going up] You & Nash will encounter Gilly who will be determined to stop you by throwing obstacles downstairs in your path for a jumping & dodging puzzle. Once you make it to the top of the stairs, Gilly accidently trips & falls knocking himself out on the floor. You go on to the doll house alone while Nash says he will stay & take care of Gilly.

13)  [JACK-IN-THE-BOX][T Stairwell à T Guest Room] Once you reach the doll house you must navigate the rooms in search of your mom & grandma who are bound & gagged inside a jack-in-the-box. Their muffled cries help you locate them. You must turn the music crank to release the lid & rescue them from the box.

14)   [PORTAL TRANSITION PUZZLE (Twisted à Normal)]

15)  [ITEM COLLECTION][N entire house scavenge while dodging ray beams] The object is to dodge & weave the shots from Gilly as you & Nash collect pieces for the final trap that you are constructing in the den. The components are 1) the old broken triangular mahogany mirror frame on the 2^nd floor, 2) a 2’ diameter vanity mirror behind the door in the Master Bathroom, 3) a blanket off of a bed [2 or more choices], 4) place the ruby stone into a depression on the globe in the den, 5) & finally the mask of Ubatu itself.

16)  [CROSSBOW-MIRROR SHOOTOUT][N entire house scavenge] In the mean time, Gilly can slip between all active portals at his whim. Nash tells you to use the old crossbow & its 8 bolts in a display on the wall in the living/dining room to shoot out the mirrors & TV when you can.

17)  [GRANDFATHER CLOCK][N entire house scavenge] You can use the glass from pictures & other found objects (i.e. stainless steel pot from the kitchen) as a shield against Ubatu’s mask eye rays. Should you take two hits, you’ll be transported to a dark empty room with just a grandfather clock standing in the center. The object is to turn back the hands of time in order to get back to the last major checkpoint in your progression of collecting items for the trap & shooting out mirrors.

18)  [ITEM PLACEMENT][N entire house scavenge à N Den] The object is to collect the items while under fire & return to the den when you assemble them in a triangle pattern marked out on the floor. The broken mirror at one corner furthest from the door; the globe with the ruby stone inserted into a depression in the center of Africa at another corner. The closest corner to the door is where the vanity mirror is paced facing up on the floor concealed with the blanket. When you & Nash lower Gilly into the den, he will be swirl-sucked into the mirror as if being flushed down a small drain in a fantastic display of lights & sparklers. When Gilly is gone, all that will remain is the mask of Ubatu on the floor.

User Interface

The HUD will show icons of items collected along the bottom right edge of the screen. During specific puzzles where the player gets three attempts to solve a task, such as the TV circuitboard maze, the HUD will show some damage as an indicator of how many attempts are left before the level is reset to the beginning. Maybe the TV tube is consumed with an encroaching boarder of static & video rolls or it fades out to black as the players chances run out.

Cinematics

• Introduction: establishing the story of grandmother’s move into a new home & her mysterious disappearance.

It’s off to grandma’s creepy old house you go with mom. “Nice place you have here, ma,” says your mother as she & you walk through the door. “Sorry I wasn’t here to help you move in.” “Oh, that’s alright dear,” says grandma, “Kenny brought over plenty of his friends from the college and I was all moved in by the end of the day.” Grandma motions you into the family room to sit down. “Kenny and some of the other boys even came back the next day to help me unpack . . . all I have left are a few nick-knacks and pictures to put away.” “Need any help putting some of that stuff away too, Mom?” “No dear,” says grandma, “some things I just have to do myself. “I didn’t want anyone to touch grandpa’s things. “He was such an avid collector & took such good care of all the artifacts he brought home from his expeditions in Africa. “God rest his soul, he was such a good man.” Your mom puts a hand on grandma’s knee to console her. “Would you like a tour of the house?” “Sure mom,” says your mother as she looks at you, “do you want to see grandma’s new house Tommy?” “Awh . . .  do I have to?!” you protest.  “Not if you don’t want to,” says mom, “we’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Grandma begins the tour with your mother in tow. You find the TV remote on the coffee table & turn on the TV. You can hear your grandma & mother talking in the background behind you in muffled & indistinct voices. You continue to flip through the channels & catch a glimpse of your grandma & mother climbing the stairs to the second floor. The old wood floor creeks under their footsteps.

A few moments later you hear your grandma exclaim “Oh, my!” followed by glass hitting the floor & shattering directly above your head . . . then silence! You pause briefly, startled by the noise, but then continue to watch TV a few more minutes. As you sit there, you begin to realize that there isn’t any noise coming from upstairs. Surely mom would have come down or called down for a broom & dust pan by now. You mute the audio on the TV & strain to listen but there is nothing coming from upstairs but deafly stillness. You call out “Mom!”. . . “MOM?!” . . . “GRANDMA?!” No response. You jump out of the chair & run to the staircase. You peer up the spiral staircase and call out again. “MOM?!” . . . “MOM?!”  . . . “Anyone up there?!” . . . “Helloooooo . . .” Nothing . . . not so much as a floor creek. You cautiously begin to climb the steps to investigate.

• Introduction to Gilly & the running feud he has with Nash.

Once you finish the TV maze & are running toward the air vents, the light becomes more intense & envelopes the scene. When the light subsides, you are sitting in a chair looking at the TV screen in the monster realm. The channel is still set to channel 15, Adventure TV, but there are monsters in the role of people & humans are the wild beasts.

Gilly enters the room with a bowl of popcorn & a soda, humming. He sees you & is startled throwing the bowl into the air & nearly dropping his soda. “Tommy! Glad to see you could make it buddy!” Gilly says with glee. “Sorry to put you through all that back there, but I figured you’d understand how to dial a TV set better than trying to walk through a looking glass. “The name’s Gilly by the way,” he offers you his hand. “Nice to finally meet you in person!”

Gilly goes on to explain that Nash is this evil guy who grabbed your mom & grandma. He tells you that you are in the crazy mixed-up “flipside” world. Humans live in the “real” world; monsters live in the flipside world where everything is backwards or up-side-down from the real world. He explains that TVs & mirrors are portals between the two worlds . . . but traveling through a cracked mirror can be a risky endeavor as you may not end up where you want to go. Once shattered, a mirror is useless as a portal. It’s certain disaster even if you found every sliver & glued it back together. You might end up inside a wall, the floor, or worse yet, a raging furnace.

Gilly says he will help you rescue your mom & grandma from Nash but wants you to go back to the real world to retrieve their pictures so he can be sure what they look like. He says he’ll wait for you in the TV room. He tells you that there are a couple mirrors in the house that you can use but warns you that a cracked mirror isn’t worth the risk. There are two obvious mirrors in the rooms, but both are cracked or chipped. Each of the damaged mirrors have two possible (randomized each time) results each time you risk using them; either ending up in a monster realm piano where you must play a key combination to move on to a random location in the real world or in a dead-end room still in the flipside world where you have to stack boxes just to get out of there & return to your original starting point.

• Introduction to Nash & the twist when the player realizes that he has been duped by Gilly the whole time.

Once you disarm the last bomb, you turn around & come face to face with a silhouette of Nash standing in the doorway blocking your escape. His arms are folded as he leans in the doorway, his head swaying back & forth & his foot tapping in disgust. “Why did you do that?” Nash asks in a calm but frustrated voice. As he steps into the room, the light reveals his face & glints off the policeman’s badge he is wearing over his right breast pocket. His name tag reads: Detective Nash.

I said . . . WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!” Nash says raising his voice “You’re interfering with official police business here, mister! “Not only do I have a cunning con-artist on the loose . . . no thanks to you . . . but now you’re aiding & abetting by keeping these portals open. Do you realize the ramifications of your actions here today?! “DO YOU!!”

“But, but . . . but I thought you were the one who tied Gilly up on the bed,” Tommy nervously asks. “I am . . . I’m a COP!!!! Nash finally loses his composure. “YOU MORON! I had this case sewn-up, too . . . ARGH. “Just think about it for a minute with that pea brain of yours . . . I had to put him somewhere secure & out of trouble while I placed the explosives!” IDIOT!” “So, so . . . so you didn’t kidnap my mother & grandmother?” “NO!!! I ought to . . . ” Nash catches himself mid sentence, “. . . what’s this about your kinfolk being kidnapped?” he asks with sincere compassion & concern.

You go on to tell Nash about all the things Gilly said about Nash. Nash chuckles & tells you that all those things he said about me were just him describing himself. Nash says that Gilly was just using you to open portals from which he could use to reach the real world. Nash asks to look at you pictures of your family & grandparents that are sticking out of your bag. He sees the picture of your grandparents & his eyes widen & his ears snap back. “What is it? What’s the matter?” you ask.

“This one here,” pointing to the picture of your grandfather Frank, “is this one your relation?” You tell him it’s your grandfather & he had just died recently. Nash is devastated, but nervous & tells you that the stakes have become higher with the passing of Grandpa Frank. Nash tells you that Grandpa Frank discovered the flipside world as a young man on an archeological dig in Arica in the 20’s. He was a frequent visitor from the real world & taught the monster realm about peace & civilization. Frank even helped rid the land of an evil emperor named Ubatu & imprisoned his power in an African tribal mask. Grandpa Frank was their protector & burdened himself by keeping the mask under wraps in the real world. The mask represented the shrouded face of evil whereas the mirror a reflection of what is good in people. To maintain harmony in the flipside world, the mirror & the mask had to hang within 100 feet of one another, facing into one another’s general direction & couldn’t be obscured or locked away. When Frank died, the harmony was interrupted when Grandma packed the mirror & mask into boxes for the move. This is what must have awakened the criminal element of the flipside world in an effort to free Ubatu from the confines of the mask. Gilly must be after the mask!!!

Nash goes on to explain that even with the portals open, Gilly can only exist in the real world for an hour before he has to come back. Nash says that Gilly will be searching for a key that unlocks the mask. As he describes the key, you realize that he is talking about a ruby gem that your grandmother wears in a pendant around her neck. Nash agrees to help you free your mom & grandma because there is a good chance that Gilly doesn’t know about the ruby until he makes initial contact with Ubatu in the mask . . . right . . . about . . .  now as Nash looks at his watch.

Nash says Gilly is a known hustler & knows most of his MOs (Mode of Operation) & hangouts. Nash believes that your mother & grandmother are probably held up in the old Doll House. There are two ways there, the normal way & the short cut.

• Grandmother & Mother’s rescue at the doll house & reunion with Tommy.

Your mom & grandma are bound & gagged inside a jack-in-the-box in the doll house. The cut scene begins when you touch the crank. The music plays, the lid releases & you rescue them from the box.

• Gilly’s final defeat & credit roll.

Once the trap is set & When you & Nash lower Gilly into the den, he will be swirl-sucked into the mirror as if being flushed down a small drain in a fantastic display of lights & sparklers. When Gilly is gone, all that will remain is the mask of Ubatu on the floor.

Nash picks up the mask, pauses a brief second, & then hands it off to you telling you that you are the guardian of the mask now. Nash tells you that he is proud of you & that Grandpa Frank would be proud too. Gilly’s hand reemerges from the mirror as it gropes around searching for the mask. Nash pushes it back in with his foot & says “well if you’ll excuse me, I still have some business to take care of.” “But, but . . . will I ever see you again!?” You start to sob. “Don’t worry young friend,” as he pats you on the head, “I’m sure we’ll meet again . . . besides, it’s all there in your grandfather’s journals . . . you ought to read them some time . . . goodbye for now.” Nash does an elegant swan drive into the vanity mirror. A second later he pops his head out of the mirror & reminds you to smash the mirror behind him to ensure that no one can come back. You shake hands a final time as he says a final goodbye & slips beneath the mirror surface with thumbs-up gesture.

You shatter the mirror as grandma & mom walk down the stairs into the den. “Tomas Franklin Jacobson! What have you been up to?! This place is a shambles; you ought to be ashamed of yourself! When we get home, you are grounded young man . . . As you mom chews you out, your grandma notices the mask & objects placed around the room, she reaches for her pendant but notices it isn’t around her neck anymore. She turns to your mom, puts her hand on her shoulder & tells her that everything is quit alright. “Tommy was just probably out saving the world,” as she guides you mom away toward the living room. She turns back & winks. “Come on dear, there’s nothing a nice cup of tea can’t fix . . . are you coming Tommy, I’ve got hot chocolate.” “You bet!” you say as you scamper off following the pair.

The camera pans back to the broken triangular mirror where the journal page is exposed. It shows a picture of a young Grandpa Frank & Nash posing for a candid snapshot. The game credits roll.

Sound & Music

Sound FX:

• GUI: Button clicks, door opening, command acknowledgments
• Special Effects: laser & crossbow fire, explosions, breaking glass
• Characters: Voice recordings, indistinct chatter, collisions, footsteps, muffled screams
• Game Play Elements: Pick-up jingle, alerts, ambient sounds
• Motion: Footfalls, creaking floors

Music:

• Event Jingles: Success/failure/victory/discovery etc.
• Shell Screen: Mood setting for title screens, credits, end game
• Level Theme: Level specific music (designers choose the theme)
• Situations: Sets the mood for situations (lurking danger, combat, discovery)
• Cinematic Soundtracks

Level Requirements

• Portals:  Mirrors & TV set, but you can’t use the same portal to enter & exit through in the same mission. Example: If you use the TV to get in, you need to use a mirror #1 to exit. On the next task, you’d have to enter through mirror #2 & exit with either mirror #1 or the TV. Going through a portal creates a portal transition puzzle.
• Journal pages: The player will be aided in the storyline, clues, & tips by a series of Grandpa Frank’s journal pages left randomly around the real world house.
• Tommy’s thoughts: The player will also be prompted to watch for certain features he can utilize by hearing Tommy’s thoughts spoken aloud. Example: “Boy, this room is sure dark. I wonder where the light switch is?”

Story

Chapter 1

[N TV Room] It’s off to grandma’s creepy old house you go with mom. “Nice place you have here, Mom,” says your mother as you & her walk through the door. “Sorry I wasn’t here to help you move in.” “Oh, that’s alright dear,” says grandma, “Kenny brought over plenty of his friends from the college and I was all moved in by the end of the day.” Grandma motions you into the family room to sit down. “Kenny and some of the other boys even came back the next day to help me unpack . . . all I have left are a few nick-knacks and pictures to put away.” “Need any help putting some of that stuff away too, Mom?” “No dear,” says grandma, “some things I just have to do myself. “I didn’t want anyone to touch grandpa’s things. “He was such an avid collector & took such good care of all the artifacts he brought home from his expeditions in Africa. “God rest his soul, he was such a good man.” Your mom puts a hand on grandma’s knee to console her. “Would you like a tour of the house?” “Sure mom,” says your mother as she looks at you, “do you want to see grandma’s new house Tommy?” “Awh . . .  do I have to?!” you protest.  “Not if you don’t want to,” says mom, “we’ll be back in a few minutes.”

[N TV Room] Grandma begins the tour with your mother in tow. You find the TV remote on the coffee table & turn on the TV. You can hear your grandma & mother talking in the background behind you in muffled & indistinct voices. You continue to flip through the channels & catch a glimpse of your grandma & mother climbing the stairs to the second floor. The old wood floor creeks under their footsteps.

[N TV Room à N 2^nd Floor landing] A few moments later you hear your grandma exclaim “Oh, my!” followed by glass hitting the floor & shattering directly above your head . . . then silence! You pause briefly, startled by the noise, but then continue to watch TV a few more minutes. As you sit there, you begin to realize that there isn’t any noise coming from upstairs. Surely mom would have come down or called down for a broom & dust pan by now. You mute the audio on the TV & strain to listen but there is nothing coming from upstairs but deafly stillness. You call out “Mom!”. . . “MOM?!” . . . “GRANDMA?!” No response. You jump out of the chair & run to the staircase. You peer up the spiral staircase and call out again. “MOM?!” . . . “MOM?!”  . . . “Anyone up there?!” . . . “Helloooooo . . .” Nothing . . . not so much as a floor creek. You cautiously begin to climb the steps to investigate.

[N 2^nd Floor exploration] Once on the second floor you quickly notice the old carved mahogany triangle mirror setting up against the wall on the floor, its glass shattered. It appears that its nail had pulled-out and it came sliding down the wall. In the frame is an old manila colored journal page partly exposed from the broken glass. You begin a room to room search but no one is around. You can flip the light switch on & off & collect items in the rooms. Some rooms are furnished while others only contain a single furniture item (that just moved in look) with a stack of boxes in the corner.

1. [N 2^nd Floor bathroom] As you are searching, you begin to hear water running. The sound grows louder as you approach the source in the second story bathroom. The hot water faucet is running full blast steaming the medicine cabinet mirror above it. Written on the mirror in crude childlike backwards handwriting is the message “I kno who took them.” There is also an arrow that points left toward the toilet & bathroom window.

2.      [N 2^nd Floor Bathroom à N Guest Room] You can examine that area of the bathroom. You can look out the window, but it doesn’t open. You can lift the toilet seat, look at magazines, etc. Once you touch the toilet paper dispenser, the roll falls out of its cradle, rolls across the floor, out the door, does a 90 degree turn to the right into grandma’s guest room where it comes to rest against the exterior wall. Directly above the toilet paper roll, mounted on the wall, hangs a spooky looking African tribal mask.

3.      [N Guest Room] As you enter grandma’s guest room the overhead light is off. You can turn on the room light & examine the mask but there is nothing inscribed on it anywhere. You can collect things in the room & notice a desk lamp on a shelf or pile of boxes. This is a combo puzzle. When you turn out the room light & turn on the desk lamp, it shines on the mask on the wall & projects a static shot of “Adventure TV, Channel 15” onto the ceiling.

4.      [N Guest Room àN TV Room] After the mask projects the image, you must return to the TV downstairs & flip the channel to 15. An Adventure TV promo starts up for a few moments to let you know that you have found the right channel from the clue. After a few seconds of the promo, there is a blinding light that sucks you into the TV.

5.      [PORTAL TRANSITION PUZZLE (Normal TV Room à Twisted TV Room)] When the light subsides, you find yourself standing on a giant circuit board maze of electronic components. Behind you is the back side of the TV tube. In front, you see the light of day shining through the air vents at the back of the set. That is where you must go to escape. Along the way, you must be mindful to jump over the random electrical pulses coursing over the board circuitry solder paths creating a navigation & rhythm jumping puzzle. Three shocks & you start over at the start of the maze.

[T TV Room] Once you finish the maze & are running toward the air vents, the light becomes more intense & envelopes the scene. When the light subsides, you are sitting in a chair looking at the TV screen in the monster realm. The channel is still set to channel 15, Adventure TV, but there are monsters in the role of people & humans are the wild beasts.

[T TV Room] Gilly enters the room behind you with a bowl of popcorn & a soda, humming. He sees you & is startled throwing the bowl into the air & nearly dropping his soda. “Tommy! Glad to see you could make it buddy!” Gilly says with glee. “Sorry to put you through all that back there, but I figured you’d understand how to tune a TV set better than trying to walk through a looking glass. “The name’s Gilly by the way,” he offers you his hand. “Nice to finally meet you in person!”

[T TV Room] Gilly goes on to explain that Nash is this evil guy who grabbed your mom & grandma. He tells you that you are in the crazy mixed-up “flipside” world. Humans live in the “real” world; monsters live in the flipside world where everything is backwards or up-side-down from the real world. He explains that TVs & mirrors are portals between the two worlds . . . but traveling through a cracked mirror can be a risky endeavor as you may not end up where you want to go. Once shattered, a mirror is useless as a portal. It’s certain disaster even if you found every sliver & glued it back together. You might end up inside a wall, the floor, or worse yet, a raging furnace.

6.      [T TV Room] Gilly says he will help you rescue your mom & grandma from Nash but wants you to go back to the real world to retrieve their pictures so he can be sure what they look like. He says he’ll wait for you in the TV room. He tells you that there are a couple mirrors in the house that you can use but warns you that a cracked mirror isn’t worth the risk. There are two obvious mirrors in the rooms, but both are cracked or chipped. Each of the damaged mirrors have two possible (randomized each time) results each time you risk using them; either ending up in a monster realm piano where you must play a key combination to move on to a random location in the real world or in a dead-end room still in the flipside world where you have to stack boxes just to get out of there & return to your original starting point. There are two good mirrors in play but they might be obscured by furniture that must be moved or are hidden behind an open door.

7.      [PORTAL TRANSITION PUZZLE (Twisted à Normal)]

8.      [N scavenger hunt] Once back in your grandma’s house, you scourer the rooms for pictures of your grandma & mom. There is a picture of you & your parents hanging in the Living Room above the mantle. There is a picture of grandma & grandpa sitting on a shelf in grandma’s den (and/or one on grandma’s dresser in her room).

9.      [PORTAL TRANSITION PUZZLE (Normal à Twisted)] The real world guest bedroom mirror is unusable at this time.

10.  [T TV Room à T Guest Room à T Kitchen] Once you return to the flipside world & go back to the TV room, Gilly’s nowhere to be found. You begin to search the house looking for him. In the master bedroom on the second floor you spy a set of foot prints & drag marks leading to a locked door. You hear a muffled cry coming from inside the room “Tommy! Find the key!” You search the house in the flipside world for a key & find it in a drawer in the kitchen counter under a plate with crumbs on it. Apparently Nash made himself a sandwich & forgot about the key.

11.  [T Guest Room] With the key you unlock the room & find Gilly gagged & tied up on the bed with a chain wrapped around him secured with a padlock. You uncover his mouth & he tells you that Nash tied him up & that he threatened to hurt your mom if he finds out that Gilly told you the combination to the lock. “I gave my word not to give you the combination . . . but I never said anything about talking you through it,” says Gilly with a grin. “OK, here it goes, there are three numbers in this order:

a.       What is the sum of Adventure TV’s channel numbers? [Answer: 1+5=6]

b.      How many pictures were hanging on the wall in your grandmother’s living room? [Answer: 8, remember to include your family portrait that you removed. Maybe the wall still has the nail in the wall to remind the player.] Note: The player might have to go back to the real world to count pictures & that would mean a couple portal transitions. If you don’t want portal transitions, this question can be simplified to something like how many TVs & Pianos are in this house?

c.       How many tables are there in this flipside world house? [Answer: 7. The coffee table, night stands, dining room table, etc.]

When you first enter the combo of numbers, nothing happens. Gilly reminds you that this is flipside world & everything here is backwards. When you enter the numbers in reverse order & the lock opens. “Well done Tommy! “We make a good team, you & I.”

12.  [T Guest Room à T entire house bomb deactivation frenzy] Gilly tells you that Nash mentioned something about blowing up the portals to trap you, your grandma & mom here in flipside world forever. Just as he finishes his sentence you hear a muffled explosion somewhere in the house. “Hurry, we have to disarm the explosives before time runs out & there is no way back! “Let’s split up . . . we’ll have a better chance that way,” Gilly says nervously. This is a priority task, timed puzzle. Save the TV set first, then the three good mirrors, leaving the damaged mirrors as the last priority.

[T Cut-scene] Once you disarm the last bomb, you turn around & come face to face with a silhouette of Nash standing in the doorway blocking your escape. His arms are folded as he leans in the doorway, his head swaying back & forth & his foot tapping in disgust. “Why did you do that?” Nash asks in a calm but frustrated voice. As he steps into the room, the light reveals his face & glints off the policeman’s badge he is wearing over his right breast pocket. His name tag reads: Detective Nash.

Fade to black.

Chapter 2

[T Living Room] “I said . . . WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!” Nash says raising his voice “You’re interfering with official police business here, mister! “Not only do I have a cunning con-artist on the loose . . . no thanks to you . . . but now you’re aiding & abetting by keeping these portals open. Do you realize the ramifications of your actions here today?! “DO YOU!!”

[T Living Room] “But, but . . . but I thought you were the one who tied Gilly up on the bed,” Tommy nervously asks. “I am . . . I’m a COP!!!! Nash finally loses his composure. “YOU MORON! I had this case sewn-up, too . . . ARGH. “Just think about it for a minute with that pea brain of yours” as he glares at you, “ . . . I had to put him somewhere secure & out of trouble while I placed the explosives!” IDIOT!” “So, so . . . so you didn’t kidnap my mother & grandmother?” you ask timidly. “NO!!! I ought to . . . ” Nash catches himself mid sentence, “. . . what’s this you say about your family being kidnapped?” he asks with sincere compassion & concern.

[T Living Room] You go on to tell Nash about all the things Gilly said about Nash. Nash chuckles & tells you that all those things he said about me were just him describing himself. Nash says that Gilly was just using you to open portals from which he could use to reach the real world. Nash asks to look at you pictures of your family & grandparents that are sticking out of your bag. He sees the picture of your grandparents & his eyes widen & his ears snap back. “What is it? What’s the matter?” you ask.

[T Living Room] “This one here,” pointing to the picture of your grandfather Frank, “is this one your relation?” You tell him it’s your grandfather & he had just died recently. Nash is devastated, but nervous & tells you that the stakes have become higher with the passing of Grandpa Frank. Nash tells you that Grandpa Frank discovered the flipside world as a young man on an archeological dig in Arica in the 20’s. He was a frequent visitor from the real world & taught the monster realm about peace & civilization. Frank even helped rid the land of an evil emperor named Ubatu & imprisoned his power in an African tribal mask. Grandpa Frank was their protector & burdened himself by keeping the mask under wraps in the real world. The mask represented the shrouded face of evil whereas the mirror a reflection of what is good in people. To maintain harmony in the flipside world, the mirror & the mask had to hang within 100 feet of one another, facing into one another’s general direction & couldn’t be obscured or locked away. When Frank died, the harmony was interrupted when Grandma packed the mirror & mask into boxes for the move. This is what must have awakened the criminal element of the flipside world in an effort to free Ubatu from the confines of the mask. Gilly must be after the mask!!!

[T Living Room] Nash goes on to explain that even with the portals open, Gilly can only exist in the real world for an hour before he has to come back. Nash says that Gilly will be searching for a key that unlocks the mask. As he describes the key, you realize that he is talking about a ruby gem that your grandmother wears in a pendant around her neck. Nash agrees to help you free your mom & grandma because there is a good chance that Gilly doesn’t know about the ruby until he makes initial contact with Ubatu in the mask . . . right . . . about . . .  now as Nash looks at his watch.

[T Living Room] Nash says Gilly is a known hustler & knows most of his MOs (Mode of Operation) & hangouts. Nash believes that your mother & grandmother are probably held up in the old Doll House upstairs.

[T Living Room à T Stairwell] With a sense of urgency, you & Nash must reach your mom & grandma before Gilly does to steal the ruby pendant from your grandmother.

1)      [T Stairwell à T Guest Room] Once you reach the doll house, Nash stands watch outside as you must navigate the rooms in search of your mom & grandma who are bound & gagged inside a jack-in-the-box. Their muffled cries help you locate them. You must turn the music crank to release the lid & rescue them from the box.

[T Guest Room] Once you leave the doll house with mom & grandma in tow, Nash says he will make sure everyone gets back to the real world safely & requests that you help him smash all remaining portals in the real world to ensure that Gilly doesn’t get back for the mask.

2)      [PORTAL TRANSITION PUZZLE (Twisted à Normal)]

[N Guest Room] Once you return you & Nash head for the guest room. When you enter the room you quickly notice that the African tribal mask is missing off the wall. As you step out of the room, a beam of red light streaks past out of nowhere striking your grandma & mom knocking them to the floor unconscious. Gilly is now wearing the mask & can shoot ray-beams from the eye sockets. Nash shouts to you to grab the ruby pendant as he grabs a picture off the wall & deflects a shot from Gilly. The glass on the picture flame creates enough of a reflection to be used as a shield, but only good for three uses before the glass breaks from the stress.

3)      [N entire house scavenge while dodging ray beams] The object is to dodge & weave the shots from Gilly as you & Nash collect pieces for the final trap that you are constructing in the den. The components are 1) the old broken triangular mahogany mirror frame on the 2^nd floor, 2) a 2’ diameter vanity mirror behind the door in the Master Bathroom, 3) a blanket off of a bed [2 or more choices], 4) place the ruby stone into a depression on the globe in the den, 5) & finally the mask of Ubatu itself.

·         [N entire house scavenge] In the mean time, Gilly can slip between all active portals at his whim. Nash tells you to use the old crossbow & its 8 bolts in a display on the wall in the living/dining room to shoot out the mirrors & TV when you can. “What about you! How will you get back if I shoot out all the mirrors?!” “Don’t worry about me,” shouts Nash, “we have a greater evil to defeat here!”

·         [N entire house scavenge] You can use the glass from pictures & other found objects (i.e. stainless steel pot from the kitchen) as a shield against Ubatu’s mask eye rays. Should you take two hits, you’ll be transported to a dark empty room with just a grandfather clock standing in the center. The object is to turn back the hands of time in order to get back to the last major checkpoint in your progression of collecting items for the trap & shooting out mirrors.

·         [N entire house scavenge à N Den] The object is to collect the items while under fire & return to the den when you assemble them in a triangle pattern marked out on the floor. The broken mirror at one corner furthest from the door; the globe with the ruby stone inserted into a depression in the center of Africa at another corner. The closest corner to the door is where the vanity mirror is paced facing up on the floor concealed with the blanket. When you & Nash lower Gilly into the den, he will be swirl-sucked into the mirror as if being flushed down a small drain in a fantastic display of lights & sparklers. When Gilly is gone, all that will remain is the mask of Ubatu on the floor.

[N Den] Nash picks up the mask, pauses, & then hands it off to you telling you that you are the guardian of the mask now. Nash tells you that he is proud of you & that Grandpa Frank would be proud too. Gilly’s hand reemerges from the mirror & gropes around for the mask. Nash pushes Gilly’s hand back in to the mirror with his foot & says “well if you’ll excuse me, I still have some business to take care of.” “But, but . . . will I ever see you again!?” You say with a sniffle. “Don’t worry young friend,” as Nash pats you on the head, “I’m sure we’ll meet again . . . besides, it’s all there in your grandfather’s journals . . . you ought to read them some time . . . goodbye for now.” Nash does an elegant swan drive into the vanity mirror. A few moments later, Nash pops his head out of the mirror & reminds you to smash the mirror behind him to ensure that no one can come back. You shake hands a final time as he says a final goodbye & slips beneath the mirror surface with a thumbs-up gesture.

[N Den] You shatter the mirror as grandma & mom walk down the stairs into the den. “Tomas Franklin Jacobson! What have you been up to?! This place is a shambles; you ought to be ashamed of yourself! When we get home, you are grounded young man . . . As you mom chews you out, your grandma notices the mask & objects placed around the room, she reaches for her pendant but notices it isn’t around her neck anymore. She turns to your mom, puts her hand on her shoulder & tells her that everything is quit alright. “Tommy was just probably out saving the world,” as she guides you mom away toward the living room. She turns back & winks. “Come on dear, there’s nothing a nice cup of tea can’t fix . . . are you coming Tommy, I’ve got hot chocolate.” “You bet!” you say as you scamper off following the pair.

[N Den] The camera pans back to the broken triangular mirror where the journal page is exposed. It shows a picture of a young Grandpa Frank & Nash posing for a candid snapshot. The game credits roll.

Character Sheet

Humans

Tommy Jacobson (The Player) 3^rd person view

Tommy is an 8-year-old boy who is found of anything dinosaur & wants to be like his archeologist grandfather Frank when he grows up. Tommy & his mother were visiting grandmother’s new home, an old 1890’s two-story Victorian, when his mother & grandmother mysteriously disappear.

Tommy’s Mother

Mother is the stereotypical nurturing yet firm motherly type. She is the level headed matriarch & the only true “adult” in her household.  She is a cross between Marge Simpson & Wilma Flintstone.

Grandma Cheryl

Grandma Cheryl is the stereotypical vulnerable little old grey-haired lady with white tennis shoes from Sylvester & Tweety. She has that old-fashioned 1940’s housewife sensibility & a flare for understatement & inaction. The kitchen could be engulfed in flames, but all she would do is stand there & say “Oh, my goodness! I’d better fill some pots with water to douse those flames,” instead of running for her life in the opposite direction.

Frank, her husband of some 60+ years, has just passed away in the last couple of months & she is having to cope with living alone for the first time in her life. She has just moved into a smaller home closer to her youngest daughter (Tommy’s mother) who still lives in town.

Grandpa Frank (deceased)

Grandpa Frank was a venerable& well liked professor (PhD) who taught archeology at the local college in town. In his youth he was a debonair swashbuckling adventurer much like Indiana Jones, but without the gunfire. His areas of expertise were the ancient tribes in the deep heart of the African wilderness. He led many expeditions to Africa but always insisted that his wife & family stay safely behind in the States away for the civil wars & disease. When he would return home, he always brought gifts of African folklore & souvenirs of the places he visited.

Kenny (mentioned but never seen)

Kenny is grandpa Frank’s associate professor who has some pretty big shoes to fill now that his mentor & family friend is gone. He is in his mid 40’s & looks in on Grandma Cheryl on a weekly basis. He was the one who arranged the move & enlisted the help of a group of local college students to move furniture & boxes.

Monsters

Gilly is Tommy’s first contact in the monster realm. He befriends Tommy. Gilly is a happy-go-lucky, dopy, clumsy type of character. If he had theme music, it would be “March of the Elephants.” Later, when Gilly is found to really be a con-artist & a player, the pitch of the music can change to more sinister.

Nash

Nash is a straight-lace cop who plays it by the letter of the book; your typical Sgt. Friday from Dragnet. He demonstrates great restraint & self discipline to adhere to the regulations where less scrupulous cops would have resorted to violence to force confessions. He usually has a cool collected demeanor, except when Tommy thwarts his attempt to completely apprehend Gilly & seal off all means of escape. He flies off the handle for about a minute, but then regroups & recomposes himself into the law enforcement professional that he is.

Ubatu’s Mask (an object that will grant its wearer awesome evil powers)

The African tribal mask that hangs in the study on the second floor is the imprisonment vessel (phantom zone) of the monster realm’s overthrown evil emperor Ubatu. Grandpa Frank discovered the monster realm through an ancient ruin in the Congo in the 30’s. He was a frequent visitor & taught the monsters about peace & civilization. Frank even helped them imprison Ubatu & his power in an African tribal mask. Grandpa Frank was their champion & the keeper of the mask safe in the real world. The mask represents the shrouded face of evil whereas the mirror portals as a reflection of what is good in people.

The mask is inert to humans but can weld awesome powers of evil to a monster wearer who isn’t of pure of heart. When Gilly dons the mask in near the end of the game, he is able to shoot laser beams from his eye sockets.