Micro G.D.D (Game Design Document)
TEAM Members:
David Gunner, Robert Ramsay & David Goffe, Matthew Scannell: Lead Designers
Lucas: Lead Audio Director
Jamie Lewis: Audio/Sfx
David Goffe: Lead Video Editor/Story Boarder
David Gunner & David Goffe: Plot
Robert Ramsay & Airhead (Tom Gray): Lead Concept Art
Laura Goffe: Proofreading, spelling and grammar checking
Alex Smith: Weapons Expert/Analyst
SAS Diaries: Rhone Island
Rhone Studios
Year: 2012/13
Brainstorming:
Where we elaborate all our ideas in form of bullet points:
First Person Perspective ('FPS') ?
Third Person Perspective ('Third Person') ?
Top Down Shooter ?
Isometric ?
Point and Click ?
Role Playing Game ('RPG') ?
Multiplayer ?
1. Concept of the Game:
(TODO)
1.1 Basic Concept of the Game?:
(TODO)
1.2 High Concept of the Game?:
(TODO)
2. Design:
(TODO)
2.1 Basic Interactive Design?:
(TODO)
2.2 Planned Interface (UI and Controls)?:
(TODO)
2.3 Planned Perspective (1st Person vs. 3rd person)?:
(TODO)
2.4 Interactive Structure (Chapters, Great Middle Sections, Levels)?:
(TODO)
2.5 Heart of the Game Play?:
(TODO)
2.6 Single Player vs. Multi Player?:
(TODO)
2.7 How difficult is the Game?:
(TODO)
2.8 How long will it take the average player to complete?:
(TODO)
3. Story & Scenario:
(TODO)
3.1 Synopsis (Overall Story):
3.2 Story:
In 2012 a group of talented biological researchers and scientists for gene synthesis and cell proliferation were chosen and recruited by a secret government agency for a top secret project known as "Project Alpha". This project is unclassified, the government set it up for biological testing on ex soldiers, decorated war heroes who got no acknowledgement for saving the lives of thousands of people, they were forgotten soldiers and had no chance of surviving in the real world doing a regular job, they were fucking machines, hardened by traumatic experiences they had seen on the field but weren't allowed to talk about. So the secret government agency set upon themselves to start up "Project Alpha" giving the ex war veterans a chance to make good money being tested with the experimental viruses and vaccines so that they can release this virus out into the world and try to make money off selling the vaccines through chemists. It was wrong, it was chemical warfare and the bastards didn't want to admit it. Unknown to the government though one of the test subjects had fallen very ill and had been put onto a life support machine but his vital signs started dropping rapidly. After several days of non improvement from the test subject after numerous attempts of trying to be saved he died right on the operating table and shipped off to the morgue room. As a few days pass and the team carry on as normal, strange things start occurring to the test subjects and the viruses start affecting them in different ways. Some start to get deformed body parts and decomposing skin, whilst others just stand in trances acting all crazy like they have gone mad, and others run riot around the place like they have been slightly altered into beasts with superhuman strength and speed, hiding in the shadows. Down in the morgue the autopsy is about to start on the first test subject who died, but wait … “The Body...” “the body is gone...” (the lights go out and hear) “SCREAMS” and “ARGHHHH”. Now with the zombie on the loose he has attacked the doctor who was going to perform the autopsy, causing him to be infected through the exchange of DNA and blood cells, soon he will die and return from the dead as a flesh eating zombie. Pretty soon there are a lot of weird goings on and a lot of the research staff and test subjects are disappearing, a few remaining scientists are trying to work hard on the vaccine in their lab. Eventually there are only a few ex soldiers and researchers left with no choice but to run and try to save themselves by taking what supplies they can and lock themselves down in rooms and labs trying to make makeshift weapons to survive. After some time though some of the ex soldiers and scientists managed to escape the underground facility and try to make a life on the island hidden away in the hope that the zombies won't find them. Nobody knows if any who escaped the research facility have been attacked by these flesh eating zombies, for all they know they could be on the turn. After a few months pass the government are worried as they have been sending com messages trying to get hold of the team but are getting no responses so they decide its time to call in the S.A.S. That was when I received the call, they told me I am the best of the best, and let’s face it i'm just like the ex soldiers a fucking hardened killing machine, and the money is great I could use it, so with no time to lose they send a car to pick me up and drop me at the docks. They say they don't have time to brief me but I don't believe the bastards, I know what the animals are like... (then cutscene S.A.S soldier on boat - opening sequence).
3.3 Scenario (if the game has cinematic):
(TODO)
3.4 What is the Game Genre (FPS, Adventure, RPG, etc...)?:
The genre of this game will be set in Third Person Perspective with an FPS style zoom, so it is as if the player is looking down the barrell of the gun.
3.5 What is the Tone of the game?:
The tone of the game will be horror style, it will contain violence, swearing and bloody graphics. The options will be toggable in the game settings menu for the player with the weaker stomach.
3.6 What is the basic Narrative of the story?:
3.7 What is the Heart of the Story?:
The heart of the story is basically for the ex SAS soldier, Robert Grimmly to approach a secret remote island and find out what has gone on. Also to find clues and the secret underground laboratory. Once the story unfolds and he finds out what has happened he can report back to HQ. This will be the secret government agency who sent Grimmly there.
3.8 Is it a linear story or event based?:
The game is mostly a linear story but will contain a turn of events so it is a mixture of both, with the game having certain triggers that can affect how the game play progresses. This is turn can make the game easier or harder for the player depending on the choices that they make.
3.9 What is the Players Goal and why would they want to accomplish it?:
The players goal is to find clues around the island, find the secret underground laboratory, and to see if there are any survivors and try to rescue them along with any evidence of what went on and the virus and vaccines. Then return to HQ.
3.10 Who does the Player play? (Single/Multi player):
The player for now will have a story based campaign mode that will be single player, although maybe a few of the NPC's will assist the player in certain areas of the gameplay.
Also there will be possibilities of an alternate story mode once the player has completed the game once and possibilities of multiplayer online in the future.
3.11 Are there any other Key Characters?:
Robert Grimmly - Main Player
Cadey Petrov - The generals daughter (although she is unaware of this fact)
The General - He will play a key role in this game.
The Crazy Scientist - Will mumble clues through out and is working on a prototype of a super human monster, which may end up as a sort of end of game boss to kill.
4 Game Play:
4.1 Description of the Game Play:
Start -> Arrive at Dock in boat, no guards to be seen… what is going on? Make your way up the stairway at the side of the military base.
Military Base -> look for clues on what to do, gain weapon, do weapons tutorials for controls. We gain the PDA Device and a tutorial starts with how to use it, the PDA voice is that of the General (secretly this is Cadey real Father, but the player should not be aware of this until it is revealed at the end). The General is concerned and guides Grimmly through the game via the PDA.
Restoring Power -> The grid is situated close to the military base, but due to lack of maintenance the power has stopped being delivered, here you will be able to start backup generators giving only some power back to the facility below. The power station is scarce, as if the workers there had fled. Thinking of a lightboard here, where lights are lit up to show what areas have power, this is not a map of thje island, more like a switchboard. This way we can see that the main facility area has been given power. There is an alternaive route in the Power Station Basement, it will require two C4 charges to detonate the entrance. This route acts as a difficult short cut into the facility, this will unlock an achievement.
Going to Town -> The town contains some everyday things like shops, flats and such, the island is small so transportation is scarce, apart from the military that have trucks, jeeps and limited aircraft. The town will have physical evidence of an epidemic, flies and corpses, blood stains and some scribbles on the walls, signifying that survivors fled to the church, seeking refuge.
There is an alternaive route in town, the cellar of an old wine shop leads you through a narrow pathway, dark and damp, narrow and full of things that bite, this is possibly the most extreme route to go and will act as the hardest way to play the game unlocking a great achievement. "If only you had a torch" could be its title. It is intended to be played in the dark, only the flash of your gun and a box of matches are available... yeh, you could make a makeshift torch with a stick and some cloth.... okay then... still, it wont last in the damp air. This is designed to be difficult.
Guided to the Church -> At the church there are survivors who give us clues to find parts for the jeep, these might be spark plugs found in a certain place in town, fuel barrels and syphoning tubes and something to inflate the tyres with. They are infected but it’s slow to take effect on them and there is the chance you can rescue them.
The Jeep is ready-> with the jeep ready it will be easier to traverse the island and especially the dunes where some military survivors are found, looking deranged and confused, the virus is either taken them or their sanity is slowly fading due to the events on the island.
Over the Dunes-> As night begins to fall, you need to gain access to the facility, there will be 2 alternative routes into the facility that can be accessed earlier in the game or we can wait until we speak to one of Grimmly’s ex SAS buddies who gives him directions to a secret bunker entrance that is covered up and taped up, it is the best route as it is more open spaced which will help the player move around and take aim.
Into the Facility-> Once inside the facility, night falls fast and beings begin to rise from outside to enter in. Inside, they are already roaming around, and now and then we meet survivors who have closed themselves in quarantined rooms, thirsty and in need of rescue.
Heart of the Virus-> In the heart of the Facility we have the main Scientist and Cadey who is busy protecting the scientist from any of the virus’s undoing’s, zombies, reanimated life etc. She will act as an accomplice in killing of the zombies. The Scientist is a double edged sword because his semi-conscious mumblings help Grimmly to make an anti virus, but behind the scenes the scientist is creating a biological weapon who will act as the end boss, and it will kill the scientist, his creation becomes his demise.
Making the cure-> alongside killing off continuous hordes of zombies, we must develop the cure based on the crazy scientists mumbling, we must use the machinery and devices around us to create enough of the cure to go back and rescue the infected.
Rescue mission-> using the jeep we can cure and transport survivors back to the military base a few at a time. Once we have got everyone we can, we complete the game by getting everyone onto the boat, refuelling and going back to the homeland. Perhaps it would be good for Grimmly to find and place c4 charges around, so that in the end, he can look back at the island on his boat full of survivors, flicking the trigger and watching the island go up in flames along with the virus.
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Second mode of Play.
(basic outline so far, could do with a little bit more things for her to do, shes got a dark streak so rescue missions are out of the window, perhaps she likes to toy with the infected, but still has her finesse and graces about her when it comes to the uninfected).
For replay value of Rhone Island, we will be able to play the game as the Main Female Character. Her role is to protect the scientist from withing the facility, killing anything in sight the seems to have the virus, her job is to keep the scientist alive until contact from outside comes (Grimmly attempts to contact via radio, she hears him, but he doesnt hear her based on the open sequence perhaps).
We need a way of making her do more than just run around and shoot, perhaps she could have has a better stain of the virus already in her, making her like Alice in resident evil.
In the end She meets with Grimmly and they sail off together to have a child, thus possibly allowing the game to have some sequel.
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4.2 Describe a typical playing sessions (What does the player do, what happens, player response, etc... To give a Kinetic sense of the Game Play):
4.3 Describe each Missions or each Level or Missions of the Game (as applicable):
4.4 Preliminary Maps of each Levels or Missions of the Game (as applicable):
4.5 Describe all the Characters, Secondary Characters and Monsters of the Game:
Robert Grimmly - Main Character
Profile:
First Name = Robert
Surname = Grimmly
Nickname = “Grimm”
Age Range = Between 35 – 45
Height = 6ft 1 inch
Description:
Broad shoulders, very strong muscular figure, only ever known the army since the age of 16, started off as a basic soldier then worked his way up the ranks, has seen many wars, scars on his face, hair starting to grey, quite messy just starting to get long ( between neck and shoulder length), wear a bandana? Main player/Character = Served with the 22 Special Air Service Regiment in the 'A' Squadron. After many years he worked his way up through the ranks and become a SGT or Officer in the S.A.S. Possibly a mean looking decorated war hero.
Click Here for Concept Art © Robert Ramsay
Cadey Petrov - (TODO)
The General - (TODO)
The Secret Government Agency - (TODO)
The Crazy Scientist - (TODO)
The TownsPeople - (TODO)
The Ex SAS Soldiers - (TODO)
The Zombies - (TODO)
The Drones/Droids - (TODO)
The Monster - (TODO)
4.6 Detailed Written Walk-Through of the Game:
(TODO)
4.7 Art Section (Post artworks in this section of the GDD):
(TODO)
4.8 Detailed Description of Sound Designs (Music, Voices & Sound FX):
(TODO)
5 Marketing:
(TODO)
5.1 Who is the Target audience and what are their expectations?:
(TODO)
5.2 Is this a Game for hard core gamers or more “Mass-Market”?:
(TODO)
5.3 Does this Game Target one core audience or Multiple audiences?:
(TODO)
5.4 How does this Game compare to its competition?:
(TODO)
5.5 What is the Key Competition for this Game?:
(TODO)
5.6 What does this Game offer that others don't?:
(TODO)
5.7 What do the Competition offer that this Game don't?:
(TODO)
Once we have established all these points, we are almost done with Pre Production except for like Conceptual work, Storyboards, etc...
