NEXT-GEN Nescot Year 4 HND - Going Indie (Game design document)

Game Design Document

Game Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
High Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Unique Selling Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Platform Minimum Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Competence Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Synopsis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Game Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Game Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Game Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Game-play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
    Game Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
    Game Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
    HUD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
    Player Character. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
    Player Metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
    Player States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
    Player Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Character Line-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
NPC Enemies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
    Enemy: Outlaw pawn (human) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

    Enemy: Outlaw (human) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
    Enemy: Outlaw machine-gunner (human) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
    Enemy: Juggernaut (human/alien) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
    Enemy: Alien . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
    Enemy States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
    Enemy Spawning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
NPC Allies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
   Colonel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

   Sergeant/scientist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
    Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Level Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
MVP (Minimum Viable Product) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Wishlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Game Overview

Title: PixHell
Platform: PC
Genre: top-down shooter
Rating: 18+
Target: Casual gamer (aging from 18 - 25)
Release date: (unknown)
Publisher: (unknown)

High Concept

A top down, room by room shooter that relies on line of sight to see Enemies and eliminate all Enemies on the map.

The game centres around a silent protagonist that works for the government under the supervision of a (somewhat crazy) General and their more level-headed sidekick.

The player goes through each level, fighting Outlaws, Terrorists, Aliens, and other Enemies depending on the setting. Meanwhile, the General and his sidekick will be talking to the Player during their missions, often used for comedic purposes.

Unique Selling Points

Line of sight, multiple sets of maps with different settings (want 3-5 at least),

Platform Minimum Requirements

PC, MAC, LINUX.
OS: Windows 7, 8, or 10, Mac OS X 10.8+, SteamOS+.
Graphics card: DX9 (shader model 2.0).

Competence Titles

Hotline Miami

DoorKickers

Synopsis

In the modern age, you act as a Soldier or Swat team personal, taking down Gangs, Outlaws and Terrorists, but something much worse seems just over the horizon…

Game Objectives

Kill all enemies on the map / capture or secure an objective / hold off waves of Enemies

Game Rules

Each game level is a closed environment set in the modern day where the Player is a newly recruited soldier/swat member that is tasked with; killing/capturing enemies, capturing or securing an objective or holding off waves of enemies across the many different levels. Similar to that of a Bounty Hunter, requiring the Player to move around and attack Enemies.

There are different spawn points from which the Enemies originate. Each Enemy has different advantages and disadvantages but all of them will try to defeat the Player when they are seen (player is seen by the Enemies), usually depending on what they do.

The Player scores points by killing Enemies during missions: the number of points earned depends on the Enemy type. After the level/activity ends, score from the mission is decided by the score collected by the Player’s actions and shown to the Player afterwards. The score can increase by on certain missions going as fast as possible with other missions increasing score by never being seen at all.

The reasoning for adding this feature is to better tailor to my target audience (achievers) because Achievers are often players who prefer to gain "points", levels, equipment, and other concrete measurements of success in games and are willing to go to great lengths to achieve rewards that are merely cosmetic.

They want to be able to show their progression and enjoy collecting rare items and putting them on display. Therefore, I believe that adding a scoring system may entice this target audience more towards this game.

Game Structure

Start > Menu > Story mode/endless/settings/quit program (end) > gameplay > (Esc) pause menu > quit/settings/gameplay (Esc again) > (quit) repeat back to Menu.

If (settings) > adjust settings > pause menu/Menu

if (quit) > return to Menu.

If (endless) > gameplay (endless waves of enemies’ gameplay) > (Esc) pause menu > quit/settings/gameplay (Esc again) > (quit) repeat back to Menu.

If (story mode) > gameplay (story mode gameplay missions) > (Esc) pause menu > quit/settings/gameplay (Esc again) > (quit) repeat back to Menu.

If (quit program) > end

Game-play

    Game Controls

PC controls

W - move Up.
A - move Left.
S - move Down.
D - move Right.
E - interact.
R - reload.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0 - switch weapon.
Mouse Left Click - fire.
Mouse movement - look/rotate.
Q - show objective.
(possible) F - grenade.
Esc - pause menu.

   Game Camera

The game perspective is shown from a top-down angle with the camera following the movement of the player using a slight delay in following the player’s movements.

   HUD

Player Health: Indicates the amount of life the Player has.

Ammunition: Displays the Weapon's Ammunition to show when the gun will need to reload (time depends on Weapon) manually or automatically.

Objective: pressing Q displays the objective in writing at the right side of the screen, upon lifting Q the prompt disappears.

There are also talking box prompts that will appear on the top of screen when the player activates a conversation, this can be activated by by walking through a trigger collider or clicking on a specific item or person.

 

Player

    Player Character

Player is an un-named character referenced to as Rookie.

Rookie is a silent protagonist; however, the Player does have some options for replying to dialogue throughout the game.

    Player Metrics

Speed: 3-5 (medium)
Max Health: 100
Attack Damage: Dependent on weapon
Time to attack: Depending on weapon

    Player States

Idle: The idle state is a cycled animation when the Player remains still.
Move: The movement animation will be triggered while the Player character is moving and will cause the character walk/run depending on if sprint is activated or not.

Shoot: when the player clicks the left mouse button, a bullet is shot out of the end of the player’s gun.
Death: when the players health reaches or goes below 0.

   Player Weapons

The Player has a multitude of different weapons to fight their Enemies. Each gun has different stats, for example the "Pistol" is the starting weapon that you can collect from the tutorial.

Below is some draft ideas for weapons.

Weapon	Description	Firing speed	Reload speed	Bullet speed	Damage per shot
Pistol	The starting/default weapon	Default (medium)	fast	medium	10 per shot
Shotgun	Shoots multiple bullets but at a lower damage per bullet	Default (medium) - slow	medium	medium	5 per shot with 5-7 consecutive shots
Rifle	Shoots faster than the default speed but the damage and reload speed is lowered	fast	Slow - medium	fast	5 per shot
Laser gun	Charges a shot over 3 seconds and fires a large laser beam doing large damage	slow	slow	Very fast (laser beam shot)	50 damage

 

Character Line-up

NPC Enemies

Enemy Type	Speed	Weapon used by Enemy	Max Health
Outlaw pawn (human)	medium- fast	pistol	30-50
Outlaw (human)	medium	Pistol, rifle, shotgun (rare)	50-100
Outlaw machine gunner (human)	medium	rifle, shotgun	50-100
Juggernaut (human and alien)	slow	Shotgun, rifle, laser rifle, laser gun	200-300
Alien	medium-fast	Laser pistol, laser rifle, laser gun	50-100

    Enemy States

All Enemies possess similar behaviour and states, as described below:

Idle/patrol/searching: The Enemies play the Idle state, only when the Player is not spotted and are not hostile to the Player. This also activates when the Player escapes the Enemies.

Move/active: While the Enemies move, they will be in the Move state, heading in the direction of the Player, cover, or an Ally in order to fight against/ defeat the Player. (if the player enters the view cone the enemy chases and attempts to kill the player)

Death: Death happens when the Enemy sustains too much collective damage or too much damage from an attack.

    Enemy Spawning

ENEMY	Description	SPAWN RATE 1-5 (1 lowest/5 highest)	MAX ENEMIES (per mission)
Outlaw pawn (human)	A weak enemy with a medium spawn rate	2	30
Outlaw (human)	A generic enemy with a medium spawn rate	3	25
Juggernaut (human)	A strong and tank-like enemy with a low spawn rate	1	10
Alien	A generic enemy with a medium spawn rate	3	40
Juggernaut (alien)	A strong and tank-like enemy with a low spawn rate	1	5
Outlaw machine gunner (human)	A generic enemy with a medium spawn rate	2	15

NPC Allies

Allies	SPAWN RATE	Description	MAX (per mission)
Colonel	N/A (situational)	A character that talks to the Player throughout the game, giving orders and posing as a source for comedy through the game.	1
Sergeant/scientist (Colonel’s sidekick)	N/A (situational)	Often seen with the Colonel they act as a more level-headed side character to the Colonel and often bicker with them	1

Setting

The game takes place in the modern day, with modern technology. However, there are levels where some Enemies are inspired by aliens or fantasy.

Level Design

The levels consist of large-small maps that are in separate locations, ranging from a city, to the woods, and to space; there are also different chapter segments that separate the differences between the level settings.

 

In the beginning chapter segments, the Enemies and settings are more grounded in reality. With Enemies such as a Biker Gang, Terrorists, and Outlaws, while the second half of the game features more diverse Enemies such as Aliens.

Audio

·        Footsteps.

·        Gunshots.

·        Background music.

MVP (Minimum Viable Product)

• Built for the PC platform

• Minimum 10 levels
• Minimum of 3 guns
• Minimum of 3 Enemy types

Wishlist

·        I want to create at least around 10-15 levels.

·        I want to make the game viable on mobile.

·        I want to make around 5 guns.

·        I want to make about 8 Enemy types.

·        I want to add a total score for each level chapters as well as each level, in order to encourage players to go back and attempt to get higher scores (to entice my target audience of Achievers).

·        I also want to add achievements (to tailor more to my target audience of Achievers).

·        And I want to add Enemy characters (Bosses) that will converse with the Player before fighting.

 

Asset list

 

Sprites:

Player_WithPistol (Sprite)

Player_WithRifle (Sprite)

Player_WithShotgun (Sprite)

Player_NoGun (Sprite)

Player_LaserGun (Sprite)

General_WithHat (Sprite)

General_NoHat (Sprite)

General_WithGun (Sprite)

General_FullViewNoHat (Sprite)

General_FullViewWithHat (Sprite)

Bullet_Sprite (Sprite)

 

Animations:

Player_Walking (Animation)

Player_Death (Animation)

Player_Explode (Animation)

Player_ Idle (Animation)

Player_Dead (Animation)

Enemy_Walking (Animation)

Enemy_Death (Animation)

Enemy_Explode (Animation)

Enemy_ Idle (Animation)

Enemy_Dead (Animation)

Effects:

BulletLineEffect (LineRenderer)

MussleFlash (sprite)