SETTLE, EXPAND, ENDURE or DIE

is a highly ambitious passion project and indie game. It is a 3D apocalyptic-western style adventure and base building game in an alternative history post cold war setting. Think:

• Cold War technology (1960-1990)
• Post Apocalyptic / World War Aftermath setting (non-nuclear)
• Wild West themes

SUMMARY OVERVIEW

In SEED the player will control a small band of survivors and be able to set up a camp which over time can be upgraded and expanded into a thriving fortified settlement in a randomly generated map with a range of biomes hosting diverse terrain, weather, hostile and passive factions, flora and fauna.

Sporadic attacks on the player's settlement by bandits, wild animals, severe weather and other more mysterious forces will require the player to plan ahead and outsmart the vastly hostile and volatile environment.

There will be an optional integrated multiplayer feature of PvP Squad Combat, and though this may serve as a benefit or detriment to players, it is not essential to the base game, but instead offers a competitive PvP element to the game.

KEY GAMEPLAY AND DESIGN FEATURES

• Character Creation
• Character Customization
• Base Building
• People Management
• Law Making and Enforcement
• Resource Gathering
• Weapon & Equipment Crafting

ARTSTYLE

I am only at the very beginning of the development process, so it is hard to know if I will be able to execute my plans, but I intend on achieving my own comic inspired artstyle by using cell-shading and outlines to reduce the 3D assets and environments into a Borderlands-esque style. I draw my own comics and art and would love for the game to share that visual quality.

SOUNDTRACK

Though a capable composure, guitarist and singer/songwriter myself - I had hoped to recruit some talented musicians like Justin Johnson or Colter Wall to make some dirty tunes for the game. I have written and recorded one song but I would absolutely love for Colter Wall to play it for the game. We'll see. That's a crowd-funding goal for sure :P

GAME MODE BREAKDOWN

Single Player

• Base Building
• Missions / Quests
• Base Defence

Multi Player

• Bloodsports
• Squad Duel (Permadeath)
• Raids

Bloodsports

• Two opponents engage in an arena combat against each other.
• Combatants can be knocked down but not killed.
• Combatants retain all their equipped items excluding items consumed during the battle.
• The outcome of the fight results in combatant XP, Resources, Renown, new settlers, equipment etc.
• 2 Players can rematch in a Grudge Match and wager far greater Renown Gains/Losses in the next encounter.

Squad Duel

In this game mode the player dispatches a squad of combatants to dual when they successfully matchmake against a comparable difficulty squad. These two squads will battle in turn based combat until a victor is apparent, at which point the victor can opt to loot and free their captors, imprison them or kill them. Each option provides a differing amount of Renown and Notoriety. Combatants killed in Squad Dual are permanently killed and all equipment is forfeit.

The Battlefield:

• Small Randomized octagonal map
• Randomized Biome
• Each player chooses where to deploy their squad one of the 3 edges of their side of the map.
• There is a strip of no-man's-land through the center of the map.

Challenge Rating:

• Challenge Rating (CR) is a numerical value that encompasses all costs involved in sending and arming a Dueling Squad for combat.
• Combatants costs CR according to their level
• Weapons costs CR
• Armour costs CR

Player selects:

• CR
• Squad and Armament
• Dueling Squad leaves the settlement looking for a fight (matchmaking)

When match is found, player is shown a brief summary showing:

• Player Name & ID
• Enemy Squad Size
• Challenge Rating

At this point the Player can choose to Engage or Flee. Fleeing heavily penalizes the Player's Renown/Notoriety.

FLUID GAME MODE TRANSITION

Seed will have to delicately balance multiple game modes and seamlessly transition between them. If we were to break down Seed into genres and settings it starts getting a little complicated.

• Base Building / Defence
• Role Playing
• Adventure / Exploration
• Turn Based Strategy

Below is an estimation of how these transitions may take place, followed by a breakdown of each game mode in depth.

HOW IT MIGHT GO

• Run GSCSeed.exe
• Loading Screen
• Main Menu:
  • Continue
  • New Game
  • Load Game
  • Settings
  • DLC
  • Credits
  • Exit Game

• Select New Game:
  • Tutorial
  • Start Game
  • Main Menu

• Select Start Game
• Select Difficulty
  • Easy: Casual
  • Normal: Roadworn
  • Hard: Wastelander
  • Extreme: Chronicled

• From here the game plays an Opening Cutscene which can be skipped once the next level has loaded.
  • The Opening Cutscene is an introductory cinematic displaying the environment and then describing the players current situation. The players are prisoners, enslaved by an upstart warlord operating out of a dishevelled military fort. If you wish to live, you must escape. A fellow slave says he has a plan to get you out.
• From here the player is brought to a Character Creation screen where they must make their 4 starter characters by custom building them from stats to cosmetics, randomly generate them or select some generic starter characters from a pre-generated list.
• From here the game plays another Cutscene that shows the fellow slaves plan for escape!
  • There's a stolen truck the slavers have left in a shed that the fellow slave knows how to hotwire. He explains that you'll need to stock up on supplies before you escape as the wasteland can be a terribly harsh place.
• Inventory Menu
  • Here the player selects what equipment they will steal from their captors and put on the truck for their escape. Each item will have a “Risk" value and they can only risk a certain number of items. An Axe might be Low Risk and stealing a Rifle would be High Risk.
  • The player can steal lots of low risk items, a few medium risk items and only one high risk item.
• Escape Cutscene
  • The player's squad meets with the fellow slave at the truck to make their escape but the guards have been tipped off and are searching for the to-be-runaways. The man offers to make a distraction. He does so, the player's squad smashes the truck through a barbed wire fence and has a choice:
• Select action
  • Wait for Old Mate. Doing so results in the truck being shot at and losing Fuel, meaning the player can't travel as far looking for potential settlements. However, the player gains a tonne of Renown and Old Mate might be a very useful settler.
  • Leave Old Mate behind. Doing so results in the truck being physically unharmed. The player gains far less Renown and Old Mate is lost in the escape.
• Travel Map/Menu
  • Select direction to drive
    • Inland
    • Coast
    • North (Hot)
    • South (Cold)
• Possible Settlement Locations are displayed to the player with basic summaries of their Biome type and the pros/cons.
• Select Settlement Location
• Load Screen of Location
• Base Building Game Mechanics begin
  • Place Supply Truck Structure
  • Build basic amenities
    • Tents
    • Campfire
    • Chopping Block
    • Scrapping Bench
    • Water Well
• Select “Missions” option
  • Explore
  • Scavenge
  • Search and Destroy
• Select “Explore"
  • Pick crew for mission
  • Equip crew
  • Equip Radio
  • Set objectives for mission
    • Collect Fuel
    • Collect Tools
  • Set direction to explore
• Choose to either:
  • Oversee Mission, or
  • Send Crew.
• Select “Send Crew"
• Continue Settlement Management
• Receive radio notifications on mission progress.
  • Crew have found an abandoned farmhouse.
  • Choose Mission Urgency
    • Slow and Steady
    • Casually
    • Hard and Fast
  • Select “Casually"
    • Notification: Your exploration crew has found some interesting junk in the Abandoned Farmhouse
  • Select what loot to take.
  • Choose next step:
    • Return to Base
    • Continue Exploring
  • Select Return to Base.
• Continue Settlement Management.
• Eventually the crew returns depending how far the crew traveled.
• Collect loot.

Essentially this would be the opening gameplay sequence, with what ever unique choices the player makes. Once this has been achieved I will consider the game in a playable state and then from there we can add a tonne of content.

Until then,

Happy hunting.