In 2012 I wrote this proposal for an Xbox Kinect videogame intended for grade-school girls. The project went nowhere but has always remained a personal favorite. If anyone wants to use these ideas, go for it!

1. PROJECT PETERSBURG
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©2012 John Scott Tynes

2. PREFACE
This is a proposal for an Xbox Kinect videogame I wrote in 2012.
My goal was to make a videogame for grade-school girls.
The project never went anywhere but has always remained a personal
favorite.
If anyone wants to do something with these ideas, go for it!

3. VISION
be a fairy-tale heroine in a lushly stylized ballet world
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4. THREE PILLARS
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5. 5

6. 6
Reinvent the fun of dress-up and playing
stories.
Be the star everyone loves and admires.
Be brave, clever, kind, and funny.
Live your dreams.
roleplay as a fairy-tale heroine

7. 7
You dance where and how you want.
You always look amazing.
The other dancers react and adapt to
you.
You drive the choreography by how you
play.
dynamic choreograhy

8. 8
Lead exciting journeys, dance into
dramatic confrontations, and vanquish
evil with beauty and skill.
Explore magical ballet worlds within
breathtaking set design.
Solve puzzles and find treasures to
enhance your costume and visual effects.
Wield the magic of fairy tales.
adventure, mystery, and magic

9. SETTING
the world’s greatest stage
All the conventions and magic of a theater, but
stylized with motion and visual effects impossible in
the real world.
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10. CONTENT
ballet’s greatest fairy tales
We’ll adapt the music, story, and characters into our
own productions: Prokofiev’s Cinderella; Tchaikovsky’s
Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker; Délibes’ Coppélia.
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11. GAMEPLAY MODES
Adventure: Move your dancer
freely among the other dancers and
scenery, exploring, collecting,
confronting, leading, and
discovering, all with dynamic
choreography
Performance: At moments of key
drama and conflict, zoom in on your
dancer to perform specific ballet
moves as in Dance Central. The better
you do, the more spectacular and
sucessful the results.
we shift between these fluidly during play
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12. ADVENTURE EXAMPLES
Traverse: Hit your marks any
way you want. Your dancer always
makes it look good.
Beckon Motion: Nearby dancers
follow your lead, weaving around
the stage wherever you take them.
Bless Stance: The dancer you
bless changes their dance style
and makes you stronger.
Charm Stance: Villainous
dancers join your side as long as
you keep blessing them.
Partner: Select one of the
available partners on stage and
dance together to activate their
powers.
Wield: Use props such as flowers,
swords, and magic wands to solve
puzzles and confront villains.
motions, stances, and other actions
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13. PERFORMANCE EXAMPLES
Defeat a Villain: Perform a
sequence of fast allegro steps. Partial
success may banish some villainous
dancers but not the main villain.
Romance a Prince: Perform a
sequence of slow adagio steps.
Partial success sends the prince to
another mark where you can try
again, after blessing some dancers or
collecting props to help your next
attempt.
Summon a Dragon: Express the
characteristics of the dragon (wings,
fire, and majesty) through a sequence
of dance steps. High success gets you
a visually cooler dragon.
Travel Spell: Call on the spirits to
take you to another land by
performing a sequence of airy jumps
and swoops.
do the steps to max out the magic
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14. DREAM BOLD
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15. DREAM TIMELESS
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16. DREAM SPOOKY
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17. DREAM MAGIC
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18. DREAM BALLET
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