Gameplay Pitch

This is a quick pitch I wrote for an assignment today for a specific gameplay element within one of my own original game ideas. I might post the actual game idea on here, too, if there's enough interest. Let me know.

Assignment 02:  Gameplay Pitch

By Chellis Grow

Design and Development

July 2010

INTRODUCTION

The game is an open world hack-and-slash with some RPG elements on the PS3. Pitching this original idea to a publisher.

THE CURRENT PROBLEM

This original game has the player in control of the main character, Brandon Hughes. He is an ex-soldier who volunteered for extensive gene therapy and testing for a new super-soldier research facility. The game revolves around him escaping the facility and trying to take down the corporation. A specific gameplay element of this game is the ability to infiltrate military compounds or research facilities. In order to take down the corporation, Brandon will need to get classified information. The reason this is an improvement over different incarnations of this concept in other games is because it gives you options as to how to complete the mission or obtain the information. You can do it completely incognito, or entirely by brute force, or a mixture of the two. It gives the player the opportunity to play the way they want to, rather than forcing them to do what the game wants them to do.

SOLUTION

The diversity of the gameplay comes from the variety of options given to you. The two bare bones options are, of course, force and stealth. A completely brute force approach would have the player destroying everything in his path to the required information and then fighting his way out. Stealth would have him incapacitating a guard, taking their clothes and infiltrating the compound under that guise. Once the information has been retrieved, the player then walks out of the compound unharmed. These two methods could also be combined in a multitude of ways. The player could incapacitate a guard, retrieved the information, and then fight his way out from the inside. On the other hand, he could fight his way in, then hide somewhere, surprise a guard and then with that disguise, make his way out of the base unharmed. Each base would have a different layout and different methods would be more or less effective depending on the setup and location. Trial and error, or careful planning would lead to eventual success.

IMPLEMENTATION

The game Prototype has a similar gameplay feature. In Prototype the player takes on the form of a military officer and infiltrates the base. Once inside, they must either destroy the base or take control of the commander inside. There is little to no variation on this implementation. The described original game would expand on this and allow the player multiple variants of this situation. The implementation, however, would be very straightforward. On the first of this type of mission the player undertakes, they would be informed of the multiple ways of success. There would be a short tutorial, either in playable or cutscene form, teaching the player how to incapacitate a guard and take their clothes, or charge in guns blazing. The controls would be simple, allowing a single button press to incapacitate a guard given the correct context of being behind them and unseen, and then the same button would allow the player to drag their body into the shadows. Another button would be displayed giving the player the option of taking their clothes and using them to infiltrate the base under that disguise. The brute force approach is largely straightforward. The player would attack any outside guards, then either destroy or vault the gate, and proceed to kill anything in their way to the mission objective.

CONCLUSIONS

With successful implementation of this gameplay feature, it would be an incredibly compelling addition and would allow players a lot of freedom in how they complete missions. Even if the player replayed a single mission they could complete it in different ways, not only allowing for diverse and dynamic gameplay every time but also allowing for lots of replayability.