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Game Design Team
Eric Bakutis
Matthew Taylor
Derek Clifton
Michael Aviles
Table of Contents
Concept .......................................................................................................... 3
Gameplay........................................................................................................ 4
Overview ..................................................................................................... 4
Movement .................................................................................................... 4
Controls ....................................................................................................... 4
Enemy Interaction ........................................................................................ 4
Tempering Noah’s Hammer ............................................................................ 5
Handling Player Death ................................................................................... 5
Changing Difficulty Settings ........................................................................... 5
Characters ...................................................................................................... 6
Noah Neck ................................................................................................... 6
Sarah .......................................................................................................... 7
The Executioner ............................................................................................ 7
Lord Eikor .................................................................................................... 7
Enemies ...................................................................................................... 8
Plague Rats .............................................................................................. 8
Skeletons ................................................................................................. 8
Zombies ................................................................................................... 8
Guards ..................................................................................................... 8
Guard Captains ......................................................................................... 8
Demon Soldiers ......................................................................................... 8
Environments .................................................................................................. 9
Dungeon ...................................................................................................... 9
Vaelenhiem (Afternoon) ................................................................................. 9
Vaelenhiem (Night, Burning) .......................................................................... 9
Lord Eikor’s Castle ........................................................................................ 9
Weapons and Items ........................................................................................ 10
Armor Pieces .............................................................................................. 10
Elemental Braziers ...................................................................................... 10
Hardware/System Requirements ...................................................................... 11
Minimum System Requirements .................................................................... 11
Recommended System Requirements ............................................................ 11
Target Audience and Marketability .................................................................... 12
Concept
Noah Neck, the lone blacksmith in the town of Vaelenhiem, must temper his blessed
hammer Mjolnir with the elements of fire, ice, and magic to fight past demonic undead
and save a young mystic, Sarah, from being sacrificed by the evil Lord Eikor.
The player assumes the role of a massive blacksmith named Noah Neck, who wields
the sacred hammer Mjolnir and uses it to fight off such enemies as evil guards,
skeletons, zombies and demons as he progresses through the levels of the game. As a
blacksmith, Noah can also place Mjolnir in mystic braziers of ice, fire and magic and
temper those elements into his hammer. This both allows the player to increase
Noah’s attack power and complete puzzle elements throughout the game’s four levels.
Page 3 of 12
Gameplay
Overview
Mjolnir: Hammer of Tempered Elements is a side-scrolling adventure game that takes
a bit of the side-scrolling fighting action of Castlevania and combines it with a bit of
the item pickup and puzzle solving found in Metroid.
Movement
The player may move Noah left and right, crouch, jump, attack, and bum rush. The
enemies Noah encounters may move left or right, drop from high elevations, or fly.
Controls
The player uses the gamepad to move Noah left and right. The player may also press
down on the gamepad to make Noah crouch, though Noah cannot move while
crouching. The player has one button to make Noah attack (the attack button) and
one button to make him jump (the jump button). The player can make Noah double
jump by hitting the jump button again while in midair. Though the player can only
complete one additional jump before landing, this allows them to reach areas that
would otherwise be inaccessible. The player maintains air control when Noah is
jumping or falling and may move him left or right as necessary.
The player can make Noah swing his massive hammer and slam it into enemies by
pressing the attack button. There is a short cooldown on Noah’s attack which allows
him to attack about once per second, so the player must time their swings. In
addition, if the player has previously tempered Noah’s hammer with one of the three
mystical elements (fire, ice, or magic) Noah’s hammer will do additional damage to
some enemies and will also destroy puzzle elements placed in the levels.
The player can also make Noah bumrush enemies by first crouching, the pressing the
attack button. Noah’s bumrush allows him to charge through a nearby enemy at full
speed, taking no damage when he collides with the enemy and doing damage to the
enemy. However, Noah’s bumrush can only be used once every three seconds, and
Noah is invincible only for the length of the bumrush (around two player lengths). If
Noah is hit by an enemy after he completes the bumrush, he still takes damage.
Enemy Interaction
If the player allows Noah to collide with any enemy while he
is not attacking or bumrushing, Noah takes damage and is
knocked upward and back. Noah also loses a number of
armor points based on the strength of the enemy he hit.
If Noah’s hammer contacts any enemy after the player
attacks, the enemy will take damage and if the damage is
sufficient, the enemy is destroyed and removed from the
level. Noah’s hammer is strong enough to destroy most
weaker enemies in a single hit, but may require two or
more hits for stronger enemies and many hits for bosses.
If Noah’s bumrush contacts any enemy after the player attacks, the enemy will take
damage equal to a normal swing from Noah’s hammer. In addition, Noah will move
through the enemy (assuming it survives) and the player may then continue moving
him normally, providing Noah doesn’t come in contact with any other enemies.
Page 4 of 12
Gameplay (continued)
Tempering Noah’s Hammer
The player may temper Noah’s hammer with an element of fire, ice, or magic by
attacking the flame rising from mystical braziers that are located throughout the
game’s levels. Sarah (the young mystic Noah is trying to save) has magically changed
these normal braziers to elemental braziers which Noah can hammer into his weapon,
imbuing his hammer (Mjolnir) with the chosen element until another element is
tempered in its place. Braziers granting the fire element glow with yellow flame,
braziers granting the ice element glow with blue flame, and braziers granting the
magic element glow with green flame.
To temper any element into Noah’s hammer, the player
need simply attack the flame from a brazier. When
Noah’s hammer contacts the brazier flame, any element it
was previously tempered with is removed and replaced
with the element tied to the brazier flame. Braziers
cannot be destroyed and the flames from a brazier may
be reused any number of times, provided Noah is within
range to attack the brazier flame.
If the player tempers Noah’s hammer with a specific
element, Noah’s damage against enemies vulnerable to
that particular element will increase. In addition, there
are puzzles and barriers placed throughout the levels of
Mjolnir: Hammer of Tempered Elements that require a
specific element to destroy—for instance, the player may
need Noah’s ice hammer to extinguish fire raging across a
bridge, Noah’s fire hammer to destroy an ice barrier
placed across a door, and Noah’s magic hammer to
destroy a particularly tough undead enemy or to destroy
a magical barrier blocking his progress.
The gameplay’s puzzle elements are evident when the player must make decisions as
to which element to temper into Noah’s hammer to solve a specific puzzle or series of
puzzles, while also fighting off or avoiding enemies who may either be vulnerable or
immune to a specific element. In addition, tempering Noah’s hammer is vital during
boss fights, where the boss’s vulnerability to each element will vary during the fight
and require the player to adapt Noah’s hammer to the boss’s current weakness.
In addition to the skill required to fight off evil soldiers and demon undead,
understanding how the different elements affect the player’s enemies and obstacles is
critical to completing the puzzle elements of the game. This creates a deeper level of
gameplay than that one would get by simply smashing and rushing through the levels.
Handling Player Death
By default the player receives three lives. If Noah loses all of his armor points, he
loses one life and the player must restart the level from the last save point. If Noah
loses all his lives, the game is over and the player must restart from the first level.
Changing Difficulty Settings
Players may adjust the number of lives Noah has (3, 5, or 7) the damage dealt by
enemies (.5x, 1x, or 2x) and the health of enemies (.5x, 1x, or 2x).
Page 5 of 12
Characters
Noah Neck
The only blacksmith in Vaelenhiem, Noah is a pious man who is greatly pained by the
injustice he sees Lord Eikor inflict on his fellow townspeople every day. Even though
Vaelenhiem is no longer the town he grew up in, Noah has lived there all his life and is
unwilling to leave even if Lord Eikor and his soldiers have filled the town with fear.
Noah’s special skills as a blacksmith grant him
a degree of immunity to persecution than the
average citizen of Vaelenhiem does not enjoy,
so he is allowed to have his massive hammer
when all other citizens of Vaelenhiem are
forbidden to carry weapons. He labors all day
in his great forge and is largely resigned to
the injustices he sees each day.
Noah’s simple life takes a sharp turn when he
begins having vivid dreams of demons and
undead overrunning Vaelenhiem, as well as
dreams about a young wisp of a girl who tells
him she can save the town. Though Noah
does not know where the girl comes from, he
knows her name is Sarah and that she comes
to him in dreams every night. He thinks
nothing of these dreams until one day when
he happens upon a group of Lord Eikor’s
guards persecuting a young girl who can’t be
older than eight—the girl looks just like
Sarah, from his dreams!
The guards claim that Sarah is a witch and plan to execute her the following day.
Overcome with a desire to protect her, Noah attacks and subdues a number of the
guards before being overcome himself. Knowing how valuable Noah is to the town
(being its only blacksmith) Lord Eikor’s guard captain, a giant man in spiked armor
known only as The Executioner, decides not to kill Noah outright. Instead, he has
Noah thrown in the castle dungeon until he can be properly punished.
Once incarcerated in the dungeon, all hope seems lost until Sarah appears to Noah in
a vision and magically places a great hammer in his cell—Mjolnir, the Hammer of
Tempered Elements. Taking up this great hammer, Noah busts open his cell and fights
his way out of Lord Eikor’s dungeon, determined to save Sarah from being executed
on the following day.
Page 6 of 12
Characters (continued)
Sarah
Sarah is a young mystic, a girl imbued from birth with magical
powers intended to counter the machinations of demons which
invade the world of man. She is drawn to Vaelenhiem by the
presence of Lord Eikor and immediately recognized by The
Executioner as a threat to Lord Eikor’s dominion over the town.
Sarah communicates with Noah Neck because he is the strongest
and bravest man in the town. She needs a champion and Noah is
the best she has. Though her mystic powers can destroy undead
and demons, these powers are still undeveloped, and she has no
defense against evil mortals, such as the guards who capture her.
The Executioner
A massive man in a suit of spiked black armor, the Executioner is known and feared
throughout Vaelenhiem as a merciless tyrant who will kill at the slightest provocation.
There are many whispers throughout the town that he is half demon and invulnerable
to all normal weapons—even trained soldiers have been unable to penetrate his dark
armor and his eyes often seem to glow red behind his dark helmet.
As Lord Eikor’s chief lieutenant in
Vaelenhiem, the Executioner captures
and executes anyone who dares speak
out against Lord Eikor’s rule, chopping
them in half with a single blow from his
massive axe. He also commands the
many guard captains and guards who
keep the people of Vaelenhiem from
escaping or rebelling against their lord.
He throws Noah in the dungeon after
Noah attempts to save Sarah.
The Executioner knows immediately
that Sarah must be dealt with before
she becomes a threat to Lord Eikor. As
such, he declares her a witch and
prepares to execute her. Sarah’s only
hope is to contact Noah through his
dreams and use her budding magic
powers to give him Mjolnir and the
power to save her from execution.
Lord Eikor
The reclusive ruler of Vaelenhiem, Lord Eikor has not left his castle in many years,
relying on The Executioner and his soldiers to subdue the town and make sure its
citizens continue to send tribute and supplies to his great castle. Rumored to study
dark magicks, he has enlisted the servants of demons and has made a pact with a
great demon to give the demon the souls of his townsfolk in return for immortality.
Lord Eikor desires immortality and will kill anyone to gain it, even Sarah.
Page 7 of 12
Characters (continued)
Enemies
Noah encounters the following enemies during his journey through the game.
Plague Rats
Once normal rats, these rodents have been twisted and altered by the demonic energy
unleashed by Lord Eikor’s demonic activities. They have grown larger than normal rats
and though still living, harbor an intense hatred for all living things, leading them to
cannibalistically devour each other if they cannot find other food.
Skeletons
Mindless undead reanimated through Lord Eikor’s dark magicks, these roam the
dungeon beneath Lord Eikor’s castle, stalking and murdering those unfortunate
enough to be thrown into the dungeon. Some have even learned to wield weapons and
use them to dispatch the unfortunate townsfolk they come across.
Zombies
Though these are similar to skeletons in both origin (demon undead) and goal (to
murder any they come across) zombies also retain some measure of flesh and an
almost insane hunger. They will devour any living thing they come across, eating both
fresh corpses and hapless townspeople, ripping them apart even if they are still alive.
Guards
Brigands and murderers chosen by Lord Eikor because of their willingness to kill
without question, the guards of Vaelenhiem are hard and evil men who lord their
power over the normal townsfolk and subdue or kill anyone who gets out of line.
Guard Captains
Even worse than the guards, guard captains are the most brutal and sadistic of the
men chosen by Lord Eikor to subjugate Vaelenhiem. They are also stronger and better
armored, with shields to blunt the attacks of any who dare rise against Eikor’s rule.
Demon Soldiers
Found only in Lord Eikor’s castle, these demon soldiers are inhuman beasts that
mercilessly slaughter anyone foolish enough to attempt to invade Lord Eikor’s domain.
They are also far tougher than Guard Captains and only weapons blessed with holy
magic have a chance of truly defeating them.
Page 8 of 12
Environments
The demo version of Mjolnir: Hammer of Tempered Elements will take place across
four levels, each building upon the game concepts introduced in the last.
Dungeon
Noah starts in the dungeon beneath Lord Eikor’s
castle, and must fight his way out by tempering his
hammer with the elements necessary to open the
many locked doors. He must also destroy the plague
rats, skeletons and zombies roaming the dungeon
murdering all living beings they find. By escaping
through the sewer connected to the dungeon, Noah
hopes to reach the town and stop The Executioner
from killing Sarah.
Vaelenhiem (Afternoon)
Noah emerges from the sewer in late afternoon—The
Executioner is scheduled to execute Sarah as a witch
in less than an hour! Noah must fight through the
streets of Vaelenhiem, killing any Guards and Guard
Captains that attempt to stop him. He must also use
the elements he can temper into Mjolnir to break
through barriers erected by Lord Eikor’s minions.
Once he reaches the town square where Sarah is
being held, he must face The Executioner in single
combat with Sarah’s life hanging in the balance.
Vaelenhiem (Night, Burning)
Though Noah reaches the town square in time to destroy The Executioner and save
Sarah from being cut in two by his wicked axe, a demon soldier flies in and grabs
Sarah before Noah can reach her. Noah watches helplessly as the demon wings back
to Lord Eikor’s castle with a screaming Sarah in its claws, and Lord Eikor’s hordes of
undead and demons overrun the town, putting the entire town to the torch. Noah
must fight his way back through the burning town to Lord Eikor’s castle, fighting off
skeletons, zombies, and those guards who haven’t fled the burning town.
Lord Eikor’s Castle
After fighting his way through burning Vaelenhiem,
Noah reaches Lord Eikor’s castle and fights his way
inside, facing demon soldiers that are far more
powerful than any foe he has yet faced. If he
manages to best his demon foes, Noah faces Lord
Eikor inside his castle and fights the evil lord as he is
filled with demon power, revealing his true plan. By
giving Sarah’s soul to the great demon he serves,
Eikor can become an immortal demon filled with
measureless power. Only Noah and Mjolnir have any
hope of stopping him and saving Sarah so she may
restore peace and tranquility to Vaelenhiem.
Page 9 of 12
Weapons and Items
Armor Pieces
Vaelenhiem’s guards are careless with their armor and Noah can often find pieces
stashed all through Vaelenhiem. As a blacksmith he can easily hammer these pieces
into armor to protect himself from attack.
Helmets restore two (2) of Noah’s armor points, while Shields restore five (5).
Elemental Braziers
Scattered throughout Vaelenhiem and Lord Eikor’s castle, Sarah has imbued these
once normal braziers with elemental power which Noah can temper into his hammer.
Noah may strike the fire rising from braziers glowing with yellow flame
to temper his great hammer, Mjolnir, with the element of fire.
Noah may strike the fire rising from braziers glowing with blue flame to
temper his great hammer, Mjolnir, with the element of ice.
Noah may strike the fire rising from braziers glowing with green flame
to temper his great hammer, Mjolnir, with the element of magic.
Page 10 of 12
Hardware/System Requirements
Mjolnir: Hammer of Tempered Elements will run on most common gaming PCs. The
specifications for a machine necessary to run the game are as follows:
Minimum System Requirements
- Windows® 98/ME/2000/XP
- Intel® Pentium® III 800 MHz or AMD™ Athlon® 800 MHz
- 512 MB RAM
- 150 MB of hard disk space
- NVIDIA® GeForce 2 Series, ATI™ Radeon® 8500 Series or Intel i865G and above
Video Card
- 16-bit Sound Card
- Keyboard or Gamepad
Recommended System Requirements
- Windows 2000/XP
- Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 2000+
- 1 GB RAM
- 200 MB of hard disk space
- NVIDIA GeForce 6200
- 16-bit Sound Card
- Gamepad
Page 11 of 12
Target Audience and Marketability
Mjolnir: Hammer of Tempered Elements is intended for a teen to adult audience. The
game includes mature themes such as children in danger as well as demons and
demonic influence, making it unsuitable for very young players.
With its fast and fluid hack and slash side-scrolling gameplay, Mjolnir: Hammer of
Tempered Elements will strongly appeal to fans of side-scrolling action games such as
Castlevania and Golden Axe, as well as fans of older games such as Ghouls N’ Goblins.
The addition of puzzles that must be solved using the three elements Noah can temper
into his hammer adds an additional layer of complexity that sets the game apart from
standard hack and slash games, making the player think strategically about which
element Noah should have tempered into his hammer at all times in the game’s levels.
The art style of the game, with its darker tone and hard, jagged characters, will appeal
to fans of medieval themes and conjure thoughts of evil black knights in armor. The
grimy environments and morbid enemies will fully immerse the player in a frightening
world where they can only avoid death by fighting against the dark forces threatening
the small town of Vaelenhiem. The gameplay, art and waves of enemies will keep the
player both thrilled and delighted as they guide Noah in his fight against Lord Eikor’s
forces in a desperate race to stop Sarah from being executed.
The game’s compelling story will involve players who are familiar with fantasy worlds
and dark themes, and the clear goal given Noah (to save Sarah) will motivate players
as they fight their way through the game’s dungeon and town. The visceral thrill of
smacking skeletons and evil guards with a giant, flaming hammer will also appeal to
our core audience of teens and adults, as will besting the game’s large bosses.
With its compelling storyline, dark and cool artwork, and fun and fast gameplay,
Mjolnir: Hammer of Tempered Elements will provide a thrilling and enjoyable
experience for its core audience of teens and adults alike.
Page 12 of 12
