BGG2026/gdd.md

# Game design doc

- *Purpose:* 1 week Game Jam 
- *Jam theme:* TRUST NO ONE
- *Running game title:* Aninomaly (mashup of animal and anomaly)


Heavy inspiration from the game "Thats not my neighbor", a simple 2D view; click based puzzle game.

You are a game warden with the special job of studying animals in an area to determine if they are genuine wildlife or a cleverly (or poorly) digused cryptid by studying differences in their appearance and behaviour towards food when offered, which are outlined in your handbook. 

The art is hand drawn and scanned in with a standard home scanner, then digitally stitched together to create 4 variations unique to the 4 different wildlife (raccoon, fox, opossum, deer):
- The standard and correct look
- 2 designs that show a subtle change in a specific body part signifying a cryptid
- An obvious cryptid version 

In total there will be 12 images (4 versions of 4 creatures) as this is a game jam and time is limited.

For the game jam version, only one behavioural aspect is used, which is attempting to feed the creature a marshmallow. Each creature has a normal and not-normal reaction to this:
- Raccoon and Opossum
    - Normal behaviour: Will take and eat the marshmallow
    - Not-normal behaviour: Ignores it
- Fox and Deer
    - Normal behaviour: Ignores it
    - Not-normal behaviour: Will take and eat the marshmallow

Sometimes, a cryptid version will have the correct behaviour, but have a visual issue; likewise a cryptid that looks visually perfect would otherwise have the not normal behaviour. This is a simplified system for the game jam version, but might need some work to be challenging/fun.

If you suspect an animal is a cryptid you can have it taken in for study. When an animal is taken in, you will not know for sure if it was or was not actually a cryptid, BUT taking in a non-cryptid will negate 1 point, whereas taking in an actual cryptid gains you 1 point. Your point total will be shown at the end of the run.

If you choose to move past a creature and it happens to actually be a cryptid, it will kill you and the run ends, counting as a failure.

You will filter through increasing amount of animals for each run, starting with just 5 and gradually increasing as you succeed. 

If you capture too many non-cryptid animals by the end of the run, it will also count as a fail.


## What a run looks like:
- You start at a location, are given your brief, and then you see your first creature which is randomly picked from a list generated at the start of the run that holds the amount of normal vs cryptid creatures (cryptid appearance is chosen from one of the 4 possible appearances with the obvious version being rarer, and are given a behavioural/marshmallow trait depending on if the appearance is "normal" or not) 
- You check your field guide for anomalies and make the decision to leave the creature be, or "carry on".
    - If you have it captured, a truck will drive into view blocking sight of the creature, and then will drive away with the creature having been captured (subject to change based on art, but only the art and animation will change not the logic)
    - If you "carry on" and the creature was in fact a cryptid, the obvious cryptid version of the animal will flash on the screen with a spooky sound, killing you and ending the run.
- You then choose to carry on, moving to a new spot in the forest (fade to black, show a different part of the forest, fade back in) with a new random creature to analyze
- You are given a limited number of marshmallows per run, equal to the amount of non-cryptids (subject to change for balance reasons)
- If you survive, your points are tallied for the run (Cryptid captured = 1 point, non-cryptid captured = -1 point)
    - If you capture more than 2 (subject to change for balance) non-cryptids you will have failed.
- Choose to begin the next round (if you succeeded the previous round, increase number of creatures)

(If game jam time allows, a 5th extremely rare creature named Jimothy [the famous raccoon with a short spine from Australia] will appear, and if you try to capture him you will lose 5 points, you must leave Jimothy alone, though he is not detailed in the handbook)


## Balance & Generation Rules

Every creature has three independent properties:

- is_cryptid (bool)
- appearance_tier: standard / subtle1 / subtle2 / obvious
- behaves_normally (bool)

Non-cryptid animals always have standard appearance and always behave normally. Only cryptids can roll subtle/obvious appearance or incorrect behavior.

### Cryptid detection rule 

A cryptid with standard appearance must always behave incorrectly. This is the only signal available for a fully-disguised cryptid, so it cannot also pass the behavior check, or it becomes undetectable.

Chance of incorrect behavior by appearance tier:

- Standard: 100%
- Subtle 1: 50%
- Subtle 2: 50%
- Obvious:  0%

### Per-round generation

- Round size N, starting at 5, +2 per successful round, capped around 15-20.
- Cryptid count: round(N * 0.35), clamped to [1, N-1].
- Marshmallow supply: max(2, round(N * 0.4)). Deliberately not tied to the true non-cryptid count, to avoid leaking the answer.

### Appearance tier weighting (cryptids only)

Starting weights (early rounds):

- Standard: 35%
- Subtle 1: 30%
- Subtle 2: 20%
- Obvious:  15%

Standard-tier weight increases each round (at the cost of the other three), making rounds progressively harder to solve by sight alone and pushing reliance toward the marshmallow test.

### Grading

- Letting a real cryptid go ends the run immediately (death). No further tally that round.
- Success rate for a completed round: 1 - (miscaptures / N).
- Round fails if success rate drops below 80% (more than 0.2 * N miscaptures).

#### Scoring (separate from pass/fail)

- Correctly captured cryptid: +1
- Miscaptured normal animal: -2
- Correctly left alone: 0
- Score accumulates across the session, resets on death or round failure.

### Jimothy

Deferred as a stretch goal