The Rover Game's Game Design Document

Below is a copy of the Game Design Document I have created for the Rover Game me and Moin are working on:

Game Design Document

 

Working Title: ‘The Rover’ or ‘Vivus-Nix-Mundi’

 

Elevator Pitch

We are developing a game very similar to Iron Lung by David Szymanski, wherein the Player is trapped in a claustrophobic rover on a mysterious ice planet. The game is limited to four gameplay loops and a feeling of horror will be created through use of atmosphere and sound design. Taking advantage of the Player’s sense of isolation, we aim to create a sense of both mystery and oppression as the Player tries to survive and learn more about the Planet.

 

Concept:

Genre: First-Person Immersion Horror, Psychological Horror

Target Audience:

Age: 15-30

Gender: Male & Female

 

Theme and Setting:

The Rover is a Psychological Horror game that puts the Player in the role of a Scout Scientist for a Colony Ship, tasked with discovering whether the planet they are on is suitable for colonisation. However, after venturing from their scout ship in an exploration rover, it suffers an engine failure that leaves them stranded (almost) alone during a freak snowstorm. With the rover’s defective and  AI, Dave, as their only company, the Player must try to repair the engine whilst maintaining the rover’s heating system to keep it running and prevent Hypothermia. Additionally, they must monitor the changes outside through the camera feed to observe changes to the planet’s surface and keep an eye on the storm outside. Dave will tell the Player a little about the planet, but it will often be trivial, non-sensical or contradictory in nature, adding to the intrigue. All the while they are juggling these three tasks, the Player can do research to learn more about the mysterious, remote, and forbidding planet, Vivus-Nix-Mundi.

 

Location: The interior of a planetary exploration rover on a planet of ice and snow.

Antagonist/s: Vivus-Nix-Mundi, Dave the AI (to an extent).

 

 

Gameplay:

Gameplay Loop/s (Objectives):

The main gameplay loops will be related to keeping the Player Character alive by: 

Repairing the Engine

Maintaining the Heater

Monitoring the Cameras

There will be an optional side objective to Research Vivus-Nix-Mundi.

 

Game Progression:

The game will progress, with louder, more frequent odd SFX and gradually more bizarre visuals through the camera feeds with each successive repair of the Engine. The Engine must be repaired six times with a five-minute delay before repairing can be continued.

 

Mechanics

Dead By Daylight quick-time event mechanic followed by a “Simon’ Says” minigame to represent the Repair the Engine Objective. It is on a five minute-loop timer and gradually gets more difficult with each successful Engine repair.

     A decreasing bar with requires button-mashing to keep the bar filled as the Maintain the Heater Objective. Is on a 3 minute-loop timer.

     Five Nights at Freddy’s style Camera Feed mechanic

     Pony Island style Programming Minigame to represent the Research Optional Objective.

The game will have realistic Physics.

 

Game Elements:

Story: As outlined under Theme and Setting

Character/s: The Player Character, Dave the AI, and Vivus-Nix-Mundi.

Location: Vivus-Nix-Mundi, a planet of snow.

 

Assets:

·       Rover Components

·       The Engine

·       The Heater

·       The Cockpit Controls

·       The Desks

·       The Monitors

·       The Snow-things

·       Rocks & Mountains

·       Research Terminal Controls

·       Dave the AI

Overview

Project Scope

Budget: UndeterminedMonetisation: N/A

Timeline: N/A

 

Stakeholder

Moin Ahamed

     Tim Shaw

 

 

 

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.

Work Visualisation Diagram

 In this post I'm sharing a diagram I've made to help keep track of what work is completed and what work on my Level still needs completing.

In this diagram, all areas marked in RED are either complete or need some minor work (such as detailing or the addition of a few more assets).

Those areas marked in YELLOW are still incomplete or are under construction.

Zone D: The Stairwell

 The Stairwell

Situated in the far Right corner of the Lobby is a door with a fire exit sign. 

This leads onto the Stairwell; a large plain room taken up mostly by a large staircase with some broken railings. The emptiness of the space and the gulf of darkness leading to the Ground Floor should hopefully inspire discomfort in those playing.

Looking down through the broken railings, what is that strange shape...

…Is that a...

…A BODY!!!

Descending down the gloomy staircase, the Player will discover...

…No! It's another bloody mannequin! To add to the feeling of tension, I hope to play with the Player's expectations and mess with them a little by having things not always be what they seem at first glance.  

At the bottom of the staircase is a door with another fire exit sign. This sign could buzz and  flicker before suddenly going silent and switching off, along with the light directly above and, potentially, some of the lights in the hallway beyond.

Beyond a broken window is a long hallway (since tweaked to have skirting boards along the walls for added realism). At the end of this hallway is seemingly the Shopping Centre's main entrance.

As such, escape from the Horror of the game should seem possible, yet denied through use of a locked door. 

Zone C: The Long Lobby

The Long (Short) Lobby

 SIDENOTE: Zone C (The Short Lobby) on the diagram has been re-designated as the Long Lobby to more accurately reflect its characteristics.

Starting with a sharp turn on an irregular angle, a short dark corridor (of which, minor changes have been made since this screenshot) leads into...

…A large Liminal Lobby space. I designed it in such a way as to imply to the Player that this space is currently silent and empty whereas it would normally be full of movement and noise.

Although leading to nowhere at the moment, the passage above will lead onto another corridor that takes the Player into the Cluttered Restaurant space.

Within the Lobby there stands two lifts that do not function. Since this screenshot was taken, I have updated the lift door texture, making it a scratched steel texture, adding more realism to its appearance.

The Player can enter the lift on the Left, but the buttons are unresponsive. I intend to put an "Out of Order" sign by the controls when I have sourced one.

Through the doors of the other lift, ominously shrouded in shadow, is yet another mannequin. I hope to use this as a spot to add a jump-scare with the mannequin suddenly appearing from the shadows and then disappearing a shortly after the Player moves away for them to discover its disappearance some time later.

To give a sense of previous occupation to the Lobby, I have included vending machines and a claw game to make it feel as if it was fairly recently inhabited.

The inclusion of the claw machine allowed the creation of a point of interest as a visual draw to the Player. They should see the plushie on the bench and hopefully feel inclined to investigate.

This should hopefully lead to them discovering the poorly disposed of knife. I intend for this to be interactable by bringing up information on the object upon investigation. This mechanic I can use with various other props to give the Player something to do.

Zones L & N: The Short Lobby and the Zig-Zag Corridor

 The Short (Long) Lobby and the Zig-Zag Corridor

(Work in Progress)

SIDENOTE: Zone L (The Long Lobby) on the diagram has been re-designated as the Short Lobby to more accurately reflect its characteristics.

This Liminal, seemingly endless corridor on the Right side leads to the Long Lobby and Zig-Zag Corridor. 

Walking down the corridor reveals that, despite its Liminality, it does in fact have an end.

An end that leads to the Long Lobby; a large spacious room with an unidentifiable purpose other than to serve as a junction for the various branching corridors (to be completed). 

At the end of the corridor, cloaked in the darkness is the Zig-Zag Corridor (incomplete). This corridor, as the name suggests, snakes round. This should psychologically unsettle the Player, exacerbated by the darkness.  

Zone B: The T-Junction Hallway

 The T-Junction Hallway; the main shop floor for the Centre's Fourth floor.

(Please forgive a current lack of roof)

Exiting the comfort of the Security Office, the Player exits into the light...

…only to face the darkness beyond.

The floor's repeating tilework echoes the carpeted hallways of the Overlook Hotel in 'The Shining'.

A clock stuck at the 11-ish mark. Note, the clock's hands don't move. Is it broken or is the night eternal?  

Springing out on an unsettling angle, a bridge crosses the divide to the other side of the room. 

In the blackness below, the Player can see that there are further floors beneath them...

…but what's that in the darkness?

Along the Left passage (the side with the Security Office entrance) is a clothes store with it shutter up. 

Considering the otherwise emptiness of the Shopping Centre, isn't it odd that it seems to have lights in its windows?

In the windows are three ominous mannequins. I hope they all stay there!

A large open area with advertisement poster boards here conveys to the Player that this space is meant to allow numerous people to occupy this shop floor. Its current emptiness only adds to the Player's sense of loneliness.

Playing of Liminal Space, this long corridor on the Right side seems to almost go on forever as a result of how it has been lit.

The corridor on the opposite side (the Right) is equally Liminal, but is rather different in its approach. Rather than being seemingly endless, this corridor feels almost as if it is endless in that it is longer than the previous corridor. 

The journey down this corridor builds tension as the Player can see their objective, the window at the end, but must first pass through the light...

…and into the dark...

…and then back into the light.

…until they reach their goal. The passage from light to dark repeats itself several times, almost feeling to the Player as if they are passing through several micro-spaces rather than one singular game space; each patch of darkness rendering them almost blind and hopefully make them feel insecure.

 

Although impossible to see through a static image, by texturing the window with an animated texture, I have simulated rain. This implies to the Player that there is indeed an outside world and that the darkness without is that of night and not some empty void.