Shortened Game Design Document

(Beta stages - Pre-Balancing)

Contents
Game Summary.1-5
Story.1 Controls1 Main Game Mechanics2-5 Game Progression(The Scenes)..6-11 Main Menu Scene.6 Intro Scene6 Focal Gameflow7 Enemy Evolution Scene....7-8 Player Upgrade Scene8 Upgrades and Attack Wave Mechanics8-11

The Bugs.12-14
Scout Bug..12 Bumble Bug...12 Wasp..13 Dragon Bug13 Elemental Hive...14 Hornet.14 Note: all screen layouts are subject to change and some of the mechanics mentioned have not yet been added to the game. Yellow highlighted text indicates aspects that have not yet been added to the game. Sound effects and a new selection of audio tracks also need to be added.

Game Summary
Story
Earth is under attack from Ugly Oppressive Elemental Insectiod Aliens (or Vowels). The militarys normal weaponry is completely ineffective against the constantly shifting elements of the Vowel Swarm. From the few insects that have been killed, scientists have been able to create a new prototype weapon they have named the Elemental Interceptor (or EI). The EI is able to produce the same elemental energies as the Vowels and it is hoped that attacking the insects with elements that do not correspond to their own will vanquish them. The plan is to teleport the EI into the invading forces main Hivesphere and take down the constantly evolving enemy forces to give Earths military as much time as possible to prepare elemental weapons to counter the invasion. Your mission is to pilot the EI and survive the oncoming waves of Vowels from inside their main Hivesphere for as long as possible. For every insect taken down more people will want to invest in the EI protocol and credits will be earned for you to spend on the upgrades you desire. Fear not solider as the EI is a drone craft so you will pilot the ship from a console at a safe distance. Just survive for as long as you can! Good luck!

Controls
Control Left Key / A Right Key / D Up Key / W Down Key / S Mouse Scroll Middle Mouse Button Left Mouse Button Key 1 Key 2 Key 3 Space Bar ESC or F10 Action Rotates the EI to the left. Rotates the EI to the right. Rotates the EI upwards. Rotates the EI downwards. The mouse controls the targeting crosshair. Roll up and down to select current element. Fire ammo of the current element. Selects normal beam energy. Selects concussive ammo type. Selects explosive ammo type. Fire Special for currently selected element. Pause Menu.

Main Game Mechanics

Summed Up The aim of the game is to survive inside the Hivesphere for as long as possible. To do this, the player must fend off the advancing swarm using elemental energy, three ammo types, special attacks, and ship upgrades. In order to destroy a bug the player must shoot out elemental energy that differs from the targets current element. The bugs themselves can only spawn from the golden hives on the edge of the Hivesphere and, later on, from the elemental hives that spawn and float around the sphere. All the bugs can randomly shift between elements to avoid taking damage and some can even dodge as well. Most bugs can only attack close up, so it best to exterminate the threat as soon as it is spawned. A more detailed look at the individual bugs can be found later in this document.

The EI is rooted to the centre of the Hivesphere so as to be as far from all the golden hives as possible. The player can rotate around the local X and Y axis using the arrow or WSAD keys and uses the mouse to aim the crosshair anywhere within the current screen view. Using the radar to locate potential targets the player must find the bugs and shoot them down before they get too close. Bugs must be shot by elements that differ from their current elemental type in order to hurt them. The most damage is dealt when attacking with energy that is the polar opposite to that of the target insect.

Score and Credits For every successful kill credits and score points are awarded. The amount the players score and credits increase is based on two criteria: 1. The type of bug 2. The current Combo Combos are achieved by killing multiple enemies in a row without missing or hitting one with an element identical to their own. The max combo that can be achieved is 10. The score is then calculated by multiplying the predetermined rank of the bug that was killed by the current combo.

In addition to resetting the current combo to zero, if the player shoots an insect with energy identical to its current element, the target will regenerate HP equal to the full damage that would have been dealt by hitting it with its polar opposite. Shooting at a shifting bug will have no effect on its health but does not count as a miss either, so the current combo will remain the same. HP and Shielding The players HP are full at 2000 points. Additional shielding can be purchased, which will take damage before the players HP is affected. Up to three shields can be obtained in total. Ending the game with a full shield means that shield will still be equipped for the next round. Ending the game with a damaged shield means the shield will be lost (shields cannot be repaired and new ones must be purchased). The HP is affectively the EIs hull integrity and, unlike the shields, the hull can be repaired for a cost relative to the work that needs doing.

The Arsenal As the game progresses new weaponry can also be purchased. This shall be discussed in more detail later in the document, when explaining the Player Upgrade Scene but this is the total arsenal of the EI. Weapon Name Elemental Beam (Standard not an upgrade) Upgrade Description An elemental projectile weapon in the form of energy beams. This is the standard energy expelled by the EI from its cannons. It does the least damage of the ammo types but fires the fastest and never runs out. A physical projectile weapon enforced with elemental energy. This ammunition deals greater damage than the elemental beam and has the added bonus of concussing the target, thus slowing it down. The down sides are that the projectile fires and travels slower than the beam and the ammunition is limited. A physical projectile with an unstable energy core. This is the most powerful projectile weapon in the game. It deals great damage on impact, then explodes dealing further damage in a wide radius. The down sides are that the projectile fires and travels the slowest and the ammunition supply is finite. Pure expelled energy of the air element. A spherical shockwave of air energy bursts out from the EI. It pushes nearby enemies away and deals minor damage. Elemental water energy is applied to all projectile weapon systems. When killing an enemy with a projectile weapon part of the damage dealt is reflected back to the EI in the form of healing energies. These energies can heal both HP and shields but cannot create new shields. Elemental earth energy covers the ship. The EI is rendered temporarily invulnerable and any damaged shield is instantly reenergised. If all current shields are full or no shields at all are equipped the ships hull is automatically repaired to maximum. Pure expelled energy of the fire element. A concentrated beam of fire energy is expelled for a set time period. All bugs struck by this beam are instantly vaporised. Even those of the fire element are overloaded and thus destroyed.

Concussive Ammunition

Explosive Ammunition

Air Special

Water Special

Earth Special

Fire Special

Explosive ammo of the water element in action. 6

All the weapons in the previous table must be purchased on the player upgrade screen. Two final traits can also be improved upon for a cost; the speed of turning and the rate of fire. All ammunition must be bought in advance of the next round as none can be acquired during an attack wave. At the end of each wave the remaining ammunition is carried over until the next round. Elemental specials need only be purchased once. Once the EI is upgraded with an elemental special it cannot be lost. Specials are charged up with elemental energy during attack waves, which is gained similarly to score points. The main difference is that the current combo has no effect on the amount of energy gained. So long as a bug is killed by an element identical to one of the elemental specials the player has purchased then that special is charged equal to the multiplier attached to that bug. Bug Rank (Elemental Multiplier) 1 2 3 4 5 Bugs of Stated Level Scout Bumble, Wasp Dragonfly Hornet Elemental Hive

Unlike ammunition elemental energy is not carried over to the next round and must be recharged from scratch during the next attack wave.

Game Progression
(The Scenes) Main Menu

The game begins on the Start/Main Menu. Various options can accessed by clicking on the buttons shown above. Most have not been set up at this stage of development so the focus will be on starting a new game.

Intro Scene
After clicking on the New Game button the player will be given a brief run down on how to play the game and given the options to go Back to the Main Menu, Play Tutorial, or Continue on to the first attack wave. In addition to the game explanation the first insect the player will encounter (the scout bug) is described on the right hand side.

Play Tutorial

Game Explanation

Intro Scene Options

Scout Bug Description

The Focal Gameflow

Once the continue button on the Intro Scene is selected the game enters into the main gameflow pattern as shown in the diagram below.

Main Gameflow Pattern

If the player survives until the end of an attack wave all the remaining bugs in the field will instantly vanish, having returned to their hives to evolve. After a brief pause, the game will load the enemy evolution scene.

Enemy Evolution Scene

In this stage the player is shown how the enemy has decided to improve their swarm. At first the enemy will evolve three traits per level increment, whilst preparing DNA for new bug to be spawned. Once the player has fought through six waves the enemy will have run out of DNA to spawn new bugs and will start evolving four traits per level increment. Some traits, such as attack wave length and spawning frequency will have a finite number of levels they can be evolved, whereas HP and attack power have the potential to evolve indefinitely. The button to the Upgrades scene is not clickable until the Vowel swarm has finished evolving.

New Bug + Description Evolving Traits

List of Improvable Bug Traits Enemy Stats Movement Speed Spawn Limit Spawn Frequency Dodge/Shift Frequency Wave Length Max HP Damage Level Limitation High Limit High Limit Medium Limit Low Limit Low Limit No Limit No Limit

Continue to Player Upgrade Scene

Player Upgrade Scene

The Upgrade Scene follows the evolution of the bugs. Various different traits can be purchased and upgraded in exchange for credits. Unlike the vowel swarm there are no traits that can be improved upon indefinitely. Final costs for each upgrade are still being finalised.

The player can choose to save and exit the game on this screen. This can be done before or after upgrades have been purchased as all of the EIs stats will be saved. Once all desired upgrades are

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purchased the player must click the Finished Purchasing button. This then turns into a New Wave button, which will take the player into the next attack wave.

Upgrades and Attack Wave Mechanics

The table below lists all the possible upgrades the player can purchase for the EI. Upgrade Category Upgrade Name Concussion Ammo Explosive Ammo Weapon Systems Concussive Capacity Explosive Capacity Reactor Efficiency Turning Speed Shooting Speed 5 6 2 2 Level Limit No Level No Level Description 20 rounds of concussive ammunition. Cannot exceed capacity. 10 rounds of explosive ammunition. Cannot exceed capacity. EI can now fire concussive projectiles. Capacity is incremented in instalments of 20. EI can now fire explosive projectiles. Capacity is incremented in instalments of 10. Increases rotation speed. Increases rate of fire.

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Sheilds Armour and Shielding Ship Repairs Air Special Water Special Elemental Powers Earth Special Fire Special

No Level

No Level 1 1 1 1

Purchase a shield. Cannot exceed capacity. Up to three can be purchased. The first two give an extra 300 points of defence. The third and final shield gives 400 points but costs a lot more. If the EI hull has been damaged (player has lost HP) the ship can be repaired for a cost related to the amount of damage done. EI can now charge up the Air Special power. EI can now charge up the Water Special power. EI can now charge up the Earth Special power. EI can now charge up the Fire Special power.

The screen shot below is an example of the chaos that ensues around the player during an attack wave. Insects are spawning from all around the Hivesphere and flying straight for the EI, all of different elements. (Annoyingly none shifted to the Earth element because they new I was taking a screen cap).

The game mechanics have already been summarised but the attack wave GUI elements are discussed in full detail on the following page.

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The HUD devices

HP

Shields

Timer

Score, Credits, and Current Combo

Elemental Energies

Current Ammo

Ships Multi Cannon

Radar

HP: If no shields are active the EI will loose HP as it takes damage. As HP is lost the green texture will drop to the left and the numerical value of the HP will decrease. Shields: Shields will take damage before HP. If a shield is active its texture will drop to the left just like HP but no numerical value is displayed. Timer: This device counts down until the end of the attack wave. As the numerical value drops the central circle will also get smaller.

Score/Credits/Combo: These displays show the numerical value of each statistic. Radar: This will light up with coloured blips for each bug that spawns. These blips do not show the types of bugs spawned but do indicate the element by the colour of the blip. This is so the player can be selecting their element whilst rotating to meet the new threat. The radar is also three dimensional. This means, as the ship rotates around the X or Y axis so does the radar.

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Ships Multi Cannon: The main barrels texture as well as that of the quad cannons top most cannon indicate the current element selected. Using the mouse wheel this cannon will rotate clockwise or anticlockwise to other elements. The picture on the HUD diagram shows Air as the selected element. Fire is the next rotation clockwise and water is the next anticlockwise rotation. Although the player only usually sees the cannon of the ship, due to the FPS layout, some events such as activating a special require the whole EI to be seen. The pictures below how the EI looks from a third person view. The fire element is selected on the left and water on the right. Note how the texture of the EIs trim and wings has changed to the selected element as well as the cannon itself.

Current Ammo: Shows the numerical value of the EIs ammunition at present. It does not show capacity, just the value of the concussive (left) and explosive (right) ammunition available. Elemental Energies: Similarly to shields these devices have a texture that fills up the sliders vertically as elemental energy is gained for each element type. No numerical value is displayed. Similarly to the timer the coloured balls below the sliders are only full once a certain level of elemental energy has been reached indicating the special power for that element can be used. Of course, the higher the energy level in a slider the more powerful the ability will be but sometimes a special may be required before it has reached maximum potential. More on Specials The projectile weaponry has all been programmed in now but the use of the elemental specials has not as each special is very unique. By the end of development I hope to get the specials working as mentioned earlier in the document (in the Game Mechanics section). Here is a little more detail on how Id like each to perform. Fire Special: Continuous beam of energy fired straight ahead, killing all insects in one hit, for a certain time period. The more fire energy generated, the longer the time period and greater the beam radius. Can first be activated at 80%. Water Special: All projectiles fired gain the ability to steal enemy HP on death, reflecting back part of the damage done on the death blow. Bugs killed with the water element will reflect back double the damage done. The amount of health returned is based on the percentage the special was activated on, multiplied by the damage done. Can first be activated at 80%. Earth Special: Makes the EI invulnerable to damage for a short time period. Time period is based on the earth energy acquired. Can first be activated at 70%. At 80% the additional bonus of regenerating a shield (or some HP) is gained. Air Special: Creates a shockwave that bursts out from the EI in a sphere. All nearby enemies are knocked back a set distance and loose 25% or their HP. The distance the shockwave reaches is dependant on the air energy acquired but can reach the very edge of the Hivesphere at 100%. Can first be activated at 70% (might reduce to 60%).

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The Bugs
The traits for each bug are subject to change.

Scout Bug
Scout bugs are the lowest ranking units of the swarm, used only to scout out new regions or as cannon fodder on the front lines. They are the weakest units in both attack and defence and do not even try and dodge projectiles fired at them. Value 1 80 50 melee Average. Heads straight for Elemental Interceptor. 2 Opposing element. N/A

Trait Class HP Damage Speed Path Size Weakness Extra

Bumble Bug
Bumble bugs are the most compact unit in the game. Their movement is as basic as the Scout Bugs but they are the fastest fliers in the game. The aim of the bumble bug is simply to ram the player with its horns and they deal a lot of damage with this attack. Their greatest flaws are that they must fly off a distance after each attack to gain momentum for the next charge and they take additional damage from concussive attacks. Trait Class HP Damage Speed Path Size Weakness Extra Value 2 300 300 initial impact, 100 after Fast Heads straight for Elemental Interceptor. 1 Opposing element. Takes additional damage from concussive attacks. Bumble bugs are the only unit to take LESS damage from explosive ammunition than concussive.

Wasp
Wasps are the first real threat as their movements are less predictable. They dont spawn as fast as Scout Bugs and they move a little slower but they can take more hits and deal more damage.

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Trait Class HP Damage Speed Path Size Weakness Extra

Value 2 150. 100 Average Heads straight for Elemental Interceptor but can randomly dodge every few seconds. 2 Opposing element. N/A

Dragon Bug

Dragon Bugs are the heavy support for the insect forces. They move the slowest but can take and deal the most damage out of all the vowel swarm. They also shift between elements most frequently. Trait Class HP Damage Speed Path Size Weakness Extra Value 3 600 300 melee Very slow Heads straight for Elemental Interceptor but can dodge. 5 Opposing element. Takes additional damage from explosive attacks. Dragonflies have the greatest chance to shift between elements. They also dodge the furthest due to their great wings, although not as frequently as wasps or hornets.

Elemental Hive

Elemental Hives do not attack, instead focusing on spawning more units. They are almost as tough as

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Dragon Bugs but faster moving and much harder to hit floating in a spiral path rather than heading straight for the EI.

Trait Class HP Damage Speed Path Size Weakness Extra

Value 5 500 N/A Spawns units Slow Circles the EI, bursting forward every once in a while to get closer. Will stop at hornet spitting distance from the EI. 4 Opposing element. Takes additional damage from explosive attacks. N/A

Hornet
Hornets are the final and most versatile attacker players will encounter. They are not as tough as dragonflies but they are the only unit that can attack from range as well as up close and are also the most frequent dodgers. Value Trait 4 Class 500 HP 250 Sting, 150 Spit Damage 4 units per sec. Speed Heads straight for Elemental Interceptor but Path dodges the most frequently of all the bugs. Size 4 Weakness Opposing element. Hornets are the toughest enemies, with no noted weaknesses. They can spit elemental Extra projectiles from a distance or come in closer to deal devastating damage with their stings.

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