Church and State
A class based first person shooter with a divine twist.
Genre: First Person Shooter – First person shooters are, by definition, 3 dimensional combat games, from a first person perspective, generally revolving around firearms. Most shooters include some sort of single player campaign with a story, but this is becoming very much overshadowed by multiplayer gameplay. Shooters generally adopt the control scheme of one directional input controlling movement, while the other controls where the player is looking, and things like gravity and physics tends to be somewhat more realistic overall than other games, such as platformers. To that end, the baseline requirements for a first person shooter include a 3 dimensional movement mechanic, a first person viewpoint, guns, lots of guns, and somewhat realistic movement.
My Game’s Differentiators – My game design incorporates a somewhat asymmetrical class based system into the standard first person shooter mechanic. It also includes a leveling system to unlock new abilities for each class, and one super-powered reward class per side that can shape the environment of the world. Inspirations were drawn from Team Fortress 2, Borderlands, games like Star Wars: Battlefront 2, and the Forge map-editor from Halo 3.
Setting – The setting for this game is a mildly dystopian future where religion became militarized and took over as the ruling power. The world attempts to look more clean and pure than it is, with central city areas being very well maintained, but also containing areas of more destitute appearance where some of the undesirables and non-believers reside.
Genre: First Person Shooter – First person shooters are, by definition, 3 dimensional combat games, from a first person perspective, generally revolving around firearms. Most shooters include some sort of single player campaign with a story, but this is becoming very much overshadowed by multiplayer gameplay. Shooters generally adopt the control scheme of one directional input controlling movement, while the other controls where the player is looking, and things like gravity and physics tends to be somewhat more realistic overall than other games, such as platformers. To that end, the baseline requirements for a first person shooter include a 3 dimensional movement mechanic, a first person viewpoint, guns, lots of guns, and somewhat realistic movement.
My Game’s Differentiators – My game design incorporates a somewhat asymmetrical class based system into the standard first person shooter mechanic. It also includes a leveling system to unlock new abilities for each class, and one super-powered reward class per side that can shape the environment of the world. Inspirations were drawn from Team Fortress 2, Borderlands, games like Star Wars: Battlefront 2, and the Forge map-editor from Halo 3.
Setting – The setting for this game is a mildly dystopian future where religion became militarized and took over as the ruling power. The world attempts to look more clean and pure than it is, with central city areas being very well maintained, but also containing areas of more destitute appearance where some of the undesirables and non-believers reside.
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Characters – The two sides are called the Faithful and the Non-Believers. The Faithful represent the church and, although they are not as physically strong, they have special abilities and traits given to them by God. The Non-Believers are, conversely, not given any such abilities and get their strength from physical and technological superiority.
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Setup – While a campaign mode for each side could be included, the primary gameplay would be a traditional online multiplayer shooter experience. Game modes would include standard deathmatch, free for all, a capture the flag variant, and point control game types. One team would be the Faithful, the other team would be the Non-Believers. As players complete goals, get kills, or get other special achievements, they accumulate experience points which will lead to unlocking skill points that can be place into a tree of their choosing.
Goal – Depending on the game type, the goal would vary between getting a certain number of kills before the other team, capturing all of the control points, or getting a specified number of flag captures first.
The Rules
The Units – The Faithful and the Non-Believers both have 5 unique units. 4 of these units on each side are units that the player can choose to play as, and the other unit is a super-powerful unit that is only playable by a random player on a team that is losing(likely triggered by some benchmark along the lines of “Team A is halfway to the goal, Team B gets a special unit.” The units for each team are as follows.
The Faithful
· Cleric –A bit of a jack of all trades defensive unit, the Cleric is both hard to kill and can heal team-mates. He is a slow moving unit. The skill trees into which he can put points are a tree which upgrades his damage-taking and healing abilities (culminating with the ability to resurrect teammates) and a tree that allows him to summon either angelic creatures that defend or demonic creatures that attack. Only traditional weapon is a rather weak submachine gun.
· Inquisitor – This unit is fast, stealthy, and deadly at close range. He carries two automatic pistols and a dagger that can be an instant kill if attacked from directly behind, or can cause status effects if properly upgraded. The two trees they could put points into are a stealth/pistol tree and a knife tree. The first tree would grant them longer and better cloaking abilities culminating in complete invisibility(from infrared as well, to be explained later). The second tree would primarily contain abilities that increase the angle behind the enemy that allows for a one hit kill with the knife.
· Bishop – The bishop is a sniper, but has sacrificed his sight in favor of a divine method of seeing that, when upgraded, gives the bishop longer view range and the ability to see cloaked units. His weapon is a standard bolt action rifle, without a scope. He can still zoom in the same as a normal sniper can. The two trees he can put points in are divine focus (improvements to his zoom distance and upgrades to his sight by way of making cloaked units visible as well as an ability to see through walls for a brief amount of time) and a tree containing upgrades to health, movement speed, and his secondary weapon(a mid-range assault rifle)damage.
· Layman – The layman is not a full member of the church, and as such does not get the same divine bonuses. He is instead very technologically inclined, and uses an explosives launcher as well as mines which can be placed as his primary weapons set. Secondarily he can construct mounted weapons for his teammates to use, and can destroy enemy technology relatively easily. He is particularly useful in stopping the enemy’s super unit, the tank. His two ability trees are chemistry(which varies the nature and increases the potency of his explosives), and engineering(which increases his technical skills).
· Prophet(Super Unit) – When the faithful are losing badly to the non-believers, they are sent a prophet. Once the threshold is reached, a random player is granted the ability, next time they respawn, to become a prophet. This prophet does not have the typical ability sets, but instead has the ability to shape the environment of the battlefield and lay waste to the enemy with the power of a god. The prophet can heavily change the flow of a battler by shaping the terrain to create chasms or hills, summoning an avenging archangel to lay waste to the non-believers, calling down lightning or a hail of brimstone to directly damage the enemy or spreading a plague through the enemy forces causing slowness, blindness, or other status effects. The prophet’s special abilities and lifespan is monitored by an energy bar. When they use a special ability or take damage, the bar goes down, if they kill an enemy, the bar goes up. When the bar depletes, the prophet ascends and the player reverts to having to choose a normal unit.
The Non-Believers
· Soldier – The soldier is your basic Rambo-style super soldier. He’s a large, muscular character who carries around a mini gun that should be mounted on a Humvee and a powerful assault rifle with a grenade launcher attached to it. He is very slow, but has high hit points. His ability trees focus on improved mobility and higher damage output.
· Recon – The recon unit is fast, stealthy, and not overly well armed for face to face confrontation. He carries a single magnum revolver pistol, a med-kit for patching up allies, a knife, and a pair of binoculars with which he can call in artillery strikes. His trees are stealth (improved cloaking device and knife lethality) and healing/binocular boosts(heavier bandages/artillery). The recon unit is especially useful for hunting the enemy prophet.
· Sniper – a more standard ranged class, the sniper carries a big gun with a big scope, allowing for one hit kills from extremely long range. This unit works best if it can find a high position and hold it. To that end, he also has a small automated sentry that only works in close proximity to the sniper as a defensive ability. His two skill trees are one that boosts damage/range, and one that offers a bevy of attachments to his primary weapon (silencers, infrared scopes, etc..)
· Apostate – The apostate is a former member of the faithful who has renounced and now fights for the non-believers. He is the only member of the non-believers whose combat effectiveness is not tied to physical strength or the equipment he uses. He does carry a flame thrower and a shotgun, but his real strength is his ability to summon powerful demons that he can send to attack his enemies. His two ability trees are one that increases his projectile weapons’ damage/range and one that allows him to summon more and more powerful demons.
· Tank(Super Unit) – if the non-believers are getting badly beaten, they are sent reinforcements in the form of a heavily armored, high powered tank. The selection of which player gets the tank is similarly random to the way the player who gets to be prophet is chosen. The tank does not have a nearly as varied set of abilities, but this is counteracted by its raw destructive power. It is, basically, a tank. It has a mounted machine gun, one enormous cannon that can knock down entire buildings with a few hits, and is extremely heavily armored.
Balance Issues
Given the differences between the classes available to each side, it is entirely possible that one or more units could be over or underpowered. Once the game is built, it can be tweaked and adjusted to try to address this. Adjustments of weapon damage stats and things like the various units’ movement speed would be the simplest things to play with. Adjusting the requirements for unlocking one of the super units would as well as how completely unstoppable they actually are could also be addressed.
Game Purpose
Like most shooters of the past several years, this game focuses primarily on bringing a new, dynamic multiplayer experience to players. There would be a campaign mode, and possibly some sort of co-op mode, but the meat and potatoes of the game would be the online multiplayer. To that end, expansion would be as simple as adding new weapons and/or abilities to the units, making new maps, or even possibly making new units. These could be done by way of downloadable content or, if the game sold well, a sequel.
Goal – Depending on the game type, the goal would vary between getting a certain number of kills before the other team, capturing all of the control points, or getting a specified number of flag captures first.
The Rules
The Units – The Faithful and the Non-Believers both have 5 unique units. 4 of these units on each side are units that the player can choose to play as, and the other unit is a super-powerful unit that is only playable by a random player on a team that is losing(likely triggered by some benchmark along the lines of “Team A is halfway to the goal, Team B gets a special unit.” The units for each team are as follows.
The Faithful
· Cleric –A bit of a jack of all trades defensive unit, the Cleric is both hard to kill and can heal team-mates. He is a slow moving unit. The skill trees into which he can put points are a tree which upgrades his damage-taking and healing abilities (culminating with the ability to resurrect teammates) and a tree that allows him to summon either angelic creatures that defend or demonic creatures that attack. Only traditional weapon is a rather weak submachine gun.
· Inquisitor – This unit is fast, stealthy, and deadly at close range. He carries two automatic pistols and a dagger that can be an instant kill if attacked from directly behind, or can cause status effects if properly upgraded. The two trees they could put points into are a stealth/pistol tree and a knife tree. The first tree would grant them longer and better cloaking abilities culminating in complete invisibility(from infrared as well, to be explained later). The second tree would primarily contain abilities that increase the angle behind the enemy that allows for a one hit kill with the knife.
· Bishop – The bishop is a sniper, but has sacrificed his sight in favor of a divine method of seeing that, when upgraded, gives the bishop longer view range and the ability to see cloaked units. His weapon is a standard bolt action rifle, without a scope. He can still zoom in the same as a normal sniper can. The two trees he can put points in are divine focus (improvements to his zoom distance and upgrades to his sight by way of making cloaked units visible as well as an ability to see through walls for a brief amount of time) and a tree containing upgrades to health, movement speed, and his secondary weapon(a mid-range assault rifle)damage.
· Layman – The layman is not a full member of the church, and as such does not get the same divine bonuses. He is instead very technologically inclined, and uses an explosives launcher as well as mines which can be placed as his primary weapons set. Secondarily he can construct mounted weapons for his teammates to use, and can destroy enemy technology relatively easily. He is particularly useful in stopping the enemy’s super unit, the tank. His two ability trees are chemistry(which varies the nature and increases the potency of his explosives), and engineering(which increases his technical skills).
· Prophet(Super Unit) – When the faithful are losing badly to the non-believers, they are sent a prophet. Once the threshold is reached, a random player is granted the ability, next time they respawn, to become a prophet. This prophet does not have the typical ability sets, but instead has the ability to shape the environment of the battlefield and lay waste to the enemy with the power of a god. The prophet can heavily change the flow of a battler by shaping the terrain to create chasms or hills, summoning an avenging archangel to lay waste to the non-believers, calling down lightning or a hail of brimstone to directly damage the enemy or spreading a plague through the enemy forces causing slowness, blindness, or other status effects. The prophet’s special abilities and lifespan is monitored by an energy bar. When they use a special ability or take damage, the bar goes down, if they kill an enemy, the bar goes up. When the bar depletes, the prophet ascends and the player reverts to having to choose a normal unit.
The Non-Believers
· Soldier – The soldier is your basic Rambo-style super soldier. He’s a large, muscular character who carries around a mini gun that should be mounted on a Humvee and a powerful assault rifle with a grenade launcher attached to it. He is very slow, but has high hit points. His ability trees focus on improved mobility and higher damage output.
· Recon – The recon unit is fast, stealthy, and not overly well armed for face to face confrontation. He carries a single magnum revolver pistol, a med-kit for patching up allies, a knife, and a pair of binoculars with which he can call in artillery strikes. His trees are stealth (improved cloaking device and knife lethality) and healing/binocular boosts(heavier bandages/artillery). The recon unit is especially useful for hunting the enemy prophet.
· Sniper – a more standard ranged class, the sniper carries a big gun with a big scope, allowing for one hit kills from extremely long range. This unit works best if it can find a high position and hold it. To that end, he also has a small automated sentry that only works in close proximity to the sniper as a defensive ability. His two skill trees are one that boosts damage/range, and one that offers a bevy of attachments to his primary weapon (silencers, infrared scopes, etc..)
· Apostate – The apostate is a former member of the faithful who has renounced and now fights for the non-believers. He is the only member of the non-believers whose combat effectiveness is not tied to physical strength or the equipment he uses. He does carry a flame thrower and a shotgun, but his real strength is his ability to summon powerful demons that he can send to attack his enemies. His two ability trees are one that increases his projectile weapons’ damage/range and one that allows him to summon more and more powerful demons.
· Tank(Super Unit) – if the non-believers are getting badly beaten, they are sent reinforcements in the form of a heavily armored, high powered tank. The selection of which player gets the tank is similarly random to the way the player who gets to be prophet is chosen. The tank does not have a nearly as varied set of abilities, but this is counteracted by its raw destructive power. It is, basically, a tank. It has a mounted machine gun, one enormous cannon that can knock down entire buildings with a few hits, and is extremely heavily armored.
Balance Issues
Given the differences between the classes available to each side, it is entirely possible that one or more units could be over or underpowered. Once the game is built, it can be tweaked and adjusted to try to address this. Adjustments of weapon damage stats and things like the various units’ movement speed would be the simplest things to play with. Adjusting the requirements for unlocking one of the super units would as well as how completely unstoppable they actually are could also be addressed.
Game Purpose
Like most shooters of the past several years, this game focuses primarily on bringing a new, dynamic multiplayer experience to players. There would be a campaign mode, and possibly some sort of co-op mode, but the meat and potatoes of the game would be the online multiplayer. To that end, expansion would be as simple as adding new weapons and/or abilities to the units, making new maps, or even possibly making new units. These could be done by way of downloadable content or, if the game sold well, a sequel.