High Level Concept
Working title
mnights
Concept statement
Rogue-lite first person shooter taking place in a single big seamless area.
Genre(s)
Rogue-lite, rogue-like, FPS, survival horror.
Target audience
Half-Life fans and fans of Half-Life mods.
Generally speaking anyone who likes single-player first-person shooters.
Unique Selling Points
Atmosphere and vibes, gameplay.
Product Design
Player Experience and Game POV
The setting: "the city" (closely resembling real city of Saint Petersburg)
Emotions: anxiety, feeling of being lost, homesickness, nostalgia, anemoia, saudade
(not fear, not intentionally at the very least)
Visual and Audio Style
Visual style: The visual style mimics Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, a game that came out in Match 2004, 8 months before the release of Half-Life 2, when graphics hardware allowed for higher-definition models and textures, but software wasn't there yet, when graphics were noticeable higher quality than last-gen, but noticeably less advanced than new-gen -- a liminal moment.
Audio style: Realistic, mimics general GoldSrc/Source (especially Garry's Mod) sound design. Other inspirations include Silent Hill 2 and Mouthwashing.
Music: primarily ambient music, mostly developing themes of nostalgia, anxiety, liminal anxiety (slow-burning fear of being lost in a wrong place at the wrong time) (also a few comfortable tracks). Inspirations for music include Легкое Дело Холод by Стук Бамбука в 11 часов, Music for Moore Street Substation by The Black Dog, Music for Airport Lounges by The Black Dog, various music by Cisfinitum, Lithea by 36, Homeless Rooms by Mount Shrine, В отзвуках эха by Спираль Времени & Угасание.
Game World Fiction
There is no fiction to the game world, the game world is presented as-is. The main walkthrough contains no explicit story, and is presented as a set of connected stages with no story attached.
All fiction present in the game is present as optional side-content.
Monetization
Platforms, Technology, Scope
mnights is a 3D FPS game made with Godot (.net/mono edition) and C#
mnights is a PC game, support is planned for Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS (optional)
Detailed Game Systems Design
Core Loops
Core Loop of mnights is that of an FPS with resource-management elements.
mnights also contains some puzzles and item/key-hunting elements.
Saves happen at preset points, "safe rooms".
Objectives and Progression
Objectives are presented by specific spots and items within the game's world that has to be reached and/or collected.
Progression mainly occurs through, by various means, unlocking new areas to explore and paths to traverse (Metroidvania sort of way).
Game Systems
HP/Damage metric -- player can take limited amount of damage before resetting to last saved game. Player's HP slowly increases over time, player can boost recovery with various healing items.
Inventory -- player can carry on them up to N + M items, divided into two sections -- Pockets and Bag. Upon death/reset items located in the Pockets remain in the player's inventory, the Bag gets lost at the location of last death and can be recovered.
Interactivity
WASD + Mouse (mnights is a FPS game)