Critical Point: Zero

Game Design Document

Version 1.0
Porter Barrett, Luca Rogers, Elliot Crook
Cover made with an AI image generator.

Table of Contents
Game Concepts 4
High Concept Statement - Elliot Crook 4
Player’s Role-Porter Barrett 4
Main Character- Porter Barrett 4
Gameplay- Porter Barrett 4
Interaction Model - Elliot Crook 5
Camera Model - Elliot Crook 5
Genre - Elliot Crook 5
Type of Play - Elliot Crook 5
Target Audience- Porter Barrett 6
Platform- Porter Barrett 6
Setting - Elliot Crook 7
Levels - Elliot Crook 7
Story - Elliot Crook 7

Game World 8
Physical Dimension-Porter Barrett 8
Temporal Dimension - Elliot Crook 8
Environmental Dimension - Elliot Crook 9
Emotional Dimension - Elliot Crook 10
Ethical Dimension - Elliot Crook 11

Character Development 12
Character Style- Porter Barrett 12
Stereotypes - Porter Barrett 12
Sidekick/Ally - Porter Barrett 13
Player Interest - Porter Barrett 13
Character Depth - All of Us 13
Character Growth - Porter Barrett 14
Archetypes - Porter Barrett 14
Character Sounds- Porter Barrett 15
Character Speech - Porter Barrett 15
Moveset - Porter Barrett 15

Story 16
Actions - Elliot Crook 16

1
 Type of Story - Elliot Crook 16
Granularity - Elliot Crook 16
Advancing the Plot - Elliot Crook 16
Prologue - Elliot Crook 16
Narrative - Elliot Crook 17
Non-Challenge Actions - Elliot Crook 17
Scripted Conversations - Elliot Crook 17
Story Parts - Elliot Crook 17

User Experience 18
Controls - Porter Barrett 18
User Interface - Porter Barrett 18
Interface Details - Porter Barrett 19
Style Support - Porter Barrett 19

Creative and Expressive Play - Elliot Crook 21

Gameplay 22
Types of Challenges - Elliot Crook 22
Hierarchy of Challenges - Elliot Crook 22
Difficulty Levels - Elliot Crook 22
Actions - Elliot Crook 23
Saving - Elliot Crook 23

Core Mechanics 24
Major Mechanics - All of Us 24
Entities and Resources - Porter Barrett, Luca Rogers 24
Entities Attributes - Porter Barrett 24
Entities Mechanics - Porter Barrett 25
Global Mechanics - Porter Barrett 25
Source, Drain, and Conversion of Resources - Porter Barrett 26
Equilibrium - Porter Barrett 26
Mechanics Actions - Porter Barrett 26
NPC Mechanics - Porter Barrett 27

Game Balancing 27
PvP or PvE - Luca Rogers 27
Relationship Among Player Options - Luca Rogers 27
Control of Units - Luca Rogers 28
Difficulty - Luca Rogers, Elliot Crook 28

2
 Feedback - Luca Rogers 28

Level Design 30
Setting - Luca Rogers 30
Initial Conditions - Luca Rogers 30
Level Layout - Luca Rogers 30
Short-Term Goals - Luca Rogers 30
Challenges and Actions - Luca Rogers 31
Rewards and Punishments - Luca Rogers 31
Pacing - Luca Rogers 31
Story - Luca Rogers 31
Mood - Luca Rogers 31

Appendix A - Character Development - Elliot Crook 33

Appendix B - Story - Luca Rogers 36

Appendix C - User Interface - Luca Rogers 38

Appendix D - Mechanics - Elliot Crook 41

Appendix E - Level Design - Elliot Crook 53

3
Game Concepts

High Concept Statement - Elliot Crook

The game has an emphasis on immersion, realism, and emotion. It starts

out fearful, as the player is thrusted into events that they have no reason to
survive. This fear slowly transforms into motivation with the desire to escape.
This motivation transforms into its final form, determination. A lot of the
game was inspired by such movies/tv shows as Stranger Things, Kane Pixel’s
The Backrooms, and Steven King’s The Mist. Many parts were also inspired by
games such as Half Life, Metroid 4: Fusion, and Entropy: Zero 2.

Player’s Role-Porter Barrett

In the beginning, you begin as a bystander within the events, trying to

survive the events. But towards the end, you begin to take on responsibilities
and switch your goal towards saving the world. As you play through the game,
you are in your own shoes. Your main objective is to push forward through the
events. This dictates that the player will run into many obstacles and
challenges.

Main Character- Porter Barrett

The main character, Atlas Smith, is the main researcher at the ITD
(Incongruent Temporal Disruption Laboratories). White male is 5 foot 10.
Wearing a white lab coat under a larger jacket. He has a bit of stubble, the
result of poor hygiene and long nights. His personality is determined by the
player of the game. He has multiple degrees in Physics and Engineering at MIT.

Gameplay- Porter Barrett

The nature of the gameplay is more on the problem solving side of
things. There are quite a few different challenges the player will encounter.
They will take the category of mental problem solving puzzles. The player will
have to move objects, flick levers, or buttons to solve the problems. Like

4
moving an object out of the way. There is also a lot of running and walking.
Exploring and going forward in the game. In the action portions, because of
increased skill, the player will have to defend against attackers with just a few
bits of supplies. There will be opportunities for the player to practice and
increase their skill before defending themselves against an advisory.

Interaction Model - Elliot Crook

The player is in a first-person perspective, forever grounded into their
boots. They only ever see what the avatar sees, no cutscenes or monologue, etc.
This helps keep the gameplay and story immersive, as the camera never pulls
out to explain something to the player without also explaining it to the
characters in the story.

Camera Model - Elliot Crook

The camera model is a dynamic model, forever planted into the

protagonist’s head. The camera model does never EVER change models.
Whatever the avatar sees is directly transmitted to the player, nothing more.

Genre - Elliot Crook

This is a first-person shooter, with mild horror elements and common

sense puzzles between action. Most of the gameplay is through first-person
shooting, things like movement, firing weapons, crouching, jumping,
jump-crouching, picking up items, interacting with the world, etc. These are
the only actions, but even these allow a variety of challenges. The only other
part that could lean toward another genre is driving sections, and even then
the player is able to exit the vehicle at will.

Type of Play - Elliot Crook

In the type of play, the game is strictly single-player, no multiplayer

options exist. The challenges are presented by enemies, puzzles, essentially
the game itself. The player might get help from npcs, but that’s about it.

5
Target Audience- Porter Barrett

The people who would want to play this game would simply want a good
mental challenge. Its flute story and intranet details in the graphics make it
pleasing to look at. The same level of graphics seen in Red Dead Redemption 2.
The Target Audience is the age range of 16-30 years old people. These people
are just game enjoyers, this is not targeted toward the general population but
gamers directly. This game is more on the horror and action side of things, and
although it is open to all Genders, this game will naturally appeal towards
males more than females. Changing the game to be more appealing towards
females would come at the risk of destroying the Plot or story of the game.
We want the game to be like a good book you are reading, a sort of thing you
can’t stop because of its intricate plot and lore. It is easy to pause at any time
and resume from where you stopped. Some of the factors needed for this game
will be the player's time and mental focus. Something that needs a gaming
session for. This game will give stimulation and challenge to the player. All this
under the shadow of threat. This attracts people who want a challenge and are
good or even bad under stress.

Platform- Porter Barrett

This game is intended to be available to both PC and all Major Consoles.

The only hardware required is the input devices. A game controller or keyboard
and mouse combo is acceptable for this game. This game is also intended for
newer generations of consoles, anything less will not be produced or be
compatible. Available on Steam.
For pc requirements:
Minimum. Recommended
64 bit processor and operating 64 bit processor and operating
system system
Intel core i5-4590 or equivalent Intel core i5-8365 or equivalent
8 gb of ram 8 gb of ram
Nvidia GTX 970 or equivalent Nvidia GTX 970 or equivalent
2 Gb of storage 2 Gb of storage

6
Setting - Elliot Crook

It’s in north-western Canada in a real-world location named Fort Good

Hope, although an extremely fictionalized version of it. In this fictional version
there is a research laboratory in Fort Good Hope, one that shares its name with
the town. Almost all of the game takes place here, with variation in the lab in
order to keep it feeling fresh, and most importantly, with a clear sense of
progression. Some parts are wood-paneled offices, others industrial parts,
others more sterilized testing environments. The game happens on February
27th of 2028 at 10:30 AM. The game takes place across the span of over a week,
though for the protagonist it’s closer to 6+ hours.

Levels - Elliot Crook

The game is broken into maps that flow seamlessly together, only tied
together by a quick “loading” icon that appears onscreen. To the player,
nothing has changed. To the game, it has just loaded the next section. The
victory condition is just to make it to the end of the map.

Story - Elliot Crook

The game starts by acquainting the player with the setting and
characters. Giving them a sense of safety before being hit by the defining event
of the campaign, a catastrophic failure of a prototype of teleportation
technology. This creates an Anomalous Temporal Fracture (ATF), which allows
monsters from another universe to teleport into our realm of reality, at
random initially. The protagonist must escape Fort Good Hope and reach a
refugee camp, meanwhile this monstrous force becomes more organized
(eventually becoming a full-scale invasion). Once the protagonist reaches the
refugee camp they learn of a potential queen of this force, and are tasked with
destroying it. The player makes their way to Fort Good Hope, kills the queen,
and saves humanity’s future.

7
Game World

Physical Dimension-Porter Barrett

In this game, it will require a physical dimension. This is a 3D world, so

although there are other ways that this game could have been done, a 3D world
works the best cosmetically with how we want the game. With only two layers
of the game being present the 3D world and a 2D window with appearing text.
The 2D window is only for displaying messages for the player to read. The
game world is not very big, staying within only 5 or so square miles.
Everything is more accurate to scale, for simple and complex objects. This is
mainly to keep the realistic feel the game is going for. The indoor and outdoor
is relatively the same, however time warps when traveling between long
distances making them feel like they took a shorter time then they should
have. To keep things simple, the speed of objects will follow the same rules
that real life physics follows. The same sort of principles. Lastly, the world is
bounded by physical obstacles, the player can’t interact with them. If the
player somehow makes it beyond the physical barrier, the player will faint, and
somehow wake up on the other side. Back in the main game world.

Temporal Dimension - Elliot Crook

Time is VERY meaningful to this game’s story, as time disruptions are
not a laughing matter. To the actual gameplay, it is almost meaningless. Time
only proceeds as the player proceeds from map to map with different skyboxes.
If the player does not progress, time doesn’t either. The player and
environment are never affected by it either, no hunger, exhaustion, food decay,
growth of plants, etc. Anomalous time is only important to the story,
contributing to atmosphere and tension. The time scale is not important for
the player to know at all, there is no time scale. While the story measures the
quantity of time, the gameplay does not. No clocks are needed.
Nothing is ever skipped for the player. No need to skip or fast forward.
In-universe there is anomalous time, but it is not perceptible to anyone in the
anomalous time zone (player included). No day/night cycles are needed. It
should be known that the anomalous time in the story is not actually noticed
by the player, it is not a gameplay feature. It has no effect on the player, with
possible exception to later parts where the fraction is much larger. This
8
essentially amounts to teleporting the player short distances or making them
go slightly faster or slower. This is all explained by the rip in space-time. Time
is not something the player has control over. If anything, time has control over
the player.

Environmental Dimension - Elliot Crook

The game is set in 2028, modern enough but not futuristic, in
north-western Canada in late winter (late for us, anyway). It is an alternate
reality with a few differences. 1. Fort Good Hope Research Facility exists. 2. A
strange compound named Xenite exists (important to the story). This reality
collides with another alternate reality where: 1. The Soviet Union didn’t
collapse. 2. Fort Good Hope exists, and focuses on military power for the war. 3.
It is run by an AI, which goes rogue and ends humanity. The other NPCs in the
game are mostly background npcs, who are employees of For Good Hope. The
only other main characters are two friends of the protagonist. They’re not
barbarians or overly educated people, just regular scientists or security guards,
or what have you. The Canadian government still exists, but considering that
this is a disaster situation there aren’t really any consequences for anyone’s
actions. Everyone is on the same playing field, dog-eat-dog. Or rather,
monster-eat-people.
Above all else, everyone just wants to survive. Whether it be solo or
together, hiding or fighting, it’s all to the same ends. Make it to the end of the
day. Different people have different approaches, some more successful than
others. They are capable of higher, postindustrial thought. This does affect
their personalities and customs, because it’s basically the same as ours.
Whether they are religious or not depends on who they are. The game
takes place in a religious area, but many employees are not native to Fort Good
Hope. Even the protagonist is from Utah, and even though Utah is religious the
main character is not. The only visibly religious practices are in the beginning
the player passes by a church, and some npcs might talk about god having
forsaken them or something. It’s pretty similar to our own reality in terms of
practices, clothing, personality, thoughts, etc. After all, it IS only 6 years from
now.
The game takes place both indoors and outdoors, separated in sections.
It starts out indoors, just escaping the facility. Once it becomes more outdoors
the player is given a vehicle to make traversal easier. The indoors parts have a
variety of decor. Same parts are wood-paneled offices, with desktops, desk
chairs, lounge areas, etc. Some parts are more sterilized laboratories, with

9
testing equipment and plenty of whiteboards. Other parts are more industrial,
with metal piping, tunnels, vehicles and wooden crates. The outdoors parts are
similar in geography and structure. It’s all snowy, forested tundras with small
rural communities dotted around. The interesting part is that this latter part of
the game has much anomalous time, and while it doesn’t appear often in
aesthetic, it shows every once in a while in the form of reversed particles,
seeing past events, or an EMP blast every once in a while.
The style is always consistent. It’s realistic, trying to be incredibly
immersive. The mood does, however, shift. In the beginning it is dominated by
fear. This fear slowly turns into motivation. This motivation eventually
transforms into determination. Early-on a lot of it is through design, seeing
things like corpses, enemies killing npcs, or seeing the effects the disaster has
had on the facility. The motivation starts to come in through gameplay, along
with a decrease in horror. With the first weapon acquisitions and a decrease in
corpses or fire, it starts to change into the thought of “maybe I CAN do this…”.
The determination starts to come in as the enemies become more organized,
put a target on the player, and the protagonist is eventually even tasked with
killing the queen. It’s slow, almost invisible.
There will be a TON of detail, but not too much such that the player is
confused about where to go. Overly cluttered/designed areas confuse players in
the correct direction, but too little detail makes the environments look sparse
and drab. A more middle-ground approach is preferred in this situation. The
detail doesn’t really change how the game plays, it’s more so about setting the
mood and conveying emotion.

Emotional Dimension - Elliot Crook

The emotions primarily triggered are fear, motivation, and
determination. It smoothly transitions from one to the next in that specific
order. The emotion has no effect on the plot or gameplay, but rather on the
player’s actions. A more fearful response elicits defenseful play. A more
determined mood elicits more aggressive play. We want to invisibly influence
the player’s actions without them even realizing it. The inspiration comes
midway through the game to the end. Motivation to escape, desire to succeed,
while knowing the odds are slim. But the odds don’t matter, not here. It’s
almost a fearful push forward, acting courageous while knowing you will likely
die. Eventually you aren’t afraid anymore. You know what to do, where you’re
going,and how to save humanity from the threat of the hive.

10
Ethical Dimension - Elliot Crook

There is no right or wrong, instead only difference. If you kill the

security guard you get his ammunition. If you keep him alive you’ve gained a
friend who will fight with you. None of this is explained, it is up to the player to
discover. There isn’t really a “correct” or desired way to interact, just a
different one. There is no conflict between players and npcs, the worst it might
get is they decide to kill an npc and they fight back. These are honestly the only
choices that change anything. Because it’s entirely linear it’s difficult to
implement anything other than this. The only other option could be just
leaving the npc alone, and then you just don’t get anything. There is really only
one way to win the game, so any decisions along the way don’t really affect
much. The player is not really able to communicate with npcs, other than
having them follow you or killing them. There is no dialog since the player is
mute, so they cannot convince, lie, cheat, or steal anything. If it doesn’t exist,
then there are no consequences. The only ethical ambiguity isn’t even from the
player, it’s from the military. The military opened a refugee camp and are
getting refugees out of the facility, but only because they want what tech and
monsters are in the laboratory. All this really does is allow the player to
destroy, collect, or leave the tech left behind. The violence is very real.
Monsters are killing people, corpses are strewn everywhere, you might even
hear a scream every once in a while. It should contribute to the tone nicely,
which I consider fun.

11
Character Development
Include rough sketches in Appendix A.

Character Style- Porter Barrett

The main characters of the story are story-based. You can interact with
them no problem. In addition to this, we are including some art- based
bystanders for the background. To keep some parts of the story from feeling
lonely. The style is more complex, with the graphics trying to be as realistic as
possible while avoiding the uncanny valley. Something close to the graphics
level of RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2. There will be no exaggerations for the
characters, the point is for them to blend in but look individual enough. The
story-based characters are meant to convey a lot of information throughout
the story. This is how a lot of the information is gained. You can talk to them,
and they can give you notes and books to read. They will even accompany you
at some points to help you along your path. The personalities are also
important to the story. We hope to get a good mix of personalities, based on
real human traits. Only the main player and some prevalent characters will be
given a back story. The less known characters will maybe be given some
preexisting background. In all, the personality will be conveyed through
narration over dialogue.

Stereotypes - Porter Barrett

The game will not be using visual stereotypes as much as other games
do. Each character or NPC could have a defining feature to tell them apart, but
they are not indicative of their personality. The subtle differences are supposed
to show more equality in status and precedence throughout the game. You
think that was decided within the group, was that some of the characters
should act differently than how they look, like a goth being more chipper. This
more or less for comedic purposes and to create more interesting character
personalities. The differences have to be weather correlations or direct
opposites. Random personalities with random looks won’t work.

12
Sidekick/Ally - Porter Barrett

One thing that the player has to get used to is how lonely the game will
make you feel. There are very few instances where you will have a sidekick or
ally. The main character that would count as an ally would be the one that
sticks with you as you travel with to the refugee camp. You quickly lose this
person and must go on the journey alone. The sidekick is a scientist though so
the ally will provide wisdom and advice for the coming challenges. Maybe a gift
if necessary. The ally will likely follow you and has disheveled hair, like the kid
from Meet the Robinsons.

Player Interest - Porter Barrett

The player should be very interested in the character because it doesn't
speak so the avatar will simply mirror the player's personality. The character's
achievements and current work would also interest the player into continuing
to play.

Character Depth - All of Us

Main Character (Atlas): Born in Utah and moved to Canada. He

specializes in theoretical physics and quantum engineering. He moved to
Canada to work for the FGH research facility. Their role in the story is the main
protagonist who is sent through the main events against his will but eventually
becomes the hero out of necessity. Attributes and values mirror the players
interpretation of how they would act. Very open to change in personality. He is
not particularly strong, but is very strong willed.
Dying Guy #1: security guard who survived long enough to help the
player out. Then died. Roles: assistance. Maybe racist dies before we know for
sure.
Adam: Old friend and mentor to the player. Comes along for assistance
and wisdom/ information for the player to use. He has a big head that gets in
the way sometimes like strong opinions. Likes sanitation and has OCD.
Depression and anxiety. He is a workaholic and wont stop thinking about his

13
job even for a second. This player also acts as the narration for the tutorial.
Southern Accent from tennessee.

Maxwell: He is from Jersey City. He takes nothing from nobody and

doesn't give a crap about your feelings for your dog. Has many guns and is
prominently republican. He will gladly cite all of your rights at a moment's
notice. Coffee addiction, maybe has ADHD but won’t get it checked. Values
freedom, family, and the Dallas Cowboys. Over the game, we find that he really
did care and is the main protector for us. We get to know him more and like
them more.

The rest of the NPCs will share different small quirks for personalities.
Mostly just to make them feel more real. You won’t get to know any of them or
interact with them much. Some stereotypes will be leaned on but not much.

Character Growth - Porter Barrett

The growth of the main character is up to the player. How the player
interacts with the other characters and NPCs will determine the growth.
However the story dictates that the main character will become a hero. The
type of hero it becomes at the end will depend on how the player plays the
game.
As for the NPCS, there is no change with them. Only emotional reactions
to the events.
Adam over the course of the story breaks apart a bit, because all his work
has gone to pieces. This lets him relax a bit and be more helpful to the player
through his journey.
Maxwell as well becomes a little more open to his caring side. He always
cared but hid it under a patriotic Alpha male attitude. This side fades away as
the fighting goes on around them.

Archetypes - Porter Barrett

With Campbell’s archetypes in mind, the player fills the gap of the Hero.
Adam is both the Mentor and the Herald, giving the most advice to the player.
Maxwell is the guardian and the Ally, who is just there and always helping for
no cost. These are just how it ended up. The evil creature Queen is the shadow
of the story. The shapeshifter could be one of the NPCs that end up actually.

14
Although most archetypes are present, some aren't because this is supposed to
be more real of a scenario and some of the archetypes are more fantastical in
nature.

Character Sounds- Porter Barrett

Each character will be voiced by a voice actor to bring the game some
good vocal elements. This will change for each language as needed. The music
in the story will likely be on the end of excitement and Horror. The music
should put you on the edge of your seat and invoke fear within you. The more
heroic parts of the story, when characters do heroic things, will be overlaid
with epic soundtracks with similar aesthetic feeling to Megalovania from
Undertale.

Character Speech - Porter Barrett

The speech is considered with the voice actors and some of the slang
used. Each character heralds an accent from where they were born. They also
have a bit of a Canadian accent but are faint. The characters with more energy
in their character will be more enthusiastic in their communication as well.
This is just to convey the way they are feeling emotionally.

Moveset - Porter Barrett

The main moves a character can use is:

Move forward (in development)
Move backward (in development)
Move side left (in development)
Move side right (in development)
Sprint ^ (in development)
pan/ look left (in development)
pan/ look right (in development)
Jump (in development)
Grab (in development)
Use (in development)
Block (in development)

15
Inspect (in development)

Story
Include dialogue trees, scripts, and plot description in Appendix B.

Actions - Elliot Crook

A lot of the actions the player can take are simplistic, but even something
simplistic allows many options. That’s where the cohesion comes in, the player
can’t do anything unrealistic like sliding or wall jumping, but the few moves
allows for simple complexity. The lack of randomness/repetition mostly comes
from the encounters. Everything is predefined, down to the last power cell, so
the only randomness present is from the enemy AI. The complexity present in
their AI prevent battles from being repetitive, as the AI could make any
decision based on the context. It should be a pretty good balance.

Type of Story - Elliot Crook

The story is entirely linear, no branching or rolling back. There is only
one path, one story, one ending.

Granularity - Elliot Crook

The game does not often present only narrative and nothing else. Most
of the narrative is presented to the player in the moment, without needing to
pause and take time to explain the story. Very few sections of only narrative
exist, and they do not last very long.

Advancing the Plot - Elliot Crook

The story unfolds as the player progresses from map to map. It is not
tied to anything else.

Prologue - Elliot Crook

The story begins with something of a prologue, before anything has
happened. This “Chapter 0” is mostly designed to introduce the player to the

16
game world and its inhabitants. It could be skipped by the player if they really
want to, but for a first playthrough it would be a very bad idea, as the player
would have no reverence for the setting and characters.

Narrative - Elliot Crook

Any and all narrative material is completely interactive, the player
experiences every last bit of it. Most of it is transition material. Although the
narrative is not required to enjoy the game, it does enhance the emotions of
the game itself. That said, nothing is stopping the player from completely
ignoring the story. The narrative form is through gameplay and scripted
events, for example, the player is riding a humvee when an explosion causes
the vehicle to crash. The player sees it all in first-person without pulling
outward for a cutscene.

Non-Challenge Actions - Elliot Crook

The only story-related actions are exploration. Even if some of the maps
are small the player has complete freedom to see what secrets lie where. This is
especially emphasized in the large open maps, where extra content is scattered
everywhere.

Scripted Conversations - Elliot Crook

There are conversations, but they are not anything the player can
interact with. Since the player is mute, the conversations are either one-sided
or are between npcs. The other main characters are the sidekick and old friend,
but there’s some smaller npcs around that can have conversations.

Story Parts - Elliot Crook

The story is from the perspective of only one person. There is only one
plot line, although other less emphasized plot lines exist beyond the player’s .
But those plot lines are not the story, so they are hardly included.

17
User Experience
Include icon design, HUD design, UI design, and button mapping in Appendix C.

Controls - Porter Barrett

This game's primary input device is the keyboard and mouse. This way of
use provides a more broad way of playing the game as players get more
experienced. However, there will be consol versions that use controllers as
input devices. This way of playing will use more menus but is still easy to play.
The function of certain buttons will change depending on what game mode
they are currently playing in. hovering over certain objects will provide cues on
what action can be taken by the player. The object will be highlighted and a
small word on the bottom of the screen will appear listing what actions can be
taken. This lettering can be removed in settings. The different inputs will cause
certain animations the avatar must perform to play. This will both execute the
task and be visually appealing to the user. Lastly, the player will have the
option of controlling the player's camera mode, between first person and third
person views. The animations will not change, but the perspective will. The
perspective is a luxury and not needed for game play. With the steering or
orientation of the camera, it will be attached to the head of the avatar. This is
so that when you turn your head, the camera will turn with it as well. Avoiding
any sort of confusion for the player and making the pan option useful.
Switching any control is available at any time during the game.

User Interface - Porter Barrett

The user interface will provide a windowed view into the game world
from the avatars perspective. It will feature some semi transparent overlays to
provide stats needed by the player of the game. These semi transparent
qualities are also seen when in 3rd person mode as well as first person. The
health will be indicated by a black glow around the edge of the screen that
darkens as health goes down. The items you have and selected are on the left
side of the screen and your objective is set on the right side of the interface.
Some standards that we are breaking are the conventional health status in the
form of hearts. We don’t want it to be easy to track current health. This is to
18
increase the stress level of the game for the players. This is mainly just a
window into the game world.

Interface Details - Porter Barrett

The game will include quite a few menus and quick menus for ease of
access. The structure of the menus will be like a tree branching out from the
center “START GAME” button. The PC version will have the options of whether
the Broad interface or the Deep interface. The Consol edition will only support
the narrow and deep interface due to a lack of buttons compared to pc. The
game will include a lot of text on screen that will be translated into as many
languages needed for the game. The icons used in the game are simple and easy
to understand, similar to road traffic signs or pedestrian sign like style. The
numeric values will be displayed on screen when needed, but things like health
and current status will be displayed via visual indicators. The numbers
displayed will be at the top of the screen for the player to look at whenever they
choose. Next to a label that explains them. The main symbolic value needed to
know for the player that will be covered in the tutorial is the health status. The
edges of the screen will darken as the health of the player decreases. Once you
can barely see, you pass out and die. Sudden damage will also flash red on the
screen from dramatic effect in the same way health does.

Style Support - Porter Barrett

The style of the game is supposed to imply a stressed and emotionally

draining environment that accentuates the mountainous and rugged parts of
Canada. There are not a lot of colors and the whole game sticks to black, white,
gray, red, and green. And other hues of skin color as needed to make the
humans seem real. The audio supports this with background noises of
emptiness and nature. The music is also meant to stress you out and get your
adrenaline pumping through you purposefully. The actions taken by the
character will be accompanied by a harsher sounding version of what that
action would really sound like. For example, when you jump down onto
something, the ground would sound 10 times louder than what it should. In
survival settings, this heightens the stress level. The emotional tones also
change with the story, happier times will have more color and emotions. Dull

19
playing and story parts, will have no color and be very boring and monotone in
nature. The style changes are the style of the story.

20
Creative and Expressive Play - Elliot Crook
There are no customization options, you either play as the main
character or you don’t play at all. The main character only has the predefined
attributes. There are no consequences to character choice, because there is no
choice. There is no creative play beyond decisions made in battle to ensure you
live and your enemies don’t. There is no constrained creative play beyond
battles. There is no freeform creative play. Any role-playing that takes place is
in the player’s mind, there are no actual role-play options in the game. Mods
would be a very fun application, so yes there will be mods. We’ll just release the
entire SDK, so anyone can edit literally anything. Make new levels, change
around assets, modify scripts or ai, etc. We might even let people use the very
same engines that we use in order to let them mod. It’d be up to the players in
order to share their own mods, we aren’t going to distribute them ourselves
unless they’re really good. It’ll be the players who upload the mods to sites like
modDB.

21
Gameplay

Types of Challenges - Elliot Crook

Most of the challenges rely on critical thinking, reaction time, and
common sense. Though the gameplay implies tactical maneuvering and
reaction time, while those are present that’s not all there is. It involves
planning, and puzzle solving on occasion (though the puzzles do not always
rely on logic, more so common sense). Almost every challenge is implicit, only
the situation is presented. There is never a sign or dialog saying “we must get
to the other side of this pit!” The player must think “I wonder if I can reach the
end of the pit by activating the drawbridge…”

Hierarchy of Challenges - Elliot Crook

We have no plan for the number of levels, whatever happens will happen.
The challenges most often presented are battles and puzzles. The battles are
engaging, and the puzzles allow downtime to catch your breath or absorb the
environment. Puzzles and battles are entirely separated, so in a way they are
atomic challenges. Battles consist of fighting multiple enemies at once, so if
you count each enemy as an atomic challenge then a battle is a complex
challenge. There are multiple strategies to battles. A player might play
aggressively, risking health for a quick battle. They might play defensively and
draw out the battle to conserve resources. They might find some other strategy
that we’re not considering (no it is not stealth). Any of these strategies work,
none of them take precedence over another. No matter the strategy the player
must always face the same challenges, even if they choose to ignore a battle by
running away like a coward (not always recommended, but sometimes a good
idea). It is always presented the same.

Difficulty Levels - Elliot Crook

There will be three difficulty levels: easy, medium and hard. These
difficulty levels do not add or subtract any core mechanics like survival
mechanics or adding invincibility items. Instead, it’ll alter the existing core
mechanics of battles, since those are where most of the challenge lies. In easy
mode the enemies are less intelligent, have less health, are slower, weapon
damage is reduced, etc. Designed for players that might’ve never played a

22
game in their life, with very low intrinsic skill requirements. Medium mode is
the intended form of play, with reasonable challenges and medium
expectations. The players should give their best, but a slip-up or bad
performance is okay. Hard mode is meant to push a skilled player to their limit,
enemies are crazy smart, weapons do realistic damage, shield charges slower,
items are scarcer, etc. The player must be on their wit’s end, any mistake at all
could lead to severe consequences.

Actions - Elliot Crook

The actions most often needed are looking around, movement,
sprinting, jumping, crouching, changing weapons, iron sights, firing,
alt-firing, picking up objects and interacting with things like buttons or levers.
These actions are all that is needed to complete the game, and all of them are
given at the beginning of the game. None of the actions are ever limited unless
a mechanic is designed around it, so the player could technically use an action
when it is not necessary. Most puzzles require looking around for clues,
interacting with objects and the environment, and using the environment
itself to solve the puzzle. Most battles require observing the battle, moving
tactically (using movement, sprinting, jumping, crouching), and dispatching
enemies when able (changing weapons, iron sights, fire, alt-fire). There are
two other button combinations: crouch jumping (crouch + jump), long
jumping(sprint + jump) and sliding(sprint + crouch). These are mostly used for
tactical maneuvering and traversal of the environment, and can be chained
together if given the momentum necessary. No other actions will be
implemented for any other purpose, no other situations are present.

Saving - Elliot Crook

The game has one save file, but each save that takes place is recorded in a
history of save-games. If the player so chooses, they can load a save file that
took place long ago since it records every bit of save data. Most of the saves will
be saved by the player, whether by a manual save or quicksave. This takes up
the bulk of the data(knowing players). That said, the game does also
automatically save on its own at critical points (like before a boss fight, for
example). This makes sure that, in the event a player forgets to save, the player
will likely not lose any critical progress if something like a power-out happens.

23
Core Mechanics
Include the entities and resource list (what they are, their attributes, their
mechanics) in Appendix D.

Major Mechanics - All of Us

The mechanics used within the game cover all of the mechanics. There
are examples of physics in the puzzles, internal economies in the transferring
of weapons, progression in the passage or progression of the story, tactical
maneuvering in the fighting sections of the game, and finally the social
interaction to gain information from NPC’s.

Entities and Resources - Porter Barrett, Luca Rogers

The entities range from the main character to the NPC humans. As well
as the enemies of the game. Some objects are counted as entities in the way
that they interact with the player, however most will be counted as a resource.
The resource/ entity objects are like the med kits or weapons used on other
entities in the game. They can only affect certain predefined objects. The
vehicles also count as an entity, which will be included. The cars and planes are
the main sorts of vehicles that will be introduced in the game. These are more
of transportation and will not be driven manually. The Enemy (monsters) is
very unique in the mannerisms and the interactions with other objects. They
perform different actions that “defy the laws of physics” purposefully, to give
off a foreboding feeling to the player and to confuse them in such parts of the
game. The only entity with internal entities within the game is the inventory of
the Avatar for the player. The inventory just contains the objects needed by the
player, which is retrievable at any moment.

Entities Attributes - Porter Barrett

Most of the attributes found in the game will be similar in aesthetic to
the real world. Guns look like guns and med kits look like first aid kits. This is
simply just a way to let the player know what an object is when picking it up.
The monsters are nightmare creatures that resemble archaic nightmares

24
similar to what nightmares you would have on an acid trip. They are dark
colored and look to be made of shadow at times. Some look like combinations
of animals and insects at times. These are supposed to be symbolic of the
nightmares and mistakes of man and how it mutates on top of each problem.
All of the entities and resources are tangible within the game. They will affect
you very heavily. The resources are the only ones to change states, like when a
health mix is used and can’t be used again. Or when a weapon jams or breaks, it
is useless and can be discarded.

Entities Mechanics - Porter Barrett

The Mechanics between the player and the other entities varies
depending on what they are. The enemy to Player mechanics are defined by
more of physics and tactical maneuvering, the player to object mechanics are
more along the lines of internal economies and progression mechanisms, and
lastly the mechanics between the NPC’s and the player are along the lines of
social interaction and progression mechanics. Other entities are more
mathematical in nature and are not as easily defined by these mechanics. The
game world is one of the biggest things to interact with. This progresses the
story as the player moves around. The game world can be defined as an entity
by this logic. Progression mechanisms correspond to the progress the player
has made within the challenges. The game world directly connects the
progression mechanics to themselves.

Global Mechanics - Porter Barrett

The moveset physics and the player actions mechanics stay the same
throughout the whole game. The progression mechanic is also counted as a
global mechanic due to it running throughout the game without interruption
from other mechanics. The game must progress at a constant rate with the
player's skill. The game also has a constant mechanic to update the health of
the player and how the avatar’s state is currently. Auto saving also counts
within the progression mechanics but was worth a mention as it takes a huge
part. Certain points of the game will auto save for the convenience of the
player.

25
Source, Drain, and Conversion of Resources - Porter
Barrett

There are not a lot of items or resources within the game. This mainly
falls into weapons, health restoration, and other. All of the items must be
obtained within the game at different locations. There is a spawn mechanic
introduced into the game that will spawn each item and if it is not there, the
player has the option to reload this mechanic to reload the items back to their
original state and place. The NPCs that are not important to the story will
spawn in and out of the game while the important ones will be locked in a state
of being. They will only be taken out when the player leaves the level. The
enemies follow these same conditions except for the part where each enemy
will despawn after 5 minutes and spawn back in at another location
determined by the game to be within acceptable range of the fight area.

Equilibrium - Porter Barrett

The game will only enter equilibrium if the player stopped interacting or
doing anything (AFK). This is so that the player is not attacked or nothing
happens while the player is away for a bit. The system we use is more on the
dynamic side because of the amount of items being limited and will decay the
amount over time. The rest of the time, the game is very chaotic or stressful,
there are very few times to stop moving.

Mechanics Actions - Porter Barrett

The mechanics like the physics mechanics create obstacles like realistic
falling mechanisms and realistic moving. Games often have heightened
abilities like walking and jumping so it is less dragging. There are also
mechanics that start challenges like entering a new level or game mode. The
mechanics will also monitor how the player is doing and update the game on
the progress of the player. There will lastly be the mechanic to detect if the
player overcame the challenge or fail, and will restart or kick the player back a
notch. There are different actions some items will require, the mechanics will
determine what actions to allow the player to do to the object. Like some

26
objects can be picked up, the game mechanics will not allow the player to pick
up objects. This can be temporary or permanent. It depends on what the
mechanics of the story determines.

NPC Mechanics - Porter Barrett

For autonomous entities such as non-player characters, what mechanics
control their behavior? What mechanics define their AI?
The mechanics of the NPC’s are different for each role. Main character
roles will have more invulnerability towards attacks and can’t be hurt by the
player. They will follow the player around until the mechanics determine not
to. The following feature will also have them surmount any obstacle as needed.
The mechanics will also initiate story or messages to be said by the characters
when the story dictates.
The other NPC humans will follow basic instructions of just wandering
and getting hurt easily. The point is to make them wimpy and slow. Easy
targets for the monsters to hunt. The NPCs will seek safety when they want.
The damage taken by them will hurt them, and only kill them after 4 hits.
The Monster NPC mechanics are also simple. They attack all of the other
npc characters when in a certain range. They can even attack each other at
times if they hit each other by accident. Their attacks are swift. The damage
they will take should kill them after 6 or 7 hits. When they leave a certain area,
they will turn around and head back to the spawn point so that there can be
safe areas of the game. This resets their AI except for the damage.

Game Balancing

PvP or PvE - Luca Rogers

The game is entirely a PVE game because it is single player and all of the
enemies are NPCs.

Relationship Among Player Options - Luca Rogers

The relationship between players is largely intransitive meaning that

there isn’t a preference for one over the other. The player in fact does not have
a choice to meet or not meet certain NPC’s. All of the encounters are
predetermined. In order to make the relationships between players more

27
interesting, dialogue that communicates relatable and enjoyable personalities
will be used to communicate with the player. Also since the gameplay is very
long, the player won’t have a chance to interact with certain characters or
choose between different strategies against a certain thing for a long time. For
example it won’t encounter a similar boss again, once it is defeated the boss
cannot be encountered unless you restart the game.

Control of Units - Luca Rogers

The player will not have a choice of units and will not be able to control
anything outside of himself inside the game. The player is not required to
micromanage anything in the game that does not have to do with his personal
items. The player is also not required to look after small details that involve
other characters. Because of this the game does not present the need for
automated mechanisms controlled by the player.

Difficulty - Luca Rogers, Elliot Crook

The game's challenges increase steadily as the players' experience and

skill increase.The absolute peaks in difficulty are often hordes or boss fights.
The player is simply presented with a challenge that they have to complete or
defeat. The harder the boss or enemy is to defeat will present itself as larger (in
physical size). The player's perception of the game's difficulty will go up
during the game. “Harder ''often means that the situation itself slowly favors
the enemies more and more. Intelligence increases over time. The challenges
have much enemy variety in terms of positioning and types/number, the
difficulty of the challenges will increase as the enemies become more
numerous and intelligent.

Feedback - Luca Rogers

The game does include positive feedback that does not necessarily
reward the player for doing good. Ethics are not a factor in this game which
allows the player to attempt to achieve what his goals are even through
unethical means. Since the game is single player there is no need to create

28
delays or negative feedback. It is all up to the player's skill and reasoning. The
player has to figure out as part of the game what to do next. It adds a puzzle
factor to the game. If the player is feeling stuck there are NPC’s that the player
can communicate with to discover the best solution.

29
Level Design
This section should be filled out for each level; don’t forget the tutorial. Include
level layout in Appendix E.

Setting - Luca Rogers

In the levels the player finds himself in the Fort Good Hope Research.
Facility.

Initial Conditions - Luca Rogers

The initial conditions of the level are comfortable and in the norm. The
player finds himself on a bus which is transporting him to the research facility
where he works. The player starts off with nothing but his hands and the
ability to walk around and explore. The landscape consists of some rural areas
and a church. It is a snowy landscape.

Level Layout - Luca Rogers

The levels are not open world. The player is allowed to move about a
certain perimeter that is predefined. In levels where the player finds himself
outside, a vehicle is provided to allow him to progress with greater ease. In
levels that are within buildings the boundaries are simply the walls of the
building. The player has complete freedom of movement within the boundaries
of the level. The challenges experienced by the player are all predetermined
and linear. The player cannot choose which enemy to fight first or try to skip to
a more challenging enemy. This is to allow the player to become more
experienced and acquire better weaponry while the enemies become more
difficult.

Short-Term Goals - Luca Rogers

The player is not specifically informed on what his short term goals are
but is rather subtly guided on what to do next by the situations he finds himself
in. The player has no influence whatsoever on how the game plays out though.
It will always occur in the same manner. The player is informed through a
combination of NPC knowledge and intuition on what to do next. In some
situations NPCs will inform the player on what to do or give him some tips but

30
many times, the player needs to figure out what to do on his own. Doing this
will increase suspense and purposefully add a horror element to the game.

Challenges and Actions - Luca Rogers

The challenges the player will face include fighting enemies, finding
means of transportation and discovering how to acquire certain resources.
There are several actions the player can take, for example waiting, hiding,
attacking or defending but there is only one correct way to achieve the desired
outcome. It varies depending on the challenge.

Rewards and Punishments - Luca Rogers

What rewards and punishments are built into the level? The rewards of
the game include ammo and weapons, sometimes vehicles. The rewards are
built into the game and do not allow the player to have much room to decide
how to get them. The most common way to get rewards is completing a level.
The player loses a level when he runs out of health. That is the only way. Time
limits are not present and it is not survival so food and nutrition are not in the
question.

Pacing - Luca Rogers

The pacing all depends on how fast the player can solve challenges and
find solutions to problems. It also depends on how fast the player can travel. If
no errors ever occurred along the way the game would be very fast paced so the
pace depends on human error.

Story - Luca Rogers

What events in the level contribute to the story, if any? Nothing the
player can do will change what happens in the story. The story is linear and
predefined so the player cannot change it. Within the level the player can
experience parts of the story such as moments in which disaster happens that
the player cannot control.

Mood - Luca Rogers

The moods of the levels vary throughout the game. The first levels are
comfortable but as the game progresses the feeling invoked by the story is

31
mostly terror, anxiety with slight moments of triumph with some slight
determination. The game presents very realistic settings which will cause the
player to feel realistic feelings. Darkness, lighting and loneliness will invoke
fear in the player. Sound effects and music are very important to the overall
mood of the game. In parts of triumph music will be important to express that
emotions and sound effects will be crucial. Footsteps dripping of water and
even suspicious silence will help communicate to the player and are an
important part of gameplay.

32
Appendix A - Character Development - Elliot Crook

Pictured above: Main Character (Atlas) in the snow concept art.

33
Pictured Above: Maxwell (sidekick), as the player meets them in the 4th chapter concept
art.
34
Pictured Above: Adam (protagonist’s friend), instructing the player during the
interaction tutorial (minus the two background scientists) concept art.

35
Appendix B - Story - Luca Rogers

(There are no branches in this game, the game is strictly linear)

The player begins on a bus that is bringing him toward the facility at which he
works. He finds himself at the Fort Good Hope research Facility. After exploring the
Facility the player gets to work on some experiments. Everything seemed promising
until a power supply failure occurred which caused one of the machines to explode. The
combination of the materials he is handling and the explosion cause a rift in space-time.
This causes the player to be transported 2 whole days in the future. When the player
comes to, he wakes up to a lab left in ruins. As he is trying to find a safe exit out of the
lab he encounters the enemies. With the help of a fire ax he is able to defeat them. The
player discovers that the only way to escape is to make it to the generator room. With
the help of NPC’s and after defeating several monster like enemies he is able to
accomplish his goal.
After turning on the generator he makes it to the elevator that was receiving the
generator's power. Just as soon as it starts, the elevator breaks and falls to the lowest
level. It is dark and very hard to see there but the player does not give up. He continues
on his quest to leave the facility. He is determined to get through the roof, so as he
passes through the different floors and encounters more enemies he is able to make it.
He meets a man that will help him along his journey which helps him to arrive at a
refugee camp. After much traveling and much hassle he arrives. When they get there the
player is able to converse with other people who are noticing that the enemy has become
smart and the attacks are becoming a lot more frequent and organized. One of the
survivors from the research facility says that the situation has gone out of control and
that if someone doesn’t stop whoever is organizing the attacks, these monsters just
might escape.
Since the player is the only one who has a basic knowledge of the inside of the
facility and has had a lot more experience with the enemies, he is unwillingly selected to
return to the facility to destroy whatever is in charge. He is able to drive back to the
facility but encounters many strange things. Eventually the player ends up where he
started but it is almost unrecognizable. Compelled by duty and maybe some guilt for
having done the experiment that started this in the first place, the player proceeds. After
defeating may guards and dodging many obstacles the player finds the center of all of
this mess. There is a queen that seems to be creating all of these creatures. After an epic
battle the player defeats the queen. He arrives at the control room and is given the
option of destroying all of the tech, or saving it so the military can use it later. If the

36
player recovers it all then it is all sent off-base to a separate building that is still
operational and is still being used by the science personnel.
Finally the player must make their way out of the hive, which is easier as the
monsters have fled from the hive as their queen has been killed. They still exist, but they
are recovering somewhere else. The player discovers that the science team was able to
put together a very rudimentary teleporter. that will not explode, but will probably break
after the first test. The player makes their way to the prototype teleporter that does not
open a gate, but instead teleports one thing at a time. They are instructed on how to get
it operational once again, and are teleported to the new building. The end is here, the
player meets with the science team personnel and the team make plans to get the
refugees out of here, re-stabilize the entire realm of reality, and to hunt down the
remaining creatures.

37
Appendix C - User Interface - Luca Rogers

Main Menu Icons:

Font used for buttons:
卩ㄥ卂ㄚ

乇卂丂ㄚ

爪乇ᗪ丨ㄩ爪

卄卂尺ᗪ

All actions are not controlled by buttons on the screen but rather by the controller or
keyboard and mouse. This makes the icons fewer.

HUDs:

38
 The player's health is not displayed as a hud. The player can see changes in health
through dimming of the screen along with some reddening. On the top right there is a
mini map where the player can see his/her position in the world. It does not give any
feedback on what the player should do though. It just shows the game world. Below the
mini map there is a weapon display along with an item display. The item that is larger is
currently selected. The smaller one is the secondary weapon that is not currently used.

UI’s:

The menu has multiple options straight away so it could make fewer branches in
the future. It starts off with the menu screen from which you can select to play, go to
settings or quit the game. From here there is a list of simple options you can choose
from. For example from “quit game”, it asks you whether you are sure you want to do so,
then you select yes or no.

Button mapping for console:

Four face buttons: right = x left = A up = y down = z

Normal attack: A

Hard attack: Right shoulder button + A

High attack: Joystick up + A

Low attack: Joystick down + A

Block attack: Left shoulder button

Jump: x

Crouch: double tap x

39
Move Forward: up on A D-pad

Move backward: down on A D-pad

Strafe left: left on A D-pad

Strafe right: Right on A D-pad

Rotate left: Joystick to the left

Rotate right: Joystick to the right

Choose weapon: y

Use med kit: z

Button Mapping for PC:

(This is the default button mapping, the player can change it in settings).

Normal attack: Left mouse click

Hard attack: Double click left mouse button

High attack: right click

Low attack: double right click

Block attack: shift

Jump: space bar

Crouch: double tap shift

Move Forward: w

Move backward: s

Strafe left: a

Strafe right: d

40
Rotate left: q

Rotate right: e

Choose weapon: r

Use health pack: t

Appendix D - Mechanics - Elliot Crook

Ammunition:
41
 ● Pistol Rounds
○ Used by the pistol weapon
○ Fires one at a time
○ Does good damage against 1-3 targets
● Shotgun Shells
○ Used by the shotgun
○ Fires one shell at a time (though multiple projectiles are fired)
○ Does heavy damage against close-range enemies
● Assault Rifle Rounds
○ Used by the assault rifle
○ Fires many rounds when held
○ Is good at a range, but not very very far
● Sniper Rifle Rounds
○ Used by sniper rifle
○ Fires one at a time
○ Is good at very very long range
● Grenades
○ Tied to itself
○ One at a time is thrown
○ Good for specific situations, like flushing enemies out of cover
● Xenite Canisters
○ Used by the prototype weapon and later harpoon gun
○ Uses much at a time
○ Situational weapon that’s good for dispatching large amounts of enemies
● Singularity Cans
○ Tied to itself
○ One at a time is thrown (though many can be placed)
○ Good for setting traps for enemies
Player-tied resources:
● Health:
○ Depletes as the player takes damage
○ As it depletes, the player gets weaker, slower, etc.
○ When it runs out, the player dies
○ It is not regenerated over time, unless the player gets a medical kit or other
item
● Shield:
○ Depletes as the player takes damage
○ Reduces the depletion off the player’s health, with higher charges it is
more effective

42
 ○ When shield charge is empty, the player’s damage is not reduced at all
○ It can be recharged from charging stations and batteries
● Stamina:
○ Depletes as the player runs, swims, or does any actions that would
realistically require a lot of effort
○ Regenerates over time when the player is not performing labor intensive
actions
○ When it is depleted the player cannot use labor intensive actions until it is
filled up again.
Complex Entities:
● Weapons:
○ Fire-Axe:
■ No range
■ No accuracy
■ Varied use time
■ Good damage
■ No mag size
■ No resource usage
■ Alt-fire: longer swing for harder hit
■ Applicable use: close-up combat
○ Glock-22:
■ Above average range
■ High accuracy
■ Medium use time
■ Decent damage
■ Mag size: 15 shots
■ Uses pistol ammunition
■ Alt-fire: full auto
■ Applicable use: combating 1-3 enemies at once
○ Browning A5:
■ Below average range
■ Decent accuracy
■ Slow use time
■ Very high damage
■ Mag size: 12 shots
■ Uses shotgun shells
■ Alt-fire: quick to use- bayonet
■ Applicable use: dealing with hard enemies at a close range
○ Canada C7:

43
 ■ Average range
■ Good accuracy
■ Amazingly fast use time
■ Decent damage
■ Mag size: 30 shots
■ Uses assault rifle rounds
■ Alt-fire: burst fire, more accurate at higher range but less shots
■ Applicable use: dealing with multiple targets at once
○ Weatherly Mark VHR:
■ Amazing range
■ Amazing accuracy
■ Slow use time
■ Very good damage
■ Mag size: 1
■ Uses sniper rifle rounds
■ Alt-fire: charges shot for more damage (at the cost of time)
■ Applicable use: dealing with targets at a long range
○ M67 Grenade:
■ N/A range
■ N/A accuracy
■ Decent use time
■ Amazing damage
■ Mag size: unlimited
■ Uses grenades
■ Alt-fire: throws closer instead of further
■ Applicable use: situational, most often making enemies move
○ Prototype 12B640 “Singularity Launcher”:
■ Good range
■ Amazing accuracy
■ Below-average use time
■ Very good damage
■ Mag size: unlimited
■ Uses Xenite canisters
■ Alt-fire: close-range tesla coil
■ Applicable use: dealing with dangerous enemies, or large groups of
enemies
○ Singularity Can:
■ N/A range
■ N/A accuracy

44
 ■ N/A use time
■ Amazing damage
■ Mag size: unlimited
■ Uses singularity cans
■ Alt-fire: projectile sticks to walls and becomes fully automatic
■ Applicable use: setting traps for enemies
○ Harpoon Gun:
■ Good range
■ Very good accuracy
■ Fast use time
■ Below-average damage
■ Mag size: unlimited
■ No resource usage
■ Alt-fire: pushes objects
■ Applicable use: traversal and damage when no ammo
○ Harpoon Gun (Powered):
■ Good range
■ Very good accuracy
■ Fast use time
■ Good damage
■ Mag size: unlimited
■ Uses Xenite canisters
■ Alt-fire: energy blast when lands, doing damage and applying heavy
force
■ Applicable use: traversal and using the environment as a weapon
● Enemies:
○ Spider:
■ Slow
■ Low health
■ Decent damage
■ Attacks:
● Short-range jab
■ Behavior:
● Slowly approach the player to attakc
■ Senses:
● Sight
● Sound
● Touch
○ Scout:

45
 ■ Very fast
■ Decent health
■ High damage
■ Attacks:
● Short-range bite
■ Behavior:
● Charge the player upon detection
● Take pathways to confuse player
● Flee if taking too much damage
● Continue until player is dead
■ Senses:
● Sight
● Sound
● Smell
● Touch
○ Recon:
■ Decently fast
■ Decent health
■ Good damage
■ Attacks:
● Short-range jab
● decent -range spit
■ Behavior:
● Stay on the sidelines to attack player
● Only move in if necessary
● If player approaches, move back
● Defensive
● flies
■ Senses:
● Sight
● Sound
● Smell
● touch
○ Worker:
■ Decently slow
■ Good health
■ Good damage
■ Attacks:
● Short-range bite

46
 ● Heal allies
■ Behavior:
● Approach slowly
● Back off if needed
● protect/heal allies
● flies
■ Senses:
● Sight
● Smell
● touch
○ Soldier:
■ Very fast
■ Above-average health
■ Very good damage
■ Attacks:
● Short-range something???
■ Behavior:
● Run towards player
● Know when to back off
● Preserve yourself
● Rely on others
● Overrun player together
■ Senses:
● Sight
● Sound
● Smell
● touch
○ Crawler:
■ Decently fast
■ Average health
■ Decent damage
■ Attacks:
● Short-range attack
● High-pitched screech
■ Behavior:
● Creep around player
● Move in when there’s an opportunity
● Screech to discombobulate player
● Hunt in packs

47
 ■ Senses:
● Sound
● Smell
● touch
○ Guard:
■ Slow
■ High health
■ High damage
■ Attacks:
● Short-range bite
● charge
■ Behavior:
● Charge when the player is far
● Try to attack player
● Don’t back off, you can’t afford to
■ Senses:
● Sound
● Smell
● touch
○ Bot:
■ Slow
■ Low health
■ Low damage
■ Attacks:
● Long-ranged shoot of a gun
■ Behavior:
● Track player down
● flies
■ Senses:
● Sight
● Sound
● touch
● Bosses:
○ Leviathan:
■ Fast
■ Only damaged by certain things
■ High damage
■ Attacks:
● Short-range bite

48
 ● Rumble walls
■ Behavior:
● Track down player, make them feel hunted
● Chase them often
● Don’t give up
■ Senses:
● Sight
● Sound
● Smell
● touch
○ Goliath:
■ Slow
■ High health
■ High damage
■ Attacks:
● Short-range punch
● Throw object
■ Behavior:
● Throw rock when player is far
● Try to close the gap
■ Senses:
● Sight
● Sound
● Smell
● touch
○ Queen:
■ Does not move
■ Only damaged by photon beams
■ High damage
■ Attacks:
● Long-range spit attack
● Decent-range swing attack
● Call guards
■ Behavior:
● Try to get player with claws when close
● Spit when far
● Call when player is not in sight
● Do not move
■ Senses:

49
 ● Sound
● Smell
● Touch
● sight
● NPCS:
○ Sidekick:
■ Decent speed
■ Decent health
■ Decent damage
■ Attacks:
● Fire a gun
■ Behavior:
● Keep preserved
● Aid player
● Keep mobile
■ Senses:
● Sight
● Sound
● Smell
● touch
○ Security guard:
■ Decent speed
■ Decent health
■ Decent damage
■ Attacks:
● Fire a gun
■ Behavior:
● Keep preserved
● Keep mobile
■ Senses:
● Sight
● Sound
● Smell
● touch
○ Scientist:
■ Decent speed
■ Decent health
■ Decent damage
■ Attacks:

50
 ● none
■ Behavior:
● hide/run
■ Senses:
● Sight
● Sound
● Smell
● touch
○ Soldier:
■ Decent speed
■ Decent health
■ Decent damage
■ Attacks:
● Fire a gun
■ Behavior:
● Keep preserved
● Keep mobile
● Work with your team
■ Senses:
● Sight
● Sound
● Smell
● touch
● Player:
○ Decent speed
○ Decent health
○ Decent damage
○ Attacks:
■ Weapons listed above
○ Behavior:
■ controlled
○ Senses:
■ Sight
■ Sound
● Vehicles:
○ Player’s car:
■ Amazing speed
■ Infinite health
■ No damage

51
 ■ Controlled by player
○ Humvee:
■ Amazing speed
■ Infinite health
■ Very good damage
■ Not controlled by player
Non-complex entities:
● Props:
○ Interactive:
■ Can be manipulated by player/environment
■ Physics objects
○ Non-Interactive:
■ Cannot be manipulated by anything
■ Static objects
● Interacted switches:
○ Toggle:
■ Boolean value that is switches stays switched until interacted with
○ Pulse:
■ Boolean value is switched on, then off is quick succession
● Items:
○ Medkit
■ Interactive Prop
■ Allows player to regenerate health for a given time when interacted
with
○ Health station
■ Non-Interactive Prop
■ Allows player to regenerate health while interacting with it, until
charge is empty
○ Battery
■ Interactive prop
■ Allows player to recharge shield power for a given time when
interacted with
○ Charge Station
■ Non-interactive prop
■ Allows player to recharge shield power while interacting with it,
until charge is empty
● Water:
○ Allows player to swim while submerged
○ Can be electrified

52
● Lights:
○ Emits a light source

53
Appendix E - Level Design - Elliot Crook

Pictured above: Starting area. It is a modern laboratory environment, not yet destroyed
by the disaster. It is meant to invoke a sense of safety and comfort. It is also meant to be
intractable, to teach the player that they can manipulate their surroundings. It is a
sterile testing environment meant to be used by employees. It is made of clean tiles and
concrete walls with paneled ceilings.

54
Pictured Above: An area just outside of the disaster sequence. It is a short tutorial-esque
section, meant to teach the player about their own movement. It looks like a safe place
now destroyed, as though the sanctuary has fallen and there is no more hope. It also
features the first enemy encounter, one in which the player must run from. It is the
same environment as above, but destroyed.

55
Pictured Above: A sewer system that leads into a waste disposal area. The surfaces are
dingy, damp, and dark. It consists of tunnels, before reaching a more well-lit station,
where the player opens a hatch to the surface. All of it is made of wet concrete, and this
is the first outdoor section which is a snow-covered forest.

56
Pictured Above: A separate building consisting of wood-paneled offices, carpeted floors
and paneled ceilings. The area to the right is dark, with only red emergency lights
illuminating the suffocating darkness. This is meant to be an intimidating twist of what
would normally be a safe area, one once used by employees while doing things like
answering emails or eating lunch. It has a short electrical puzzle, in which the player can
activate and deactivate the power in this section in order to cross an electrified flooded
room.

57
Pictured Above: Probably the largest puzzle in the game. It is, once again, a sterile
concrete testing environment (one mostly intact). The player must fight a quick wave of
enemies as they enter the housing for the shield. They must activate all of the switches,
while doing so the room changes accordingly, in order to reach the center of the room.

58
This is an outdoor area, designed to be an arena for the upcoming horde of enemies. It’s
cloudy, snowy, but there’s still light out. The terrain is mostly flat, other than the hill
that is in the upper-middle section of the arena. Here the player must fight a larger wave
of enemies, waiting for the military to arrive. The section ends when the military arrive
and the player boards a humvee out.

None of these maps are set in stone, and changes can be made accordingly if it would
enhance the stage.

59