Bottled Up Preliminary Narrative Design Document

This was the initial planning document I created for the direction we wanted to take Bottled Up. Of course, during the actual development process, some things changed in order to better fit the story because we trimmed some levels in order to reduce our scope.

For example, the final level was supposed to end differently. Sakura's level was meant to serve as a tipping point for Ran once she realizes she's hit her own limit in light of all the responsibilities she had to shoulder. This was going to be tackled during the boss fight, where the final boss would be Ran's alter-ego. There were planned themes of rebirth and a spiritual death of self that weren't implemented because of time. The same went for the side quests and mini games.

If I could go back and revisit this game in the future, I definitely would ensure that the emotional build up within the narrative felt deserving of the original ending. There were places where I felt my writing hit a bit too on the nose, which I suppose is appropriate for a magical girl theme where good always triumphs over evil. Overall, I enjoyed working on Bottled Up and having the chance to tackle a somewhat heavy topic with a more lighthearted feel.

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PLAYER CHARACTER 

Name: Ran Munehara 

Age: Teens 

Occupation: High school student 

Weapon: Yo-yo 

Inner demon: Sense of identity 

Personality: Cheery and sociable but carries a lot of inner burdens. Puts others before herself and finds it difficult to say no. Always anxious about messing up and not being able to make herself useful to others. A major people-pleaser and wants to do her best to help, even at her own detriment. Was gradually trained into this mentality by her family unintentionally, since she’s always prioritizing her mother’s and sister’s requests before her own. Doesn’t feel like she has a purpose if she’s not being helpful to others, and she doesn’t want to let people down if they depend on her. 

Potential motivation(s): 

• Wants to be a hero 

• Feels moral obligation and guilt about using her powers for good, so she does 

• Doesn’t know what to do with herself, being a magical girl gives her “purpose” 

Symbolism: Ramune, the soda. Has a tendency of keeping everything bottled in until it pops. 

IMPORTANT NPCS

NOTE: These NPCs are the ones considered the main levels of the game, with each one hopefully representing a different struggle—also known as their “inner demon”—that the protagonist battles with and helps them overcome. 

Classmate A (School encounter/tutorial) 

• Inner demon: Stress 

• Normal student, overwhelmed by school 

• Featured in the tutorial level 

• The first inner demons the player fights and introduces them to the controls 

Sakura (School encounter) 

• Inner demon: Being a burden 

• Ran’s best friend since childhood 

• Used to be bright and lively, grew quiet and withdrawn in high school 

• Revealed to be bullied and struggling a lot without Ran’s support 

• Considered the “final boss” so to speak 

  • The tipping point before Ran fits her own inner demon that manifests into her alternate self 

  • Realizes that she needs to change because she’s spending so long helping others that she’s neglecting herself and the ones she cares about 

• Trivia: Japanese cherry blossoms symbolize hope and renewal, plus the fleeting nature of life 

Watanabe (Grocery Store encounter) 

• Inner demon: Burnout 

• Coworker of her mother 

Sugiyama (Park encounter) 

• Inner demon: Isolation 

• Older person, think grandma or grandpa age (gender tba) 

  • One of Ran’s neighbors, babysat her as a kid 

• Retired to the small town for a change of pace 

• Most of their family lives in the bustling city, but they haven’t gotten to visit them at much because 

  • 1) It’s too far away for them to travel comfortably 

  • 2) The family is always too busy with life to visit 

• Struggling with the idea of growing old and seeing everyone they love grow distant and trying to cope 

SIDE NPCS (FOR NARRATIVE ONLY) 

NOTE: Most of these characters don’t need actual sprites. They can be just a greyed out or blurred image/face. I will add an emoji to whoever needs a sprite as I proceed to flesh out the story. 

Ran’s mom 

• Inadvertently puts pressure on Ran by always asking her for “favors” that turn into familial obligation 

• Constantly busy with work and not home often 

Ran’s younger sister 

NARRATIVE MAPPING 

Overall structure (OPEN TO REVISION AND PENDING EDITS): 

• Was thinking that the map traversing looked something like: 

  • School -> Grocery store -> [Scene transition] -> School -> Park -> [Scene transition] -> School

    

    Flowchart of the general narrative structure

  • NOTE: In this case, [Scene transition] implies some sort of time skip to the next day. Doesn’t need to be explicitly stated or shown, but understood by the player 

• In terms of levels: 

  • 1 tutorial level 

  • 3 main levels taking the player through the core NPCs, with Sakura’s inner demons being fought last 

  • 1 final battle which is the player fighting her inner self 

• Narrative: 

  • School, classroom: Ran and Sakura initial interaction in the form of a cutscene set at the end of class, Ran leaves 

  • School, courtyard: Encounters a student that needs help outside, tutorial level ensues 

  • Grocery store: Ran goes to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for dinner at the request of her mom, encounters [Core NPC 1] struggling with something, level 1 ensues 

  • TIME PASSES, NEXT DAY 

  • School, classroom: Ran and Sakura have another cutscene together and learn a bit more about both their circumstances, Ran leaves to head home because she needs to look after her little sister 

  • Park: Feels something off on her way home and heads in the general direction, encounters [Core NPC 2] in need at the park, level 2 ensues

  • TIME PASSES, NEXT DAY 

  • School, classroom: Ran notices something visibly wrong with Sakura (i.e. typical anime bullying traits), the two have a heart to heart where Sakura reveals everything and how hurt she’s been having to hold everything in to not be a burden, level 3 ensues 

  • School, rooftop: Ran runs off after her confrontation with Sakura having finally reached her breaking point, encounters her alternate self, final battle ensues, victory determined by how many people she’s helped 

  • Ending: Implied that Ran sought help for herself, receives thank you cards from all those she helped 

MAIN STORY (WIP; CONSIDERING ANOTHER DOC FOR PLANNING AND DIALOGUE) 

Game starts off at Ran’s high school after her last class ends. She meets with Sakura and they have a conversation before she leaves. 

What the player initially learns from the interaction: 

• Ran hasn’t been able to spend much time with her Sakura since she’s always busy helping others 

• Sakura is disheartened that Ran can’t spend time with her, but insists that she leaves so she isn’t late 

• The friendship dynamics between the two, with Ran being the usually scatterbrained and clumsy one and Sakura being more responsible and mature 

• First signs of Ran’s internal struggle, neglecting her personal relationships in favor of everyone else 

SIDE QUESTS/EXTRA CONTENT 

Meant to be in conjunction with the main story, but we might not get to this. 

My idea for this, playing off of what was discussed and presented, was that the player has the option to freely traverse the world for a set number of location jumps each day and complete side quests for currency to further upgrade their special skills. 

It is through these quests that the player can interact with the minigames, like fishing, and the funny collectible gachapon aspect of the game. The player can interact with the cameos we wanted to include. The reason I didn’t want to include this in the main story and chose to put this in the extra content is because of the tonal differences in terms of the overall theme we wanted to go with. 

Sylvani Payani 

• Found at the park 

• Funny breaking the 4th wall quest that criticizes the game 

  • Could potentially lock the fishing minigame + extra content behind helping him first 

  • “Your game sucks” battle ensues 

PixelTaku 

• Found at the high school 

• Dating sim??? Idk but that seems to be what the general consensus was leaning towards 

• I’m gonna be honest chief, I don’t watch streamers that much, but I know of the existence of PixelTaku so I’m TryingTM 

Matsune Hiku 

• Found at the grocery store 

• Inverted color scheme Miku that works as the tired cashier 

• MIKUMART 

POTENTIAL CHARACTER INSPO 

Inspo board featuring popular magical girl animes like Shugo Chara, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Pretty Cure.

Inspo board for Ran's general equipment (yo-yo + backpack). However, a schoolgirl sprite was never made because of time constraints.

Basic styles and general vision: 

• Marble drop earrings to represent the marble in ramune bottles

• Traditional puffy skirt magical girl outfit 

• Kinda want to model the dress after the general shape of the bottle 

  • Cinched waist 

  • Puffy/puffed skirt 

  • Ends at the knees or slightly below 

• Type of school backpack

  • Traditional 

  • Messenger bag (leather or cloth) 

  • Randoseru 

• Yo-yo is a keychain that hangs off her backpack? 

POTENTIAL ART STYLE INSPO 

Inspirations: 

• World’s End Club

• Merry Bad End (and other art by Terada Tera) 

• Glimmer in Mirror 

• Pokemon 

• Deemo II 

• Muse Dash 

General thoughts and vision: 

• Bold, sharp lines 

• Bright popping colors 

• Smooth and basic character shapes 

• Fond of this type of eye shape 

  • Emphasis on the under lashes 

  • Round 

POTENTIAL COLOR PALETTE(S) 

Color palette generator can be found here