Purify

Description & How To Play:

This game was made for a final project for a game class at Arizona State University. As the game was geared towards the max amount of players, which is a four-player lobby, it is suggested to play with at least a few friends. To join a lobby, the lobby must be public. If the lobby is not shown, it is suggested to make the lobby invisible then visible, and this will likely fix the problem. If not then the game will need to most likely be restarted.

The goal of the game is to purify the demon. In order to do this, the players will need to find four seals that are placed around the sanctum and destroy them. Once all four correct seals are destroyed, the demon will be purifiable. Be careful, as there are also fake seals. The only way to distinguish which ones are real, are by small differences in the pentagrams drawn on the seals. Every time a seal is destroyed, the demon will become stronger. So the closer the player(s) are to winning, the harder the game gets.

The demon’s abilities are inspired by weeping angels. When a player is caught, they are turned into stone, and can only be revived through a splash of holy water every player carries within their flasks. However, the players will only receive a limited amount of flasks. These are split between the player(s) at the beginning of the game. The development team did not have enough time to implement the texture, so currently, there is no way to tell a player is dead other than calling it out. Once a player is dead, they will be able to spectate their friends if they are alive by click the left and right mouse buttons.

The primary tactic the players can use to avoid being caught is to throw holy water at the demon by pressing the key "2". This will cause the demon to be teleported to a random location on the map, however, there is a cooldown, meaning this is not a spammable mechanic. This gives a chance for the player(s) to run away, but if it is abused, the player might just find themself in a situation they did not want.

As there is only a limited amount of holy water available, if it is all consumed, the player(s) will automatically lose the game. This is because at least one holy water will be needed to purify the demon at the end of the game. So, the player(s) will need to manage their resource of Holy Water. Is it worth it to stun? Is it worth it to revive? Is it worth playing more risky or safe? The dynamic difficulty also encourages the player(s) use of holy water as the demon is more likely to catch the player.

Another tactic is for the players to be more sneaky. The demon has an easier time finding the player the more noise they give off. The demon will also be able to spot players that are in light easier. Players will also be able to hide behind objects. These tactics give the player a higher chance of avoiding being caught.

Flashlights are the primary light source in the game. The light can be accessed by pressing "1", however, they have a limited battery life, and must be recharged by picking up one of the various batteries lying around the sanctum. There are also torches and candles around the map which have limited up-time that the players can light around the map. Currently players are only able to pick up torches if they have a non-lit torch or no torch in their torch item spot which is accessed by pressing "4". Torches also can not be picked up if they are already lit. They can be litten by pressing the global interaction button "e" while holding the lighter which is pulled out with the button "3". This makes it so that the player(s) have an easier time traversing the map with more than one lighting option, but if the game goes on for too long, the players may very well find themselves only using their lighter for the rest of the game. 

There are many seals throughout the map. These seals are placed on altars. Although the altars are on set locations, the real/fake seals are randomly chosen at the beginning of the game, meaning that every play-through will be different. Every seal of the game will also need player(s) to perform a ritual on the seal, forcing them to stay near the seal for a period of time. To perform the ritual, the player will need to hold the global interaction button "e" in order to perform a ritual. Each seal is a different object, but every seal will have a pentagram, with fakes having small differences in the pentagrams. If all four seals are not destroyed, the demon will not be purifiable, and when holy water is thrown at it, it will be teleported. If all seals are destroyed, then the demon will die when holy water is successfully thrown at it.

Controls:

WASD - Movement

Shift - Sprint (stamina bar can be seen up top, if you run out of stamina you will move at crouch speed)

CTRL - Crouch

Space - Jump

1 - Turn on/off flashlight

2 - Throw holy water (how much a player has can be seen on the bottom left)

3 - Pulls out the lighter, automatically lit (players will only be able to light candles/torches when this is pulled out)

4 - Pulls out a torch if picked up. You are only able to switch torches once the lifetime on that torch has gone out.

E - Global interaction button. Used to break seals, turn on candles/torches when the lighter is held, and picking up torches. Players will only be able to pick up another torch if the current torch has stopped burning.

M - Will pull up a map of the game's map. However, players will need to distinguish where they are on the map, so it is possible to still get lost.

G - Drop Torch

ESC - Pulls up the option to leave and exit the game.