The Rover Game

The Rover Game

As mentioned in my previous update post, I am currently working on a game set inside a planetary exploration rover on a mysterious snowy planet. 

The game takes place on the inhospitable and unfathomable Vivus-Nix-Mundi, a planet of almost endless twilight and bitter cold. The game puts the Player in control of a Scout Scientist in charge of determining whether the planet is suitable for colonisation. They have departed from their Scout ship aboard the 'Warmth of Sol' exploration rover.

The unnamed protagonist however, finds themselves trapped in a snow storm when their Rover's Generator  (pictured below) breaks down, which the Player will have to try to repair through a series of minigames. 

Equally, the Player will have to keep manually maintaining the Heater (pictured below) through another minigame to prevent the cold from freezing them to death.

Another activity the Player must engage in is monitoring the cameras to study the outside environment to see whether the storm is showing signs of stopping.

There is a camera facing to the cockpit's Left (pictured below).

A camera facing to the cockpit's Right (pictured below).

And a camera facing to the cockpit's Rear (pictured below).

Additionally, they can do an optional objective to complete various minigames to research the planet and get more accurate information about it than what the rover's onboard AI, Dave, can provide.

The  Research Terminal (pictured below).

Dave the AI (pictured below/placeholder).

The Game Design Document will be included in my next post.

WORK UPDATE:

Work Update:

It has been a while since I have updated this blog as I have been very busy with numerous projects. I intend to post a more detailed documentation of my work in the next few days, but in this post I'll summarise what I've been doing. 

• Spirit In The Mask; As part of a Metroidvania Game Jam with a team of five people, I have done a lot of research, designed the map, written the narrative and dialogue as well as being responsible for the Environment Design and snagging (checking for faults through QA playtests and amending them).

• Night Security; Continuing on with my Horror game project, I have added decals to walls and populated more of the rooms I have previously modelled. After completing the Bathrooms and the Janitor Cupboard, my next goal is to include some more gameplay mechanics (such as the jobs list, the Investigate option .etc) as well as modelling the last few spaces and populate them. After doing this, I can incorporate ambience directly into the project (ambience has been external at this time) and start working on the rest of the gameplay aspects, such as the enemy mechanics and in-game events.

• The Rover Game; With my friend and Game Design colleague, Moin, I am creating a Sci-Fi Survival Horror game set entirely in a small Rover. The game will involve the Player trying to repair their Rover's generator whilst manually restarting the heater to prevent them from freezing to death. They can do a research minigame that will provide them more lore about the snowy planet they are on and will influence the ending of the game. The Player will also be able to look at their surroundings through the Rover's cockpit as well as the three cameras on the Rover's exterior (they may be panning cameras). Most of the Horror will come from sound design, but some visual Horror will be utilised. At the moment we have the outer Environment modelled and the rover itself is modelled, with its interior in the process of being finalised; Moin is modelling the internal assets that the Player will interact with.