Crossroads: Play and Change a Game

*"Create your game as you play, any Spark can do it..."*

Make choices as you play to create your own adventures!

*"It's double the fun!"*

## Description

*"Welcome Spark..."*

The Crossroads: Play and Change a Game is Game that you can Edit while still playing without ever needing to switch between "Modes". The extent to which you can Edit however is limited. The tradeoff being the ease and speed at which a game can be put together. Allowing each Player themselves to build their own small world with its own story within minutes for everyone and anyone to play and enjoy. The choices Players can make in this Mode however do begin quite limited, with many of the additional elements having to be purchased from the Marketplace prior to being used. These elements come mostly in the forms of Visual and Sound FX, but additional Quests and Game Mechanics (Bosses/Items/etc.) can be purchased and utilized as well.

This mode itself is an example of what can actually be created within the Project Spark editor. It begins by allowing the Player to make a choice between 3 options (multiple times) to set various aspects of the World you are soon intended to enter and play within. You're also presented with a "Randomize" option which gives you 3 new options to choose from. There is no capability to browse or select options, one must hit Randomize till they are presented with the options they desire for selection.

## World Set-Up

Players must make several choices before beginning play. These set the stage for the story and adventure you're about to carry out.

### Forming the Land

When Forming the Land the player is made to decide what kind of terrain is to be formed by the engine. Player's can choose from 4 predefined parameters, "Hills", "Rivers", "Mountains", and "Canyons". Hills tends to play out as the most reliable experience as it's generally a rather flat surface. When performing the rest of the Crossroads editing, complications often arise when the Player chooses anything other than "Hills" for a variety of reasons.

Additional settings can be set below using the D-Pad such as "Water Height", "Terrain Roughness", "Valley Height", "Hill Height", "Mountain Height", "River Width", "Land Height", "Valley Height", "Peak Height", and "Canyon Width".

***"There's such depth to you spark"***

### Setting the Environment

When Setting the Environment the Player is made to decide which "Biome" that the game will generate for you. The "Biomes" are a collection of FX, Objects both interactable and not, sound FX as well as painting the terrain's "Peaks", "waterbed", "paths" and "basic terrain". Not all choices are immediately available to players, whereas only "Forest" is free. The rest of the content must be unlocked through the Marketplace.

Additional settings can be set below using the D-Pad such as "Water Height" (again), "Shore Material Height", "Peak Material Height", and "Nature Density".

### Lighting the Sky

When Lighting the Sky the Player is made to decide how the world will be lit. A few free choices are available to all players while the rest need to be purchased in the Marketplace (but come with previous packs).

Additional settings can be set below using the D-Pad such as "Sun Angle", "Sun Position", "Brightness", and "Visual Filter".

**Creating the World**

You will then enter into a short sequence where it creates your world for you. This can also be skipped.

### The Hero's Quest

What appears to be designed for use of multiple game modes, there currently only exists one game mode which is called "Adventure". "Adventure" acts as a Third Person action RPG. Players must then choose the location of where to place the Village to be defended, anywhere within the world's borders. If placed at the edge of the terrain, the game will form the terrain needed to place the buildings of the village. You then must select the Village's Center Piece that you will be the main objective of the Adventure to restore. Each Village Center has a special buff associated with it which isn't immediately apparent. Players will be allowed to choose from the pool of unlocked Champions that they own to defend a small village from attackers. At this point the game gives you control of your character and the creation process becomes hybridized with playing.

**Note: From this point on, Players are allowed to pause the game and select "Edit" or "Edit from Here" where their decisions thus far will be formulated into a packaged version for them to edit slightly further.**

*Caution: Editing isn't recommended at this point as it **will not** present you with anything related to any of the creation aspects of what happened so far. You will have to wait until you make a few more decisions before anything actually appears in the World for you to Edit.*

***"That might be... rewarding..."***

##### Where will your village be?

Players gain control of a Village Flag that acts as the center location of the Village. You can slide it around horizontally and place it anywhere you wish as long as it remains on terrain. Once placed, the flag will begin drawing 3 paths to 3 "Holographic" Buildings, a few props will appear on the ground as well as a path to an overarching gate that will act as the connecting point to the end goal. Under the gate itself is a waypoint that can be used for quick travel **to** and **from** the locations of interest. Additional waypoints will appear at any of the created Side Quests, as well as at the end Obstacle after defeating the boss.

##### The Village Center

You are presented with a choice of what is going to be attacked at the Village, which will then need to be restored by you playing the game. Several choices are presented to players with only a few being freely available to everyone, other choices must be unlocked through the Marketplace.

##### The Hero Emerges

***"Every story needs a hero, and ours come in the form of Champions. Each Champion has their own set of unique powers that can be leveled up."***

Players can choose from a set of Champions to play as. With only a few being freely available, the rest must be purchased from the market place. Each Champion functions similarly as most of the Controls provide the same or similar functions. Using the D-Pad you can change the Difficulty settings between Easy to Hard. *These settings appear to affect enemy health and possibly damage*

* Scarlett
* Karlsnor
* Avalon
* Haakon
* Seph

***"An Epic Quest awaits your Champion"***

Upon making a selection, you're immediately told to speak with a nearby Quest Giver who differs depending on the Village Center selection. *Tip: Activate the Village Center piece before speaking with the Quest Giver to gain the temporary buff that's only available before and after it being damaged.*

## Begin Your Adventure

Immediately upon arriving in the World, you're allowed to do as you please. You're suggested to speak to the nearby Quest Giver but this is only necessary to forward the "Primary Objective" within the game. Players will see an abundance of glowing blue structures dotted across the landscape. When nearing one of these objects, your Spark will begin hovering around it and you're presented with the text "What will you build here?". By pressing the key, you're allowed to enter another Selection menu for a variety of Objects/Structures to place in the world. These Structures often contain Side-Quests or Mini-Games that will award your Champion with XP and Gold, and sometimes even Equipment or a Companion.

*Tip: You gain a few hundred bonus experience per build if you wait until after completing the Primary Quest and restoring the Village Center to begin adding additional gameplay elements into your world.*

When speaking to NPCs, Crossroads attempts to engage the player to begin altering the story by indicating on the top right of your screen that you can "Edit Text". There are already preset dialogue sequences to fill out everything a player doesn't wish to edit themselves. Otherwise the Player is free to make each NPC say whatever they wish them too with no real impact or implication within the game world itself, but as a means to allow the Player to craft their own imagined story.

Enemies don't present themselves naturally in the world until you speak with the Quest Giver. When accepting their request, the Village will be attacked. The Player is given the choice of who their enemies will be. There are only a few choices freely available to everyone, otherwise the rest of the enemy types must be purchased through the Marketplace.

##### Sequence Fight

The fight begins with your selected enemies attacking the Village Center. These enemies will be weaker then the rest of the enemies you will encounter throughout the Adventure. After removing the threat, you're told to speak to the Quest Giver again to continue the story. They will now tell you what will be needed to restore the village. You're presented with 4 options, one of which must be purchased from the Marketplace.

*These seem to provide no real benefits and are just another choice factor for altering the story.*

##### The Journey's End

Players must now choose the location of their objective. A few free examples are available, otherwise additional examples can be purchased from the Marketplace. These have no in game implications and are just for decoration.

After selecting the location to fight towards, you are presented with the option of selecting its location as well. This functions exactly the same as placing the Village Center from earlier.

***"Spark you'll need to build a path!"***

Troubles often arise during this stage of creation where the player must now connect a path between the Village and the Enemies' hideout. Players are given the capability to drag the path along the surface in any direction they choose, but they cannot erase any mistakes they make so extreme care must be taken. A mistake in the creation of the path can lead to enemies spawning under the ground, coins spawning under the ground, path being unscalable, and sometimes even main objectives becoming unobtainable. You're also given the choice to "Create For Me" which most of the time proves to be reliable at creating a functional path without issues. The longer the path you create, the more options that are presented for you to encounter along the way. Be wary though as there is a limit to what you can build during play.

## Use

From here on, the Crossroads experience repeats itself by presenting you with 3 choices, always asking you what you'd like to place in each location. Every object you place has little impact on the world you play within, but act as developed examples that you can later examine or use within Edit Mode. While most examples are hidden within brains that Player's are never given access to, Player's can still use these Objects in games of their own if compatible.

## Notes

1. ↑ that's pretty hard to catch the first time, wasn't expecting it... not even the third time
2. ↑ Needs to be verified