RYAN GARCIA ››

ASSIGNMENT EIGHT | OCTOBER 20, 2006 ››

The first group assignment, along with reading chapter 8 and appendix A is to create a High Concept Document and a Game Pitch Document, as described in appendix A.

You must contact your group members and arrange for a face-to-face meeting for getting organized and discussing a) how to get assignment 8 posted as a team, and b) the type of game that your group will design (High Concept Document and Game Pitch Document). Use Blackboard to contact each other and exchange email addresses.


GROUP THREE MEMBERS ››

  1. Martha Hogan
  2. Ryan Garcia
  3. Shawn Bochat
  4. Bryan Adler
  5. Bryant Belarmino
  6. Allison Henderson
  7. David Diano


HIGH CONCEPT DOCUMENT ››

  • To save our dying planet, you must take your small starship through the mysterious space gate that has opened up near the moon and explore a whole new galaxy filled with alien races that have their own cultures and technology. Commanding your starship, you must find a way to survive where all others have failed, and bring help back to Earth.


GAME PROPOSAL DOCUMENT ››

  1. High Concept

    To save our dying planet, you must take your small starship through the mysterious space gate that has opened up near the moon and explore a whole new galaxy filled with alien races that have their own cultures and technology. Commanding your starship, you must find a way to survive where all others have failed, and bring help back to Earth.


  2. Genre

    The game may be inimitable to a single genre; however it could best be described as a real time strategy role playing game with a sprinkling of simulation and action adventure. This type of game is typically referred as a "space exploration" game. The genre was invented by the legendary game Starflight.


  3. Gameplay

    The game consists of the player learning the secrets of the new galaxy by: exploring, upgrading their ship, talking to alien races, battling hostile starships, trading for profit with all the alien races at many trading stations. Although it is a spiritual successor to the game Starflight, it should be noted that it has a completely different story taking place in a completely different fictional universe with a completely different combat system.

    The design metaphor is that every screen in the game is a simulation of what the starship captain would see on their main bridge screen. The graphics would be stylized computer representations of objects instead of photorealistic depictions. The game screens are:
    • Galaxy Map (arge map that represents the entire gameworld)
    • Navigation (Used during actual spaceflight)
    • Tactical Display (used for combat)
    • Ship Status (for Repairs, Upgrades, and Component Swaping)
    • Trading post/Station (for Tradining)
    • Communication (used when talking to any game character ie. the alien races)
    • Computer Log (used for automatically recording the important facts about all story threads)
    • Housekeeping (Save, Load, New, and other options such as sound level)


  4. Features

    This game is designed to use stylized graphics where all the screens represent the starship catain's computer screens and controls of the ‘starship’. The style of the game is freeform and the player can follow any story threads in any order (as long as they can survive). The game will feature a deep and complex story with many appropriate twists and surprises. Each alien race will have its own culture, technology and storyline. The player's choices will effect the storylines in significant ways creating allies and enemies as the player makes decisions. The player will customize and continuously upgrade their ship with a carefully chosen mix of technologies gained through trade, combat, and diplomacy. The combat system will be turn based and tactical in nature, requiring a large degree of strategy in choosing what weapons to use and what enemy components to target. The different technologies have different strengths and weaknesses against the others.


  5. Setting

    Outer space, in the future year 2053... The player will explore unknown galaxies and discover mysterious planets which are inhabited by aliens. Locations consist of “outer space” and the various planets which will be visited. The characters include “captain ‘Pikirk’” as well as the unique alien creatures which will be encountered throughout planet exploration.


  6. Story

    Its 2053, the Earth is out of room, oil, ozone, and clean water. A space gate of unknown origin has opened up near the moon. Earth has sent many ships through the gate; all but one have disappeared. The famous captain “Pikirk” made a successful voyage, bringing back many useful supplies. He returned through the gate, but was completely insane and ranting about super powerful aliens. He and his crew stole their ship and went back through the gate. This all happened nine months ago and Earth lost all contact with his ship. Since that time, all the ships that Earth has sent through the gate have disappeared. The only information is a scrap of transmission that claims that Pikirk has become a pirate. The player’s mission is exploring the other side to get additional resources and technology to save our planet, discover the source of the space gate, and find out what has happened to captain Pikirk.


  7. Target Audience

    The game will be aimed at Science Fiction aficianados with a knack for mystery and adventure from 14–60 years old (but really anyone can play).


  8. Hardware Platforms

    The game will be based on Flash graphics which through its use of vectors allows for maximum scalability in a wide range of screen sizes and formats like Mac, PC, Pocket PC (Windows Mobile), Palm (Palm OS), and Mobile Phones (Symbian OS and J2ME), iPods, and PSPs, making the game truly universal. Using Flash and Actionscript 3 (the programing language of Flash) the game will be smaller and more portable and the vector graphics will fit the stylized nature of the game's design perfectly.


  9. Estimated Schedule and Budget

    Our first release is scheduled the second quarter of 2008 (2Q08). We have secured $3.8 million in venture capital, which we estimate will cover the development cost of the first release. Our schedule and milestones are as follows:
    • 1Q07:
      • Concept sketches showing front, side and back of the player's starship, 3 different alien beings and their setting, and 4 weapon types
    • 2Q07:
      • Animation of player's starship, 3 different alien beings and their setting, and 4 weapon types
      • First cut of all sound effects
    • 3Q07:
      • Demo for Gaming trade show
      • First story thread implemented
      • Music and sound effects integrated
    • 4Q07:
      • Second and third story thread implemented
      • Alpha release
    • 1Q08:
      • Fourth story thread implemented
      • Beta release
    • 2Q08:
      • Incorporate beta test feedback
      • Final testing
      • Release to manufacturer


  10. Competitive Analysis

    There are, however, games on the market which have the potential to limit sales due to their similarities. These games include the RTS game “Space Empires V” which was released on 10/05/2006, and existing online space-strategy games (i.e. “Star Knights”, “SkyLords”, etc…). The popularity of such games is evident when viewing the users’ reviews for the game “Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords”, which was released 02/21/2006. This particular RTS game received an overall score “superb” (a rating of 9.0) from the “GameSpot Review”. These statistics demonstrate the popularity and thus demand for games of this type/genre. Furthermore, incorporating RPG elements (i.e. story, etc…) into the space-strategy game would significantly enhance the game and potentially increase sales.


  11. Team

    Our team consists of innovative and talented individuals, with proven computer game success on our past releases of Starship Galaxy IV and Galaxy Omega.
    • Game Designer:
      Bryan Adler. Education: MA Liberal Arts, Williams College. Credits: Innovative mastermind behind Starship Galaxy IV and Galaxy Omega.

    • Lead Programmer:
      Allison Henderson. Education: MSCS, MIT. Credits: Technical guru behind Starship Galaxy IV.

    • Lead Artist:
      Ryan Garcia. Education: MFA at Artcenter School of Design. Credits: Concept, Level and Character Designer for games such Starship Galaxy IV and Galaxy Omega.

    • Music and Sound Technician:
      Martha Hogan. Education: The Juilliard School, M.M. Music Technology, 1995. 10 years leading-edge game sound experience, most recently composer and sound technician for Galaxy Omega release 2.

    • Producer:
      Shawn Bochat. Education: MBA at Harvard School of Business. Credits: 5 years of project management experience in the entertainment software industry, including the recent successes of Starship Galaxy IV and Galaxy Omega.

    • Lead Tester:
      David Diano. Education: MBA Computer Science, UCLA. Credits: 7 years working with Sony Playstation as lead tester. Recently Wurked Outt All The BuGs for Galaxy IV and Galaxy Omega.


  12. Summary

    This will be a great game because it is freeform with a deep and satisfying story where the player will start as helpless prey and grow to become the only one capable of saving the Earth and the new galaxy. There are several ways to ‘beat’ the game including combat, economic, and diplomatic methods. These variations enable the game appeal to a wide audience, and allow players to customize play strategies to suit their preferences. The branching storylines combined with different methods of success ensure that the game has a high replay value. Our development team is retained and ready to start, and consists of 14 accomplished individuals with a proven track record. This game will be next in their line of successful game innovations!