Shaun  Brown  _J9845378_Rise  Game  Design  Brief   1  

 

Shaun  Brown  _J9845378_Rise  Game  Design  Brief   2  

Contents

Page 3 The basics - Platform - Target market - Genre - Visual style - Key features

Page 4-10 Gameplay

- Main Feature - Kill Cams - Unlockables - Customiseable Weapons - Side Missions - Resources - Health - HUD - Controls - Sound

Page 11 Story

- Setting - PC - NPC Bio

Page 12 Game Rational

- why the game is fun - New Genre - Mechanics - Story

Page 13-16 Research - Visual - Gameplay - Story

 

Shaun  Brown  _J9845378_Rise  Game  Design  Brief   3  

The Basics Platform:

• Xbox • PS3

Target Market:

• 18-40 Genre:

• Open world 3rd person Survival Zombie Horror Visual Style:

• City landscape, dusty, contrasting colours (see mood-board)

Key Features:

• Open world free roam • Close combat and ranged kill cut scenes • Unlockables for character weapons and kill cut

scenes • Customiseable weapons • Side missions • Resources

 

Shaun  Brown  _J9845378_Rise  Game  Design  Brief   4  

Gameplay

Main Feature One of the main attention grabbers for this game is how it implements short close combat and ranged kill cut scenes. By this it referrers to kills that go into a cut scene when the player has triggered the kill cam with which ever weapon they operate at the time of killing of an enemy by holding a certain button whilst shooting/attacking. The player has the choice of close combat kill cams or ranged kill cams. So this gives the player freedom of being able to trigger a kill cam whether they may be close to an enemy, or a distance away. However, only certain weapons can be used in close combat kill cams and vice versa with ranged kills. Kill Cams When a kill cam is triggered the camera would move different angles and freeze so the player could watch their kill after they have fired their weapon, so no matter which weapon the player would be using, each kill cam will be different. Each weapon would be assigned 4 different kill cams. This gives the player a bit more variety using a single weapon. If the player was to use e.g. a shotgun, because this weapon has a short firing range, then the player would have to be in the 0-5 meter radius to be able to trigger a close combat kill cam. In the close combat kill cam mode, the camera would zoom in slightly behind the character so they could aim and chose which area of the enemy they want to fire at. So using the shotgun the player would experience a kill cam of their character placing the shotgun to the enemy’s head (if this is where the player aimed) and blowing the brains out the back of the enemy’s skull. Close Combat Kill cam: In close combat kills once the player is in the correct radius (0-5 meters) of an enemy then they could implement the kill cam if they wished to do so by holding down the back left trigger on their controller before attacking. By holding down this button and hitting an attack, it would trigger the kill cam.

 

Shaun  Brown  _J9845378_Rise  Game  Design  Brief   5  

Range Kill cam: Range kill work in a similar fashion to close combat kill cams but with a wider radius and different weapons. The max radius a player can be in to implement the range cam is 10-400 meters from the enemy. Assault and sniper rifles are predominately the weapon to use in range kill cams. However, the player could use a cross or long bow which will work in the same way but the further away the player the less precise the accuracy will become. Below are a couple of rough diagrams of how a ranged kill cam would work.

 

Shaun  Brown  _J9845378_Rise  Game  Design  Brief   6  

 

Shaun  Brown  _J9845378_Rise  Game  Design  Brief   7  

Unlockables Another key feature to the game which links in with kill cams is the variety that would be available to the player once unlocked. To unlock these kill cams the player must buy them with points that they receive in game. The player could get points from a range of things such as: rare loot found in the game, certain kills, distance from kills, customizing weapons, defending off attacks from enemy or completing an objective. Weapons: Throughout the game the player can unlock any weapon as long as they are in a weaponry building and have the amount of points needed to unlock a specific weapon they want. Points come in small amounts throughout the game so it won’t be easy for the player just to unlock everything in first few hours. So given this at the start of the game the player can’t just go into a weaponry building and buy any weapon they want. They need to earn the points to unlock the weapons. Each weapon has a different price of points needed to unlock it. This is worked out by what class group the weapon falls into. If the player is trying to unlock a small knife or a bat, these weapons would fall into beginner’s class group and would not cost many points to unlock. Weapons like heavy duty sniper rifles would fall into Luxury class group and would cost a lot to unlock it. So this weapon would be classed as a luxury weapon because it takes a lot of game play and points collecting to be able to unlock it. Customisable Weapons Along with buying weapons from weaponry buildings, the player can also buy attachments and skins for their guns. This gives the player an amount creative freedom when wanting to make a weapon feel like it has their own touch. Skins or camo for weapons are what gives the weapon a unique colour or texture. The player would have a range of colours and textures to choose from. Attachments that are useable will be: different sights such as Acog/laser/red dot, magazines for more ammo capacity, fore grip (better accuracy), long and short barrels for customiseable range on firearms and suppressor/silencer for stealth kills.

 

Shaun  Brown  _J9845378_Rise  Game  Design  Brief   8  

Side Missions Side missions may come into play when the player meets an NPC. The NPC may either be good or bad. The player, once accepted the side mission, will gain points after they have completed the mission. These points gained will go towards things bought by the player such as weaponry or attachments. Some side missions that could be seen in the game are:

• Helping NPC find vehicle/shelter parts • Rescuing a NPC survivor • Helping NPC from an attack • Recovering a missing NPC • Taking NPC to certain destination point

Resources Throughout the game the player must make their character eat and drink to avoid dehydration and hunger. If a player lets their hydration level right down the player’s camera screen will become burry as their character’s hydration level drops. If the player lets their character hunger level drop down the player’s camera vision will gradually turn black and white. If the hunger level drops all the way, then the player’s character will die. There is a red zone for both hydration and hunger levels. Once red zone is reached, the player will only have 15 minutes in game time to find water or food which ever they need. Food and water will spread across the map in rationed amounts. In supermarkets and small stores will there be a good amount of food and water. However, these stores are few in amount. So the player will have to ration their characters food and water intake. Rations can also be received from side missions instead of points if chosen by the player. Health The game will consist of a health meter in which the player can only revive by eating food. Eating food will increase the health level if it is not at its max.

 

Shaun  Brown  _J9845378_Rise  Game  Design  Brief   9  

HUD Below is a picture of what the HUD will look link in game to the player. It is a 3rd person camera view in game which allows the player to see their character from behind. Key:

• Top left – Radar • Right hand side – Health, hydration and hunger

meters • Front centre – Players character • Bottom right – Clock in game, Points score,

Ammunition count and picture of current weapon

 

Shaun  Brown  _J9845378_Rise  Game  Design  Brief   10  

Controls The layouts of the controls have been design in a way that it tries to stick to common button layout that many games use with some added assigned buttons. So it will be easier for the player to get to grips with.

Sound Music – when in combat with an enemy, music would be high tempo to give the player a hyped sense of feeling while in a combat state with an enemy. Once the enemy is killed and no other threat was close, music would be slowing paced and mysterious. When an enemy is near by the music would begin to increase in pace to let the player know there is trouble about. SFX – Sound effects in game are very important in this game. There would be loud-based SFX when an enemy is to jump out at a player to scare and make the player jump. Weapon sounds would be implemented in, sudden sounds throughout the map to keep player engaged and on the edge of their seat.

 

Shaun  Brown  _J9845378_Rise  Game  Design  Brief   11  

Story The story is set in 2015 in a fictional City called Dakantaz located somewhere in the United States of America. There has been a vicious outbreak of a virus called Miktel, which turns humans into zombies. Preston sturge is a fireman, 28 years of age, divorced and who is out to find what he can to survive the outbreak by any means possible. Sturge was recovering at home from a serious house fire that he was caught in when the virus spread. He was house bound and got very little information about what was going on. Gradually day-by-day less and less people would visit him. Eventually no one came..... NPC Bio:

• Jack West: Male, Australian, 45 years of age, Former Police officer, moved to Dakantaz to forget his past. Leader, speacilises in firearms, no children or wife of known, loves his SUV truck.

• Lauren Sowerby: Female, British, 21 years of age,

also known as Lou, was in the British Army, born and raised in North England, was on vacation with boyfriend, speacilises in knifes and sniper rifles, travels by motorcycle.

• Doctor Bennit: Male, American, 53 years of age, Doctor in antidotes, believes to have created half of what is needed to destroy the virus.

• Rocky: Male, American, 14 year of age, school kid

who watches to many movies, thinks he’s invincible, curiosity gets the better of him.

• Patrick Jenson: Male, British, 23 years of age, Computer wiz, Lauren’s boyfriend, on vacation, Reported missing.

• Jean Rylan: Female, American, 38 years of age, mother of Rocky, works in a supermarket, divorced.

 

Shaun  Brown  _J9845378_Rise  Game  Design  Brief   12  

Game Rational Why the game is fun: Being an open world free roam, this gives the player a lot more freedom to explore the city/game. Games like the GTA franchise and The Elder Scrolls have used this type of genre extremely well to produce their games so they are enjoyable and intriguing. Exploration keeps the player hooked on the game to find more places throughout the game. Free roaming allows the player free range of how they can explore the game, instead of a one direction approach. The player can chose how and when the missions are played out. Having the capability to roam through the game as the player wishes, exploring every alleyway, open building, supermarket, and shopping mall, whilst getting chased by zombies, on a mission to find a vehicle then having the ability to turn around, trigger kill cam mode, shot and watch zombies facial pieces, limbs, brains and heads off, leaves this game in a completely new category to the rest. New Genre: Being an open world free roam is one thing but being an open world free roam survival zombie horror is another. Because of this, it sets this game away from any title currently in the console market. Mechanics: Having kill cam mode is a unique mechanic that is implemented into this type of game. This gives the player a sense of reward as they watch gruesomely how they kill the enemy. The player has the capability to be able to kill an enemy in a variety of ways with a diverse layout of weaponry, which helps keep the game interesting, customiseable and fun. Story: in terms of mission base structure and story flow. This game would take a GTA/Skyrim approach. There would be a main storyline/mission however; there would be side missions/quests for the player to engage in.

 

Shaun  Brown  _J9845378_Rise  Game  Design  Brief   13  

Research Visual The main inspiration for the look of the game, came from a mix of:

• Grand thef auto 4 • Dead Island • I am Legend • Dayz

The colours of Dead Island works really well to highlight blood and gore, whilst GTA4 and Dayz offer a 3rd person perspective view, which, works really well in an open world free roam. I am Legend shows the broken down, overgrown of nature and emptiness of a busy city. This is the type of feel I wanted the player to experience. Below follows mood-boards to get a sense of how the game would look visually. Mood-boards Dakantaz State – Moodboard

 

Shaun  Brown  _J9845378_Rise  Game  Design  Brief   14  

Character - Moodboard

Gameplay When red dead redemption hit the market it offer the player close quarter combat kills, such as sneaky up behind an enemy and slicing their throat open with a knife or putting a shotgun under the jaw of one and pulling the trigger. This is what gave me the idea of Kill Cam mode predominately.

Close up kill with revolver in Red Dead Redemption

 

Shaun  Brown  _J9845378_Rise  Game  Design  Brief   15  

But I wanted to take it a bit further and add a lot more variety into the mix, along with very gory kills. Sniper Elite v2 does this extremely well. However, Sniper Elite shows bullet penetrating the enemy and not blowing limbs off, but only breaking the bones and shattering the enemy’s organs.

Sniper Elite v2, bullet-penetrating enemy in slow motion Dead Island implemented the cutting of limbs but not in a kill cam.

Dead Island, legs cut off my a machete

 

Shaun  Brown  _J9845378_Rise  Game  Design  Brief   16  

I wanted to merge all three of these mechanics together to create a kill cam mode where the player could watch their character in a really short cut scene cutting off the heads, limbs or blowing them of the enemy zombies. Story The story was inspired by watching and playing numerous zombie titles such as, The walking dead, I am Legend, Dead Island, Dayz etc. Watching and playing these titles helped me in creating visually, what it would be like to be in a zombie apocalypse. I believe this would make a great game as long as it would be open world free form. By doing this it gives the player an imagination and direction into what they would do in a situation like that.

 

Shaun  Brown  _J9845378_Rise  Game  Design  Brief   17  

Related Links

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8jDJnqgg9A - Red Dead Redemption gameplay

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv2QCcshppg - Sniper Elite v2 gameplay

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbVLavvQ4dQ - Dead Island gameplay

References Cover:

• http://southcoastbeanwars.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/dayz2.jpg

• http://dc369.4shared.com/img/8HvjUe1g/s7/GTA_4_COVER.jpg