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My Health Resort | Design

M Y HE A LT H RE S O RT
Learning through fun

By Harshal Chheda

CONTENTS
Contents ................................................................................................................................................................................ 1
Overview ............................................................................................................................................................................. 3
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................ 3
Character............................................................................................................................................................................. 3
Universe ............................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Gameplay............................................................................................................................................................................ 4
Gameplay Loop............................................................................................................................................................. 6
Exercising, Cooking and Quiz Gameplay................................................................................................................ 7
Exercising ..................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Cooking........................................................................................................................................................................ 7
Quizzes ......................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Game Areas ........................................................................................................................................................................ 8
Fitness area ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Gym .............................................................................................................................................................................. 8
Chef Zone .................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Clinic ............................................................................................................................................................................. 8
Residential Area ............................................................................................................................................................ 8
Player Residence ....................................................................................................................................................... 8

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Harshal Chheda

My Health Resort | Design

Market ......................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Progression .......................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Health Credits ................................................................................................................................................................ 9
Daily Tasks ...................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Contests ............................................................................................................................................................................ 9
Competition Modes .................................................................................................................................................. 9
Types of Contests ..................................................................................................................................................... 10
Contest rewards ....................................................................................................................................................... 10
Mechanics ............................................................................................................................................................................ 11
In-game Days............................................................................................................................................................. 11
Energy Meter .............................................................................................................................................................. 11
Hunger Meter ............................................................................................................................................................. 11
Calorie Tracker ......................................................................................................................................................... 12
Food Storage, Eating and Diet ......................................................................................................................... 12
Recipes and Cooking ............................................................................................................................................... 12
Exercising .................................................................................................................................................................... 12
Rest (TBD).................................................................................................................................................................. 12
Muscle Groups ........................................................................................................................................................... 13
Instancing ................................................................................................................................................................... 13
USPs ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 13
Conclusion........................................................................................................................................................................... 13

v1.0

Game Design Document Started

July 27, 2009

v1.1

Several content and imagery additions

July 30, 2009

v1.2

Several formatting changes, better categorization, added proper mini-game section

July 31, 2009

v1.3

Important modifications to the TYPES OF CONTESTS section

New slogan
Minor formatting and grammatical modifications

Aug 03, 2009

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Harshal Chheda

My Health Resort | Design

OVERVIEW
Name

My Health Resort

Platform

Flash (PC/Mac)

Genre

Sim/RPG/Educational

Ages

8+

My Health Resort

Health Resort is a multiplayer online health simulation for the flash platform, with elements of
progression, learning, resource management and mini-games.
The objective of the game is for players to manage their diet, exercise and resources in order to be fit.

INTRODUCTION
My Health Resort is all about healthy living. It teaches you the very best fitness
techniques and the healthiest, tastiest recipes around and then lets you practice
them in a virtual world!
Head to the market to buy food, cook a tasty meal in your virtual kitchen, go
work off those calories in the gym, learn new recipes and exercises, pick out
funky clothes and accessories for your avatar, its all there!!
Mix around with the player community - share that perfect routine for working
out the pectorals, describe how mouthwateringly delicious that Tandoori
Chicken looked, or pit your wits against them in contests that will decide who is
the ultimate health guru!
My Health Resort combines the ideas of the DS games My Health Coach and
My Cooking Coach and brings them to the hugely accessible Flash platform.

CHARACTER
Players start off with a standardized character and can
customize its appearance to their taste.
As players progress in the game, their characters physique
gets updated depending on dietary and exercise trends
(game play).

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Harshal Chheda

My Health Resort | Design

UNIVERSE

The game world consists of a virtual health resort, where players learn fitness and healthy cooking
techniques, and apply same to enhance their virtual characters.
The resort consists of a fitness area and a residential area.

GAMEPLAY
My Health Resort is a simulation, and the gameplay follows obvious rules for gaining/losing weight,
diet-based disorders, effects of exercise on the body, etc.
Players have 2 attributes to manage, Energy and Hunger which in turn affect Calories and Muscle
Mass. The main actions in the game and their effects are shown below:

Action

Energy

Hunger

Weight (Calories)

Eating

+ Energy

- Hunger

+ Calories

Exercise

- Energy

+ Hunger

- Calories

Rest

+ Energy

+ Hunger

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Muscle Mass

+ Muscle
- Muscle

Harshal Chheda

My Health Resort | Design

As players eat and exercise, their weight and physique change accordingly just like in real life.
E.g., if a player overeats and gets no exercise, his character will become fat and may even develop
obesity-related illnesses. This is illustrated below.

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Harshal Chheda

My Health Resort | Design

GAMEPLAY LOOP
This system creates a closed, self-contained gameplay loop.

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Harshal Chheda

My Health Resort | Design

EXERCISING, COOKING AND QUIZ GAMEPLAY

Exercising

Exercising in My Health Resort consists of a bunch of

mini-games for each exercise, e.g. for cycling, skipping,
etc
The styles of the games will vary, but most should follow
timing-based themes such as in Fable 2
In the image to the right, the player needs to time the
mouse click to when the green bar reaches the top of the
gauge for the best performance

Cooking

Cooking in My Health Resort takes place in a virtual

kitchen that is part of each players residence
The task itself consists of referring to known recipes,
acquiring the right ingredients and then actually
cooking them by utilizing the various tools in the
kitchen
Equipment like stoves, ovens, etc have timers and
players need to remove food from them at the right
time
Performance criteria includes speed, timing,
preparation sequence, etc

Quizzes

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To encourage players to learn more, to help reinforce

what is already learned and for players to test their
knowledge against each other, players can take quizzes
at the Clinic
These quizzes contain multiple-choice questions based
on what players already know

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My Health Resort | Design

GAME AREAS
FITNESS AREA
Gym

This is where players go to exercise, learn new exercises or unlock higher level
equipment by spending Health Credits
The Gym has 3 floors (TBD) - the higher the floor, the higher the quality and
variety of equipment and exercises
Also has an Exercise Competition Zone

Chef Zone

This is where the player can spend Health Credits to learn new recipes
Similar to the Gym, the Chef Zone has 3 floors (TBD) - the higher the floor, the
higher the quality and variety of recipes the player can learn
Also has a cooking competition zone

Clinic

This is where players go to check their health status

Players that have fallen ill are automatically brought here to be cured, at a
Health Credit cost to the player
Clinics automatically maintain records of the players health
Has a dietician, who imparts healthy eating advice for free
Also has a competition zone for Quiz Contests

RESIDENTIAL AREA
Player Residence
When players enter the residential building, they are taken straight to their
apartment, which contains:

Kitchen - Players can cook their meals here

Fridge and Cupboard - All food bought by the player is stored here
Wardrobe - All the characters clothing and accessories are stored here
Bedroom - Characters need regular rest and they can sleep here (Rest feature TBD)
Living Area: Features TBD

Market

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Here, players can buy food items and accessories by spending Health Credits

Harshal Chheda

My Health Resort | Design

PROGRESSION
HEALTH CREDITS

The currency in Health Resort is called Health Credits (HCs)

Players receive a certain amount of HCs when they first start playing
and whenever they cook or exercise thereafter
The amount of credits gained depends on how well they performed at
the task
Additionally, daily tasks give double the normal amount of credits

DAILY TASKS

Each in-game day, players should complete a minimum amount of cooking

and exercise tasks, which will give double the normal amount of HCs. This is
defined by:
Cooking: Have breakfast, lunch and dinner
Exercise: Burn x (TBD) calories

There is no hard penalty for not completing the daily tasks

In the long run, the player will suffer by not receiving the extra HCs
Also, for example, if players dont eat enough, they will lose weight, not gain enough energy,
etc; which will eventually lead to illness

CONTESTS
Competition Modes
AI Matching

Players sign up at the respective competition zone, which enters them into
the competition queue
When another player signs up for the same contest, the AI matches the two
players
A list of exercises or recipes that are known by both players is displayed, and
players are asked if they want to proceed with the contest
Thereafter, the AI picks an exercise or recipe at random and the contest
begins.

Player Challenges

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Players can also challenge other players

Doing so brings up a list of list of exercises or recipes that are known by both players, and then
players are asked if they want to proceed with the contest

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My Health Resort | Design

Thereafter, the AI picks an exercise or recipe at random, the players are teleported to the
respective competition zone, and the contest begins.

Types of Contests
Exercise Contests

Players play the selected exercise mini-game, and the player that performs the best wins
Alternatively

The AI selects a random exercise from amongst those known by the competing players
Thereafter, the players are asked to work out a particular muscle group the best they can in a
set amount of time

Cooking Contests

The AI selects a random recipe from amongst those known by the competing players
Players have to cook the selected dish without being able to refer to the recipe, but with the
ingredients freely available
The player with the best overall performance wins

Quiz Contests

The AI finds topics from amongst those already learnt by the players at the clinic
Players are given a series of multiple-choice questions from these topics
The player with the best performance wins

Supreme Health Contest

This is an endgame feature where players that have unlocked most high level recipes and
exercise can compete against each other to compare who has better overall health
This will also be a mini-game with the usual gameplay elements, but player attributes such as
weight, proportion of muscles, etc will also affect the final outcome

Contest rewards
Contest rewards can include HCs, titles, special accessories, recipes
and exercises. (TBD)

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My Health Resort | Design

MECHANICS
In-game Days

The first in-game day starts from the time of the players first login and
lasts till 24 hrs from that time
If players log out and back in during this time, they are still considered to
be in the same day
Thereafter, the next day starts with the players next login or, if the
player is online when his first in-game day is over, the next day starts
while the player is online
This way, problems of time zones and the issue of players losing days when they arent online
for extended periods are solved
The actual online time per day doesnt really matter and players can use extra time after
completing the daily tasks for other activities like learning recipes/exercises, shopping,
competing, learning at the clinic, etc

Energy Meter

All player actions burn a certain amount of calories, which depletes the Energy
Meter exercising consumes the most energy and other activities like walking,
cooking, etc. consume considerably less energy
E.g. walking x meters consumes (y*players weight) energy

Whenever players rest, they receive energy (Rest feature TBD)

Eating also replenish the players energy level, but to a lesser extent
Actions performed while the player has no energy can have adverse effects such as collapse
(illness).

Hunger Meter

At the start of the game, players have a certain hunger level, which is actually
the amount of nutrition the player needs to be healthy
Hunger is increased whenever energy is consumed and calories are burnt
Resting also increases Hunger level, but to a lesser extent
E.g. walking x meters increases hunger by (y*players weight)

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Eating more or less than what is required to exactly negate hunger causes the player to gain or
lose weight accordingly and, in extreme cases, can lead to illness

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My Health Resort | Design

Calorie Tracker

All player actions, even walking and cooking, burn calories - the amount
depends on the action
E.g., walking x meters burns (y*players weight) calories

Any unburnt calories cause the player to gain weight, while not receiving
enough calories on the other hand cause the player to lose weight - both can
lead to illness and have a negative effect on energy levels

Food Storage, Eating and Diet

All the ingredients mentioned in the cooking recipes can be purchased at the market
Each food item has a set of specific, realistic nutrition values
When food is cooked, it may lose some of its nutrition, but maybe its
not necessary to go into so much detail (TBD)
Players need a certain amount of carbs, protein, fat, fiber, etc in their
diet
If players dont have a balanced diet, it can affect their energy and
hunger, weight gain/loss, effectiveness of exercise and, in extreme
cases, can cause illness
Food can be stored in cooked or uncooked form and has a realistic shelf-life
If food goes bad and is eaten, it could cause illness
Eating food takes a certain amount of time, e.g. a sandwich could take 10 in-game seconds
while a pizza could take 20 seconds

Recipes and Cooking

Players start off with a few basic recipes and can purchase more at
the Chef Zone, using HCs
Cooking takes place in the virtual kitchen that every player has.
This is almost exactly the same as in My Cooking Coach, i.e., food
items are dragged and dropped into the relevant appliances, ovens
etc are timed and so on

Exercising

Players start off with a few basic exercises and can purchase more from the
Trainer at the Gym, where all exercising also takes place
All exercises burn a certain amount of calories and affect certain musclegroups

Rest (TBD)

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My Health Resort | Design

Muscle Groups

For various reasons, the development (size) of each muscle-group in the players body is
tracked
Although it will be difficult to show muscle-groups distinctly on in-game characters, their
attributes are recorded and updated by the game, and players can view them in detail at the
mirror in the Gym

Instancing

Because this game is designed to have a number of players playing simultaneously, all areas
within the game are instanced
Each area has a maximum player limit, and when this limit is reached, new players will enter a
new instance of the area
This means that the number of simultaneous players is only limited by physical infrastructure
the game itself is designed to be able to handle an infinite number of players

USPs

Educational game
Positive theme, widely accessible with massively multiplayer capabilities
Life-like mechanics, with real-world nutrition values, effects of exercise, etc
RPG elements add to player immersion and encourage them to enhance
their characters by learning and doing more
Can be plugged into applications like Facebook to reach greater audiences
Elegant, self-contained gameplay loop that includes economy, character
customization, etc
High scalability additional features such as a Yoga Centre, Sports Zone, etc can easily be
integrated in the future

CONCLUSION
Step into My Health Resort and discover a wealth of useful information seamlessly
integrated with the virtual world.
Learning the tastiest, healthiest cooking recipes has never been so much fun!
Learning ways of shedding that extra weight or gaining muscle mass has never
been so easy. You will remember these techniques even when you are not playing!
My Health Resort Learning through fun

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Harshal Chheda

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My Health Resort | Design

To Do:
-

Expand Universe section (detailed layouts of the buildings, NPC descriptions, etc)

Add Camera View section

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Harshal Chheda