Meltdown A Debugging Debacle. Overview Game Design Character Design UI Overview Controls Mechanics Level Design.

MeltdownA Debugging Debacle

Overview

Game Design

Character Design

UI Overview

Controls

Mechanics

Level Design

Game Design – Plot

A robotics research facility is overrun by a corrupted AI during the development of a new user-free robotics system.

This infections program has turned the factory into a war-zone.

To save humanity you must take control of a next generation defense robot and prevent this epidemic from spreading.

Game Design – Gameplay

The goal of this game is to progress through the defense facility and shut down the bugged system to prevent it from propagating its corrupted code.

Game Design – Mindset

The player is rushed, nervous, and excited. We can provoke these emotions through alarm systems (triggering multiple waves of unknown-type enemies per level) and miscellaneous power-ups and weapon drops.

Quick Level Mockup

Start

Pickup First Beam(Stun)

Solve a door puzzle to advance.

Pickup First Power-up

(Hack/Overwrite)

Ammo Crate Mid-level Enemy

Character Design (Robots)

All of the characters in this game are iterations of the same machine.

Low-Level Enemies are older robots, the base model, they don’t do much damage-wise and navigate slowly.

Mid-Level Enemies are the current generation models, they do a fair amount of damage and move at a normal pace. These will be found in the end areas of the floors.

The Final Boss and Main Character are “Next-generation” models, they are experimental, so they are powerful, but sometimes a little buggy.

Robot Timeline

We want the player to feel like the robots were developed sequentially.

Base Robots Current Robots

Experimental AI

Robot

Prototype Defense Robot

Beam Types

Standard Beam

Fires a destructive pulse at enemies.

Stun Beam

Fires a pulse, with less damage than the standard beam, which saps enemy movement.

Fire Beam

Fires a devastating pulse at enemies at the price of increased energy and heat cost.

Freeze Beam

Fires a pulse that freezes enemies in their place, but does no damage.

Power-ups

Hack/Overwrite

Disarms an enemy robot and forces lesser robots to fight for you.

Selective EMP

Fires a directional pulse that disarms robots in front of you for a short time period. This is an experimental weapon, so it disarms your energy beam for a small period of time too.

Overclock Chip

Allows the user to use energy without limits for a small period of time. Heavy cool-down price. Costing heat and energy.

UI Mockup

Status Bars

Beam Selection

Power-up Selection

Menu Button

Controls Keyboard + Mouse

WASD + QE – Movement

Left Click – Fire Energy Beam

Right Click – Deploy Power-up

Arrow Keys – Select Power-up

1-4 or Tab – Select Energy Beam

Shift + WASD – Pan Camera

Controls Gamepad

Pan the camera

Move

Select Power-up

Select Energy Beam

Fire Energy BeamDeploy Power-up

Fire Energy Beam

Deploy Power-up

Menu

Mechanics (Heat)

Heat plays a vital role in survival. Using energy and/or certain power-ups contributes to heat, which depletes slower as it increases.

Heat % Depleted per second

0-59 5

60-69 4

70-79 3

80-89 2

90-100 1.5

100+ 1

Mechanics (Energy)

Energy allows the player to fire a variety of energy beams. Different beams have different effects and the cost per shot fired is broken down below.

Beam Energy Used per Second

Standard 1

Stun 2

Fire 4

Freeze 3

Level Design

Ground Floor

Mood

Bright, Tense, Inactive

Objects

Ambient

Laser Flashes

Electric Sparks

Interactive

Door (disarm with puzzle)

Cabinet (Cut off spawning)

First Power-up (Hack/Overwrite)

First Advanced Beam (Stun) (Slow enemy movement, less damage)

Level Design

2nd Floor Mood

Bright, Tense, Active

Objects

Ambient

Laser Flashes

Explosive particles

Electric Sparks

Interactive

Door (to disarm)

Switch (to stop spawning enemies)

Second Power-up (Selective EMP)

Second Advanced Beam (Fire) (Damage over time) (increases heat)

Ammo Depot

Level Design

3rd Floor

Mood

Dark, Tense, Active, Decay

Objects

Ambient

Laser Flashes

Rusted Piping/works

Drowned sparks

Interactive

Door (to disarm)

Switch (Spawns a larger enemy and kills the other ones for energy)

Third Power-up (Overclock chip)

Third Advanced Beam (Freeze) (Stops enemies, no damage, unfreeze and minor damage on hit)

Level Design

4th Floor (Final Boss)

Mood

Moody, Tense, Chaotic, Electric

Objects

Ambient

Laser Flashes

Alarm on entrance

Sparks

Interactive

Barriers (to hide when the boss is invulnerable)

Power Switch (After defeating boss)

Questions??