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Fascistance A Revolutionary Game By Redgie Mercado Professor Adam Brackin December 01, 2009
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Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction/Overview 2.0 Gameplay Mechanics 2.1 Street Level Mode 2.1.1Dynamic Character Creation 2.1.2Movement 2.1.3Action 2.1.3.1 Keyboard 2.1.3.2 Mouse 2.1.4Street Level GUI 2.1.4.1 Health Bar 2.1.4.2 Ammunition 2.1.4.3 Reticule 2.1.4.4 Notification Box 2.1.4.5 Damage Notifications 2.1.5
Vehicle Point of View
2.2 Dialogue Mode 2.2.1Dialogue Mode GUI 2.2.2Cinematic Experience Dialogue Mode 2.2.3Opinion Testing Mode 2.3 City View Mode 2.3.1Visual Information 2.3.2Historical Timeline 2.3.3Area Specific Information
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2.4 Inventory Mode 2.4.1Weapons 2.4.2Items 2.4.3Armor 2.5 Mini-game Mode 2.5.1Bartering, Selling and Buying 2.5.2Looting 2.5.3Computer Terminals 2.5.4Rigging 2.5.4.1 Building/Disarming GUI 2.5.4.2 Setting GUI 2.5.5Offensive Defensive Barrage 2.5.6Lock picking 2.6 Other Mechanics 2.6.1Calendar System 2.6.1.1 Day/Night 2.6.2Calendar/World Events AI Influence 2.6.3Laws Enforcement/ Rules of Engagement 2.6.4Punishment 2.6.5Official News Media/Word on the Street 3.0
Technology Mechanics 3.1 Dialogue Technology 3.2 Rigging Technology
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4.0 Artificial Intelligence 4.1 NPC Interaction 4.2 NPC Statistics 4.3 NPC Personalities Statistics 4.4 NPC Trust/Suspicion 4.5 Player Character Personality Statistics: MACH (Machiavelli Factor) 4.6 Passive/Aggressive Dialogue Stance
5.0 Game World Elements 5.1 Art/Music Style 5.2 City Area Dichotomy 5.3 The Open City 5.4 Characters 5.4.1The Player Character 5.4.2NPC Types 5.4.2.1 The Monarch 5.4.2.2 The First Estate –The Noble Clergy 5.4.2.3 The First Estate – The Lower Clergy 5.4.2.4 The Second Estate – The High Nobleman 5.4.2.5 The Second Estate – The Low Nobleman 5.4.2.6 The Third Estate – Bourgeois 5.4.2.7 The Third Estate - Peasants 5.5 ITEMS 5.5.1Weapons
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5.5.1.1 Fists, Pipes, Chains, Wine Bottles and other Melee items 5.5.1.2 Silenced Pistols 5.5.1.3 Short Range Sub Machine Gun (w/ silenced option) 5.5.1.4 Medium Range Assault Rifle 5.5.1.5 Sniper Rifles 5.5.1.6 Improvised Explosive Devices 5.5.1.7 Stationary Machine Guns 5.5.2Items 5.5.2.1 Physical Health 5.5.2.1.1 Small Medkit 5.5.2.1.2 Large Medkits 5.5.2.1.3 Poison 5.5.2.2 Mechanical 5.5.2.2.1 Lock Picks 5.5.2.2.2 Wires 5.5.2.3 Electrical 5.5.2.3.1 Remotes 5.5.2.3.2 Detonators 5.5.2.3.3 Batteries 5.5.2.3.4 Electrical Wires 5.5.2.4 Miscellaneous 5.5.2.4.1 Bags of Rocks, Flour, Rice, etc. 5.5.2.4.2 Books, Newspapers, Information, Transcripts, Mission Outlines
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5.5.2.4.3 Random bits of metal, screws, nuts, bolts 5.5.2.4.4 Beverages and Food 5.6 Objects and Mechanism 5.6.1Entryways 5.6.2Keypads 5.6.3Traditional Locks 5.6.4Levers 5.6.5Computer terminals and related systems 6.0 Story Overview 6.1 Back Story 6.2 Start of the Game 7.0 Game Progression 7.1 Story Collection 7.2 Major Quests 7.2.1Birthday Lyes 7.2.2National Securitas Veritas 7.2.3Normal Activity 7.2.4Operation Bastard Steel 7.2.5The Vermillion Venus 7.2.6The Fires that Burn on Gold 7.2.7Project Solidarity 7.2.8A Self Sustaining Reaction 7.2.9The Weight of a Thousand Suns 7.2.10
The New Age
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7.3 Achieving the Goal 7.3.1Side Quests 7.3.2Examples of gameplay progression 8.0 System/Menu Interface 8.1 Main Menu 8.2 Option Menu 9.0 Others 9.1 Business 9.2 Reference Games 9.3 Development Team/ Budget 10.0 Citations
Introduction/Overview Facsistance: A Revolutionary Game title comes from the portmanteau of “Fascist” and “Resistance” highlighting the struggle during the game play of opposite sides. The subtitle A Revolutionary Game explains the main title, but also carries the double meaning that the game employs an artificial
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intelligence that emulates a realistic social dynamic and centers the progression of game play around that concept. Fascistance is an action RPG that simulates the mechanics of a revolution. The game world is inhabited with NPCs that have their personal affiliations with different sides of the rebellion. NPCs have an area where they exhibit their own influence based on their personality. Their area of influence is varied among NPCs, but in general, the bigger their influence is, the more important they are to the cause they support. The goal of the player is to overthrow one of the dominant forces in the city. The player must join a side and work with them in order to overthrow the opposing side. The player must use their personal resources, and the resources of the player’s side in order to influence and manipulate NPCs. In order to move to subsequently more powerful influential beings, the player must first deal with weaker influences in order to turn the flow of public opinion. The game measures the flow of public opinion and will trigger events based on the flow in the world. How they get there, is up to how well the player manipulates the NPCs to their own intentions. This game focuses on manipulation of the NPCs. Thus the game is designed around the concept that many of the player character’s actions can be interpreted by NPCs. Much of the inspiration comes from “Fallout 3”, specifically one of chapters known as “Tranquility Lane”, wherein the player could choose to wreak havoc on the family members and citizens of a 50’s
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suburban simulation. The focus was to create a game that reacted to player agent’s personality and choices by asking the player certain questions aimed at gauging their political stances to their individual traits. NPCs will react different to the player’s personality, and will provide the player with a unique challenge as they make their way through the world. Morality will be ambiguous in this world, and will focus on benefit and loss in choices. (Fallout 3, 2008)
Gameplay Mechanics Gameplay mechanics will be divided into the different modes that make up the game play experience. It will start from the most familiar view; the typical 3rd person/1st person view mode and inventory mode, then discuss the menu mode which can be called upon at anytime during any of the modes. Then the document will expand into dialogue mode with an opinion testing mode, city view mode, minigame mode. It will also involve other gameplay mechanics that are concerned with player and NPC stats, NPC types, the role of weaponry and certain features that affect the general social dynamic of the cityscape and its focus on gameplay mechanics. STREET LEVEL MODE: Within this section, lies all the gameplay mechanics that involve movement of the player through the world and their interactions with game play elements that don’t require any special GUIs. Vehicles will be available, hence the ability to use cars, horses, train system, among other things
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Dynamic Character Creation: Character creation will not be flexible as other typical RPGs. The character’s persona and character will be dynamically affected by the world’s interactions with the player. The main character Emina, a female about the age of a high school girl. As the player character moves from faction to faction, becomes involved in riots, and battles Emina’s clothes will start to deteriorate. They can appear to be repaired, or take on clothes from the surroundings to situate the character firmly into the surroundings of the city. It is made this way in so this may add to the information-visual experience for the player. Movement: Movement will be controlled by the “WASD” common configuration wherein “W” moves the character forward,” A” strafes to the left,” D” strafes to the right, and “S” walks backwards. The mouse will move the camera and the angle of which the player character moves. In order to turn right around a corner all a player needs to do is move forward with “W”, while moving the mouse to the right in order to corner and vice versa for turning left. This is an extremely common system, so the player will adapt to this system. In certain situations like in Cinematic Experience Dialogue Movement, control will be taken away from the player and follow an NPC on a predetermined path.
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Action: Keyboard: Most actions can be activated from the “F” key default. A small on screen notification will pop up showing the action, and the actions availability to be performed by the action key (Default “F”). Other Action can be performed in dialogue, depending on whether it is deemed “Passive” or “Aggressive” which will be explained in NPC Interaction – Aggressive/Passive Dialogue stances. Other actions available to the player is to crouch with “C”, jump with the spacebar, reload with the “R” key and throw grenades with the “G” button if the player has any. All keys can be remapped and additional features like weapon selection can be mapped to the numeric keys. For example, mapping a sniper rifle to “3” will allow the player to equip a sniper rifle from the player’s inventory, without going into inventory mode. Certain mapping like these can be done through the inventory mode, but for the most part, mapping of actions for the rest of the keys can be done through the game option mode. Mouse Mouse controls involve left click (button 0) to activate the action of your equipped weapon i.e. firing the weapon, swinging the knife, etc. Mouse right click involves alternate fire, which can mean lots of things depending on the weapon. For sniper rifles, it can mean steady hand/hold breath and for assault rifles it can mean firing the attached launcher. Note however, that
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the focus of this game is different from typical FPS/Action RPGs, so these features will be encouraged with the use of discretion. Street Level Graphical User Interface: Health bar: This bar will show the player’s health ranging graphically from empty to full. Below it, is their health number ration showing a certain number X out of X. The denominator is influenced by their rank and level as they progress throughout the game. It will be thin and as minimally invasive as possible. Ammunition: This bar will show when the player has an equipped weapon, and will take on the appearance of the health bar but on the opposite bottom side of the screen. It will provide a numerical number ratio much like the Health Bar. Reticule: A small reticule will define the pixel center of the screen. Anything falling within this range will be brought up as an item in the notification at the bottom of the screen in between the health bar on the right and the ammunition bar on the left. When the reticule hovers over something of importance, the reticule will glow from the stale gray, to bright white. If it’s aimed towards a friendly NPC, it will be bright green. If the NPC is unable to talk to you, it will be dark green. If the NPC is an enemy it will be turned
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anywhere from dark red to bright red. This range will show the likelihood your equipped weapon will kill your intended target.
Notification box: This area will be an invisible place where text will be presented. All items/game object/elements will be named succinctly in order to fit in this designated area in order to provide concise information. Damage Notifications: Areas of the screen will glow with red as a method to alert the player of damage coming from any side. The screen will be divided into an invisible cardinal cross, in up, down, right and left sides of the screen. If the player character is hit from one side or the other, the corresponding side will glow. For example, being sniped from the front will light up the top of the invisible cross. Being punched from behind will light up the bottom of the cross, and being hit with fire from either side will light up the corresponding sides of the invisible cross. Vehicle Point of View: Movement will much be like the movement in the “Warthog” of the “Halo “series. This involves the player character entering the vehicle and driving with the typical movements. Using the mouse aims the vehicle slowly
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in that direction, and W and S serve as forward movement and backward movement. (Halo: Combat Evolved, 2001) Action will be conducted through the F key, and exiting the vehicle will be through the same key. The player character has the ability to bail from the vehicle. If the player character boards a train, or other vehicles with a predetermined route, they can navigate throughout the city without need of player control. DIALOGUE MODE: This mode will describe all the game play mechanics involving the player character’s choices, interactions that affect the float of the conversation. It will also describe a few caveats to the dialogue system that will depart from the typical “stand and focus” points of view video games like “Fallout 3”. The focus for this dialogue mode is to create a more cinematic experience. (Fallout 3, 2008) Dialogue GUI: Dialogue mode is enacted when the action key is pressed at the same time the cursor is bright green and/or their name is displayed in the notification area. At this time, the camera will move to an angle focusing on the two showing much of the two characters with the camera framing out their legs. As the characters voice out their dialogue, the player will
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presented with dialogue options at the bottom of the GUI. Selection of dialogue items will simply be chosen by hovering over the choices and clicking and choosing. Certain “colored” choices will be available. Each color represents the kind of response the player can give: false, aggressive, or cautious, empathic, sexually charged, and optimistic. Normal choices that advance the dialogue or otherwise neutral will be tinged neutral white. False (lying) will be tinged with red, aggressive actions will be tinged with orange, cautious reactions will be yellow, empathic will be green, sexually charged responses will be purple, and the optimistic choices will be tinged blue. The saturation of the colors will depict how deeply affected by the tone these response are. Opacity and percentages will come into play later in the AI section explaining NPC Interaction. Cinematic Experience Dialogue Mode: The player has the ability to zoom in, or zoom out during a conversation to show more of the environment or to show the character’s faces. If the dialogue has the player character standing still and talking to the NPC, the dialogue will take place much like in normal Action RPGs. However, there will be special instances where the player must “walk and talk” with the NPC as they move through a different point. The walk and talk instances will have two types. The first walk and talk dialogue mode involves a final position and is associated with a dialogue that will need to be finished in a certain amount of time and the left top side will show the immediate
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goal for the player. A timer will appear in the right top corner and show the remaining time left. The second type of walk and talk will involve a walk with the NPC on a looping cycle. During the walk, types of dialogue will be encouraged or discouraged because of location. For the first type, an example would include the player character talking to an NPC who has valuable information who is a rush somewhere. The dialogue must be enacted at first in order to get his attention, stop him, convince him to stay, and give in to your intentions before the NPC needs to get their destination. For the second type, the location of the NPC, certain dialogue, if overheard can end the conversation abruptly. Or a certain conversation (and aggressive action) can only be executed when passing a quiet enough location in the city. The certain NPC “mini-missions” will feature one or a mix of either one. Many of the dialogue aspects will be tied to the AI section NPC interaction. Opinion Testing Mode: Some of the game objects can be interacted with much like the NPC interaction. The major object of interaction will be pieces of information, namely newspapers, radios, television, etc. If the player character chooses to interact with these, the cinematic experience dialogue mode will open up showing the player character interacting with the object/element. The information will be presented in another area of the screen where the player has the choice to scroll down on the newspaper, or listen to the broadcast, or
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watch the clip of the news. After the end of certain part of the newspaper article, a question will display itself with choices on how the player feels about the article, and will affect the player character’s political stance, thus affecting their available choices in dialogue choices. This will give the player a certain amount of control in the kind of things the player wants their character to be able to say and do. CITY VIEW MODE: In this mode, the city will be available as a large map much like “Google Maps”. However this mode will simulate a live feed from a low orbiting satellite view. This view will present the player with a lofty view, and the relative position and significance the player character has within the world. To access this view, the player must press default “T”. (Google Maps, 2009)
Visual Information: The city will be dynamic, and acts of fighting and rioting will be highlighted in fires, tracer fire, and smoke in real time throughout the city. The player character’s significant weight in the world will be gauged by their individual rank, progression, location and political stance metered throughout the game. For example if the character just started out the game with no political influence, the player character is particularly safe in any district but
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has minimum influence on the surrounding groups. However, if the player character is far in the game, has good standing with a faction, all the NPCs in areas where the district majority is represented by faction beliefs will treat the player with respect. However in an opposing district, people might make assassination attempts in that area or NPCs that are engaged in conversation with the player character may avoid them. The significance of the player character will be displayed by a translucent circle approximating the general respect and significance in that district/area.
("News: Grant and Kate in Dubai") Modified images of Dubai’s night time city
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Historical-Timeline: Herein, a ticker style bar at the bottom will reveal the historical and current timeline in where major and minor events will be displayed. Current events will be presented here like an RSS feed. The player has the choice to scroll over to this ticker and actively recall the events, and possible missions/investigations surrounding it. Area Specific Information: In this aspect, the player has the ability to zoom in and target certain areas and find out the relevant statistics of each area. They can typify the allies, enemies, faction members, NPC public support percentage, NPC types
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and populations, possible missions, and individual statistics in the particular area. INVENTORY MODE: This mode essentially makes up everything that has to do with keeping track of items belonging to the player character. This mode will also include quest objects, and display relevant information about the player character. Since this mode is GUI heavy, the iterations below should be treated as their own separate GUIs. Most of the Inventory mode GUIs will include all the common features found in many other Action RPGs, much like the ability to monitor money, give out weapons, repair weapons, and a weight system. To access this mode, the player must press “Tab” to enter their inventory. Weapons: This GUI will feature the current weapon selected in the right half of the screen as held by the player character. Within the bottom part of that quadrant, the ammunition available will be included on the left as a bar, and as a number ratio. On the bottom right of that quadrant, the health/effectiveness will be displayed. On the left top half, will list the weapon’s inventory. If the player has multiple weapons; for example “Rocket Launcher x 2” will denote two rocket launchers are available. The multiple amount of collection can give the ability to repair items. Weapons can be assigned in the bottom left quadrant to the numeric keys for easier switching. The player can equip the character with the weapon by simply
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scrolling over and hovering over the desired item and left button click, highlighting the item for use. The player character can do other things in different situations, where they can give their weapon to the NPC they’re speaking to. They can also drop weapons. Items This GUI will feature the current items in the player’s inventory. The GUI will be functionally identical to the Weapon’s GUI. The player character will hold the item in their hand, and if the player chooses to use the item in the same method as the Weapon’s GUI, then the player character animates using the item in Inventory mode. If the player wants to give something out to an NPC, be it an item like a first aid kit, they can do so. They can also give items that could be harmful to the NPC. This depends on the NPC’s perception of the player character. They won’t accept a live bomb for example when the player character has the trigger unless the NPC is convinced the player character is on their side. Armor: Since the character has a dynamic appearance that progresses throughout the game, the only thing that the player character can change concerning wear is armor. Armor will tend to range from light to heavy armor, worn underneath the dress or uniform. Armor will impact speed but not by much. GUI will be the same as the GUI’s before.
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MINIGAME MODE: This mode will include all the times that involve special events that cannot be portrayed effectively by the Street Level Mode. As a relatively loose definition, this can mean any time street level becomes limited in movement due to events, like rigging an Improvised Explosive Device from your inventory onto a door.
Bartering, Selling, Buying This can be done with any NPC and in different areas with merchants in a visible store. The standard interface of trading of your inventory for their inventory will be used here. Money is considered an inventory item, and will be “traded” for the item. There is an agreement button that must be clicked in order to finish the trade. Looting: This will involve the same bartering selling and buying GUI, except there is no agreement, just a “take it” or “all” button. Computer Terminals: Computer terminal GUI will show a close up of the monitor and the menu system as the player navigates through the choices to get information, or to activate different systems, or doors.
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Rigging: This involves taking items from your inventory and rigging it to harm NPCs. Rigging can involve different items/elements in the world.
Building/Disarming GUI: As the player character goes around the city to more war torn areas, the player will be able to combine elements like wires, transmitters, igniters and mortar shells to create Improvised Explosive Devices. As long as the player character carries a certain amount of these items, they can successfully build an item that can be rigged to certain elements in the city world. The IED can be assembled through a mini game which supplies the player character with tools like electrical tape, pliers and a screw driver in a
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toolset on the left of the screen. The items necessary (if available in your inventory) will be presented to you on a on a gridded table. Other items, if applicable can be combined to contain the IED, i.e. a med kit or a sack of rice. If the player character finds them in need to disarm a certain weapon, they can do so through the opposite procedures taken during arming. A very basic understanding of electricity will be needed here, no more then what completes a current. Disarming with a battery on for example can cause death for the player. Setting GUI: When a player gets to a certain element in the world, the GUI takes the generic image of that element and presents the ability to drop the IED, for example at a doorstep. Or more advanced measures can be taken, like setting a trip wire or simply setting a remote detonator. Here you will also have the option of disguising it in several items, as long as it can conceivably fit inside the item. The world elements you can set/disarm an IED next to include vehicles, doors, windows, middle of the streets, and if disguised, in the middle of busy crowds. Offensive/Defensive Barrage: In the event where a riot is taking place and the player character is in charge of NPCs who need to take down the riots, the offensive/defensive barrage will activate. Typically this is with a timer where the player character has to destroy, or defend from rioting or attacking soldiers. The camera will
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take a high but local bird eye’s view where the whole battle will take place. Much of this is for purposes of defending different areas of the city from the onslaught of a total riot or attack. Lock picking: GUI will show a lock, and the mechanics of a tumbler system. User will move the mouse around in a left to right fashion to jiggle the lock and set each pin. OTHER MECHANICS Calendar System: Here, during certain times, depending on random events in the city, this time period raises the violent and chaotic tendencies of the masses in the cities. This would be a very good time for the player character who sides with revolutionists as this increase the likelihood of the targets being killed. However, this is a time to be feared for the statist maybe hard to kill and protection assignments are harder to complete. However, in Tides of Peace, this time is the perfect time for the statist aligned player character to attack revolutionists when they are having a hard time inciting rebellion or hiding among the masses. Day/Night The city goes through changes of time, where the actions and events take on a different meaning to the immediate witnessing public. For example
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broad acts of terrorism would be beneficial to do during the day for their intended purpose; however, government assassinations would be best at night, to keep the public as unaware as possible. Everyday after different times in the morning, newspapers will show the events of the days before and events that the player has not witnessed. The player has the choice to gauge their play styles through their reactions to the news.
Calendar/World Events AI influence Reigns of Terror/Tides of Peace There will be a certain set time of about 3 in-game years where the city will evolve as the game expires towards the eradication of either influences or factions. Since the goal of the player is to get on top of the city, and thus the country, they must calculate the occurrences that happen in the city and find ways to feel confident in their chosen side. This is why the Reigns of Terror and the Tides of Peace exist. This mechanic will influence A.I. NPC personality statistics specifically. During these times, Reigns of Terror will affect things like Neuroticism, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness in a significantly more negative manner, relative to the slight dampening of Openness and Extraversion. This will lead to a generally aggressive or terrified public. In Tides of Peaces, the
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world’s Big Five factors are positively influenced, more significantly on Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Agreeableness. As mentioned before, each has its merits for the player character’s goals. (Srivastava) Law Enforcement/ Rules of Engagement A very important part of the game results from the time to strike effectively. As the calendar will present different times where striking is optimal, the player character has to be aware of their actions within the game. Reigns of Terror will typically encourage Revolutionists to act more freely against the government without fear of punishment being caught in the act, as there is much chaos in the world. Statists tend to try to maintain peace during these times, as the chaos makes it hard to find revolutionists hiding in the riots and fighting. In these times, Statist is more likely to use deadly force however, in order to control rebellion with oppression. During neutral times, there is a balance in the world in the sense that both parties have an equal time finding each other and killing each other’s influential figures. During Tides of Peace, the revolutionists are forced to take cover and be extremely covert. The Statists have an easier time finding revolutionists and dissenting opinion during these times. Any action taken by the Statists here must be covert as well. Revolutionists can be caught by the state and thus loose influence on their neighboring NPCs, and covert actions discovered during these times will make sympathy for the revolutionists. Punishment
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Usage of certain weapons, as will be described later, will merit certain amounts of punishment. The punishment for revolutionists and Statist caught in the act depends on the weapons and the period of time the city world is in. For Revolutionists the results are jail time, or death. For Statists, the result is destabilization of public opinion, and hence adding to the variability and chaos the revolutionists feed off. Official News Media/ Word on the Street This mechanic mainly deals with the dynamic of these “indirect” sources of information. Journalists and media centers can be controlled much like other NPCs, hence bribed, or threatened. Their bias will be reflected by the people working there though, unless manipulated otherwise. The news media, depending on their center’s regional influence, can color the otherwise neutral NPC’s responses and opinions in that area. Its minimal effect on the individual, but on a massive collective scale, these may be important to consider. Word on the street will be the rumors of the happenings going around that certain area. Most rumors will inform the player character of their activities they have performed if they have been too conspicuous. The less the word on the street talks about the players action, the most successful the player is at the game.
Technology Mechanics
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Dialogue Technology: Though Fascistance will use a dialogue tree system, dialogue will have the ability to have “tone” and “color” in the voice, as well as player character element that are able to influence the receiving NPC’s dialogue in a slightly more dynamic manner. For example, if the player just starts out, and tries to threaten an NPC, the player character’s influence and power is not enough, both visually, and by the player’s stats, therefore, the NPC will not take the threat seriously. However, with the exact same NPC, if the player has spent time progressing and attaining respect in the city, the NPC will be frightened and is likely more to give in. Rigging Technology: This part of the game requires movements and tools placed together in the rigging GUI to become parsed into the game world. Much like Ookami, and its drawing pen system, the rigging tech will play off this same principle.
Artificial Intelligence This section involves everything that deals with NPCs and their movements in the world, exhibited characteristics, their faction/class associations, and their general “lives” that they carry on in the city as they
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interact within the city. Some of these sections will describe further details on mechanics described before, but expanded to include the relevant information on Artificial Intelligence. NPC Interaction: One of the major points of this game is NPC interactions. These NPC interactions can be divided into two levels that overlap. MACH factor presides over the interactions inherent in dialogue while actions dictate the interactions that involve the typical action RPG elements such physically harming the NPC. The NPC’s own stats follow the big Five Factor Personality Model and rate them based on different traits. (Srivastava) NPC Statistics: There will be normal statistics that give the NPC a certain amount of health and stamina. For simplicity sake, ammunition will be tied to the weapon element if they possess a weapon. Other than that, their health is tied to their ranking in the world, as described in the Estates. Generally, the higher rungs of each estate will have more health than the lower rungs.
NPC Personality Statistics:
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A majority of the NPCs will have their own personality traits that align close to their class types, but offer variability in these categories according to the Five Factor Personality Model. Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism define this personality model, and in consequence, will adapt specifically to each kind of class of NPCs. Each category will be listed, and the class underneath it. Starting from the left will be the classes that are most likely to exhibit these properties. The Monarch is excluded from this list as his NPCs statistics will be affected more by the player’s personality. The Five Factor Personality Model is defined as such. Openness: appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, imagination, curiosity, and variety of experience.
Enlightened Bourgeois, the Low Noblemen, the Peasants, the High Noblemen, the Low Clergy, the High Clergy Conscientiousness: a tendency to show self-discipline, act dutifully, and aim for achievement; planned rather than spontaneous behavior.
The High Clergy, the Low Clergy, the High Nobleman, the Low Noblemen, the bourgeois, the peasants Extraversion: energy, positive emotions, urgency, and the tendency to seek stimulation and the company of others.
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The Peasants, bourgeois, Low noblemen, Low Clergy, High Clergy, High Noblemen Agreeableness: a tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious and antagonistic towards others.
Bourgeois, Low Clergy, Low Noblemen, Peasants, High Clergy, High Noblemen Neuroticism: a tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily, such as anger, anxiety, depression, or vulnerability; sometimes called emotional instability.
The Peasants, Bourgeois, Low Noblemen, High Noblemen, Low Clergy, High Clergy (Srivastava) The overlap here exists in the dialogue system, where “normal” dialogue present in other RPGs will be labeled as “passive dialogue stance”, called as such as only a minimal amount of gestures between the player character and the NPC can be exchanged. However, due to the following MACH system, manipulation inherently needs both dialogue oriented and action oriented approach to achieve the player character’s goals. The “aggressive dialogue stance” as the name suggests will allow the player to use more aggressive gestures to outright action, appropriate to the response of the NPC, depending on how the dialogue is gauged by the following mechanic. NPC Trust/Suspicion:
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Based on the NPC’s personality traits, a secondary NPC stat is the NPC’s Trust vs. Suspicion meter. This bar will have a default setting depending on the personality trait the NPC has at first, but as the player character does agreeable things with the NPC that benefit them, their trust goes up, and are more willing to be friends and partners with the player character. The more trust the NPC has for the player character, the more likely they will be willing to follow the player character. Player Character’s Statistics: MACH (Machiavelli Factor): As one of the major gameplay mechanics, MACH is actually divided into different major categories: Influence, Prediction, and Deception. These skills define the player character’s ability to manipulate NPCs for their goals. Influence is something the player character gains as they move up in status and rank in the world. They gain this in different ways. One of them is through the successful completion of missions for certain factions. Depending on the faction, their influence takes the form of faction’s beliefs, resources, etc. For example, if the player is aligned with the revolutionists (one of the agencies/factions of change), the player’s influence will play better with people with the personality traits that allow them to sympathize with the revolutionists cause. In order to convince an important NPC one can use revolutionists influence to promise protection after the revolution, or convincing them that their lives would be better after they depose of the monarch. If their alignment is currently with the monarch or the church
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(agencies/factions of preservation), this type of influence will allow NPC to be convinced by bribery (by opening up dialogue options) or be inspired by their sense of religion. Of course, the other two categories are important opening up even more dialogue choices. They will also provide the player with success rates in applicable choices. Prediction factor creates the success rate. Increasing the prediction skill allows the player character to notice psychological factors about the NPC they are talking to. For example, while asking an NPC walking by how their day was, a rushed response could mean a number of things. However, if player character’s prediction skill is high enough, within the response dialogue, the HUD will alert the player character that their hand is trembling slightly, giving insight to the nervous state of the NPC. This nervous state will dynamically change the success rates of particular dialogue options available to the player character. This leads into the skill ability of deception. Deception focuses on the player character’s ability to deceive, and to detect deception. The player character’s deception skill can be outwardly displayed through dialogue and through action. Through dialogue this increases the amount of dialogue options that will cater to the player characters intentions. Detecting deception also becomes intertwined with prediction. When this is high enough, you have the ability to shoot down lies, interrupting the NPC and
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changing the dialogue from a passive dialogue stance to the aforementioned aggressive dialogue stance. In short, the player character’s influence will measure their ability to offer, coerce, or otherwise take a physical action for the benefit or harm of the NPC. Prediction will gauge the percentage of success each dialogue option or choice has, while informing the player character on the NPC’s psychological state. And lastly deception will open up more choices that cater to the intentions of the player character’s personality traits. MACH is a skill that generally increases over time as the player
Passive/ Aggressive Dialogue Stances: The Passive Dialogue stance will allow the player to operate and speak to individual NPCs on a low profile manner, allowing them to talk normally and non-violently to NPCs as they go on about their day. This will allow the player to act in a civilized manner as they take themselves through the world of Fascistance. By default, this is the state the player character starts in when they engage an NPC in dialogue. However, due to the nature of the MACH mechanic, certain NPCs will carry information, etc that may only be accessed by use of the character’s Influence, Perception and Deception skills. Within passive dialogue, there is only so much the player character
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can do. If the dialogue leads to that direction, the player character can engage an aggressive dialogue stance. For instance, if an NPC lies to the player, the player can activate this aggressive dialogue stance and choose the option to punch the NPC in the face, and hold a gun to their head and continue the dialogue from there on. Physical actions within aggressive dialogue stance are still subject to MACH, guiding the user in the best choice both in action and in dialogue.
GAME WORLD ELEMENTS In this section, the elements in the world that have not been mentioned will be fully explained, and the mechanics and AI aspects that relate with game world elements will be referenced and added upon relating to their general relevance to the city.
ART/MUSIC STYLE: The world will be set in an indeterminate time and in indeterminate place to emphasize that these events could happen anywhere. However the city will be reminiscent of old European architecture to backup characters and have a natural setting for them. It will be set during a hard harsh winter in order to capitalize on the intensity of the fighting, blood, fires, massacres, etc.
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The world will have a general tint of heavy blues, dark greens, grays in the over world highlighted with reds and oranges for areas of action, fighting and turmoil. This is designed to cast a depressing emotional mood over the entire game. Different parts of the city will dynamically decay depending on the unhappiness of the surrounding population and the amount of corruption and other negative aspects surrounding the particular district of the city. CITY AREA DICHOTOMY Fascistance will be the country in which the story and game play take place. However it is in the capital city of Tempermentia where all the activities take place. Some events will occur in the more rural areas outside Tempermentia. However the capital city itself with divided into 6 districts will offer different areas where certain NPCs types will be dominant over one another. This is to say, while many of the NPCs will react to terrorism in much of the same way, their recourse to fight versus their tendency to run will be different depending on the area. Example would be an area where many militaristic NPCs are housed. If the player is trying to kill a top ranking colonel in order to destroy his influence in the area, Emina might go around different sections of influence around the colonel first, in order to take away his influence. This might lead to the likely hood to disturb the peace of normal civilian NPC. This in turn causes them to riot significantly and distract
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the soldiers who are otherwise guarding the colonel. This then provides access to kill the colonel. Each district will be divided further more by the influential men and women in that area, and their areas of influence, summarized by circles that fade towards the outer radius. The city view will show their area of effect. Further than that, are the NPCs under their direct supervision that exhibit a very local influence due to the bigger 3 or 4 Valuable NPCs. THE OPEN CITY Most buildings will be able to be enterable. As such, there is only a tightly knit city comprised of at most 4 to 5 story buildings. And since it’s imitating a “classical” European city, only a few of the buildings will be “grand” in while a majority are simple building/concrete buildings that should not be too hard to fabricate. As this game is slated for a future release this also makes it more feasible. The styles of the French Rococo era will be interspersed and mixed with modern and futuristic styles. The blending is there to emphasize that revolution can take place in anytime and location. The rococo era is chosen due to the type of alliances you can choose during the game which would be more “natural” for the setting. It will also lend to an air of extremes, since the rococo era was all about the extremes of art and decoration. This will also contribute to the contrast between different districts as one goes through the poorer areas of the city.
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The characters will have interesting designs as well. Coming from a costuming point of view, the characters should have interesting art styles and designs that costumers would want to recreate their outfits in real life. A dynamic score would be implemented depending on the mood and atmosphere surrounding the player character in order to highlight different actions in the game. The score itself would involve many strings, classical guitars played with a range of moods. The lightest moods of the score would be used sparingly, for highlighting happy moments during the game play. However most of the score would include ominous, yet reflective undertones playing throughout the game when action is not playing out on screen. When action is happening, depending on your alliance, the player will experience revolutionary people’s songs, or impending monarchic music. The mood of the music itself with be airy, atmospheric, and give the impression of being under the shroud of a heavy winter. Important and semi-important NPCs will be voiced over in order to give personalities to the characters the player interacts with. CHARACTERS: Herein contains everything related to characters that deal with the player character, and their involved in the big schema of the world. More specific characters will mentioned in later sections but for now, it will encapsulate the different types of characters their relations to each other.
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The Player Character: At the beginning of the story, the player character’s background is unknown to the first time player. The player character, Emina is female, in her 20s and has long hair with bangs in order to hide a high forehead. She could be considered “cute”, but only when she allows it to come forth. Other than that, she maintains a straight face at almost all times. Her default clothes are plain consisting of a jumper skirt with plain prints and a small jacket, with Mary Jane shoes and knee socks. Her face has a sense of nobility to hint at her origins. NPC Types: Non playable character types are categorized into several groups or classes they identify with their class into the general estates based on the real history of France and Medieval Europe. It will also describe their main motivations and the effect of their death upon the general population. Note, that their effects will be calculated based on their standing in their community or on the NPC’s individual personality characteristics. Generally, the harder they are to convince to your goals, the more dedicated they are to their ward, and the harder the people around them will fall due to their death. (Kreis) The Monarch:
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Existing outside the Estates system, the Monarch controls what he believes the to be the good for himself first, then the First Estates who hold religious influence, then the Second Estates who hold the majority of the financial power in the country. This is the last man the player character deals with in the city regardless of their position or final alliance. This is the most intelligent NPC in the game, and in a way, is the goal the player character is trying to reach. He is only seen on television within the confines of his palace, fearing assassination. He often makes presentations and reports in the grandest of attire. The First Estate - The Noble Clergy: These few NPCs that exist about the city are highly guarded individuals that rule in their districts with varying degrees of controls. Killing these men and women means destabilizing their region and making it more prone to chaos. Bribing, or getting them on the player character’s side by different means can afford the player character a certain amount of respect. These Noble Clergy both have money and religion on their minds, and hence, their mentality and interactions are biased towards those wants. They often are identified by their large assortment of rings, grandiose appearance, and show off anything given to them by the King. They have a keen sense to their faces, and an austere reaction to anything foolish. The First Estate – The Lower Clergy
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These NPCs are the legs and arms of the Clergy, but among them dissent has risen about the recent happenings in Fascistance. Interacting with them encourages the player character to be versed in money or religious fervor, in order to convince them to join the player’s side. Their deaths will destabilize areas close to their offices, namely their cathedrals and smaller churches, though the effect will not be as widespread. Though almost every NPC in this class wears the mask and believes in the Statists, here is where the gateway into influencing The First Estate lies. These NPCs will look rather tame to their higher counterparts, mostly because they do not involve themselves and associate themselves with the monarchy. They will have a more humble appearance, and their eagerness to help is inspired in their attitude and their faces. The Second Estate – The High Nobleman These NPCs are the financial backing of the Monarch; as a result, these NPCs reflect the intentions of the king. Their numbers are small but their influence large. These NPCs are concerned almost entirely with money and pleasure, and of course, sucking up to the king. Their personalities will clue the player character their weaknesses in order to get them the player’s side. However, very few of them are actually the highest members of the Revolutionists that are looking for change. However their high influence and traditional role cannot expose them.
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The typical high noblemen will have many jobs, and as a result their daily wear will consist of their occupation, much like the low noblemen. But as the richer counterpart, they tend to go around in more pompous terms, and as a result stick out more in crowds. These men will often be of larger size then their lower counterparts, in order to show their wealth and their health. Merchants and traders of distinguished class will be seen wearing the most colorful and vivid clothing and the grandest of hats. The lords and land owners will look more tall and brooding, as a visual aesthetic to imply their constant watch over their fiefdom. Also note the higher ranked soldiers lay in this area. About half of the magisterial class lay in this estate as well. As many of these run the city’s infrastructure, the head of the media outlets are included among these. As the largest variety of NPC groups, these NPCs will often have many types of clothing that will identify them. Soldiers of high rank will have swords and pistols on their person, right along with two or three soldiers following in their footsteps. They will also display many sorts of awards upon their chest as they go about the daylight in public eyes. They will look the most athletic, and superior in any encounters that involve sword fights and firearms. The Magistrates or the government officials of the city will often have the same gown, suit or maintenance uniforms in the same solemn spirit the clergy wears. However they are allowed to wear more Bourgeois, or typical high noblemen dress depending on their status outside their magisterial
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affair. They will tend to look the most slumped or hunchbacked to different degrees as they often spend their time studying the various laws of the land. Magisterial agents are important, as much as soldiers due to their law making abilities. Exploiting their weaknesses could prove beneficial to the player’s cause. The Second Estate – The Low Nobleman These NPCs are more involved in the everyday workings of the capital city. Due to their nature as Noblemen that more often made their way from the lower levels of society, they sympathize with the lower classes much easier then the higher noblemen. These men are also most likely the areas of most fighting between individuals, rather than masses, as much as half follow the tenets of the enlightenment, and the other half aspire to be financially wealthy, and thus have more in common and alliance with the top Second Estate , The majority of the First Estate, and the Monarch himself. Also a majority of the soldiers lay in this class and the other half of the magisterial class lay in this class. Most of these NPCs can be found wearing much more practical clothing but often spend what they can. They carry a slight sense of extravagance, and are often agreeable and relatively happy NPCs. A good chunk of the higher ranking soldiers and magistrates are in this classification. The Third Estate – Bourgeois
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The NPCs are much like the Low Noblemen and have common links to the Low Clergy. However, they have no noble status, and are taxed, but not as significantly as the Peasants, A good majority of the NPCs will relate with the peasants by different degrees, who are only worse off because of their lack of a valued occupation or total absence of it. Therefore, NPCs of this class have a high chance of intelligent followers of the revolution and enlightenment movements. These NPCs are identified by simple, but decent clothing that allows them to function in their everyday lives under the low noblemen who happily share them the same space, and the high noblemen who are essentially their bosses. They are about as happy as the low noblemen but are worried somewhat, since their status can easily drop to that of a peasant if they aren’t needed any longer.
The Third Estate – The Peasants The most common NPCs found everywhere, they are also the most subservient, and least intelligent. Only angered by the direct affronts to their lives, they take on heavy taxations and sometimes, even hunger. They are suspicious of both Revolutionists and the Statists, however, given their simple needs, they are easily swayed either way.
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They are identified by their poor ill repaired clothing, and their relatively unhappy demeanor. They can be found bothering people in the streets, or being quiet in a corner. Otherwise most of them reside where the land owners of the city decide to keep their land in the outskirts of the city. ITEMS: The list of items here are huge and defined as everything that can be placed, located, discarded, given away, and used in the inventory. They can be bought and sold as well. Weapons: In generic names will be used in order to deemphasize the time period, but in general will be modeled after real modern weaponry. The emphasis here is then use of weapons as tools of strategy. As mentioned before, the Rules of Engagement as defined by this game will allow the player the use of weapons. Some weapons are more accepted during certain times. From a revolutionist point of view, reigns of terror are the most perfect times to use bigger more effective weaponry, but during Tides of Peace, use of the weaponry and getting caught can mean a loss in game calendar time or death. From the Statist point of view, reigns of terror are also very good times to use bigger effective weaponry, but the loss here is losing the public opinion, and thus stagnating and possibly losing the influence of majority of the peasants and the lower classes. Tides of Peace are the times when Statist members can use their operations quietly, however upon being
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discovered, loss of public opinion is great during those times. These times are also the highest chance of brewing more influential revolutionists NPCs. These following weapons will be listed from most government/socially accepted use to least amount of accepted use, and the most likely to have harsh consequences in the event of being caught. As a small note, every weapon can be given away to an NPC to supply them, and if they are willing to accept it, and willing to commit an attack. The only weapon that cannot be given away is the Silenced Pistol. Only extras are allowed to be given away. It is also categorized by weight starting from the lightest to the heaviest. Fists, Pipes, Chains, Wine Bottles and other Melee items The most uncontroversial weapons in the game; use of these weapons is acceptable at any time and met with minimal punishment during Tides of Peace. Any other time, law enforcement magistrates will not care unless the player character involves them. It is useful for dialogue stance changes, and beating people into submission without attracting too much attention. Silenced Pistol The base weapon in the game that the player character will have on their person at all times during the game (unless otherwise removed due to events). This weapons main function is much more important to note, as it is very limited in ammunition, and encouraged to be used in situational dialogue use. Use of this weapon has almost no consequences during Reigns
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of Terror, meaning magistrates, soldiers and the general public will generally ignore the player character’s brandishing, and involve minimal intervention during its secluded use. During neutral time periods, the show in public will cause a stir especially when used so the least amount of time displaying it will clear up suspicion. Use during neutral times is questionable because it will often put the area under a watch. Display it at all during Tides of Peace will result in an almost immediate jailing and short loss of time. Use will result in a slightly longer loss of time. Short Range Sub Machine Gun (w/ silenced option) This weapon will be available if the player character finds it. It will often be found during more turbulent times like in the Reigns of Terror. Its use is good for provocation, or the need to clear out simple small buildings with the need to be quiet in neutral times. Use in Peace, if caught will often land them in jail and have a very long period of time. Use in neutral times will result in medium loss of time. Use during reigns of terror if not a statist will result in many questions and a possible short jail time. Medium Range Assault Rifle This will be the weapon of choice for massacres, along with higher weapons. Most soldiers will carry these during particularly bad Reigns of Terror. Revolutionist use during these times will be shot on sight, and if caught will result in severe punishment and loss of time. The player must be extremely careful and judicious, or very tidy in order to use such an effective
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weapon on both sides of the field, as using this weapon incites fear in the public as a symbol of oppression and the use by revolutionists in the government eyes means even tighter controls over the normal everyday situation. Use during neutral times is seldom heard of for both revolutionists and statists, unless it is done in an action of strict martial law in one area, or an act of pure terrorism. Being witnessed of use during Tides of peace will most likely end that time and escalate the city into a neutral time, and as a result the use is almost unheard of. Sniper Rifles The use of sniper rifles is mostly associated with assassinations. This gun is conventionally used by revolutionists due to its nature. However Statists can use this weapon as well to take out revolutionists, however not to same degree and efficiency, since public morale and opinion will go down in a public setting. The witnessed use of this weapon means death for both Revolutionists and Statist. For revolutionists means death from the public officials. For government means a disavowed agent. However if this weapon is used properly and with deliberate intent, it is extremely hard to be caught this weapon due to its covert nature, and its covert location of operation. Improvised Explosive Devices: Consists of: Grenades, Mortar Shells, Explosive packs, etc.
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These weapons, as mentioned before can be disguised and fitted into different materials. These contraptions are tricky at best, due to their wide effect. Opinion can be shaken either way, depending on the casualties, it can either put the favor towards the Revolutionists or the Statist, depending on the influencing factors killed in the immediate blast. Kill too many neutral/revolutionist NPCs vs. Statist NPCs; the attack is labeled a “Terrorist” attack by the State. Kill a very influential Statist vs. some neutral/revolutionist NPCs, then public opinion can waver, depending on the news. Kill several statists in a single building, and no neutral/revolutionists casualties, then the favor goes towards the revolutionist. As biased as IEDs for Revolutionists, The smart statist can disarm, and make unofficial use of these, and purposely bomb a local public building, in order to gain sympathy from the public for the state. As the deployment and use is almost of zero visibility, there is no need for a punishment for revolutionists for use during any periods of time. However, suspicious materials can be investigated by keen NPCs. If the deployed explosive devices are linked back towards the player character, it means certain death for those caught. Of course the player character can just detonate it as it is investigated. Stationary Machine Guns The classic massacre weapon and hence and will be mainly available during the defense/barrage minigame. The damage by these is of the same caliber as the IEDs. Yet as the IEDs are distinctly Revolutionists, this is
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primarily the weapon of the State. These are deployed during very bad reigns of terror. These weapons will increasingly become available especially during the last leg of the game progression due to possible riots. The usage of these will go unquestioned as this is the sign of ultimate aggression. Public opinion will sink dramatically, but extreme influence will be gained during these times. A weapon of last resort for the Statists, it is only used in the fear of being overrun by rioting crowds, at the gain of a very unstable peace. Clean up is needed after using such a weapon, such as threatening the journalists. ITEMS These game elements involve all items that are storable and givable. Most of these items can be grouped by their main usage and will be as such. Physical Health Small Medkit Uses a small part of your weight limit, and heals a small amount of health. It cannot be rigged. It can be given away as a way to gain favor. Large Medkits This uses a larger part of your weight limit, but not by much. It heals a large amount of health. It can be rigged. It can be given away as a bigger favor towards the NPC’s trust.
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Poison This can be mixed in drinks and food. It can be given away to NPCs for their use. Mechanical (Note: no impact to weight) Lock picks: Use for lock picking. Can give sets to certain knowledgeable NPCs for gaining trust. It cannot be rigged. Wires: Random bits of wire that can be used for rigging explosives. Collecting a certain amount will give a player a spool, and a numerical number for the length. Electrical Remotes The transmitters that can be used for all kinds of explosives. Just trigger in the hand. Detonators: Place the receiver and embed carefully both terminals carefully into explosive device. Batteries:
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Connect detonator to batteries last. No expiration date Electrical wires: Miscellaneous Bags of Rocks, Flour, Rice, etc. It is useful for disguising IEDs. Weight is based on the items. Books, Newspapers, Information, Transcripts, Mission Outlines Informational: Newspapers are for information gathering, event and history, and also opinion testing. Books are history of different areas. Good for general information written on pieces of papers, like key codes, address, etc. Transcripts for messages intercepted, or received. Mission outlines for objectives. Has negligible weight. Random bits of metal, screws, nuts, bolts For IEDS, spreading in bags of rocks to increase blast range. Beverages and Food It can be eaten for small amounts of health similar to the small medkit. Can be mixed with poison and given to NPCs for trust. But if they die and NPCs witnessed your act, it causes suspicion. OBJECTS AND MECHANISMS
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These will describe everything the player character can interact with but cannot inventory. These will include everything in the vast capital city of Fascistance. Entryways These include doors, windows, vents, trap doors, holes in the wall. Everything here can be rigged to be set as a trap, or an IED can be dropped nearby without special use of the rigging/trapping GUI. Every entryway that is closed can be destroyed by explosion. Doors will have hitboxes in their logical places for gun forced entry. Of course, usage of any will attract the natural attention of nearby NPCs
Keypads Require keycodes, typically, player character can find an NPC who knows it. It can be shot at for a 50% chance of opening or staying shut. Traditional Locks Can be picked, and can be forced open through the GUI. Levers Can be activated for effect Computer terminals and related systems
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These will traditionally give information, but can also activate/deactivate doorways, electrical system, surveillance, and automatic turrets. If passwords are present they can be obtained from NPCs or careful searching.
STORY OVERVIEW BACK STORY From an old deposed Jester: His Monarchiness, The King Ephemeral, The Fearless Leader of Fascistance was once a just, noble, fun loving king who led his people with a gentle fist. Therein the grand capital city of Tempermentia, he dwelled in peace and everything was…pretty chill. Well, that was, until four wives later, he was unable to have a son to succeed him. He wasn’t too terribly fazed by this however; he figured he could get one of his many concubines pregnant. He was a liberal king in such a way and he would just pass the son as a legitimate heir, but even then he couldn’t get anyone pregnant. He therefore gathered all the best doctors in the land and across the Northern Sea, and in particular, a team from the Fatherland of Visigothia, a far northern island in the North Polar Sea, headed by the world class doctor named Hollheimen Haus. Herr Haus M.D. and his team discovered a rare genetic disease that invalidated a vast majority of his sperm, rendering him virtually unable to procreate. Someone on Herr Haus’ team suggested it was a neurological problem. Alas the complications that controlled his inability to
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sustain a hormonal balance to procreate, also affected parts of his sanity. Slowly but surely, he would devolve into fits of paranoia, greed, and arrogance. A frail shell of his former self. However, not all was lost. A radical new breakthrough procedure could remove the cyst pressing on his hippocampus and amygdale and remove the hormonal imbalances present in his system. But little did Emphemeral know, Grand Cardinal Neroculus, the right hand man was up to something. Neroculus had a vested interest in the financial sector of Fascistance, and felt very protective as the top of the First Estate. Though unclear how deeply his hands reached into the Tempermentia, it was always the King’s positive, do good attitude that kept Neroculus from propelling Fascistance into the greatest economic power in the world. The next day, Herr Haus and his team met a horrible fate. They all succumbed to great winter storm at sea. Their airplane crashed, and all was lost. And it was in that very same day, Emphemeral’s trusting attitude took the toll on him. His diseased was pushed on to be worse, and Neroculus and Emphemeral became better friends. In 20 years, the Fearless Leadership of Ephemeral could be described as a bell curve. The insanity that plagued him actually propelled the nation into a powerful economic force. However later down, the greedy mandatory consumerist stance and extreme taxation on the lowest classes created a huge dissonance in the country. As a result, among them, revolutionists have
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begun to spring up, among the anonymous faces. Using anonymity as their weapon and general disdain for the Statists, acts of terrorism have been met with note from the government in order to end tyranny, end the suffering, and brighten everyone’s day with the enlightenment movement. Now, Fascistance is at a standstill. A lukewarm war and an uneasy ceasefire loom over the war torn, but otherwise scenic city of Tempermentia. However the word on the street says that there might be someone among the city, who has the gall, the cutthroat attitude, great charming charisma and has the power to lead. And rumor says…it’s a girl. And of course there are other rumors like the Ephemeral is doing something with working a deal with the Motherfields of Ushankaland about some rumored thermonuclear weapon. And that no one is allowed in and out of the city because of some a major political scandal in the next door neighbor kingdom of Majorica. And look! Now refugees are coming over. Because surely, it made lots of sense to place the capital city right next to the border… Or was it because the train station nearby got bombed by a terrorist attack? Who knows, most people would say, it’s unsubstantiated anyway. People are mostly happy that their hardnosed attitudes are getting them by. C’est la vie. Enter Wilhelmina Patricida Elmenda the Third. She hates her name, so she just prefers Emina. A quiet, reserved girl of 20, she was busy pondering her life, 20 minutes away from the last station before entering Fascistance.
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As a child she was raised in a small town in Majorica where she was often kicked about by her fellow compatriots, because she simply stood out. Familial ties were of utmost importance and often the thing to gossip about in the countryside culture of Majorica. Therefore when she didn’t look like her parents, the integrity attacks and thumbed noses got worse and it caused havoc for her homely parents. The parents knew it was time to tell her of her origins. “There…” her parents pointed, with a frail finger towards the border, and past it, the city of Tempermentia. “We found you crying in a train station, wrapped in newspapers, freshly delivered. You were a poor child. We looked for anyone around that would know, but they shunned us, thinking we were giving up our child! Ohhh, how foolish they thought we were…Oh we were…” Emina’s elderly parents nodded heads together, looked at each other and trailed into senility. “Here…The newspaper we found you in…it still has the date…It’s your birthday!” Crudely written, the paper described a certain medical team’s death on the front headlines, which, as the newspaper quoted, was unfortunate because they could not find anything wrong with the King. In small bolded subtitles, it said “So the king is 100% sane, Long Live King Ephemeral!” Less than a week later, Emina is now on a train. “Arriving in Tempermentia Grand Central Portal” echoes the voice in the PA system. Thoughts race through her head; where do I even start, she thinks as she
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gets up. She follows the traffic, quickly exits and is greeted with the grandest display of luxury and mass consumerism. Wide eye, someone bumps into her and she is led to a newspaper vending machine. The machine is broken, but incredibly, there is one paper left. She reads, and notices the similarities in the print and format. “The Fascistance Substantia: The world of tomorrow, today,
where it applies”
She reads the headlining news, and quickly makes her opinion about it. Then all the sudden an explosion, no more than 50 feet away rips through the very tunnel she was standing in. Mutilated bodies are everywhere, but she couldn’t see them because of the thick smoke and the three inch shrapnel lodged firmly her forehead. This is where her real story starts. With the few belongings she had, namely her newspaper, a little money, a small bump on the forehead, and an increasingly warped thinking process, she makes her way to find her parents, find her home, and find her sanity. START OF THE GAME Emina is essentially is suffering from severe disinhibition syndrome, accelerated by the shrapnel to the forehead, and surviving it leaving a scar near her temporal lobe. Though her intentions are pure like reclaiming her true past, this syndrome essentially takes away her ability to moralize slowly, day by day, which ironically, and conveniently for the game will happen in three years where the end game starts. She discovers herself in the care of
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either the “Terrorist” revolutionist that bombed Grand Central Portal feeling sorry for her, or a low ranking bourgeois Statist official. She knows not how she got there, and will slowly reclaim her memory at first. She starts off struggling with small fits of extreme violence and other sadistic feelings imagined in her head, coupled with a faint “someone” who speaks very knowledgeably to her about the people that she encounters. Flashbacks to old times hint to her that she was born in the wake of a terrible accident. She at first does not know that, and questions her disinhibition, but she slowly looses herself to her ever intensifying need to manipulate and get the best of people in order to reach what she wants. She learns she is hyper sensitive to social cues due to the “someone in her head”, and can find her way through many conversations if she says the right things and influences her way in. By “the word on the street”, she will run into NPCs that know rumors concerning her and follow different leads, She will discover a very long contrived history that points to her as the heir to the throne as she scours the annals of the Statists and Revolutionists and gain access in their ranks. Of course the history will be biased depending on where she’s reading the history, but at long last, her constant need to feed her ever worsening mental condition, her need for her true origins will slowly, but surely piece together all the parts of her story from bodies of influential figures she collects.
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The “someone” who lets her know of people’s intentions, and functions as her hyper sensitive social cue, turns out to be Iavelli, an alternate ego she made in a way to deal with her stress. Iavelli helps her in her encounters with other people, and helps make choices that advance the game, and get her to what she wants. She will discover in the end that she too is sick and suffering from the rare genetic disease Herr Haus and his poor team had discovered so long ago. In the end game, whether it is by the three years of time, or the shifting tides are complete, she faces the dethroning of her father, either through glorious revolution, or betrayal of the highest orders of the state. The fate is decided from there. To kill her Father, banish him, to find a cure, to destroy both him and her, and depending on what the Emina finds through the game, some of these options may not be available
GAME PROGRESSION Story Collection The nature of the game is free form in its way that story is collected in forms of rumors, collected information and piecing a general area understanding of the whole picture. When Emina does find different important pieces that may question her judgment and her alliances, she may be forced to seek information from the other camp. However important turning points in the story will propel the game forward.
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Major Quests: The Major Quests can be followed only in order. While Major Quests are required to progress major elements in the story, doing side quests by taking out different smaller influential figures will help greatly in the major quests. After getting off the train, and questioning the player’s opinion with the happenings within the city, the game decided who the Emina will meet first, and hence her first encounters with the factions in the city. MQ00: BIRTHDAY LYES: Caustic by Nature This is the immediate quest Emina goes on as she discovers her injuries. She is kept inside the bureaucracy or the underground barracks depending on the side she begins with. This will serve as a tutorial for the way Emina will interact with the 10 to 15 NPCs. She will begin with an NPC “friend” that will immediately trust her, yet everyone is neutral. While she gets better, she interacts with the NPC’s about an upcoming birthday for their superior. Their superior happens to be very strict, and happens to drive them very far. The superior, upon seeing Emina immediately dislikes her greatly. He does not like it that someone was taken in their place that could compromise their position. The NPCs all have differing opinions on what to get, and how to throw the party. The quest will end with a full out birthday party and making the best present or where Emina can also use drain
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cleaner to poison the superior. This is in effect the way that allows Emina to choose her side. If she wants to stay with the side given by the opinion poll with the newspaper she reads in the beginning of the game, she celebrates with everyone the superior’s birthday. If not, the superior dies, suspicion arises, and Emina must get out of there and into the city of Tempermentia. MQ 01: NATIONAL SECURITAS VERITAS: Aqua Regia for the Masses After the Tempermentia Grand Portal Bombing, in and out privileges are temporarily halted in the city and across the border. Here Emina has the chance to kill/guard one of the magistrates in charge with handing out registry information to everyone in a certain region in the city. This event will be initiated a few days after exploration of the city, when Emina inquires upon the happenings of a large crowd, and hearing it from the “Word on the street”. She can either be assigned to kill or guard this magistrate, or be hired as extra help off the streets, or find herself in the crowd, noticing an NPC looking angrily at the magistrate. Killing or successfully guarding this magistrate over the next three days will grand Emina access to some old newspaper archives, or give her a chance to break in the archives. She will find a digital copy of the newspaper 20 years ago around her birth. She’ll confirm the news she discovered before and find the fate of those doctors. She’ll also find that a journalist went missing that day, but it wasn’t that much importance because it happened to be the same ones that interviewed
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Herr Haus. The dead journalist belonged to a now newly built media broadcasting center, deep in the Nobleman’s districts.
MQ02: NORMAL ACTIVITY: Tempermentia’s Reagent Emina finds a very small riot going on that either is instigated even more by her, or cleared up by her. Normal Business resumes and a tour group of rich noblemen tour the facility. Or Normal business does not resume, and she uses this as a distraction to get in the facility. She finds out while breaking away from the tour group, or getting lost in the facility a very old janitor working the archive room. He isn’t alarmed and rather asks her purpose. An exchange lets the old man gives some sort of information that points to the journalist actually being an old friend of the king and as a favor tried to report to other agencies in order to raise the awareness of the disease. He sent him to get a second opinion, whether to keep bearing a child because he didn’t like Herr Haus’ prognosis. MQ03: OPERATION BASTARD STEEL: The Sins of the Helix Emina at this time will need to have done the preceding major quest, and convinced her faction contacts that she has cause a tide of influence to shift significantly in at least one district of the city. Important because at this
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time, there will be a large group of people placed inside the prison/experimental hospital known as “The Steel” the symbol of monarchy within the poorer and bourgeois areas of the city. Inside, dissenters are placed in there to make an example of some of the many riots in the city. Storming with revolutionists will and inciting chaos and riots will free the people, and the large cache of weaponry inside the fortress. Defending with the machine gun on top of the fortress will maintain the large force of influence these NPCs will have inside the fortress and keep the weapons cache to themselves. Here Emina will find that her visions are actually hallucinations from one of the greater Doctor magistrates. She finds out it is rare genetic disease, borne out of the practice of incest within the royalty, and the disease inflicts a sharp attenuations to a Machiavelli like predisposition, hence her ability to see into people’s intentions. She will be encouraged to pursue her royal blood, or find herself disgusted and kill the man, depending on what side she is on at the end of this quest. MQ04: THE VERMILLION VENUS: Androgenetic Rage The women’s march happens as a way this march will half as many numbers if the people we’re not freed from the last mission. It will have double the number if the mission resulted in the freedom from The Steel. The march is essentially another massacre/riot demands met on one The Great Bastions of the Lords, a large villa in the outskirts of Tempermentia. This is mission
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where Emina plays on either side. She finds herself getting closer and closer to the King on both sides of the fight and finds the King to actually be plagued by an ever worsening mental condition. The King is transported back to the inner palace of the city if the march’s riots are met, but if not, the King stays in the outside villa trying to get better. He does for a little bit. Emina keeps observing her potential father for clues.
MQ05: THE FIRES THAT BURN ON GOLD: Hit it hard it enough, it’ll become pale, frail, and transparent to the very core If the King is transported back into the inner palace for the demands on the people, the King starts to notices his religious financial advisor messing about the financial sector and realizing something wrong with their activities. He fires his financial advisor Archbishop Le Turre Le Stat Le Third. Le Turre was a major figure in the statist regime and thus blamed for the actions of his subordinates. He plans to enlist the help of Cardinal Neroculus to take back the lands he lost due to his fire. However Neroculus just wants the certificate of Le Turre. He secures this before Le Turre even knows. Taking this path Emina can kill him for large influence, or decide not to. If he isn’t killed my Emina, Le Turre is executed as a traitor of the state.
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If The King stays in Great Bastions, Neroculus takes a small interest in Emina, as a girl who “came in from cold” and helped the Statist achieve their goals. Neroculus suspicions rise about Emina and begin to keep close watch over her. Neroculus secures Le Turre’s documents and makes his way back into the city. Le Turre is asked to speak with Neroculus with Emina sent to protect Le Turre en route. Le Turre is attacked, Emina is separated away somehow, and Le Turre is killed. Neroculus “forgives” Emina’s failure. Either end results in Le Turre’s death, and the growing suspicion that she may be related to the king. Neroculus will either hear of it from his Statists, or his Revolutionist contacts.
MQ6: PROJECT SOLIDARITY Diluting the tides of war to drown the rest Project Solidarity moves some of the top officials of both statists and revolutionists to come to a conditional cease fire. Here Emina finds she can’t trust herself in any of the factions due to an attempt on her life. She’s gained too much influence herself, and Neroculus wants the catalyst to be put out. Depending on the side she’s been aligned with most at this point of the game, her valued contact will betray her and along with that, the one who nursed Emina back health at the game. If she was with the Statists the majority of the game two statist assassins will come after her in her sleep right along with a revolutionist assassin. Killing them in a chase across the
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city, allows Emina to pick up a contact with the revolutionist. This is the point where she decides whether to try and find a contact with either one. Depending on her alliance in the past, it’s actually safer to find dissenting and thus helpful members in the opposite faction. Solidarity movement stronger on the side she’s been siding with because of Emina’s past events. Once she finds a contact, she finds herself caught in a conspiracy group revealing her true origins. [Start of the end game] MQ7: A SELF SUSTAINING REACTION Or so it seems… Emina teams up with the opposite faction, finding herself in knee deep in a conspiracy that started with her birth. Her birth was not supposed to be. Laws state if Emina is the heir, she would have control of the financials state that the Cardinal Neroculus would have to relinquish. He used his financial power as well to turn Fascistance into an economic power. Emina was one of the concubine’s children. Her child was hidden away to Ephemeral, because the mother knew she or he would just be taken away from her. Neroculus knew if Emina’s birth was discovered he would be removed of that power, and eventually she would become ruler. Basically if Emina didn’t come back, Neroculus would become the King, since Ephemeral did not have heir if he died, which he planned on.
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Neroculus’ plan was to detonate a tactical nuclear device, in order to gain sympathy from the world, relocate the capital city closer into the financial power city lay, and to blame it all on the revolutionists breaking the conditional cease fire with the biggest affront to national peace, which would end toleration for any kind in the surrounding countries or Majorica, Visigothia and others. It would propel Neroculus’ status above as one of the richest men in the continental bloc. In order to undo the appearance of the peace, Emina must kill both Leaders of the Statist and Revolutionist meeting at the same time and media must be sure to cover it. MQ8: THE WEIGHT OF A THOUSAND SUNS It’s what’s needed for a thermonuclear reaction Simple mission, Kill Neroculus and prevent him from activated the bomb, you can take his place as Religious Leader, or simply depose of him and the “hero”. Riots break over all over Tempermentia. It is clear that the King must bring back order, or must be toppled MQ9: THE NEW AGE This mission can go two ways. Emina ends the life of her Father. This sets in the new age. Much of the story in unraveled here. The Preceding was an example of how much of Major Quests will work out. Major Quests will pit the player against other NPCs vying for control. But
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it was also feature traditional rewards and progress of story after each major quest completion. Achieving the Goal: Affecting the Tide of Influence Each important NPC has varying degrees of influence in their certain area. The mechanics set this all up so that the game world will essentially react to all the actions she takes. Using the Calendar system, reigns of terror, tides of peace, using each gun tactfully and carefully will increase the likely hood that influence will be shifted to the player’s side in that district. “SIDE QUESTS” The Nature of side quests in this game mostly rewards Emina with helping her achieve the Major Quests. Side quests can be of several natures among them, favor gathering, i.e. gaining trust from the low level NPCs in order to change public opinion to one side. Eliminating NPCs with significant low level influence can make the other NPCs change their minds. If one were to think of the Major Quests as major events that led into a Revolution, then the side quests are the everyday events that change and morph opinion among the people that greatly aids in driving the revolution. EXAMPLES OF GAMEPLAY FOR GAME PROGRESSION Revolutionist Point of View: One can imagine that Emina has to take down a certain influential NPC. She talks to NPCs around to gain information.
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She can rig an explosive to a car, convince someone to drive it next to a building where the person is meeting and detonate it in public. Statist Point of view: She can prevent assassins by bribing a snitch NPC by telling her the information where the assassin’s plan to strike. She can find the IED in time, disassemble and use it. She can even find where the assassin plans to be, rig the explosive there in a bag, and the assassin kills himself in the process. The player will use every view mode in order to find themselves the information they need to carry out successful assassinations or protection. Using city view Emina’s location and the status of the surrounding districts will be used to give information on areas to avoid, areas to be at during certain events, and the many things going around the city that may provide a way for Emina to go do her work.
SYSTEM/ MENU INTERFACE MAIN MENU After the logos from the companies show, the menu system to start the game will fade into view on the left hand side of the screen. Continue, New
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Game, Load Game, Save Games (blurred out at this point) and Options are the standard buttons the player can access. The background will be the city of Tempermentia, Fascistance, viewed from the satellite view in a time lapse animation. Continue will load the player into where they last left off and take them down to the area the player last left off. New game will start the game from the beginning, however, instead of zooming down to their last location, the menu will fade and the camera slowly goes to the north part of the city, past the border and finds a train heading into the country. Intro cinematic starts when camera reaches the train and enters Emina’s space. Load game will bring up a list of the last saved games. OPTIONS MENU The player will find standard option menu items here. Video, Sound, Controls; Video will include resolution, graphic abilities, subtitles options and all the DX10 options. Sound will include Effects sound, score and hardware option choices. Controls will be divided into movement alterations, like inverted or normal y-axis among others. Other options will include the option to remap all the controls. (Microsoft DX10, 2009)
OTHERS This section will describe everything that wasn’t covered in different angles in the document.
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REFERENCE GAMES Gameplay: Nationstates, Way of the samurai, Fallout 3, Grand Theft Auto series Most of these games include an open ended world; choices are heavily reflected upon and create the general atmosphere of the world. (Jennifer Government: NationStates, 2002; Way of the Samurai, 2002; Fallout 3, 2007; Grand Theft Auto IV, 2009) Sounds: Braid, Chrono Trigger, Fallout 3, Final Fantasy 7, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess The score and soundtrack in these games meshed well with the visual aesthetic. Different music particular to each game gave a sense of sadness and a sense of loss, or a sense of reflection. (Braid, 2008; Chrono Trigger, 1995; Fallout 3, 2008; Final Fatansy 7, 1997; Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, 2006) Art Style: Bioshock, Fallout 3, Steampunk culture Here Bioshock married the art style of the early sixties with modern twist. Fallout 3 combined early 40-50s age music and deco style with decay in richly developed atomic age technology. This game is trying to do the same with Rococo, and a mix of Steampunk sensibilities in order to displace it in time. (Bioshock, 2007; Fallout 3, 2008)
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BUSINESS The target of this game is for the 18+ demographic. With the themes present in this video game, the target makes sense since that certain demographic can also afford to 60 dollars for this game, due to its massive amount of development in order to make a socially dynamic NPC world. Target platforms include the PC, due to the sheer amount of processing and graphic representations. Other target qualifications involve players who are more seasoned in action/rpg/fps tropes. Since this game is heavy with certain types of themes of Machiavellism and pessimism, this game should not be played by a younger crowd that may be prone to misunderstanding the content. This game development team will license the Gamebryo engine and do heavy modifications on its dialogue system and its AI tracking stats system so it will add the layer of complexity this game needs. (Gamebyro, 2009) Licensing: Based on game developer forum discussion, the cost of the Gamebryo Engine will be around $45,000 license. With a licenses for all 21 programmers, and an extra 25 licenses to be shared among the Game Designers and Artists/Animators, 46 licenses will cost 2,070,000. (Indie Gamer) Development Cost:
Mercado - 75 Based on Gamasutra’s averages for game industry salaries per year: Projection for 4 years OCCUPATION COST for a year Programmers: 85,024 x21 $1785504 Lead: 1 Game Engine: 6 A.I.:8 Tools: 4 Graphics/Sound: 4 Artists/Animators: 69,532 x27 Lead: 1 Modelers: 10 Texture:10 Animators:6 Game Designers: 67,379x26 Lead Designer: 1 Level Designer: 4 Content: 6 Writer: 6 System: 3 Technical: 2 User Interface: 4 Producers: 82,905x2 External Producers: 2 Quality Assurance: 39,571x25 Audio: 78,167x5 Scorex2 Effectsx3 Business and Marketing: 102,143x5 Lead Manager: 1 Analyst:2 Marketing: 2
Total Cost for first year = 10% per year=
$1877364
$1751854
$165810 $989275 $390835 $510715
$7,471,357.00 $8218492.70 $9040341.97 $9944376.17
Total Dev. Cost for four years = $34,674,567.84
Budget was based off Gamasutra’s averages for salaries throughout the video game industry. Total team size matched by the team size of a
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Bethesda or Rockstar major triple AAA title. The total budget is also taking into consideration that Fascistance is a new intellectual property, and hence the budget allotment will realistically be lower than Fallout 3, or GTA series. Fallout 3 and GTA series are the closest types of game that resemble this game. Averages were used for calculation to take into account the gamut of experienced and new employee salaries. (Fallout 3, 2008) (Grand Theft Auto IV, 2007) Marketing: A 15 million dollar marketing campaign will be made to promote the game. A large marketing allotment will be made in the same style as Left 4 Dead 2 due to the fact that it is poised to become one of the fastest selling Valve title. Marketing will not be as much due to an non established intellectual property. However, game design veterans that specialize in emergent open world game play will be recruited in legitimize the IP and market it in association with titles like GTA IV and Fallout 3.(Left 4 Dead 2, 2009) (GTA IV, 2008) (Fallout 3, 2008) Viral marketing type trailers will show gameplay with no apparent attachment to video the game. Closer to launch, ads online at review sites and other gaming related agencies Total Costs: The total including the development costs, marketing and licensing equal to about $51744567.84. In order to break even on this game at the full 60 dollar price, it would have to sell 862410 copies.
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Schedule/Benchmarks Pre-production work will go towards modifying the Bethesda Gamebryo Engine. (Gamebryo, 2009) Modifying towards a in dept dialogue and AI Tracking system, the graphical will mostly stay the same. Up to a year and a half will be allowed to fully develop and make a rough tech demo for the game so that all the tools will be created and as much as time is given to learn the engine and work out the bugs. Principal development will start after tech demo. Main game assets will be completed within a year with priority first here. Programming the game along with AI and AI NPC systems will be given an equal priority and time. Sound and writing will be given second priority and slated for major completion within a year and a half of the start of principal development. This should be the beginning of pre-alpha testing, a batch of about 10 QA testers should be able to see the game and provide feedback on the direction of the game. Writers will start after the initial start of testing to incorporate ideas from the testers while following the attitude and script of the creative director. Alpha should be reached by the third year. This six months past major assets and programming and the completion of sound. The last six months before Alpha should be worked to make a workable section of the city. By Alpha time, a section of the city should be able to demonstrate a social dynamic among NPC’s that are balanced. The balance should be able to be
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affected by player agent manipulation. Most features should be implemented though not all bugs need to be cleaned. A bigger batch of 15 testers should be able to play the game out and come up with different ways to manipulate the NPCs into shifting opinions in the city. Beta should be reached by six months minus RTM and Launch. By beta, game should be in the principal testing stages. All city sections should be playable by now and all major bugs are fixed. Minor bug fixing and a team of 25 testers should be able to play throughout the game and complete the game’s full story. As a whole they should be able to complete and tests all side quests. By release to manufacturing, 95% of the minor bugs should be eliminated or documented. Work will continue to kill the other 5% of minor bugs and patch up new ones when the game launches for the general public.
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CITATIONS Works Consulted: "Left 4 Dead 2 Poised To Become Fastest Selling Valve Title, Pre-Order Numbers Off The Chart." Exophase. 05 010 2009. Web. 30 Nov 2009. . "EEDAR: Marketing Budget Is 3 Time More Important Than Review Scores." MegaGames: The hardcore Gaming Experience. 17 011 2009. Web. 30 Nov 2009. . "Gamebryo Casual is here ." Indie Gamer Forums. 14 010 2008. Web. 30 Nov 2009. http://forums.indiegamer.com /showthread.php?t=14353>. "Their scores can be huge." Los Angeles Times. 08 012 2008. Web. 30 Nov 2009. . "Game Developer Reveals Top 20 Publishers, Debuts 2009 Research." Gamasutra. 06 010 2009. Web. 30 Nov 2009. . Brathwaite, Brenda. "Types of Game Designers." Game Career Guide. 06 010 2009. Web. 30 Nov 2009. . Crosby, Olivia. "Working So Others Can Play: Jobs in Video Game Development." GIGnews.com. 11 010 2005. Web. 30 Nov 2009. .
Mercado - 80 "News." Elder Scrolls. 20 003 2006. Web. 30 Nov 2009. Fallout 3. 28 Oct. 2008. Bethesda Softworks. 30 Nov. 2009 Grand Theft Auto IV. 29 Apr. 2008. Rockstar Games. 30 Nov. 2009 Jennifer Government: NationStates. 13 Nov. 2002. Max Barry. 30 Nov. 2009 Way of the Samurai. 5 May. 2002. Bam! Entertainment. 30 Nov. 2009 Braid. 6 Aug. 2008. Microsoft Game Studios. 30 Nov. 2009 Chrono Trigger. 11 Mar. 1995. Sqaure Soft, Inc. 30 Nov. 2009 Final Fantasy VII. 31 Jan. 1997. Sony. 30 Nov. 2009 The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. 19 Nov. 2006. Nintendo. 30 Nov. 2009 Bioshock. 21 Aug. 2007. 2K Games. 30 Nov. 2009 Halo: Combat Evolved. 15 Nov. 2001. Microsoft Game Studios. 30 Nov. 2009 Microsoft DirectX. 28 Apr. 2009. Microsoft. 30 Nov. 2009 Google Maps. 12 Oct. 2009. Google. 30 Nov. 2009 "News: Grant and Kate in Dubai." Web. 1 Dec 2009. . Stacey's Ramblings. Web. 1 Dec 2009. . Web. 1 Dec 2009. . Web. 1 Dec 2009. .