Meltdown A 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 RobotsCurrent 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 Beam Deploy 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

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. BeamEnergy Used per Second Standard1 Stun2 Fire4 Freeze3

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  2 nd 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  3 rd 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  4 th 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??