Game: Moshi Monsters
Game Name/ Title Logo: Phenotype
1 - Contents2 - Game overview
3 - World setting
4 - Narrative
5 - Gameplay:
5.1 - Playing Styles
5.2 - USP
5.3 - Objectives
5.4 - Target Market
5.5 - Project Scope
5.6 - Play Time
5.7 - Character Progression
5.8 - Controls
5.9 - Interface
6 - Platform7 - Game World:
7.1 - Map
7.2 - Level Design
7.3 - Environment and Assets
8 - Advanced Gameplay:
8.1 - Customisation
8.2 - Moves/Attacks List
8.3 - Health and Damage
8.4 - Spawning and Death
8.5 - Adrenalin
8.6 - Limbs
8.7 - Genus Specific H.U.D
8.8 - Cell Points
8.9 - Sights
9 - Races/Factions:
9.1 - The Genus
9.2 - Characteristics & Behavior
10 - Art Style:11 - Sound:
2 - Game Overview/Genre:
Phenotype is a fast paced MMO third person hack and slash/ shooter, inspired by the game Moshi Monsters. Players can create and customize monsters in a variety of ways (with over 100 trillion combinations!) to tailor their gameplay and see there monster progress. Players do combat against each other as well as working cooperatively with groups to complete dynamic events for the good of their species.
3 - World Setting:
XP-159 is a very large water based planet, 25 times the size of earth, chosen for it’s abundant supply of water to power its hydrogen based reactors. The drawback of XP-159 is it’s constantly adjusting atmosphere, thin at some times and thick at others, which creates a non-sustainable environment for oxygen breathing organisms as well as regular barrages from solar wind. The research facility is well protected to counter this, with 2 foot thick Inconel walls and automated blast windows/doors.
4 - Narrative:
Phenotype is based in an off-world research facility on the planet marked XP-159. The reasons behind this are due to the nature of the scientific research taking hold in the facility, the genetic mutation and experimentation of animals in the quest to create the ultimate bio-weapon.
The facility was lifted into the outer atmosphere in modules on the back of a modified winged aircraft, then pieced together into larger modules. The modules were then towed to XP-159 from earth by an automated nuclear powered space-tug, the journey would take an estimated 24 years! The facility researchers and staff traveled to XP-159 in a lighter and fast ship some time later, timed to arrive at the same time as the facility.
5 - Gameplay:
5.1 - Playing Styles:
The essence of phenotype is its emphasis on player choice, almost every aspect of the game can be tailored to the players’ preference and the way the game can be played is no exception to this. Phenotype has the possibility to be whatever type of game the player wants it to be. Stealth, shooter, hack and slash ect.
Creature customisation allows players to specialize their phenotype to suit the style they want to play. Players can work in teams, with a variety of players with creatures whose customisations complement each other’s play types. Pack bonuses give players the edge in fights with stat increase for pack mentality and strength in numbers. Team play can be tactical also, with upgrades that allow players to infiltrate opponents areas to gain an advantage. They can fight alone and take a stealthy tactical approach to hunt their prey using camouflage and the element of surprise to pinpoint weaknesses in the bodies of the hunted.
The game encourages players to think outside the box and adopt a new mentality (a more animalistic mentality) when playing to become a more efficient predator. By thinking like lone wolf or with pack mentality players can immerse themselves in the world and learn the ways of the creatures that inhabit it
5.2 - Unique Selling Point:
The unique selling point of Phenotype is the fact that its the first of its kind as a free roaming MMO Creature based game. The game consists of no currency in a traditional sense, instead players collect “Cells” (organic matter) in game that they can then to upgrade and grow their own body. Phenotype is all about evoking the players primal instincts and learning to hunt as a pack or “team”. The target of the game is to enable the player to completely immerse themselves in a out of body experience, and begin to think like a hungry predator than another Night elf scrub
5.3 - Objectives:
Phenotype has a number of objectives that are dependent on the way that players choose to play the game. The overall aim of the game is domination, to fight off the other seven species, for control of food source and space to allow your species to flourish. The secondary, but more immediate objective is to create and become the most powerful and efficient bioweapon. While the game has over-arcing elements of map control whereby players fight over contested areas of the environment to gain bonuses for their genus, there are also underlying objectives that benefit the player more directly like Pvp fighting, and participation in dynamic events to acquire cell points and experience. Exploration of the facility provides players with more opportunities grow and develop.
5.5 - Project Scope:
The features and characteristics of the project will make the game a unique and new experience for the players, there is currently no other games on the market that have gone for a large open world type MMO based on creature console play. Our reasons for going down this route are that by limiting the amount of social activity in the game and not having it based on PC,have managed to conceptualise a more realistic creature playing experience. Players will have to impose different signs and signals to create hunting parties and help each other hunt in the world of Phenotype.
5.4 - Target Market:
The game will be rated as a PEGI 16, the video game will depict violence and gore of a graphic nature on both humans and creatures alike. The game will feature mild bad language at some scenes and display the use of drugs as you use your cells to grow your creature into a killing machine.
5.6 - Play Time:
The game will entail roughly 50 hours of play time, however this will vary with how much time the player takes to complete each challenge and ability to stay alive. Leveling will be based on completing quest like adventures that lead you into the unknown. Experience or ( Cells) will be everything within the game, from killing NPC’s, Gathering or PvP territorial combat.
5.7 - Character Progression/ Genus progression:
The game-play of Phenotype works from the phrase “survival of the fittest”, the gameplay objectives are all based around a battle for superiority for both your chosen genus, and your phenotype as an individual member of that genus. Phenotype has no linear story, players progress through the game as their creature matures and grows, and they explore new areas and fight more opponents. This forces the player to learn about the world of the game in an experimental, organic way as they experience inhabiting it through their phenotype. However, whether they choose to fight alone, in pairs or in a pack, each player is, by extension fighting for the good of their species.
There will be no set numerical levels for the player, instead the player will have the choice of 4 directions to mutate into a more powerful being, from one of those 4 there will be an additional 4 stages of evolution (A total of 5 including the base). Within the game the player will be able to distinguish which creatures are of a higher level or ( rank/power ) by the sentian stage of their evolution. The players character will bare war marks from previous battles and the player will eventually be able earned from to see the characters rank and power purely from appearance.
5.7.1 - Mutation Chain:
The player begins by picking a starter phenotype (Genetically Mutated Creature) from a choice of 8 Genus’s (creature species/ family). Choosing a genus is effectively choosing which “side” the player wishes to play/fight for. Each genus has one starting phenotype that is unique to that race. This creature is the same for all players starting out, from skin to stats. It can of course be customised later as the player progresses, and unlocks new limbs, skills, attacks and “skins”.
Players then train the creature by participating in activities such as Dynamic Events, Objectives and even PVP (Players vs Player) to gain experience points and the game currency, Cells. Once the player has invested a enough time and care into their phenotype it will mutate into it’s second phase. In the second phase the player needs to make a decision on what class they want their creature to evolve into, the classes are split into 4 groups; Heavy Ranged, Fast Ranged, Heavy Melee and Fast Melee. The players choice here is the most important, as once they make a decision they cannot go back. Again, after some time and effort, the players creature will evolve again, this time down the pre-chosen class evolution tree chosen in phase two.
With each evolution phase, the player unlocks abilities/attacks for their creature. To begin they start off with a simple melee attack, then, depending on their choice of class, they get to choose an attack that conforms with the chosen class, for example, Ranged or Melee. The base melee attack they start with also changes in the second phase to match the chosen path, a claw scratch/swipe for melee or a ranged spine attack for ranged.
5.8 - Controls:
Being a game that encourages natural instinct in it’s players, the controls need to be simple, easy to use and after some time be instinctive to the player. The controls given below ensure a smooth progression between movement, combat and interacting with the environment.
Modern console controllers have very sensitive sensors within them, making it perfect platform to base the game in the sense of player control. The left analogue stick not only controls movement but also a lunge/dodge function with a quick flick as well as jump when pressed in. To avoid any accidental lunges/dodges, the move will be triggered on the flick pack of the stick as opposed to the outgoing flick movement. The remaining controls are fairly standard and familiar with other games.
Movement:
L3: Move & Lunge (flick)
L4: Jump
R3: Look
D-Pad Down: Sprint
Combat:
L1: Block (left)
L2: Basic Strike (left)
R1: Block (right)
R2: Basic Strike (right)
R4: Zoom (toggle)
Triangle: Ability Attack #1
Circle: Ability Attack #2
Cross: Ability Attack #3
Square: Ability Attack #4
Interaction & UI:
D-Pad Up: Character Stats
D-Pad Left: Interact
D-Pad Right: Large Map
Select: Highlight Target (15 seconds)
Menu: Main Menu
5.9 - Interface:
The interface is simple, clean and easy to use. Continuing on with the shape of hexagons/octagons slightly as well as the style of edge. In this screen players can select which weapons and limb upgrades they wish to purchase using the game currency, Cells. Players can select the limbs, which each give different statistics, by clicking the node in the limb selection panel. They can then purchase and “fit” the limbs on to their phenotype. For the purpose of illustration, the above image shows a variety of legs that are able to be used with this specific phenotype.
The weapon selection allows the player to unlock and equip which weapons/attacks they wish to use. Only 4 can be selected at one time, making the player think about their technique and style of attack. Phenotypes are also repaired from damage taken in this screen, players can use the auto-repair function or repair each limb separately if they do not have enough Cells. Lastly, the Cells balance in shown in the bottom right along with the cost of items/upgrades they have selected.
6 - Platform:
phenotype is intended to be developed for the next generation of games consoles, specifically the successors to the xbox 360 and playstation 3 respectively. The reason for choosing these 2 consoles is that they are primarily controlled by variations on the gamepad. this is a benefit to phenotype as it encourages immersion in the game world far more than using a keyboard and mouse, and creates a far more organic and natural gaming experience.
7 - Game World:
Phenotype takes place inside a vast testing facility built to create, contain, and test biomechanical war machines. Unlike most MMO’s phenotype sets the constrains the game inside at all times, but this works to the games advantage. Having an indoor setting means that the developers can have a more direct control of the space that players inhabit, similar to the way a film director can choose to lead the eye of the viewer to a specific part of a scene using camera angles. Phenotype can use the environmental constraints to control what the player sees far more than in a free roaming game, sacrificing small amounts of player freedom to create moody, claustrophobic tunnels and corridors that then break out into vast breathtaking rooms of free roaming potential.
7.1 - Map:
The environment that the players are confined to is a gigantic maze of corridors, command module rooms and large open areas. There are 3 floors, set out in an easy to remember layout. Each section of the map will look different from each other, while retaining the same structure. Lighting, Growth, Damage as well as clearly marked “Zones” on the map and on the walls/doors within the game level.
7.2 - Map Design:
The map design came from the idea of a snowflake. Snowflakes take the form that they do as it is strongest natural structure. The facility is built to withstand a lot of forces, so taking the structural layout into consideration is vital.
7.3 - Environment and Assets.
The environment of the game will vary from each facility you enter. Due to the nature of the station, the mix of chemicals has enabled a vast range of plant life to grow and spores run freely through unsealed lock outs around the facility. This has created a dense variety of environments to play through, each more versatile than the last.
8 - Advanced Gameplay:
8.1 - Customisation:
Phenotypes can be customised in a variety of ways both to suit the players game style and desired aesthetic. The primary mode of customisation is mutation. By choosing a specific path for a phenotype to mutate along, the player can tailor their creature be more proficient with ranged attacks, close quarters attacks, or to be a good all-rounder. They can also choose heavy or light customisation variants. This allows players to choose whether they wish to deal a high volume of attack that do a lower damage, or attacks that deal a large amount of damage with a slower rate of attack.
This page contains examples of the light/ fast ranged attack mutation of the insectoid genus. They are equipped with the stock limb attachments for their strain of the species.
Phenotype also offers skin customisation, allowing the player to apply a range of unlock-able colours and camouflages to apply to their phenotype, to stand out or to aid concealment. Each genus has a stock skin colour as a starting point, but additional skins become available at the customization rooms as the player unlocks them by completing challenges, defeating enemies and taking part in dynamic events.
8.2 - Moves/Attacks List:
The moves, otherwise knowns as attacks, increase in damage and intensity as the players phenotype evolves. To counter the large amount of damage that the veteran moves do, a longer cooldown (represented by “CD”) is applied. Below is a list of the moves for a Fast Ranged Phenotype:
Stage 1:
1: Strike (Basic attack for all classes - 2% Damage - 10m Range - 2s CD)
Stage 2:
1: Strike Level II (Basic attack for all classes - 4% Damage - 10m Range - 2s CD)
2: Mucus Blast (Reduces enemies movement by 10% for 5 Seconds - 15s CD)
Stage 3:
1: Strike Level III (Basic attack for all classes - 6% Damage - 10m Range - 2s CD)
2: Mucus Blast Level II (Reduces enemies speed and movement by 20% for 5 Seconds - 15s CD)
3: Spine Dart (Fires a sharp bone spine at high speed - 10% Damage - 8m Range - 5s CD)
4: Acid Spray (Reduces enemies precision by 10% for 5 seconds - 15s CD)
Stage 4:
1: Strike Level IV (Basic attack for all classes - 8% Damage - 10m Range - 2s CD)
2: Mucus Blast Level III (Reduces enemies speed and movement by 30% for 5 Seconds - 15s CD)
3: Spine Dart (Fires a sharp bone spine at high speed - 10% Damage - 8m Range - 5s CD)
4: Acid Spray (Reduces enemies precision by 10% for 5 seconds - 15s CD)
5: Needle Burst (A burst of serrated needles - 20% Damage - 5m Range - 25s CD)
6: Corrosive Bolt (A corrosive acid bolt - 25% Damage Over 25s - 10m Range - 40s CD)
7: Sonar Wave (A blast of sound that stuns enemies - 5s stun - 7m Range)
8: Rapid Fury (Rapid fury of spines - 15 spines at 2% Damage each - 6m Range - 35s CD)
Stage 5:
1: Strike Level V (Basic attack for all classes - 10% Damage - 10m Range - 2s CD)
2: Mucus Blast Level IV (Reduces enemies speed and movement by 40% for 5 Seconds - 15s CD)
3: Spine Dart (Fires a sharp bone spine at high speed - 10% Damage - 8m Range - 5s CD)
4: Acid Spray (Reduces enemies precision by 10% for 5 seconds - 15s CD)
5: Needle Burst Level II (A burst of serrated needles - 40% Damage - 5m Range - 25s CD)
6: Corrosive Bolt Level II (A corrosive acid bolt - 50% Damage Over 25s - 10m Range - 40s CD)
7: Sonar Wave Level II (A blast of sound that stuns enemies - 10s stun - 7m Range)
8: Rapid Fury Level II (Rapid fury of spines - 15 spines at 4% Damage each - 6m Range - 35s CD)
9: Pulverate (A solid ball - 30% Damage + -20% Defence for 10 seconds - 4m Range - 50s CD)
10: Fury Shot (A very strong single bolt shot - 50% Damage - 7m Range - 60s CD)
11: Regurgitate Sludge (Reduces enemies attack speed by 25% for 5 Seconds - 50s CD)12: Spike Attack (Fires a burst of 3 spikes - 15% Damage each - 8m Range - 55s CD)
13: Sonic Shriek (A blast of sonic sound that lowers enemy defence by 25% - 6m Range - 65s CD)
14: Toxic Haze (Release a toxic haze - 40% damage over 20 seconds - 5m Range - 50s CD)
15: Jagged Bolt (A nasty bolt - 25% Damage + 20% damage over 5 seconds - 6m Range - 60s CD)
16: Hypersonic Dart (Long range, fast, single shot dart - 30% Damage - 15m Range - 60s CD)
8.3 - Health and Damage
Damage done by attacks are subtracted from the percentage of the enemys overall health, not it’s remaining health percent. For example, If you have 85% health remaining and get hit for 20% damage, the damage percentage is subtracted from your overall health percentage, not your remaining, leaving you with 65% health remaining.
8.4 - Spawning and Death:
When a player dies, a suitable punishment must be allocated to the player. It must be something that is not a major loss, yet still important enough to cause a suitable amount of “loss” feeling to the player.
8.4.1 - Player Respawn Function:
On death, a message is displayed “Your body has been dragged back to your nearest faction safezone.”. You will spawn in the nearest “safe zone” that is held by your faction.
8.4.2 - Death Punishment:
When a player dies they lose a predetermined amount of “Cell” points. (250).
8.5 - Adrenalin:
Adrenalin can be used to sprint short distances and lunging. Players can “dodge” incoming attacks by lunging out of the way. This is done by flicking the L3 analog stick in the direction that they want to lunge. To avoid any accidental lunges, the move will be perform when the controller recognises a movement of the stick in the direction of the lunge and the snap back of the analogue stick. Sprinting is engaged by pressing the down button on the D-pad.
8.6 - Limbs:
As players progress and continue to mutate their creatures and earn cell points, many unlock able customisations become available to them. One such unlock, is unlock able limb variants. Limbs take the place of weapon unlocks. The limbs that are available to the player depend on the path they have chosen to specialise in so that the stats of the limb are appropriate to the play style that they have chosen. The limb unlocks are also mutation stage appropriate, making the statistics of the limbs also appropriate for the level of the player. As the player takes part in more dynamic events, limbs with higher statistics become available, to help the player to combat increasingly challenging opponents.
8.7 - Genus Specific H.U.D:
The heads up display is another area of customisation within phenotype, though it is largely determined by choice of Genus. While in game the player has the option to toggle on pheno-sight. Pheno-sight is an ability that differs from genus to genus, it is a vision mode that is used to display the world in a way that compliments the genus being used by the player, for example, for a genus that favours accuracy and precision, the phenol-sight highlight the most vulnerable areas of the opponent being targeted. Other phenol-sights act as sonar, transforming the world around within a short radius into a wireframe/ x-ray vision to allow the player to see what lies around the next corner or door.
The H.U.D can also be customised with unlock able targeting reticules that complement the type of weapon being used (showing the splash/ spray radius of an area effect, or sights with crosshairs marking the path that claws will hit when used in close combat.
8.8 - Cell Points:
Cells are essentially the currency of the game. You gather them by killing enemies, completing dynamic events and quests. Dynamic events reward an amount of cells depending on how much you contribute to it (such as damage), quests give you a predetermined amount of cells and killing enemies gives you a calculated amount of cells; Cells Gathered = (Health Remaining x Evolution Stage / Time in combat).
8.9 - Sights:
Depending on your Phenotype and what class you’ve chosen to play, your weapon sights or “rectile” will change accordingly. Below are some examples of possible sights/rectiles.
9 - Races/Factions:
9.1 - The Genus:
1- Feline
2- Insect
3- Reptilian/ dinosaur
4- Biped/ ape
5- Rodent
6- Canine
7- Ursine (bear)
8- Bug
9.2 - Characteristics and Behaviour:
Feline: These creatures are usually solitary based hunters which use a great amount of stealth and disguise to stalk their prey before taking them down. The Feline based Phenotypes are notoriously cautious and elusive creatures. They are extremely fast and agile which makes them a deadly breed in the world of Phenotype. These creatures have incredible muscular power however tend to have a relatively weak hide in comparison to other species.
Insect: The insect is a creature than can choose to hunt in party’s or on it’s own. They are a excellent all around killer and are extremely agile and fast paced creatures with a solid hard carapace around the body. The insect has the incredible ability to blend with its surrounds and is capable of inflicting vicious surprise attacks on unsuspecting foes.
Reptilian/Dinosaur: The Reptilians are a sole pack hunter, although having the incredible strength and durability to stand alone and fight, the Reptilian really shines when hunting in groups due to their heightened social aspects. With a large boney structure and a thick leather hide the Reptilian can take a good amount of damage before showing any sign of fatigue on the warpath.
Biped/Ape : The Biped’s are an extremely social based hunter, perhaps the most in the world of Phenotype, using it’s stout shape and pure power to tear through enemy ranks the Biped are a strong built species made for taking heavy damage with amazing survivability. It’s strong upright build gives it a good advantage of height over the other species. The Bi Peds are extremely creative nest builders with better than average defences.
Rodent: The Rodent species use their smaller frames and agile limbs to sneak in and out of spaces other hunters could not go. The Rodent species are slightly more prone to physical attacks whereas for poisons and toxins are extremely resilient. Primarily burrowing underground the Rodent’s nest is a vast network of catacomb like tunnels.
Canine: The Canine’s have long legs and a powerful neck and jaw. They are built for ripping apart their prey, they are very intelligent and border the intelligence of the primate species. Capable of eating nearly anything the Canines have an unusually quick health regeneration and gain bonus attack attributes whilst hunting in packs. There nests usually consist of cave like spaces which run deep back into the ground, Canines are predominantly extremely protective of their pups and are vicious defenders of their nests.
Ursine (bear): These creatures have been based off one of the largest land carnivore of our home planet. With an extremely thick hide the Ursine have the largest amount of Stamina in the game. Solely a lone hunter capable of taking on vast numbers of creatures with good crowd control, this species make superb killing machines with there huge jaws and incredible size and strength. The Ursine have very built up defences around their nesting burrows, they are also extremely well hidden and blend in with the natural environment.
Bug: The bug species are similar to their counterparts the “ Insect” race however the bugs tend to have a much higher armour level and are capable of taking multiple hits on their hard outer shell. One of the weaknesses of the bug are it’s soft under belly being the only part that doesn’t have a hard outer shell. The bugs are capable of emitting noxious acids and gas to disorient their foes.
10 - Art style:
The art style of the game tries to resemble realism as closely as possible within the realm of the science fiction genre.
For the organic section of the game design many shapes, textures and colours are inspired directly by the natural world. The body types of the genus’ are inspired by real world families of animals, feline, ursine, canine ect, and some of the physical, and behavioural characteristics of the phenotypes are taken from things like dinosaurs, deep sea fish and the like to create extraordinary yet grounded, and believable creatures.
The style of the organic interface design relies heavily on hexagons, as the most economical geometric shape in the world (seen in structures from honeycombs to rock formations) their imagery evokes strong connotations of the natural world while keeping the lines within the game clean and crisp.
The industrial and clinical design of the world follows a similar design ethic, taking shape and form from modern industrial equipment and re-imagining it to fit in with the aesthetics of a possible future.
The industrial shapes of the game world use a combination of octagons and symmetry to create structures that look physically strong, but also make the game-play fair and easy to calculate. The eight sides of the octagon link with the 8 different genus’, this is most evident in the design of the world map, though octagonal forms are used throughout all the non-organic structures.
11 - Sound:
the audio of the game will try to create an atmosphere of tension. this will fit in with the dark mood of the lighting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-jGrL7U09Y
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DkBg6j2s16CM&h=YAQFMcDLF
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1Wihsh7qeg&feature=relmfu
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