Gerbilcide Project Sacks, Nottingham, Albert, Miller, Kong Gerbilcide Game Design Document

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Gerbilcide Game Design Document Roll of Each Team Member Marion Albert concept art, initial design Jiayi Kong GIFs for the prototype,

game design document Concept Screenshot by Lauren Sacks Since video games grew capable of having true three dimensional graphics, the

Renowned for large amounts of gore and violence, there seems to be a trend in making extremely similar first person shooter (FPS) games.

1 Gerbilcide Game Design Document Roll of Each Team Member Marion Albert concept art, initial design Jiayi Kong GIFs for the prototype, general art Joe Miller design process, prototype art Dan Nottingham prototype programming, implementing art Lauren Sacks concept art, game design document Concept Screenshot by Lauren Sacks Since video games grew capable of having true three dimensional graphics, the first person shooter has been one of the dominating genres on the market. Renowned for large amounts of gore and violence, there seems to be a trend in making extremely similar first person shooter (FPS) games. Hence, our team has decided to reinvent the FPS genre to be used not as a form of destruction, but instead for more productive and environmentally-minded cause. This concept emerged in the form of Gerbilcide, in

2 which the player combats others in growing and developing terrain so that gerbils can merrily inhabit the space. Instead of standard guns and lazars, the player has a terrain gun, which can be shot at the ground to grow a variety of plants, and a gerbil gun, which adds gerbils to the space shot at. Prototype Created by Dan Nottingham Prototype art by Joe Miller and Jiayi Kong Predecessors of Gerbilcide and distinctive factors of Gerbilcide Currently, we have seen little change from the typical Valhalla-style FPS game, in which players simply kill each other and are respawned when they die. Games such as Fracture, currently in development by Lucas Arts, introduce new elements like terrain deformation that allow the player to more inventively find ways to kill his or her opponent. However, we have decided to deviate completely from this norm of kill or be killed and instead inspire competition in players by encouraging them to try to make their own territory more aesthetically pleasing than their opponents. Introduction and Story In the campaign mode of our game, you play an interplanetary terraformer working for the company LifeStat. You move from planet to planet creating life and competing with other companies, including Organo-Grow and Terra Linda. In order to

3 maintain control over the life growing on each planet, the companies are only allowed to place plants and animals on planets based on a government-controlled list. Although there are a wide variety of plants that can eventually develop on a planet planned for colonization, the only animals allowed are simple gerbils. In order to compare the company s success with one another, they use the gerbils as a way to rate the ability for animals to develop in the terraformed planet. This is also the system used for multiplayer in order to rate one player s score against another s and is the driving force behind encouraging players to develop their environment in aesthetically pleasing ways. Projected socio/cultural project impact Although our game would probably be initially well-received because of its use of the FPS genre, players would probably feel strange about not killing things in a game that utilized the first person mode. However, we believe that after this first reaction, players would react well to the idea of inventively creating the environment around them so that adorable small mammals could thrive within it. By intensely encouraging the feeling that players really are creating a new, more picturesque world, players would feel like they re actually making their own spaces within the game that were unique to their own tastes. In addition, the player would feel like he or she was contributing to something more than one would when playing a typical FPS game because the player is turning something dead and neglected into a living space. Potential Projected Target Audience Though Gerbilcide will contain the competitive first-person view of standard FPS games, it will not contain the typical violence and gore. Hence, we believe that this game will not only appeal to teenagers seeking to compete and play against their friends, but also to children, who will be drawn to the idea of making fun habitats for adorable gerbils. Though the game will not be considered an educational game, its aim involves making people closer to nature by teaching them small amounts about the environment. However, we will not overwhelm the player with environmental factoids and such, but instead will integrate educational material subtly while maintaining interesting gameplay that could even pull adults into the game in addition to our projected target audience. Ultimately, we plan on this game primarily attracting children and teenagers. Interface The game utilizes the typical first person perspective standard in FPS games in order to draw the player more into the world that he or she is creating. In this view, the player can draw upon either the terrain gun to modify whatever planet they happen to be terraforming at the moment or the gerbil gun to add gerbils to the terrain. Each company s territory will maintain a slightly different hue in order to allow players to distinguish their own spaces from their opponent s. The terrain gun can shoot in a variety of modes that are changed via either the number keys on a keyboard or by cycling through the different options using the shoulder buttons on a game controller. The gerbil gun would be a simple point-and-click system since the player can only shoot gerbils with it. The user-interface would also provide the player with access to either the campaign mode of the game, online multiplayer, or maps that the player has saved and

4 wants to continue to edit. In the online multiplayer mode, the player should be able to view other games already going on across the internet and should be able to create their own games that others can join. The campaign mode would show a series of planets and galaxies that the player s company was trying to colonize and who their competitor(s) would be on each level. Each time the player successfully plays through a level in campaign mode, he or she will be given a briefing on how successful he was and how happy the company is with him. Level Design Each level will initially appear as a completely barren, desert like space that is randomly generated. Each player will slowly build up the space in order to introduce more and more complex plants. We will also introduce some terrain deformation concepts similar to those in Fracture in order to give players a greater sense of freedom in the terraforming process. If a player creates a space that he or she especially likes, in game maps may be saved and edited later. The terrain gun will also give the player access to a wide variety of different types of environments, such as the hot, tropical rainforests seen in South America or the magnificent, towering redwood forests found in North America. The plant type used by the player will not affect the gerbil s interest in the space; it is simply there for player usage to create a more immersive experience.

solely for their own enjoyment rather than for competition.

5 Concept terrain development stages by Lauren Sacks Gameplay and Rules The player is competing against others working for other terrain companies in online and campaign modes, while the saved maps mode is a sort of stand still map editor in which the player is enhancing a map solely for their own enjoyment rather than for competition. However in the competitive modes, the player must work to make the planet a livable environment, in addition to working quickly in order to gain more of the planet s territory. Players compete by expanding on their company s terrain and

6 maintaining terrain that they ve already planted. Once the entire planet has been terraformed to the point where a specified minimum number of gerbils can exist in each space, the game is over and the results are tallied based on territory acquired and the density of gerbils in the area. In order to play successfully, the player will use a combination of the two available guns. The terrain gun begins by changing the planet s ground into usable soil, and then by growing simple grasses and weeds, followed by small shrubs and flowers, all the way to towering sycamores and evergreens. Should the player attempt to plant something that the environment can t yet support, the plant will simply die and it will return to being a neutral space. The gerbils will also move to nearby opponent s territories if the player that originally placed them is not maintaining the environment successfully. Additionally, there is a limit that each state of terrain can hold that will be shown to the player as he or she adds gerbils to the space. If the player exceeds the number of gerbils a space can hold, the gerbils in that space will die and the space itself will die by one growth cycle. Opponents can utilize this against each other in the form of an emergent strategy; by shooting extreme numbers of gerbils into a bordering, underdeveloped space, the space will eventually return to neutral if the player does not attend to it quickly. This will create more competition between players as they will have a more direct way to capture opponent s territory rather than only being able to wait and see if the player forgets to maintain certain spaces. Once the entire planet has been terraformed to the point where a specified minimum number of gerbils can exist in each space, the game is over and the results are tallied based on territory acquired and the density of gerbils in the area. Marion Albert

Have you ever been playing a video game and thought, I would have

Have you ever been playing a video game and thought, I would have In This Chapter Chapter 1 Modifying the Game Looking at the game through a modder s eyes Finding modding tools that you had all along Walking through the making of a mod Going public with your creations