Game Design - Help Please

Do you like the idea?


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Lee

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I have an assignment due in for Friday 27th April and I have to produce a Game Proposal Document and a Game Design Document. I've had this since before Christmas but me being me I've left it untill as late as possible. So I have just over a week to write about 40 pages about a game I havn't even thought out yet.

My idea so far:

La Haine
Overview:
La Haine is an adventure game based on the events surrounding a man named Benoni. The game is heavily based on a plot and is the main focus of the game. As you progress further into the game the plot will develop. The player takes control of Benoni as they take him through the game world protecting his younger brother René.

The game is centred around mature themes so the game is aimed at the 18+ market. Although the game will feature violence and death it will not be glorified and the player will always have other options to take instead of simply killing everyone.

The environment around the player will be interactive and the player will be able to use this to his advantage to set traps, hide bodies, escape, etc... The player will be encouraged to use his surroundings as the game will reward the player for unique methods of doing things.

Controls for this game will be based on standard first person shooter controls with WASD or the arrow keys being for player navigation and the mouse for looking and aiming. The controls will be fully customisable but the defaults would be designed for comfort and ease of use. So anyone who has played a first person shooter before will find it easy to pick up and play.

The game takes place in the year 2018 in Bordeaux, the highest populated city in a post-apocalyptic France. The country is controlled by a corrupt government but Bordeaux is controlled by a faction named La Haine (The Hate).

René stumbled upon some important information about La Haine but before they could track him down he went to Benoni for help and now it's upto Benoni to get him and his brother out of the city and to safety.

What I'd like from you lot, if you can be bothered, is to help think up some features or characters I could include in the game. Or tell me all the features you like from things like Half Life etc.. that would be relevant.

Thanks Lee.
 
Sounds like a good game if you ask me. What i like the most about HL is the amazing story line and game play.
 
What about the gameplay and story? :)

I want little things like the torch or the way your weapons are displayed when you're selecting them.
 
Every FPS game should have some form of melee weapon, whether it's a knife, crowbar or fist. Too much realism can ruin a game sometimes so I'd have around 2/3 shots to a chest for a kill, 4/5 arms and legs, 1 for a headshot. You want to have an option of not killing as well so a secondary attack on your weapon to hit with the **** of your gun is an idea, or even a tranquillizer gun.

A torch is useful and Doom 3 is a great example of how it should be used. Running out of ammo is frustrating too but making enemy weapons available to pick up and use is better than just running over it and seeing +100 rounds added. You could play the game as different classes e.g. Sniper, Combat, Engineer. Each class has it's own traits like a sniper would have better aim than combat but the combat would have more armour and a heavier weapon. The Engineer class could have hacking skills to enter unaccessible buildings and the ability to dismantle defense structures (turret, camera).

If these are the kind of suggestions you are looking for then I'll gladly add more ideas, if it's not, meh.
 
If these are the kind of suggestions you are looking for then I'll gladly add more ideas, if it's not, meh.
It's exactly what I'm looking for. :thup:

Every FPS game should have some form of melee weapon, whether it's a knife, crowbar or fist. Too much realism can ruin a game sometimes so I'd have around 2/3 shots to a chest for a kill, 4/5 arms and legs, 1 for a headshot. You want to have an option of not killing as well so a secondary attack on your weapon to hit with the **** of your gun is an idea, or even a tranquillizer gun.
Yeh the amount of shots you've said is along the lines of what I was thinking. Except if the person is wearing a really thick/strong body armour it could be something stupid like 9 or 10 body shots but still 1 for the head or 2 if they have a helmet.

I was going to try and include some sort of tranquilizer. Whether it be a spray of some gas, a handkerchief you can put over somones mouth, or a tranquilizer gun. Inspired by MGS3 because playing the game and not trying not to kill anyone was fun and rewarding.

A torch is useful and Doom 3 is a great example of how it should be used. Running out of ammo is frustrating too but making enemy weapons available to pick up and use is better than just running over it and seeing +100 rounds added. You could play the game as different classes e.g. Sniper, Combat, Engineer. Each class has it's own traits like a sniper would have better aim than combat but the combat would have more armour and a heavier weapon. The Engineer class could have hacking skills to enter unaccessible buildings and the ability to dismantle defense structures (turret, camera).
I was thinking more of a Half Life style torch instead of one you have to equip. Maybe even Night Vision Goggles when you get further into the game but probably not.

I'm wanting to make ammo scarce so the player actually thinks about shooting. The only places to get ammo would be from searching dead bodies and taking it, taking other peoples weapons (and unloading them), traders, armouries, and the odd crate/box.

Not too sure about player classes. I want the game to be story based so it would need different storylines for each character class.
 
Yeah...always good to have different classes but maybe you should be given a set amount of points to put onto your skills (eg. Hacking, armour, etc..) and also be able to collect points for kills and stuff.
 
A great story line will keep you interested with Puzzles etc in your way and stopping you progress. Being able to take a good few hits before you die is also good with alot of places to recover health. Tuturials as yuor progress is good for n00bs to games.
 
Another way of implementing a torch could be to have it as part of the weapon, example here.
A simple switch of a key could turn it on/off. If you want to use a handkerchief then maybe add a 'sneak/stealth' feature like Splinter Cell. If you're going to be equiping armour then you could have a plus/minus feature to them.

No armour = 0 protection.
Stealth skin = 10 protection, -90 mobility, -50 visibility.
Light armour = 25 p, -25m.
Medium armour = 50p, -50m.
Heavy armour = 75p, -75m.

You can add features and change the stats to balance the armours. I'll stick some more things up after I've watched the football or you can add me to msn, if you want it I'll PM my addy.
 
there could also be an online team death match and various other modes
 
What corse are you doing?
Computer Games Software Engineering. This is for the Games Design module. The actual course is more about making games but we still do a bit about designing.

there could also be an online team death match and various other modes
For this assignment we've been told not to design any multiplayer games including co-operative modes, versus, or online.


A great story line will keep you interested with Puzzles etc in your way and stopping you progress. Being able to take a good few hits before you die is also good with alot of places to recover health. Tuturials as yuor progress is good for n00bs to games.
Yeh I want to include puzzles of somesort but having puzzles that stop you progressing can be frustrating if you can't do them. If I ahve puzzles it will only be for a locked box that you need to complete the puzzle to get the item inside.

Yeah...always good to have different classes but maybe you should be given a set amount of points to put onto your skills (eg. Hacking, armour, etc..) and also be able to collect points for kills and stuff.
Not too sure about points for kills.
 
Yea Lee i mean stuff that will only take a few mins of looking about or some a bit of thinking.
 
What I've done so far -> Link

It's about 3000 words so far and a little bit jumbled so read it if you're bored. ;)
 
Being able to rip metal bars and 2 x 4's off walls to use as mele weapons. This is what condemned is like as you can basically pick up anything you see and use it as a weapon.

The enemies should be unpredictable and attack you when it looks like there is no attack possible etc.. rather than knowing what exactly they are going to do every time.

Also what about a block mechanism to block mele attacks from enemies or something.
 
Ok so this has to be submitted by 12pm on Friday so if anyone wants to proof read waht I've done so far I'd be grateful.

Items highlighted are unfinished.
 
Well apart from the sections where you havn't written anything yet it looks fine.
 
Forget to tell you all how I did on this assignment.

Lee Taylor
Game Design Assignment
CM405 Computer Games Design 2006/7


Game Proposal Document 18/20
This is pretty good

Game Overview 5/5
This is good - a lot of detail here

World Description 7/10
This is reasonable - I like the map

Individual Chunks Description 13/15
Not bad at all

Characters/Units 12/15
Not bad, some good info

Story Elements 4/5
Pretty good. How does this relate to the film?

Gameplay Section 14/15
Well done, this is the best glameplay section I have marked so far, by a long way. Good detail.

AI Section 3/5
Reasonable but a bit generalised

Overall Quality 6/10
Well thought through, but the idea is not hugely original.


Total 82/100
There's some really good work here, well done. Incidentally, I didn't see any references to the film of the same name - is that what it's based on?


This assignment is worth 50% of the module mark


Gave me a 40% mark for the module overall which meant I never had to do the next assignment, an essay about game ethics, if I couldn't be bothered.
 
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