Ship Salvage
Ship Salvage Level Design
The latest level design using the unreal engine. making use of the simple shooter game mechanics, I've set out a non-linear map following the same theme as the previous maps created.
Ship Salvage - One Pager
Ship salvage detail
Target: male 18-30
Pitch:
Ship salvage is a 3d/first-person shooter/ survival game, where the player must explore and loot a massive space vessel whilst competing with other players to fulfill tasks, collect quest/story-related items and exit the ship alive. It takes place in the near future of 2176 where space is littered with ships of failed voyages and previous wars. You are part of a salvage company paid to acquire various items from these vessels.
Core game loop
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Kill players/ AI
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Loot Items in the level
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Get out alive
Main mechanics to the game
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Combat (Shooting/ melee / explosives)
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Survival (Health/ food / water/ oxygen)
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Customization (weapons/ armour)
Loading up
Before heading into a ship the player can gear up with various equipment to aid them in their exploration. With items to help navigate rooms easier, oxygen tanks to provide air in parts of the ship that have been breached, bigger storage to carry more loot, and different weapons to combat various players and/ or AI onboard. As well as this the player can take on quests
Looting up
Players will be taken into fixed levels to acquire loot/ explore/ kill enemies and/ or complete quests. Depending on the players’ gear and knowledge of the level they can explore other areas of the level that may be restricted e.g. a room that lacks oxygen for the player.
Leaving
Players won’t be able to leave the same way they arrived. They will have to fill a minimum quota of loot in order to call the ship to exit. The ship will then arrive at an exit point that the player must get to in order to leave successfully.
Ship Salvage - Feature Brief
Feature - Oxygen
Oxygen is a feature in the game tied with the other survival mechanics. Similar to most survival games that implement oxygen as a mechanic, if the player’s oxygen runs out they will lose health and/ or die.
Environment interaction/ Player choice
Oxygen is intended to play a part with interactive environments on Ship salvage. Certain areas of a level may have no oxygen and require specific equipment the player has to have in order to gain access. As well as this, areas can be deprived of oxygen from the player interacting with the environment. An example of this would be destroying a door or window to space.
This feature is designed to add player choice to how they interact with both enemy AI and/ or other players in the level. In addition to this, there is a choice added to what the player chooses to take into the level in order to access areas that are limited by this feature.
Overview
When the player equips an oxygen mask and/ or is exposed to an area with low oxygen/ vacuum, a visual cue or meter displaying the oxygen level will appear on the HUD to inform the player. This will vary depending on what the player has decided to have equipped.
Examples of the varying UI:
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No mask, low oxygen - player will hold their breath, and vision will become tunneled as well as desaturated when running out of oxygen Similar to how drowning is displayed in other games. E.g Assassin’s creed black flag and sea of thieves
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No mask, vacuum - the player will die immediately with a quick flash of red to black to convey this.
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Oxygen mask, low oxygen - The player will have an oxygen meter display periodically showing their oxygen level. The meter will constantly display in red when at low levels
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Oxygen mask, no oxygen - The oxygen meter will display constantly whilst in a vacuum. Consumption will be greater than when in a low oxygen area, requiring constant monitoring. The meter will change from a basic white to a flashing red when at low levels
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Provided the player has a mask in their inventory, they can manually equip this to their character in order to gain the benefits.
Depending on how the player(s) interact with the environment, oxygen levels can change and allow players various choices on how to engage in a situation.
Some examples of this would be;
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Breaches can be sealed to allow exploration without the requirement of a mask being equipped
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Areas can be exposed to a vacuum to quickly eliminate players and/ or AI