High Concept Document for Apoc

APOC

(Apocalypse)

(working title)

Game basics

The game is based in a high fantasy world with various mythological creatures from elves, dwarfs, wizards, demons and dragons etc. With most games you always play as the good guys fighting the forces of evil. In APOC that isn’t the case; it’s time for the bad guys to get even. Choose from a range of four characters each with their own skills and abilities of destruction and doing their master’s bidding in the exchange of revenge. Each character makes a pact with one of the four horsemen and gains their powers of War, Hunger, Plague and Death twisting them into an unstoppable killing force.

Game layout

·        Single player game (multi-player optional )

·        Role play game (RPG)

·        Based in a fantasy world (heroes, dragons, mythological creatures etc…)

·         Four *(five) player classes based on the four horseman of the apocalypse

·        “Hack and slash” play style, multiple enemy encounters where players can be overwhelmed by enemies

·        Four *(five) different story lines based on each character which cross paths for each story

Game Synopsis

The world becomes over powered by the greater good of powerful heroes that want to rid the world of all what they see as evil, they have no hesitation of stopping until all evil has been banished. But where there is greater good there must be a greater evil for the world to be balanced. With the forces of good becoming too powerful something must be done to balance the scales of life and to even the score. Within the forces of noble knights, heroic warriors and peace loving elves seeking what they think will purify the lands, lays a darkness of uncontrollable power. A power so evil it is simply overlooked and told in children’s story tales but this tale won’t end with a “happily ever after”. Overlooking the land of good deeds and ever growing happiness, unseen forces of everyday life lay in wait for certain conditions to be met. A long lost forgotten book was once written in a language unknown to even the best of scholars until one day, within the vast libraries and halls of an ancient ruined city only known to the lands as the lifeless city of Apoc. A young boy wandered into the forgotten city in search of shelter and unaware of the dangers that lay within those towering halls he delved further into the darkness. Scared and frightened the boy came across four gigantic figures that would pour terror into even the mightiest of hero’s hearts. But instead of fear, the boy felt a strange feeling of comfort and as he looked

up at these lifeless statues. He found himself watching the floating dust particles trying to lie on an unopened book in the centre of the overwhelming statutes. As he slowly moved towards the book he looked

 up at the four figures as a child would look at his own parents to see if he was safe to do so. Closing in he noticed the statutes looked like four funny old men. The first looked like an old man wearing a ladies long dress, but with a large hood and was holding a farmer’s tool for cutting crops. The second was a skinny looking man, who looked like he had never had anything to eat, holding a pair of weighing scales in both hands as if he was begging for food. Next was a angry looking old man with big  muscles that were almost bigger than his head and leaning on a giant sword with lots of scratches and cuts on it as if it had been used a lot. Last was a very ugly looking old man with warts, a really big swollen belly and what looked like small carved insects all over him, and had a walking stick that looked like a mouldy old tree branch. With a slight smile on his face he looked down at the book he noticed that the book was very old, but there was no dust on it and looked like it had just been written. As his curiosity grew stronger he moved his hand over the unmarked mysterious book to look at the first page. He watched as his breath became visible near the surface of the book cover as if it was made from ice. Fascinated by the strange object he felt the leathery surface and was surprised to find the book feel warm to touch. But as he took hold of the leathery cover edge he heard a faint noise from above, and as he looked up he saw a small object fall from the roof onto his hand and forcing the palm of his hand onto the book cover. Within seconds he quickly gazed upon a small white rat brighter than the snow capped mountains he had seen growing up. Not moving his hand he watched as the small cute fur ball gazed at him for a few seconds before nastily sinking its tiny teeth into the back of his hand causing him to withdraw his hand from the book and knocking it to the ground. With a slight stinging sensation in his hand he looked around for the devious critter to find it had vanished as quickly as it had appeared. With a slight trickle of blood now running down the boys hand and heart rate racing, the boy turned to the book to quickly place it back from the pedestal it once sat. His hand once again placed on its leathery cover he quickly picked up the book to only drop it again as it burned his fingertips. Gazing at the book with confusion he looked at the first page as it fell open to see strange symbols thought the page. The boy had never been shown how to read or write but as he looked at the symbols he began to understand them as if they were telling him a story “When the four acts of Darkness have taken place they will cause the end of days. This will only take place when light exceeds the darkness and when life gives its self in exchange for the rider’s gifts”

Beginning title

The game begins with an intro video where part of each characters introduction story, (crossing over all four stories,) shows what their life was like before their main story begins. The beginning video will show short intertwining video sequences of each of the four characters and how they were murdered by good heroes and how they where speared by the four horseman on conditions that in return to avenge their deaths they must do as the horseman ask and in doing so will take an aspect of each horseman’s curse’s: death, hunger, pestilence and war.   

 (Working narrative intro)

“Though out the land, evil hides in the darkness but not all evil is of a cruel nature and wants to be left alone form the temptations of what would lead them down the path of corruption. Some evil just wants to be left alone from the world and live a peaceful life. But where evil hides there always must be a greater good to destroy the negative balance”

 Beginning the game

Players start the game by choosing one of the four characters: Nex, Fames, Bellum or Vomica. Each character shows their side of the story. Players will be given a short tutorial at the start of their class’s story (which may be skipped)  to help them understand to games control, item, inventory and levelling  system.

Characters

The four Characters are based on the story of the “four horseman of the apocalypse” each representing: Death, Hunger, War and Pestilence.

Each story begins with the characters death and how they were wrongly killed by the forces of good and giving revenge by each horseman to avenge their death by doing the horseman’s bidding.

Name: Nex (Latin for Death)

Race: human

Class: necromancer

(Uses magic spells, raises the dead to do his bidding)

Represents: horseman Death

Play style benefits: attacks mostly from range with magic spells , summons the dead to aid him and regains a small amount of health from fallen enemies by taking souls of the fallen.

Name: Fames (Latin for Hunger)

Race: elf

Class: vampire scout

Represents: horseman Famine

Play style benefits: uses a mix of magic and close combat, can charm enemies to attack other foes, close combat attacks steal a small amount of life

Name: Bellum (Latin for War)

Race: human

Class: barbarian/warrior

Represents: horseman War

Play style benefits: mainly close combat attacks with some “shout” spells, can cause enemies to fight among themselves and can regain health depending on how many enemies he kills

Name: Vomica (Latin for Plague)

Race: troll

Class: heavy armoured warrior

Represents: horseman pestilence   *(conquest: see below)

Play style benefits: close combat short range magic damage, can cause disease to enemies that touch him which can spread to other enemies, regains health by eating diseased enemies

**Name: Conquest

    Race: Vermin

    Class: melee scout

    Represents: looking into the background of the forth horseman there was some debates whether he is Conquest or Pestilence. Conquest will represent as the 5^th horseman Conquest and also use the same name. This character will not be available until all 4 main characters have completed the game.

Play style benefits:  very fast melee combat class that can also summon swarms of rats to assist him and also has the ability to make him self smaller to access hidden parts of the game. 

Game Controls

This game will mainly be based on the Xbox console.

Combat system

The combat system is a hack and slash styled game. It is a fast paced fighting game that offers the ability to kill multiple enemies with a single attack. The player can target single/ multiple enemies at any one time and also have the ability to pick them up. The enemy A.I. will disperse/ call for assistance when their health bar has been greatly reduced. This offers the player more challenges.  

Inventory system

The inventory system holds items that are given, collected or discovered throughout the game. The characters will be equipped with basic armour sets to start, which by process of levelling up they can gain better armour.  

Levelling up process

The levelling up system will mainly be based around how fast you can kill foes throughout the game. Experience (Exp) points will increase faster the more you can “chain” attacks and kill opponents. In doing so extra bonus passive skills will be given for successfully defeating each foe. Exp points will return to normal once the player stops attacking or runs out of foes to defeat.

Goal of the game

One goal of the game will be to first learn the basics of what your chosen character can do. Depending on which character you chose the main storyline will change, showing there side of the story of how that character has ending up doing each horseman bidding in return for revenge. Players will travel through a range of landscapes, dungeons, forests and cities as they seek the reason to why they were executed.

The main goal is to find out who is responsible for your death and the truth behind why the land is being purged of evil . This will reveal a dark prophecy that has been written in history and will unfold as the player progress’s through the game.