Last Saved By: Terry Greer

2004 RatbagDRAFT

Raid: SoF

Full Game

Game Design

Maintainer:Terry Greer
Version: 10.3

Last Saved By: Terry Greer

12/08/2018

Review requested by: <Name>

Date to be reviewed by: <Date>

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Table of Contents

1Overview

2Game Play

2.1Single Player

2.2Multiplayer

2.3Re-playability

3Game Play Mechanics

3.1Movement

3.1.1On Foot movement

3.1.2Vehiclemovement

3.1.3Limits to movement

3.2Vehicles

3.2.1Parachuting

3.2.2Commandeering vehicles

3.3Combat

3.3.1Controlling areas

3.3.2Score

3.4Inventory

3.4.1Weapon Item Slots

3.5Weapons and Damage

3.5.1Weapons

3.5.2Damage

3.5.2.1Character and vehicle health

3.5.2.2Damage types

3.5.2.3Resistance to damage

3.5.2.4Early Warning System

3.5.2.5Recovering health

3.5.2.6Death and destruction

3.5.3TBD: DISC: Danger zones

3.5.3.1Environmental danger zones

3.5.3.2TBD:DISC: Opponent based danger zones

3.6Targeting

3.6.1.1Targeting types

3.6.1.2Manual Fire

3.6.1.3Soft lock Indicator

3.6.1.4Auto Seek Lock

3.6.1.5Padlocking

3.6.1.6Bombing

3.6.1.7Grenades

3.6.1.8TBD:LOW: Target Guided-laser

3.6.2Sub-Targets

3.6.3Circle Strafing

3.7Buildings

4Controller

4.1Controls

4.1.1Menu/GUI

4.1.2In-game Controls

4.2Controller Feedback

5Camera

5.1General camera behaviour

5.2Camera Types

5.2.1Movement camera

5.2.2Targeting Camera

5.2.3Script controlled camera

6Physics

6.1Vehicle Physics

6.2On-foot character physics

6.3Weapons Physics

6.4Other physics

7AI

7.1General AI

7.2Vehicle specific AI

7.3On-foot NPC AI

7.4NPC Alignment

8User Interfaces

8.1GUI and Game Shell

8.1.1GUI Game Flow chart

8.1.2Intro Cinematics

8.1.3Main Screen (Game Start) Options

8.1.4New Game Options

8.1.5Current Game screen

8.1.6Game Options

8.1.7In-game pause menu

8.1.8Player ‘Game-Over’ options

8.1.9Ratings Screen

8.1.10TBD: R&D: Game Save policy

8.1.11Multiplayer Setup

8.2HUD- In-game interface

8.2.1Permanent HUD elements will include:

8.2.2Context Sensitive HUD elements will include:

8.2.3TBD: R&D: Indicating interactive world objects

8.2.4Game Map

9Storyline

10Characters

11Mission Structure

11.1Encounters

11.2Missions

11.2.1Mission Categories

11.2.2Mission delivery methods

11.2.3Player Rewards

11.2.4Ending a mission

11.2.5Promotion

11.2.6Player progression

11.2.7Example Mission Types

11.3Difficulty Level

12Levels and Objectives

13Animation

13.1Character Animations

13.2Other Animations

14Special Effects

14.1Vehicle Damage

14.2Weapon effects

14.3Explosions

14.4Fire and Smoke

14.5Environmental

15Audio

15.1In-Game Music

15.2Sound Effects

15.2.1Vehicle sounds

15.2.2Weapon sounds

15.2.3Player & NPC sounds

15.2.4Dialogue

15.2.5Special effects and environmental sounds

15.2.6HUD, UI and Information sounds

16Platform Requirements and Localization

Appendix A: TBD:DISC: Additional documents

Appendix B: Military Rank and Grade – Marines

1Overview

Raid SoF is a fast action-based third-person shooter where the player assumes the role of disgraced CTA operative who is trying to clear his name whilst uncovering a terrorist threat hell bent on unleashing unspeakable horrors against the US.

The game’s action moves between Cuba, The Ukraine and Russia as the player uncovers the clues leading to the game’s cataclysmic showdown.

Raid SoF will be heavily focused on a wide variety of air, land and sea vehicles. It’s Battlefield 1942 with fast paced action - the first free roaming vehicle-based combat game in a pick-up-and-play arcade style. Missions will be against overwhelming forces, and filled with spectacular explosions and killer weaponry. The action will take place against a varied backdrop of terrain types including: rivers, ravines, lagoons, jungle, forest, swamps and marshes, small towns, mountains, snow and ice. The overall graphic style will be a gritty realism that will adhere to real-world scale and form but with an arcade approach to action.

2Game Play

The player’s objective is to survive and discover who is ultimately behind the threat to world peace. <TBD:DISC:ref storyline>

To aid the player the game will feature a wide range of weaponry. While it will be possible to complete large sections of each level without recourse to a vehicle, the emphasis will be on vehicular combat with some sections of a level requiring the use of specific vehicles in order for the player to complete that level. E.g. It may be necessary to use a helicopter gunship to climb above a blockage in the terrain and access an adjacent valley, or a tank to push through a reinforced and blockaded area.

TBD:R&D: Fuel will play a role in the game and will be used to put limits on the player travelling out of bounds.

Ratbag’s revolutionary physics tool will be applied to create a wide variety of interesting physics models for the different vehicle types. Vehicles will be easily destroyed and just as easily commandeered, so the player constantly moves from one to the next.

Vehicle weapons will be controlled by the player. To make the control more believable mounted weapons will have a small box attached which makes them look like they are an automated system. (e.g. a small box with a light and cables)

On screen icons will feedback to the player local hazards (e.g. radiation) and will be used to alert the player to other possible actions such as toggling switches and turning on equipment.[1]

Streaming environments and minimal UI and HUD will mean that the player never leaves the action. Missions will be communicated in game via characters or radio and occasional high quality in-engine cut scenes will add to the drama. Missions will build on each other and the same map may be criss-crossed several times during the course of a level. The game-play will appear non-linear, but the player will at all times be carefully directed by the underlying mission structure, location of units & the environment.

AI will be able to follow mission related scripts, such as moving to a location and waiting.

While a substantial portion of the character AI will have a scripted component (in particular the initial actions of an NPC on seeing the character) the non-linear nature of the game means that once placed and activated the AI needs to be able to be as autonomous as possible and sensibly move between its AI states with minimum or no scripting.

All AI will:

Use the same vehicle physics as the player

Utilize the same weapon system

2.1Single Player

Missions will be triggered by events in game and conveyed by in-game cut-scenes or given to the player in the form of a briefing. The single player game will revolve around a number of ‘core’ missions. As the player completes these missions, new missions will be unlocked for the player. Missions will, for the most part, be unlocked in a near-linear fashion, however there will often be multiple missions outstanding simultaneously that the player can attempt in any order they like. In-game mission triggers will include:

Entering an area

Meeting a specific NPC

Killing a specific enemy

Completing a previous mission

See also Mission Structure

2.2Multiplayer

Multiplayer capability will be supported on the following platforms only:

PS2 – Online & LAN only

Xbox – Online (XBox Live & System Link) only

Split-screen play will not be supported on any platform.

Games will be stand alone and will not include centralized data/stats server (e.g. ranking systems)

Server browsing support will use GameSpy (PS2) and X-Box Live.
TBD:LOW Simple text communication via a pick list system (Design TBD). This will include a small set of statements, requests and taunts. E.g.:

Cover me

Follow me

I’m going for the flag

Headset support for spoken dialogue (no voice recognition) for:

TBD:R&D: PS2

Xbox

Numbers of players: 8 on each platform:

TBD:R&D: Increasing this to 16 players on each platform

Multiplayer gameplay types will include:

Death match – c.f. Unreal, Quake or most 1st/3rd action title

Team death match – c.f. Unreal, Quake or most 1st/3rd action title

Capture the flag – c.f. as above

Multiplayer game types will feature a unique ‘Raid mode’ where the bases will be manned by AI controlled automated turrets in order to increase the activity in a game.

Awards will be given out to players for certain in-game events or for doing exceptionally well in a match (e.g. ‘First Blood’ to the player who makes the first kill)

Maps will be likely be smaller than BF1942 with corresponding lower numbers of players (to avoid players not being able to find each other) Numbers envisioned 8-16 not up to 64).

TBD:R&D: XBox multiplayer may be done via system link.

Xbox Live will support transferable stats.

TBD:R&D: A cooperative ‘buddy’ multiplayer mode – single screen not split screen, with one player controlling the vehicle and another controlling the weaponry is also to be trialled.

2.3Re-playability

Raid SoF will be primarily be a “solid first play experience”.

Given the nature of the game re-playability is seen, while desirable, of limited benefit.

Priority will be given to a first experience game, but with variability built in so that if the game is played again it will not play out exactly the same. (See Random Missions)

A small degree of additional re-playability will also be encouraged by the following features:

Once a ‘chapter’ has been completed the player will be able to re-enter that chapter to explore the map and complete any outstanding optional missions.

The statistics screen (including percentage completion) will encourage players to try and better their previous scores.

Optional missions mean that the player can redo the level in different ways.

3Game Play Mechanics

3.1Movement

The player will be able to move relatively freely around each level both on foot and by using one of a wide range of vehicles.

3.1.1On Foot movement

On- Foot the player will be able to:

Run / Walk

Crouch

Move at a crouch

Strafe

Jump

Dive and Roll

Fire weapons

Engage in limited melee combat

The player will be able to swim on the surface of the water (but not dive).

The player will also be able to climb ladders and TDB:LOW:RND will be able to climb walls up to 2m in height and rappel from helicopters hovering over the terrain[2]. For a fuller range of character movement see:

RR_fullgame_character_and_animation_feature_spec.

3.1.2Vehiclemovement

Using vehicles the player will be able to move further faster and be able to traverse terrain impossible when on foot.

3.1.3Limits to movement

Movement across the map will be controlled by:

General

Terrain type – some areas will prove barriers to progress (e.g. Deep water or ice (low friction). Any movement limitations will be kept logical with reasons for the limits clearly telegraphed to the player. See Danger Zones.

Terrain slope – vehicles and characters will be limited by severity of slope (especially when combined with materials with low friction values).

On-foot specific

Step height – characters will have a height limit on normal movement.

Jump height – the maximum height a character can jump

TBD: R&D: Wall climb height – The maximum height wall a character can jump and climb onto.[3]

3.2Vehicles

There will be a wide range of vehicles available to the player. See Recommended Vehicles List

All vehicles will exhibit sophisticated physics but the overall feel will be arcade like, intuitive and approachable for the average gamer.

Vehicles will be constructed from multiple parts some of which will be animated. E.g. helicopter rotor blades, vehicle doors, and aircraft undercarriages.

Points will be defined for vehicle entry points, driver and passenger positions as well as weapon mount points

Rolled vehicles will be considered ‘terminal’ (see Death and destruction) and accumulate damage until destroyed (cf: GTA3).

Vehicle occupants will normally be killed by the game’s damage system and collisions when the vehicle is destroyed, under exceptional circumstances the player may survive with a very small amount of health remaining.

3.2.1Parachuting

Freefalling and parachuting will be a key form of mission transport.

Parachutes will be considered another type of vehicle.

The player will be able to base-jump from any suitable location.

Parachutes will only open when triggered by the player and the player will need to keep an eye on their altimeter to avoid opening the chute too late.

3.2.2Commandeering vehicles

Commandeering is the taking over of a vehicle by the player.

All vacant vehicles can be commandeered by the player, however if the player can’t find an empty vehicle it will still be possible for the player to take charge of one driven by the enemy if the vehicle can be emptied.

A vehicle can be emptied of enemy by:

Killing the driver - Exposed occupants can be individually targeted and killed using appropriate weaponry (however this may risk damage to the vehicle)

Using a gas grenade to clear out a vehicle of its occupants – leaving the vehicle unoccupied. This applies to ground and water based vehicles only, although this may be extended to include aircraft awaiting takeoff.

NPCs killed inside a vehicle fade out after death.

Empty vehicles come to a swift halt. Once the vehicle has stopped the player can take possession by approaching the vehicle and activating the ‘board vehicle’ command.[4]

Vehicles can be commandeered from any direction when they are within range.

Once the player has taken control.

The player can exit a vehicle at any time; however bailing from a moving vehicle may be hazardous. When bailing from a moving vehicle an appropriate ‘rolling’ animation will be used.

TBD:R&D: Friendly AI’s in the vicinity will climb into any available positions providing the vehicle is stationary.

3.3Combat

Combatwill mainly use ranged weapons but close in melee attacks will also be possible. While stealth will not play a major part in Raid SoF it will be possible to approach an enemy from behind and dispatch them with a single silent but deadly attack. This will allow the player to infiltrate areas without making a great deal of noise. The player will not have to hide or move corpses to avoid discovery.

Clearly identifiable units will have unique (and recognisable) behaviour and tactics. E.g. On detecting the player a small squad of camouflaged guerrillas may spread out, go to ground and form a defensive line that would be hard to get past.

The exact balance of vehicle to infantry encounters will be determined by play testing on a map-by-map basis.

Most infantry enemy will die after a small number of hits and exist mainly to serve as cannon fodder. More important on-foot enemy such as officers will be harder to kill and will carry heavier weaponry.

Vehicles will be much harder to destroy due to their armour and will tend to pose the largest threat.

In many cases it will be necessary to capture a vehicle and use its weaponry in order to take out other threats.

TBD: LOW: A damaged enemy vehicle will attempt to disgorge its occupants before exploding.

Targeting utilises a combination of different methods ranging from auto to manual See Targeting.

Vehicles and characters will be healed / or damaged by pickups, defined map zones, or by scripted events.[5]

3.3.1Controlling areas

Another aspect of Raid SoF will be taking control of parts of the map.

NPC characters will often be linked to a specific area on the map such as a village or military camp.

To take control of a location the player will have to kill all Enemy NPC characters that are associated with that location

It will be possible for areas to be re-captured by the enemy, and some missions will include protecting an area against an attack.[6]

If not killed during the takeover process some village members will help the player by:[7]

Healing him – A doctor or nurse will open the clinic … entering the clinic will heal the player.

Fixing or providing a new vehicle - A mechanic will open his garage doors and either reveal a vehicle the player can take, or if the player drives into the garage will repair the player’s vehicle.

Donating ammo or weapons – These votive offerings will be dropped at specific recognizable and standardized point in the village.

While a village is occupied by the enemy useful areas such as the clinic or garage will be closed and locked and unavailable for the player to use. Civilians will only allow access when their village is ‘safe’ and free of any enemy, and if the player hasn’t alienated them in the takeover.

If the player simply kills every NPC they come across they will deprive themselves of these bonuses as the relevant individuals will not be alive. This will also reduce the score they get for the mission.

3.3.2Score

The player will have an ‘Internal score’ which will not be shown but which will be used to rate the player’s success. Each action that the player does will have a positive or negative effect on the player’s ‘score’ for the mission.

Positive actions:

Player’s with high scores will find more NPC allies and will be promoted on a regular basis. Example positive actions:

Killing an enemy

Capturing an area

Capturing a vehicle

Fulfilling a mission

Negative actions:

Players with exceptionally low scores will find fewer ally NPC characters. Example Negative actions:

Killing a civilian

Killing an ally