Recruit to the Rescue GDD

Steven Bruns, Adam Gyenes, Alec Ortiz, Mae Scott, John Renaud

EGD-220-1

Team 03 - Recruit to the Rescue

Sprint 4

Intent

The game we intend to make is an apocalyptical, strategic, tower defense game. Our desired player experience involves the player thinking critically as they progressively become more familiar with the game mechanics. The intention is to get the player hooked on getting a better score which they hope to beat with each playthrough. This game can will feature healing mechanics, attacking mechanics, and scoring mechanics which all contribute to the player's desire to be better. 

Target Audience

The targeted audience for the game are fans of the tower defense and real-time strategy games. This aligns with the Quantic Foundry archetype known as the Acrobat. This player enjoys the repetition of playing over and over again as they try to improve their skills, making it farther each time, breaking records. The troop management will be appealing as the player learns which troop is most effective to save while letting another one take on some damage. It will take skill to become good at the game, and that will come along with those repeated runs which the player does with the intention of getting better.

Monetization

The game will be able to generate revenue from the various platforms in which it is sold on. The game will cost 5 USD per each unit sold. There are no other plans of integrating other forms of monetization. 

Context and Content

The game takes place on the battlefield against a horde of demons trying to overtake the world. The medic (player) and your troops are the last stand between the demons and the rest of the world. The longer the player keeps up their army, the longer the rest of the world manages to survive. It is the player's goal to maintain their last line of defense in order to protect everyone else. The medic must aid their allies while they focus on keeping the demons away from their supplies. If the demons begin to overrun and kill those allies then the medic must slay those demons before it is too late! If they pass through they will attack the campsite, and all hope will be lost. 

Features: 

The game will feature the player as a medic which is able to heal the other troops on the field. The troops will remain along the defense line, attacking enemies until they are taking down by them. The enemies will gradually work away at the troops breaking their way through your defense line. The player will then be able to slay those enemies. If the player fails to kill the enemies, they will travel to your tents and begin breaking them. Once all of the tents are broken, the player has lost the game. Each of the tents hold the healing supplies which the player will need for healing their troops. The player will not be able to retrieve medicine from any of the broken tents. Meanwhile, the longer they survive, the higher their score will go. It is up to the player and their skills to survive as long as possible. 

Player Motivation

Need to discuss goals, rewards, challenges, and anything else that makes the game interesting for the player. Why would someone play this game as opposed to other games in the genre.

The primary goal of the game is to survive as long as possible. The sub goals include keeping your troops alive, killing enemies, and making sure your tents are not destroyed. The player will want to play this game because of the theme, mechanics, and replayability. They will be hooked on strategizing which methods over others which provides them with a good challenge over most games in the genre. 

Game States

Describe the beginning and end states of the game and what the failure conditions are if relevant. Some games require more detail than others, but generally, this should be fairly simple

Beginning: The player is placed in the middle with enemies gradually spawning in at the top to attack the troops. 

End: All of the Player's tents have been destroyed ending the game and displaying their score.

Mechanics and Systems

The game mechanics used in the game and the systems needed to implement the game and make it playable. This should be developed as an ongoing conversation with the programmer(s). This should be detailed. Mechanics and Systems should make up the bulk of this document. The content should focus on the gameplay and how it relates to the game's intent. While the structure can mirror the programmer's version of this section, and probably should, they will be focussing on risk and implementation instead of the player's gaming experience.

The following are the Core Game Loop Features which will be implemented into the game. Each of these features have a low risk of implementation as the team is familiar with developing features close to these. Should there be any additional features added in the feature then there will need to be a risk assessment, however, everything is at low risk currently.

Core Game Loop Features

• UI
  • Main menu
  • Game over menu
  • Level complete menu
• Timer
• Lane in which enemies will spawn and move towards the player (modular)
  • Defense recruit at end of each lane
    • Has health, healable (instant)
      • UI health bar
    • Death on <=0 health
      • Can be revived (with delay)
• Tents
  • Allow the player to pick up first aid kits (unlimited)
  • Destructible, but not reconstructible
• Game end mechanism
  • Game over if all tents are destroyed

These are additional features which may vary should time permit.

Other Features

• Simple player inventory
  • Can hold 1 first aid kit (subject to change)
• Offline timer save/load

Aesthetic Direction

A summary of the aesthetic direction of the game. This should be developed as an ongoing conversation with the artist(s) and sound designers. You can use the corresponding section in the Game Concept Document as a starting point, but this should evolve into a more robust version over time. This should include the following:

Art Direction

A summary of the art direction and why it brings value to the game. Focus on how it will affect the player experience.

The art will be done in the pixel art style. This artistic style is valuable to the game as it contributes to the overall arcade feel which the game displays. Due to the nature of it feeling more like an arcade game, the player will feel the inclination to keep replaying the game over and over much like other arcade games. The game will replicate a warzone which the player will act as the medic, saving troops from an impending death. This role will make the player want to do their duty as a medic, and try their best to save their troops as best they can. If they fail, they will want to try again, and be better than they were previously.

Sound Design

A summary of how audio might be used in the game to affect the user experience. In some situations, when personnel allows, this might require a more detailed document.

The sounds included in this game will be used to further engross the player into the battlefield experience. Our goal is to make it immersive while still maintaining a retro feel with an arcade type use of music.