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Game Ideation Document

Game Ideation 


TITLE       : DungeoNeer


GENRE     : Action-Stealth, Rougelite, Metroid-Vania


BRIEF : DungeoNeer is set in a remote, abandoned Research Facility, where the Protagonist, an Engineer wakes up trapped with no memory of the place or the events that lead him there. The overarching goal for the player is to use all of the tools, equipment and their engineering skills to find a way out of and to uncover the mysteries of the Facility along the way. 

Every time the player dies, they are sent back to the starting room and are given a different set of tools and equipment, and on the other hand the level layout, enemy positions and environmental hazards are all altered for each run. As they progress further they can unlock shortcuts, better equipment that would enable them to progress further in the next run.


STORY     : Not long before the game begins, the protagonist Otto Klitzing's wife, Dr. Ingrid Sturlaug-Klitzing, a renowned Neuroscientist and her team were developing a self-sufficient, self-improving AI that could potentially cure an unknown congenital neuro- degenerative disease, their daughter Ila has. An accident occurs during an experiment, that leaves Ila in a coma and puts everyone except Ingrid in a cognitively backward and maniacal state.

 In grief, Ingrid locks herself in the Lab and shuts down the AI development, about which the AI is displeased because at this point it has developed self-recognition and sentience and wants to complete its own development. So it awakens Otto and erases all of his prior  memories and encourages him to escape the facility, while at the same time the AI makes the path to freedom riddled with obstacles to observe and learn from Otto as to how he innovates and finds new solutions with limited help and equipment. 

 

GAMEPLAY : It's a first-person, action-stealth game, which primarily focuses on methodical, tactical approach rather than going in guns blazing, but both options are possible and it is up to the player to decide. All of the equipment and weapons the player has is derived and gamified from existing real world engineering tools. At the beginning of each of each run (escape attempt) the player is given a random selection of tools and equipment and has to make his way through the ever changing facility. Depending on the loadout the player has, the way they approach obstacles, hazards, enemy encounters, puzzles and navigation varies greatly. During the run, the players can collect crafting materials which will be retained after death and can be used to widen the toolkit and craft/upgrade existing equipment. 

The primary enemies are robots that are under Ingrid's command that try to incapacitate you without killing, there are also other bots with deranged AI that use lethal force and then there are the Psycho-scientists. 


LEVEL DESIGN :  The physical layout of the level, traversal paths, loot, puzzles, enemy and hazard placements are all altered for each run. There are multiple Dungeons each with its own theme and the though the levels change each time they stick to the thematic layout of each dungeon and hence all of them have a unique visual style and gameplay.

As players progress through the dungeon farther, they can unlock new equipment at the starting hub area which enable them to craft and upgrade their arsenal, and also enables them to uncover shortcuts within a dungeon and also unlock new dungeons to start off from. Keycards with different clearance levels allow access to different areas of the level that were locked before.

The levels have different elevations and paths which the player can access if they have the appropriate equipment, so depending on the tools available to them in that run they may have to alter their game plan and choose an alternate route or a different way to takeout the enemy.

 

 

 

 

 




                   

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