H-World/Arxigle Xentrophore --------------------------- Game design document Hj. Malthaner Creation date: 20-Mar-2003 Last update: 07-Dec-2004 Preface ======= Things marked as "long-term idea" or "optional" might later expand the game but are currently out of the scope of the project. Game world ========== A galaxy with a very large number of solar systems. Some are explored and colonized, the majority is unknown/unexplored at the start of the game. Each solar system consist of one or more suns, planets, moons and space stations. Space stations are the place to buy/sell things, get orders, information etc. (? Trade - is there a common currency among all stellar systems) Long-term idea: Planets might have cities that the player can visit. The player has a spaceship to travel. There will be different types of space ships. Each type can be upgraded by replacing machines/parts with better parts. Long-term idea: space combat Ship ---- The players ship is essentially just a mini level. It contains a cabin for the ship owner (personal atmosphere), storage rooms, a control area and an engines section. The storage rooms might be changed into passenger cabins. Ship equipment -------------- Ship equipment exists as aggregates made from components. Components are things like energy sources, capacitors, transformers. Aggregates like a ship drive will be assembled from several elements. For sake of simplicity all elements have roughly the same size (they fill one map square). Space station ------------- Space stations are multi-level areas. Usually at least two level - Dock - Bar/shop/office deck The docks are mostly inhabitated by workers and ship owners, while the upper deck should have 'ordinary' people of various occupations and background. Shops - Personal equipment (weapons, small tools) - Ship enhancements (weapons, sensors, engines passenger cabins) - Food - Freight (?) Bars - Meet people, hear rumors, do some (illegal?) deals Offices - Prospectors licenses - Mapmaker - Police (?) Bulletin boards - Read messages, post messages Planets ------- Randomly generated surface. Long term idea: place cities and infrastructure Non-colonized planets --------------------- Inhabited by random plants and random lifeforms Random lifeforms ---------------- Created as variations of archetypes Archetypes: - Insects - Spiders - Reptiles + Snakes - Mammals + Rodents + Canines + Felines + Bovines + Apes (more mammals needed?) - Fish - Worms - Mollusks + Snails + Kraken Each archetype has a set of abilities or intriniscs. Variants are created by choosing some random intrinsics Questions: - How many variants should be generated (15 color sets = 15 variants per planet?) - When should they be generated - At start of game? - Once the player visits a new planet? - How are they fed into level generation? Display: There will be one image per archetype (maybe three: small, medium, large). It will be (partly) recolorable. Variants will just come in different color sets. Naming: It is upon the player to name new lifeforms. They will all start as "unknown lifeform", until the player first meets one and gives it a name. Identifying: It is neccesary to have unique IDs for all variants, i.e. to know which names the player has given them. Idea: Create variants once a player visits a new planet. Make sure the process is deterministic, so that always the same set of variants is created for a planet. Change level generation, so that only beings from the list of generated variants are created. Variant IDs are made from: - system number (unique) - planet number (unique) - variant sequence number (unique) How to store variant names? There is a global game data set. It could contain all named variants (id, name). It is stored upon exiting the game/restored upon starting. Long term idea: The H-World engine supports body parts. Use them. Game world details ------------------ Personal scale: the player is mostly concerned with his immediate surroundings, i.e. his ship and his possessions. He doesn't influence the games world in a large scale (i.e. no mighty politician, army leader or industrial tycoon) Freedom: the game shall not be following a strict storyline. The player has some means to interact with the game world. He is free when, where and how to use this controls. Game world display ------------------ I've chosen isometric display, even for the space (solar system) maps. This is mostly becuase the H-World engine supports this kind of view right out of the box, and thus allows quick progress. There will be several map scales: Space scale: one spaceship per map square. Planets will take up several scqaures, suns also. This implies big distrotions of size/distance relations, but I think the maps can be made so that the game plays well. Space combat will happen on this map scale. Indoor scale: about 1 meter (i.e. one person) per map square. This will be used for ship/station and buildings interior. All person-related activities of the PC will happen on this map scale. At this point, I'm not sure if exploring large portions of a planet will need another 'outdoor' scale, i.e. 100 or 1000 meters per square. Cities seems to be doable on indoor scale. Game control ============ First person control, 3rd person view. The player commands the PC to move and do things. All influence of the game world is done via the PC Automatisation -------------- 1) Information that the player has gathered should be available at any time after it has been aquired (remembered by the game). -> Book, PDA-like tool? Paths for PC development ======================== Careers are not exclusive by terms of game rules. A player can follow several careers. This section just gives a brief overview of what the player shall be allowed to do: Core careers ------------ - Become an explorer: Gather data about solar systems and planets and sell that data. The better the data, the more money. - Become an alien history/culture/technology scientist: Research alien cities and space stations. Abandoned alien citeis mighte be full of treasures but also full of dangers. Find alien documents and artifacts. Again, sell the data to get more money. (alternative goal: get famous ?) - Become a miner: once you found valuable resources, exploit them and sell the materials (mine by yourself? have robots that do the mining? visit the mines or just have abstract mines?) - Become a trader: the old story Side careers ------------ - Transport persons, parcels and information on request/demand Options for more careers ------------------------ - Become a head-hunter - Become a pirate - Military service (?) - Diplomat/Politician (?) Scientist career details ------------------------ A scientis primary goal is to gain reputation. He will achieve this by doing research and publishing the results. Researching alien technology ---------------------------- The problem how to make researching alien technology fun for the player. The PC will find alien gadgets and artefacts in abandoned alien settlements. This gives him the input for his research activities. How to do the research in a fun way? Putting an gadget into an analyzer and later on getting the results is boring. Also it's not really the way to become a famous scientist, anyone could put something into an analyzer and read the results. So that's not the way to do it. I think more player involvment is needed. My current idea is to give the player tools that help in research, without doing the research for the player. E.g. a laser cutter can be used to open alien gadgets. Used wrongly it will damage the interiours, and it can be dangerous, e.g. if the PC tries to cut an loaded energy cell. A step of research will involve the follwoing Input: - the artefact to research - a tool or gadget to apply - knowledge from previous research Output: - one or more artefacts (modified, components) - some knowledge Knowledge can be represented as item, e.g. a memory crystal or blueprint. Player motivation ================= - Upgrading the ship and getting better equipment cost money. Earn the money first. (Finite goal, some day the player will have the bets of everything). - Discovering new things (Finite goal, some day the player will have seen all types of planets, stations etc. Random levels can help to move this point somewhat farther into future). - ??? Player actions ============== General actions --------------- - Walk - Rest (Eat, sleep) - Change equipment - Use equipment - ??? In additon to the general actions, different locations offer different options: In ship ------- - Browse galactical map - Browse solar system map - Navigate ship - Replace ship equipment - ??? In space -------- - Land ship on planet - Dock ship at spacestation - Gather data about solar system (needs telemetrik equipment) - Space combat (?) - ??? At a space station ------------------ - Start ship - Buy/sell equipment and space ships - Talk to NPCs - Get passengers and freight - ??? On a planet ----------- - Start ship - Take ground probes (needs probing equipment) - Explore ruins/settlements - ??? NPC Archetypes ============== Trader Officer Soldier (?) Politician (?) Worker Bartender Miner (freelance) Explorer (freelance) Scientist (freelance) Pirate (?) Joe Average Ideas ===== Planet exploration (Idea by Trash) ---------------------------------- Give the player a warning before embarking on a possible lethal planet/area (you enter the airlock, from a speaker you hear the ship's mechanical voice; airless atmosphere detected, proceed with caution!) Seed some planets/asteriods with rare and interesting creatures. Fungus that spreads through your entire ship, animals that infect your brain with their eggs, a species that after being attacked once keeps on seeking you out and attacking you untill you find a way to deal with them, animals that attach themselves to you and thus give you bonuses and penalties through your stats. Not that original in itself, but a shitload of fun for a player to run into. Special Maps ------------ Service Tunnels, (Idea by Saint_Proverbius) Service Tunnels, areas that run between buildings, underground, and provide housing for various vermin like snakes, rats, violent psychotic homeless people seeking shelter, and so on. Machine Rooms (Idea by Saint_Proverbius) Machine Rooms where the back up generators, water tanks and pumps, heating and cooling units, and other things of an engineering nature are housed. These can be the environmental hazard areas, with steam vents, gas leaks, and numerous other problems for the lowly office worker wandering through the twisted mess of pipes, machines, and other things. Hidden deep within this floor would be the engineer's office, where he's barricaded himself in and dispatched his maintenance crew minions to keep the building functioning. Loading dock areas (Idea by Saint_Proverbius) Loading dock areas can also be dungeonesque, depending on the number of passaged to and from the dock that allow the dock to service the building. This area would have a high loot potential for the office worker because this is where all the supplies for the building come in. The hazard would be getting caught by maintenance workers and security should he choose to take it upon himself to fetch what he needs himself. Special encounters ------------------ Meet VIPs and other people (Idea by Trash) Randomn and scripted encounters with thieves, robbers, beggars, famous people can make it a lot of fun to walk throughout some space port. Glossary ======== PC: Player character. NPCs: Non player character. Persons or robots that are not player controlled but behave as if they would have their own will and life.