Quick Game Assessment
* Genre
First Person Shooter - Arcade
* Object
The object of
Eight Hours ‘til Dawn is to survive as long as
possible against an alien enemy onslaught. To accomplish this,
the player must make repeated trips to an outside structure (a
slightly ruined brick shed) to pick up new weapons and/or
additional ammunition.
There is an unlimited amount of building material available to
board up the windows (the availability of building material isn't
graphically represented - the player can just build by being by a
window and activating the correct control) and try and keep the
monsters out. However, the creatures have no sense of fear and an
unfaltering desire to get in the house and kill the player so they
will tear down any barricades.
The barricades will slow down the creatures hopefully long enough
to allow the player a clear shot for a kill. As the night goes
on, the intensity and determination of the creatures increases.
The game will be staged in incrementing levels. Each level will
have a specific number of monsters that the player has to kill.
As the game levels increase, so will the number of monsters,
their speed, and their durability.
Potentially, more powerful weapons would be available to help
combat the increasing waves of enemies.
* Synopsis:
After hauling an empty gas can miles from where your car
had stalled on a lonely dirt road, you happen upon what seems to
be a small country house. Instead of aid, you find yourself
thrown into a nightmare. Trapped on a small homestead somewhere
in the country, you must fight to survive a never-ending onslaught
of bizarre humanoid creatures. These brutes have only one goal:
to tear you apart, limb from limb. Whoever lived here before
must’ve had some knowledge of what was to come for they were able
to stockpile a hefty cache of ammunition and weapons in a nearby
shed.
The main house seems the best place to barricade yourself
in, as the shed is too accessible and not as easily defended. The
catch, more weapons and ammunition is in the shed and you can only
carry so much at a time. Luckily however, there is more than
enough of a supply of lumber in the house to board up any windows
or points of entry. You must try and keep the monsters out if you
want to live!
Will dawn bring salvation or just more light for the
creatures to see you better by?
Problem:
As the premise of the game allows the player to leave the house, what's
preventing them from just running away? There has to be some means or
some reason why the player can't leave the grounds.
- A patrolling enemy ship with a 1 hit kill laser blast?
- A forest that is too think to get through and the dirve way is blocked but some kind of obstacle?
- Some kind of other patrolling alien or robots that swam on the player too far from the house?
I'd be interested in hearing any ideas on why the player would stay on the grounds instead of just running away.
* Current Tasks and assignments
1. General world collision - Latch
2. Battle Collision - Latch
3. Alien Animation - Latch
4. Baricade/boards models and animation - Latch
5. Menu - No Time to Code
6. Waypoint system - No Time to Code
7. Movement engine - No Time to Code - Latch : influenced by collision
systems(s)
8. Alien Enter Window - Latch - No Time to Code
9. Heads Up Display - pictionaryjr ?
* Tasks yet to be started and assigned
1. Health system - both player and monster
2. Saving - Loading game system
3. Scoring
* Wanted Models
For sizing based on world scale:
10 DBC 3d Units = 1 world unit
That means 60 units = 6 feet or approximately 2 meters (1.82 m).
So in terms of human heights, an average male could be about 59
3d units and an average female could be about 56 3d units. An
average house ceiling would be about 80 3d units (8 world units)
Weapons - low polygon weapon models. Use textures for the details:
1. Hand gun
2. Double Barrel Shotgun
3. Combat shotgun
4. Rifle without scope
5. Rifle with scope
6. Machine gun - Link102?
7. Axe
8. Shovel/pitch fork - Link102
9. Molotov cocktail
10. Alien Weapon?
11. Hinged Chest - the chest should be animated or animatable(is
that a word?)
12. Furniture - low polygon
* Down the road needed
Sound effects
Music Score
* Would be nice to have
1. Special effects
a) Fire - probably as series of page flipped images on a plane
object would be best. A particle system might be too processing
heavy to be practical with everything else going on in the game.
b) Blood splatters - see fire
c) A world physics system - Any loose, dynamic objects: crates,
furniture, buckets, could be moved by interaction (collision) by
player, monster, gunfire, or other objects. It could even be
applied to monsters to make them spin or fall based on impact point.
@TDK
I would definitely like to know what kind of furniture you have available. And if they are low polygon, that would be even better!
* Chairs
* An old worn couch - maybe holes and springs showing through or maybe weather/fire damage
* An armoire
* A hinged Chest - see Wanted Models section
* A ceiling light fixture that has been torn out with exposed wires
* Lamp
* Different small piles of garbage/rubbish, small littered areas, etc.
@all
Adding any models to the existing environment will mean a little bit of redesign in terms of overall environment polygon count, collision setup, and passable impassable areas. Depending on flow and game play, some models may not be used. But I would still like the potential to use all or any of them. I just don't want there to be any disappointment or hard feelings if a model was/is created and isn't used in the game.
Enjoy your day.
