VIDEO GAME DEMO

Treatment file

Concept; to produce a demo version of an imaginary video game based on the style of early 8-bit 2D games. Set in New York City the game centres around the main character – an as yet unnamed junkie – whose objective is to collect as many packages of drugs as possible, as he proceeds through each level. The player controls his movement as he navigates his way around the various scenes, avoiding the drugs gang members while collecting their hidden drugs. Each drugs package he collects adds to his energy levels – which are continuously dropping against a clock timer/counter. The target at the end of the level is the main stash which gives him a “high” where the gang members turn into monsters which he fights and defeats to reach the end of the level. Alternatively if he fails to find any hidden packages his energy levels fade out and he dies.

This concept is an early draft and subject to several changes.

After a re-think we decided to change the objective of the character. Not wanting to involve the inclusion of “hard” drugs we turned the drug into a newly created chemical that our main character is trying to recover from his apartment. The value of this “new” drug is that it reveals – to the user – whether or not other people are alien monsters. Based on a stealth game, the player control’s the main character whose objective is to recover the drug, which he then takes, and it reveals the aliens to him. He then fights and kills aliens to gain points. He is also against a clock/timer and his energy levels fall according to how much time he takes to recover the drug. So there is a risk of his energy level running out and him dying. Influences come from games such as ‘streets of rage’ where we’ve adopted the same isometric viewpoint which allows for forward and backward movement along with the more traditional left and right.

 

Mood board; The first 3 images relate to the movies we’ve watched as part of our research into the lifestyle or effects of drug use.

  

 

          

Wanting to keep a more retro game sound to match  our visuals we searched through many titles from that era until finally deciding on two possible sound tracks. It was proving very difficult to get the right kind of tempo for our game – which has an element of stealth – and required something slower than the norm. Being based on ninja’s, known for their stealth, the game “Shinobi” came cosest to what we needed. We also liked the soundtrack from an Amiga game called “Cannon fodder” and think we can combine sound from both of these along with some downloaded effects.                                                

 

                                             

Some of the games that we drew influence from include ‘Streets of rage’,’ Mark of the Ninja’ and Metal gear solid’.

 

 

     

   

 

  Some of the reference images for our character designs

 

   

            

 

 

                 

 

 

Audio; in keeping with the retro style visuals we are going to use a similar style for the audio. A simple synthesized soundtrack along with some suitable sound effects to coincide with the characters movements.

Plot; Set in modern day New York, society has been infiltrated by aliens and the only way to detect them is by taking the new drug, called “it”. This gives the taker a high that reveals aliens as monsters which must then be killed. Our characters apartment has been taken over by aliens disguised as police, who are trying to prevent him from getting the drug. His task for this level is to sneak into his apartment, get past the aliens and recover his drugs. He then has to take the drug and kill the aliens to complete the level. Along with the risk of being killed by the aliens, there is also a race against time as his energy levels deplete and can run out – causing him to die.