Goals: We want to produce a 1.Fun 2.Immersive 3.Unique 4.Sellable game

What makes a game fun? Game play –Making decisions that affect future outcomes Scoring –All player interaction affects score Competition –The right level of fair play –Human competition against other players Customizability

What makes a game immersive Story line –Plot –Emotional depth –Character depth –Consistency Game play –Learning curve is just right Graphics Sound

What makes a game unique ? New Genre New AI New Graphics New Customizations

What makes a game sellable? It has to be all of the above and it has to be marketed, and distributed well. No bugs Portable, ….

Our Game: Fun, Immersive, Unique Dual-mode –Competitive (2 player) –Cooperative + Competitive (4+ players), pairs of cooperating competitors Cerebral mode: Puzzle, Strategic, longer time horizon FP/TP mode: Fast paced, racy, frantic action and effects

Our Game: Dual Mode (PF) Market Issues: –Is there a market for such a game –Player demographics (two sets?) How do we make it work? –Concept: Time Interrupt Time slows down in FP/TP mode  1s == 1s Cerebral mode: Days in seconds  24h = 1s Making this explicit, unites the RTS and FP views. One Person can play both views and switch plausibly. Works for RTS to FP – no such justifiable mechanism for other concepts

Our Game: Possession – serious (RL) Market: Who will be put off by possession (Religious?) How do we make it work? –Story line: In the far future, galactic war has left few gods alive. Terra is the next battleground between good and evil. Will humanity survive? You and your fellow gods possess key human figures to change the course of history. You are Mario Andretti, You are Winston Churchill You are Alan Turing

Our Game: Possession - Fun Market: Who will be put off by possession How do we make it work? –Story line: In the far future, galactic war has left few gods alive. Terra is the next battleground between karmic good and evil. Will humanity survive? You and your god compadres possess almost-key human figures to change the course of history. You are Mario Andretti’s mechanic, Dario – customize and race his car to beat an evil god in delivering the enigma machine to Winston Churchill You are Winston Churchill’s butler, Reeves - …buttle your ass off to get funding to Alan Turing to build his computer You are Alan Turing’s beautiful assistant, Tuqwilla – Help Turing crack the code and win world war II

Our game - Concepts Ghost view (RL) during possession Humans are pawns for both sides (LA) Many possible starting points lead to many possible futures/pasts for Terra

Terrana A Delicate Balance… Just your luck. Prospecting at the edge of known space you have to be the one to make first contact. Robot armies march to your command. As the military leader of your armed forces, you must equip, train, deploy, and lead your forces to victory