Contested Dominion Game Treatment written by Nicholas Mezza

Overall Idea Contested Dominion will be a hybrid of real-time strategy (RTS) and a space flight simulator. The player will control a ship and fly it around, while commanding an army and its facilities.

Story The Sol Dominion has come to an end with the death of the entire royal family. Skirmishes began to break out between the groups who attempted to take the throne. After realizing that any wars that broke out would result in utter destruction of the solar system, an alternative was created. Each faction would prepare a candidate and train him as well as possible in one month. After this time, all the candidates would be placed in an area in the Asteroid Belt, each with a small colony under their control. They were to use these colonies to construct armies to destroy each other. This limited resource base represented a microcosm of the larger empire. If the candidate commanded his forces well, then he could beat out the other candidates in this limited scale war. The candidate whose army was the last standing would be the winner of the competition and inheirit the throne, and with it the entire solar system.

Players The game will be multiplayer. This will be accomplished through networking. If not enough players are present, AI players (computer opponents) will take over a player slot.

Fully 3D Game World The game world will be fully 3D. The battles will take place in all three dimensions.

Primary Modes The game will always be played from behind the player's ship. Other units can be given orders by pointing at them with your view and pressing a 'use' key. For detailed orders, the game will switch to a 3D map mode, where you can tell the unit where to go in the entire battlefield.

Basic Game Flow The player will start with a base and his own fighter. He must perform three tasks: Collect Resources Build Units/ship upgrades at the base Destroy the enemy base

Artificial Intelligence In addition to the non-human players, every unit created will have its own AI. Units will defend themselves, or search for things to do. These units will assist the player in completing his goals. For example, upon building a resource collector, it will search for the nearest asteroid to collect resources from. Military units will attempt to defend themselves, or attack any enemies they encounter.

Artificial Intelligence The actions of military units will be somewhat scripted. They will have a basic template of what do to in certain situations, modified by the current situation. Example: A fighter is making a pass on a unit. It will attack, fly a distance away and turn around for another pass. However, if another fighter was chasing him after the pass, it would try to avoid being destroyed and engage the other fighter.

Development Spec The game will be written using DirectX, Torx, or a combination of these. The game will be designed for use on a PC running windows. A joystick will be recommended, though a keyboard and mouse could be used to control the player's ship instead. CCS will be providing the media design for the game.