One Shot: One Shot at Revenge!
Group 98310
Brian Dieffenderfer
Christopher Eppes
Ernest Roberts
Jeremy Lanham
Ossman Malik
One Shot: One Shot at revenge is a; 2.5d action adventure, shoot em up, side scrolling platformer reminiscent of games like Metal Slug and Mega Man. Based in an asylum with multiple wings, One Shot has players playing as a wronged man named Stanley or a wronged woman named Jennifer that have to fight their way through hordes of enemies to escape this asylum they have woken up in. The basis of the game has players attaching various mods/guns on to their right arm to help shoot down anyone that gets in the way and to progress the game. Occasionally players will have to take down challenging bosses in order to progress the story and beat a level, this can be made easier with the a minor goal system we call the One Shot. The One Shot is a super powerful attack unleashed by the players character via their right arm, but in order for this attack to do any damage to the boss the player must explore the area they are in and find the attachments unique to the area to supercharge the One Shot and potentially one shot the boss. One Shot is aimed at being rated a “T” Rating by the ESRB and with a target audience of 16 to 36.
The story of One Shot lets the players choose between playing as a female or a male gendered character. Based on what the player chooses they will either play as Stanley Marlowe or Jennifer Bale. No matter which gender the player has chosen the player playing as Stanley or Jennifer will have to navigate an unfamiliar asylum where they have no clue how or even why they awoke there. One thing is for certain though, and that is they have been cybernetically enhanced and taken control of remotely. It is only with the help of a friendly scientist played by the gender not chosen by the player that they can jam the remote frequency controlling the players character and allow them to get revenge on the one who has done this to them and destroy any way of them being controlled again.
As for the actual background of the characters, Stanley Marlowe is a 28 year old biologist with a very lonely past, he has lost his immediate family and feels no need to keep up with his more distant relatives. Jennifer Bale has a similar background she is a 26 year old chemist, who has fallen on hard times since the last of her family just passed away. These two backgrounds for our characters are central to understanding why they are inevitably helping each other and how their final conflict wraps up the story.
One Shot’s goal is for players to enjoy the spectacular shoot em up action gameplay to help the player enjoy their drive through the story of One Shot or if they have already experienced the story they can aim for high scores or fastest runs through the levels. First and foremost the players main goal of One Shot will be completing the story but within that major goal the players have the minor goals of finding the attachments to power up there one shot to one shot the boss. After the completion of the main storyline players may opt to repeat levels to see if they can complete it in the fastest time, or highest score.When a player dies on a level, they have the option to repeat the same course instead of playing the game from the beginning. Connecting how many time you die in the main story will be recorded at the end of the game, which doesn’t add more points when players don’t die at a course completed. Players are automatically saved at the same level they’re going to next if they quit the game, so they can come back to that location in the main story.
One Shot: One Shot at Revenge has basic platforming and shoot em up mechanics, as in players will only be able to move along X and Y coordinates that allow them to jump up and down and move left and right. Along with moving the player will have access to two weapons that are customized by them to fire different projectiles, patterns or status effects to take down squads of guards, failed experiments and any other enemy that fits the theme of a level.
The most interesting feature of One Shot: One Shot at Revenge is the One Shot system that rewards players for attempting the side challenges, and exploring a level. Essentially scattered around a level there are a number of attachments, some are guarded by unique enemy setups and others are hidden behind objects/out of sight. When a player acquires one of these attachments it boosts the power of their One Shot. If the player finds all the attachments in a level their one shot will be powerful enough to one shot the boss of the level, if the player only acquires some of the attachments they will only be able to damage the boss proportionally to the attachments they have. Once used however the attachments will be destroyed and thus the player must start over again in the next area. Also to note players can not take attachments from one level to the next.
The combat in One Shot will be similar to side scrollers like Contra, Metal Slug, and Mega Man. Enemies will be coming from left, right, and above. Some with strong melee capabilities, and others with projectile weapons. It is up to the player to dodge bullets and avoid being hit while firing their weapon to eliminate enemies. One shot will be more than just a platformer. It may also be referred to as a side scrolling bullet hell game. Trying to make it to the end of each level alive while collecting needed items make One Shot a very difficult game.
One Shot will utilize similar controls to many other games within the 2D platformer genre. Movement will be on a 2D plane. Pressing the 'a' key will move the player avatar to the left, the 'd' key will move the avatar to the right, and the space bar will cause the avatar to jump. Alternate keys for horizontal and vertical movement include the left, right, and up arrow keys. In order to fire the on screen avatar’s main weapon, the player will have to utilize the computer mouse. Aiming the weapon will correspond to the movement of the mouse. The left click will fire the main weapon and an alternate weapon can be fired by the right click. In addition to these controls the player will be able to use the ‘s’ key or down arrow to cause their avatar to crouch. If the avatar crouches while standing on a platform, he or she will fall through the bottom. Lastly, the player will gain access to the one shot weapon after collecting a desired amount of an item throughout the level. In order to activate the ability, the player has to press the ‘f’ key. After using the ability the player won’t has access to it until he or she collects the items again in a different level.
One Shot Controls | |
Keys | Movement |
W/Up Arrow/Space Bar | Jump |
A/Left Arrow | Move Left |
S/Down Arrow | Crouch/Fall through platform |
D/Right Arrow | Move Right |
Mouse Cursor | Move Aim |
Left Click | Fire main weapon |
Right Click | Fire alternate weapon |
F | Activates One Shot weapon |
One Shot: One Shot at Revenge is 2.5d which has 3d models on a 2d plane, however we may opt to pixel art models for the characters if we begin to run out of time. The overall aesthetic we are reaching for however is a clean, crisp and vibrant appearance with noticeable lights and darks. Now we have imagined since the game is taking place in a sort of experimental asylum, the asylum itself would have multiple wings researching or holding different things. This means although the elysium itself as it’s own factory or steel theme to it other areas like a greenhouse will focus on a lot of plant life and little metal. This actually brings me to the one rule we are holding ourselves to for the games art direction, and that is the idea logical creativity. Essentially we view this rules best example is that we will have no floating platforms, so anything that allows the player to jump on or use for navigation has a reason behind it.
Starting with the music of the game, it should be upbeat and keep the player pumped and excited. To do this, we will be using forms of music such as electronic, drum and bass, as well as some metal. The music for the main menu, which will be the first part of the game that a player will experience, will need to hook them and help them get a taste of the action that will be taking place throughout the game. As the player is going through the levels, the music will need to be a bit softer than what was playing on the menu so that the player can focus on the gameplay, but will need to still be upbeat in order to keep that feeling of excitement going. This style of music will continue through the level until the boss room. Once the player enters combat with the boss, the music will shift again to a louder, more intense feeling. It will be much more unique will have more of a sound of urgency and danger. We may also implement some sort of victory music to play once the player defeats a boss and is between stages. We plan to create all of our own music within FL Studio. If We can get permission to use a certain song (or parts of a song) then we may implement that as well.
There will also be many different sound effects that will be put into the game. Since the game takes place in a lab where experiments are performed then a lot of sound effects will need to sound like high tech machinery. Somewhat like sounds from Valve’s game; Portal. These range from gun blasts and explosions to doors opening, generators, and machinery. For the sound effects, we will look through many free sound assets and see which ones we will be able to use and which ones fit the atmosphere of our game. If we can’t find a specific one we need then we will use microphones and record it ourselves.
As of right now, we will not have voice-acting in our game. We would like to add it if we have the time as it would help immerse our players in the world, but we are focusing more on the gameplay for now.
One Shot is a game that is initially being designed for PC. We would like to release it for other platforms such as the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 in the future. The main difference between the PC version and the console versions would be the controls. We would need to change the controls so that they would work on a controller. More interestingly we have discussed the ps vita, with the recent price drop and additional support the ps vita would also be a superb platform to release on.
Many games such as Side-scrolling action platformers tend to do very well in the gaming industry (Mega Man, Contra, Metal Slug), especially games that have a unique twist and slight gameplay changes. It is true that there are many games of this type out on the market, but we believe that our game has enough fresh material that will pull in players. It is also worth mentioning that games of this nature appeal to a very wide player based, because not only are these games easy to learn and difficult to truly master, but usually have unique gameplay features like procedurally created levels, co-op, dramatic stories or otherwise interesting narratives. So basicly in taking a simple idea of just dodging bullets and shooting enemies you end up focusing more on features and mechanics that can catch a players interest and so you not only get the twitch shooter fans, but you get those interested in unique stories, interesting graphics and challenge seekers.