Professional Documents
Culture Documents
XB3001
MARK JAMES ROCCO
Contents
Animations 27 Levels 55
Level Play through Example 61
Sound 63
Effects 63
Dialouge 64
Camera 64
Concept
Mark James Rocco
Date
2010
Working Title
Absolute Horizon
Genre
Fixed Area Space Shooter
Platform
PSP Minis
Target Age Group
8+
Story
Set in 3402 over a thousand years after people from earth (Terrans)
colonised mars and developed a new form of fuel called Uristrol Terrans
push into the further reaches of space past our solar system and
beyond. Soon after, they begin discovering new worlds all with giant
black pillars on the surface with an unknown language written upon
them. Not too long after the discovery of these pillars a science team is
destroyed by an unknown alien life forms that appear from black holes
that begin to form. As more of these black holes appear the Terran
leaders decide to build defensive countermeasures around these black
holes to halt all advancing enemies.
Market
As this game features no depictions of extreme violence whilst also not
being too childish I would say that this game is aimed at all age groups.
The platform chosen to host this game is a good choice for a game of
this nature as similar game have enjoyed success on this platform and
also is a young platform and has already hosted innovative games.
Visual Style
With Absolute Horizon being set in the future and in space the look and
feel of this game would match these settings closely with of course my
own style of art design. Also with this game being universally aimed at
all ages there will be no extreme violence, swearing and other aspects
that would make the game to adult. As well as this aspect the game will
also not be too childish as to make it an uninteresting experience for the
more mature gamer.
Objectives
The objectives of this game are based around the different game types
that are included in the game which also can be played in Co Op. With
the story mode the main objectives is to clear all enemies for a level to
progress to the next level. There are 6 of these levels and within these
are 5 normal levels and 1 boss level. After all of the normal story levels
are complete there will be a single final boss level against the mother
ship of the Alien enemy.
As well as the story based missions there is survival mode which can
also be played in Co-Op. Survival mode will have you pick a level based
of the story mode levels where you have to survive endless waves of
enemies.
Story Objectives
The games story has you go to 6 different areas to clear it of enemies.
The objective for each of these areas is the same, you have to destroy
all of the enemies that spawn and the boss that follows. The objectives
for the story mode are quite simple and straight forward and are built
specifically for a pick up and play style of game play. This table shows
the number of enemies that will appear during each level.
These numbers the overall number of enemies that will spawn during the
level not the amount that spawns at one time. The number of enemies
that spawn at one time is dependent on the difficulty level that you are
playing.
These tables show for each level the number of enemies that will spawn
during the level. As well as the enemies that spawn the items that
spawn will be listed in these tables. These items will spawn at the start
of the wave it is listed under however as well as these specific items
there will be random drops throughout the level.
Level 1 Easy
Duration
Wave Enemies Items
(Seconds)
1 20 60 n/a
2 20 60 Plasma
3 20 60 Health 25%
4 40 80 Plasma
5 50 100 Health 50%
6 50 100 n/a
Level 1 Medium
Duration
Wave Enemies Items
(Seconds)
1 40 60 n/a
2 40 60 Plasma
3 40 60 Health 25%
4 80 80 Plasma
5 100 100 Health 25%
6 100 100 n/a
Level 1 Hard
Duration
Wave Enemies Items
(Seconds)
1 50 60 n/a
2 100 60 Plasma
3 150 60 Health 25%
4 150 80 Plasma
5 150 100 n/a
6 200 100 n/a
Level 1 Insane
Duration
Wave Enemies Items
(Seconds)
1 50 60 n/a
2 100 60 Plasma
3 150 60 n/a
4 150 80 Plasma
5 150 100 n/a
6 200 100 Health 25%
Level 2 Easy
Duration
Wave Enemies Items
(Seconds)
1 50 60 Plasma Super
2 50 60 Plasma
3 50 80 Shield
4 50 100 Electricity
5 100 120 Plasma Ultra
6 100 120 Health 50%
Level 2 Medium
Duration
Wave Enemies Items
(Seconds)
1 50 60 Plasma Super
2 50 60 Plasma
3 100 80 Shield
4 150 100 Electricity
5 150 120 Plasma Ultra
6 300 120 Health 25%
Level 2 Hard
Duration
Wave Enemies Items
(Seconds)
1 100 60 Plasma Super
2 150 60 Plasma
3 250 80 Shield
4 350 100 Electricity
5 350 120 Plasma Ultra
6 400 120 n/a
Level 2 Insane
Duration
Wave Enemies Items
(Seconds)
1 200 60 Plasma Super
2 200 60 Shield
3 350 80 Plasma
4 400 100 Electricity
5 400 120 Plasma Ultra
6 450 120 n/a
Level 3 Easy
Duration
Wave Enemies Items
(Seconds)
1 100 60 Super Electricity
2 100 60 Ice
3 150 60 Bomb
4 200 80 Shield
5 250 100 Ultra Electricity
6 200 100 Health 50%
Level 3 Medium
Duration
Wave Enemies Items
(Seconds)
1 100 60 Super Electricity
2 200 60 Ice
3 300 60 Bomb
4 300 80 Shield
5 400 100 Ultra Electricity
6 700 100 Health 25%
Level 3 Hard
Duration
Wave Enemies Items
(Seconds)
1 200 60 Super Electricity
2 400 60 Ice
3 500 60 Bomb
4 800 80 Shield
5 800 100 Ultra Electricity
6 800 100 Health 25%
Level 3 Insane
Duration
Wave Enemies Items
(Seconds)
1 500 60 Super Electricity
2 500 60 Ice
3 800 60 Bomb
4 1000 80 Shield
5 1000 100 Ultra Electricity
6 1200 100 n/a
Level 4 Easy
Duration
Wave Enemies Items
(Seconds)
1 200 100 Super Ice
2 200 100 Ice
3 200 120 Health 50%
4 400 120 EMP
5 500 140 Ultra Ice
6 500 140 Health 50%
Level 4 Medium
Duration
Wave Enemies Items
(Seconds)
1 400 100 Super Ice
2 400 100 Ice
3 400 120 Health 50%
4 800 120 EMP
5 1000 140 Ultra Ice
6 1000 140 Health 25%
Level 4 Hard
Duration
Wave Enemies Items
(Seconds)
1 800 100 Super Ice
2 800 100 Ice
3 800 120 Health 25%
4 1600 160 EMP
5 2000 200 Ultra Ice
6 2000 200 Health 25%
Level 4 Insane
Duration
Wave Enemies Items
(Seconds)
1 500 100 Super Ice
2 1000 100 Ice
3 1500 120 Health 25%
4 2000 160 EMP
5 2000 200 Ultra Ice
6 3000 250 Health 25%
Level 5 Easy
Duration
Wave Enemies Items
(Seconds)
1 500 100 Super Plasma
2 500 100 Nuke
3 500 120 Health 50%
4 1000 120 Electricity
5 1000 140 Ultra Electricity
6 1500 140 Health 25%
Level 5 Medium
Duration
Wave Enemies Items
(Seconds)
1 1000 140 Super Plasma
2 1000 140 Nuke
3 1000 140 Health 50%
4 1000 200 Electricity
5 2000 220 Ultra Electricity
6 2000 250 Health 25%
Level 5 Hard
Duration
Wave Enemies Items
(Seconds)
1 2000 140 Super Plasma
2 2000 140 Nuke
3 2000 140 Health 25%
4 2000 200 Electricity
5 4000 220 Ultra Electricity
6 4000 300 Health 25%
Level 5 Insane
Duration
Wave Enemies Items
(Seconds)
1 2000 140 Super Plasma
2 2000 200 Nuke
3 2000 200 Health 25%
4 4000 300 Electricity
5 4000 300 Ultra Electricity
6 6000 400 n/a
Survival Objectives
For survival mode your aims are to both stay alive and accumulate a
high score. The scoring system works the same way that the story
modes scoring system works. However the waves of enemies in this
mode don‟t stop until you ship has been destroyed. The waves of
enemies as you progress will increase in number and also rise in
difficulty level starting from easy to insane. As well as this after 10
waves you will face a boss from the story mode to make this mode more
of a challenge. This table shows how this will work. The items during
the survival mode appear at random which adds an extra element of
tactics as you will have to pick and choose supers, ultras and one use
weapons wisely.
If you get to the point where you get through all of these enemies it will
start from the beginning on the next difficulty level. Starting from easy
to insane the game will most likely get to the point of impossibility before
you can reach the end of the insane difficulty however if you do reach
this the game will start from the beginning again on the insane difficulty
until you give up or are destroyed.
Scoring
This table represents the scores you will receive when you destroy a
certain enemy.
Statistic Numbers
All of the number stats that follow in this document are out of 20 which is
the maximum number a stat can reach. However health has a maximum
number 2000 this number is much higher for bosses and your ship.
Controls
As the games movement is restricted to the movement ring the controls
for the movement are very simple. The way you control your movement
is by using the left thumb stick. Pushing the stick either left or right will
move the ship either left or right. As well as these default control layouts
all the controls will be configurable to any set up you like.
These controls are based around the buttons that are on the PSP
system. While a game of this type on the consoles would most likely
use the right thumb stick to aim and fire your attacks with the PSP the
lack of a second thumb stick has forced a different type of control
scheme to be incorporated into this game. I believe this control set up
uses both the advantages and disadvantages of the PSP‟s controls to
create a useable and enjoyable control scheme that works well with this
game type.
Button Use
x Attack
c Focus
s Boost
t n/a
1 Super / Ultra
3 Bomb Attack
6 Pause Menu
5 n/a
THUMB Movement
UP Switch Weapons (Up)
DOWN Switch Weapons (Down)
LEFT n/a
RIGHT n/a
Controls in Detail
These diagrams point out the location of the buttons on the PSP that
have an action within the game. These actions are then described in
more detail.
Movement
The movement system of this game is very simple as it just consists of
left and right movement.
Boost
As well as the normal movement speed of the ship that you will most
likely use for the most part of the game there is also the boost system
that would be used in most cases for dodging attacks but can also be
used to move to an area you quickly need to attack from.
Attacks
You have a range of different weapons at your disposal to use to destroy
enemies during game play. These weapons have different pros and
cons and are more useful against different types of enemy because of
the way in which each weapons fire.
The left
shoulder button
uses your ultra
or your super if
you have one.
This button
These buttons initiates your
switches focus mode.
This button
between your
attacks with your
weapons.
selected weapon.
Weapons
These short descriptions and tables will list the stats and the pro and
cons of each weapon available to you in game.
Shot
This attack is your basic attack that you begin all your levels with. It isn‟t
very strong but it fires extremely fast and could be very useful.
Stealth
5 2
Gunners
Plasma
The Plasma attack lets you fire out balls of plasma that sets the hit
enemy on fire. As well as damaging the hit enemy the fire effect can be
passed on the enemies that the hit enemy comes into contact with giving
a small amount of damage over time until the effect wears off or the
enemy is destroyed.
Spinning
3 6
Razors
Ice
The ice attack is a constant stream attack that can be moved around
with the thumb stick and also moves around as you move. The attack is
non-stop until you stop attacking.
Stealth
8 2
Gunners
Electricity
The electricity attack fires out in bursts just like lightning strikes in the
real world. This is the rarest normal weapon during the game because it
is also the most powerful of these normal weapons. This weapon
however is quite difficult to use effectively as the attack strikes fire out
randomly but can destroy enemies with one hit.
Stealth
2 8
Gunners
Specials
Supers are the first form of special attack that you can use. As with all
the other weapons in this game these weapons are collectables and
need to be collected to be used. Once collected you can only use these
weapons once and you can only have one equipped at a time. This
means that if you have already have a super equipped and collect a new
one the super that was equipped previously will be replaced.
Plasma
Ice
Electricity
Shot
Ultras
Ultras are the second form of special attack that you can use. As with all
the other supers and other weapons these are collectables. Just like the
supers once collected you can only use these ultras once and can only
have one equipped at a time. This means that if you have already had
an ultra equipped and collect a new one the ultra that was equipped
previously will be replaced. However with the ultras you have to also fill
a bar to 100% to use it.
Plasma
Ice
Electricity
These weapons are one use weapons that cause a lot of damage over a
wide area.
Bombs
These weapons work by first firing out the weapon with the attack button
and then a second click of your attack button to detonate the weapon
when it reaches your desired area.
EMP
This disables the movement and attacks of enemies.
Nuke
More of an offensive weapon than the EMP this weapon destroys
everything in its blast zone clearing enemies to give you a breather
during a hectic level.
Items
All the different items that are available in game will now be listed with
their names and what their function is.
Weapon Items
These are all the weapon pickups available during the game. The icons
that would be used for these items during game play are with the stats of
the weapons in the weapons section (Page 16).
Support Items
These items are all the items that give you health or equip your ship with
a power up.
Health 25%
Description
Health 50%
Description
Extra Life
Description
Shield
Description
Health
The Health system for Absolute Horizon is based around older games
where you have a percentage of health in place of the current fashion in
games of health regeneration. During game play there will be a range of
different types of healing items. The first types of items are basic health
regeneration items that give you back a set amount of health you have
lost. As well as your initial 100% of health there are power ups during
game play that will give you a boost in the percentage of your initial
health that either work until you are damaged enough for the percentage
to be brought back to 100% or lower or a set time has run out. The first
type gives you a boost for a set amount of time. With this type of health
boost item as well as only lasting for a certain amount of time if you are
damaged enough for your health to be reduced back to 100% or lower
the health boost effect will stop working. The second type of health
boost gives you a boost in health that lasts until you are damaged
enough to bring you back down to 100% or lower but there is no time
limit. With both these health boost items when they stop working your
maximum health will be back to the initial 100%.
Focus
Animations
This is the Basic Animations for the ship during game play. They are for
all the ships movements and attacks as well as death animations.
GUI
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
0123456789
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Menu
The Front end menu for Absolute Horizon has a simple design for an
easy to use feel. All transitions between the different menus are
animated to stop the minimalistic menu interface from being too simple
to look at and interact with. The font for the logo itself is Trajan Pro
which is a very clean and simple sans serif font that is both easy to read
and stylish.
This is the first thing you will see after the developer logos have
appeared. After the first image the Press Start option appears. The
logo will slightly move up and shrink to incorporate this option.
Document Copyright © 2010 Mark James Rocco
28
Absolute Horizon
Game Design Document
When you press start you will be taken to this menu where you will be
given the options shown. Your chosen option will be highlighted by the
white rectangle shown next to the New Game option in this picture.
Again the logo will shrink and move to incorporate these options. For
the menu options the font I used is the previously mentioned Harabara.
Developer Logo
Intro Video
Menu Screen
Launch Co-Op
Game
New Game
Options
Launch Game
Loading
The loading screen for Absolute Horizon is designed to be a simple
breather for your eyes in-between levels. Using the Harabara font for
the Loading text tells you what is going on. Also using the circle from
the games logo there will be a rotating logo in the centre of the screen.
This mock up shows how this will look.
New Game
When launching a new game you will first have to either load or create
your save data for your character. Creating a new character consists of
creating a save file and naming your character. If you already have this
data in place you will just have to load this file instead. After this menu
you will get the choice to play the single player either by yourself offline
or co-operatively either by game sharing or via Wi-Fi online. As well as
the single player campaign the survival mode is an option here as well.
This mode can also be played by yourself online or co-operatively
through game sharing or Wi-Fi.
New Game
Co-Op Co-Op
Start Game
Save
The player can save the game in two different ways during game play
your can either enable auto save in the options menu in which case the
game will save for you at the end of every mission. If you decide not to
enable auto save in the options you will have the choice of saving the
game in-between missions with this style of saving you can have
multiple different saves if you wish to do so.
Next Mission
Load
The load menu works similarly to the save menu. The game itself has
an auto load feature already enabled on it so that as soon as you get
past the developer screens at the start of the game it loads all of your
previously saved options and mission progress. This option is in place
for when you have used the save option to create multiple saves at
different periods of the game.
Confirm Game is
loaded
Launch Game
Continue
The continue game option takes you straight to the point in the game
where you where when you last saved or the last time the auto save
saved for you .
Options
The options menu is where you will go to set up the game to play it how
you want to. This includes sound levels, contrast levels and control set
ups. These options are something that might not be used as the game
is already set up with the best setting universally to start with.
Custom Controller
Setup
In Game GUI
During game play the Interface will change to display all of the bars and
information need to play the game affectively. These include the score,
your time, and the health bar, focus, super and ultra bars. For the
numbers displayed during game play the font Visitor will be used. This
font has a square Sci-Fi look to it which fits into visual style of Absolute
Horizon but it also easy to read which is an important feature of an in
game font.
Abcdefghiklmnopqrstuvwxyz
0123456789%
Score
The score is displayed in the top right hand corner of the screen using
the Visitor font. The text itself will be in white so that it stands out
against the backgrounds during the game which will be mostly space
which for the most part is black.
Time
Underneath the score is the time this shows how long it has taken to
complete a level which is an important factor in your overall score as the
score will decrease over time so it best to complete the level as fast as
you can for a better score.
Lives
Below the time and score is your lives counter. These will be displayed
by little icons that are white squares with red crosses in the centre.
Bars
There are three bars that are on the GUI for Absolute Horizon. These
bars are for your Focus, Ultra and Health. The bars themselves are on
the bottom right of the screen and are horizontally stacked next to each
other and have a white border to make them stand out just like the text
which is also in white.
Health
The health bar is the first from the right of the three bars and displayed
the amount of health you have left. This bar will use a light green for the
fill which is a universal colour used in games for health. When you are
damaged the amount of health that has been depleted will be
represented by a red chunk of the health bar which will flash and then
disappear. When you collect a health power up on the other hand the
amount of health received will flash blue and then return to the green
that the rest of the bar uses.
Focus
The focus bar will be the second from the right of the three bars at the
bottom right of the screen and be filled with a light purple colour.
Ultra
The Ultra bar is the last from the right of the three bars. This bar will use
an orange colour for the fill.
Weapons
To the left of your stats bars the weapons you have will be displayed. It
will show your currently selected weapon by enlarging it and pointing it
out with a small arrow. Only the weapons you have collected will be
displayed here. When you acquire a new weapon the weapons icon will
be added to the list.
Supers
Above the stats bar will be a large icon displaying your currently
equipped Super. Each weapon has an icon to match so you will easily
see which super you have equipped.
Ultra
As will the Supers the Ultras will be displayed above where the Supers
are displayed above the stats bars. These icons work in the same way
the Super Icons work being replaced by a newly acquired Ultra.
Screen shot
Using all of these elements I will now present a mock up screen shot
displaying all these different elements that make up Absolute Horizons
game play screen.
Ship Score
Time
Lives
Equipped
Ultra
Equipped
Super
Weapons
Focus
Characters
There are three characters that appear during Absolute Horizon the
main character that you play as, your commander who is called General
Creed and the antagonist of the game the leader of the Vasal-Pfae
Cardinal Bal-Gorath. This main character will be named by the player at
the beginning of the game, this given name will be used throughout the
game by your commander whom gives you guidance and gives you all
of the tutorials throughout the first three levels.
Protagonist
This character does not have a name as the player will give him one at
the start of their game. This character is the pilot of the ship that you will
be using during the game and is the protagonist of the story.
General Creed
General Creed is your commander in Absolute Horizon and will talk to
you during Level intervals about what you need to do in your next
mission and inform you of the progressing story and the progression of
the enemy.
Cardinal Bal-Gorath
Cardinal Bal-Gorath is the commander in chief of the Vasal-Pfaes entire
military. After he deemed that the Terrans were infringing in his space
he ordered his ships to destroy the Terran science ships. After this he
decides to wipe out the Terran race as the Vasal-Pfae are a race that
crave war and dominance. You only encounter Bal-Gorath at the final
level of the game.
The Ship
The ship you use throughout the game is decided when you start a new
game. Your ship choice cannot be changed later so you will have to
choose wisely. There are three different types of ship to use, each has
different pros and cons and the choice of which to use all comes down to
the players‟ personal choice. When the player reaches the 4th level of
Absolute Horizon your chosen ship will be upgraded one level which will
not only change the look of the ship but will give the ship an increase in
stats. The stats here for the health are based around the highest
number which is 2000 where as the strength and speed are based
around the highest number of 20. The different ships stats will be
displayed is two tables the first is the normal ships stats where the
second is the upgraded versions stats.
Herodius
The Herodius is the all rounder ship. It‟s the recommended ship for first
timers and will be the first choice offered at the ship choice screen. As
this ship is made to be an all rounder all of its stats are in-between the
other two and is neither powerful in place of low health stats or low
powered in place of more armour.
Corvus
The Corvus is fastest ship out of these three and also does the most
damage. However in place of these attributes the Corvus has a very low
Health stat and is intended for players that have either played before or
just like blowing things up quicker.
Gryphes
The Gryphes is the most heavily armoured ship to choose from and has
a very high Health stat. Because if this heavy armour however the
Gryphes is quite slow and its weapons are not as powerful as the other
two ships.
3D Ship Examples
This example of how the Herodius might look in game shows the level of
detail that would be present in this game. Of course is doesn‟t look that
spectacular, this is because of the chosen platform. PSP Minis while
needing to be fun and have good game play to do well have to take in to
consideration size restraints as well as the level of performance the PSP
can output. Thusly this model which is only 80 Tris with a texture map
size of 256x256 shows what I believe is a good example of how the
game should look and be made.
Enemies
Pawn
Any
Shot 3 7 4
Weapon
The pawn is a fast moving enemy that while not that powerful can dodge
your attack with its speed.
Spinning Razors
Attacks HP Speed Strength Weakness
Spinning Any
5 6 5
Attack Weapon
The spinning razor enemies have no shooting attacks but in its place
have rotating razors around it, Because of this way of attack these
enemies home in on you.
Stealth
Attacks HP Speed Strength Weakness
The Ice
weapon
Burst
both
Shot
6 6 7 slows and
damages
Rush
these
enemies
Swarmers
Attacks HP Speed Strength Weakness
Swarm 1 10 3 Plasma
The Swarmers attack in packs and move like a shoal of fish sticking
together trying to hit you in waves.
Gunners
Attacks HP Speed Strength Weakness
Any
Blast 8 3 8
Weapon
Gunners are the main attacker class of the Vasal-Pfae. They are big
lumbering, strong ships that can take a lot of damage and give a lot of
damage. These just like the Stealth only appear later on as they are a
much more difficult enemy to handle.
Moving Mines
Attacks HP Speed Strength Weakness
Electricity
overpowers
Rotating
these
Shot
2 4 4 enemies
causing
Detonation
them to
explode
The mine while also being able to shoot at you also has the ability to
explode upon impact of either the movement ring or you.
Bosses
Each level for Absolute Horizon has an end boss. Each end boss has
unique attacks that uses the level layout to its advantage. Using these
special attacks the bosses are formidable adversaries that will test your
skill and be a wall in your way to the next level.
The boss for the first level is quite a simple boss that only has one
attack. This is to keep the boss simple as it will be the first boss you
encounter.
The boss for level 2 increases the difficulty to give the player more of a
challenge than the previous boss. This boss is very quick but is lacking
in attack power.
This boss is very different to all the other bosses in Absolute Horizon as
it uses arms to physically attack you. This boss is quite slow in place of
its heavy attacks.
This boss uses the plasma weapon type for its attacks. It also is the first
boss to use an attack that is constant and will force you to move at the
right time to avoid it.
This boss like the final boss and has a shield that you first have to
destroy to being attacking the boss itself. The green sphere on its side
is what you have to destroy to destroy this shield which will stick out of
the shields barrier.
Being the final boss this boss has a few more attacks at its disposal.
Also it takes some of the abilities of previous bosses which it uses as
these extra attacks as well as having a shield. This time however you
have to destroy two red spheres to get rid of this shield.
Enemy AI
The AI for the enemies is quite simple as they have a basic job to do. All
they have to do is attack and move to the edge. Through this simple AI I
do believe the game will be a challenge because of the sheer number of
enemies. I therefore think that this simple AI is justifiable in a game of
this nature and platform.
This table of animations shows how simple the actions of enemies are.
They‟re like this because of its platform. Being a PSP Mini which is a
platform for smaller cheap pick up and play games which I don‟t believe
needs a super high level of detail in animations, modelling and texturing.
Levels
Level 1: Nebula
The levels shape is a basic circle shape as a starting point to get use to
the game and how it works and feel.
The nebula level is the starting point of the game and is made to begin
as a tutorial level. Starting off slowly this level sends a small numbered
wave at you explaining the controls and how to play. After this the level
plays out like a normal level sending waves of different enemies at you.
The bosses attack for this level as with all the different levels are based
around the shape of the level itself. For this level the bosses attacks you
by firing out shots as it rotates around.
Level 2: Galaxy
The Galaxy level is based in an area further towards earth outside of the
Milky Way galaxy.
The shape for this level is a square. Again this is a simple shape but is
more difficult to navigate than the circle with its sharp corners it will be
more difficult to get to where you need to be.
This level is a harder version of the first level. As with the first level there
is a small tutorial during the level. However with this level the tutorial is
about the Super and Ultra weapons. This tutorial however is placed
during normal game play after you collect one of these power ups. The
tutorial itself is a small text based description that will pop up telling you
how to use these weapons. After this tutorial the game continues as
normal.
The attack of this levels boss is based around the straight lines of the
edges of the level. Its attack is a beam attack that fires out multiple
beams that bounce around the level for a few seconds until they die out
or hit you.
This level is an area inside the Milky Way closer to earth based around a
off planet Terran space station.
This levels tutorial happens in the same way as it does in the previous
level in this case however this tutorial is about the one off use weapons
(i.e. Bombs, EMP, and Nukes). Then the level plays as normal.
The attacks of this levels boss are based around the bottle neck nature
of a trapezoid. The boss will sit at the top of the level and swing at you
with it‟s arms
Level 4: Planet
Based inside our solar system this level is next to Uranus which is the
seventh planet in our solar system. This level begins to show how much
closer the Vasal-Pfae are getting to Earth.
Unlike the other levels this level has no tutorials during as all the
different elements of game play have been described to you. With this
element taken out the level is just all out destruction as the number of
enemies jumps up a notch from previous levels as the levels begins to
get far more difficult from here on out.
The boss for this level uses the tight space of the rhombus shaped level
and attacks with a constant beam that can trap you and destroy you.
The asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is where this level is set.
This levels shape is an Oval which is the first circular level since the first
one. This level will replace the difficulty of movement for the difficulty of
sheer numbers of enemies.
As with the previous level this level has no tutorials and again ramps up
the difficulty by increasing the number.
With this levels spherical shape the boss for this level will be in the
centre constantly rotating and firing out mines.
For the final level a Hexagon shape will be used. Representative of the
first level this shape is supposed to show how much better the
technology nearer earth is.
Unlike all the other levels this level consists of just the boss battle.
Because of the boss is the only enemy you fight the boss for this level is
much harder to destroy than the bosses of previous levels and has a
range of attacks and some of the attacks from previous bosses.
Game Walkthrough
Level 2 starts off with small sections of dialogue with general creed
where he updates you on the story so far. After this small section the
level will start off with a tutorial about supers and ultras. This tutorial
begins with a text pop up describing what the tutorial your about to
undertake consists of. Then a super will spawn and you will collect it.
After you have collected the super a small number of enemies will
spawn in and remain static for you to learn how to use the super.
Another text pop up will appear telling you the controls for using the
super and then you will use the supper as instructed in the tutorial pop
up. Then you will move onto the ultra tutorial.
This tutorial works the same way as the super tutorial apart from the
super being replaced by an ultra and the addition of another section to
teach you about the ultra bar and how you fill it. This section of the
tutorial will consist of a few enemies spawn before the ultra spawns.
You will then destroy these enemies to fill your ultra bar. After you have
completed this task the ultra will spawn you will collect it more enemies
will then spawn and remain static this is when you will be taught the
controls for using the ultra. After this tutorial section is over the level will
being for real and work just like any other level. using the tables in the
objectives section (page 5) which list out how many enemies spawn at
what time and which items are set to spawn I can create an example of
how a level might play out.
After a few seconds of nothing after the tutorial is over the first wave of
enemies and a plasma super will spawn over 60 seconds 50 enemies
will spawn in. Using the already acquired plasma weapon you dispatch
of all these 50 enemies while taking a little bit of damage from enemy
fire. After that wave has been cleared out the next wave begins. This
wave has the same number and duration of wave 1 however a plasma
weapon pick up spawns at the start of this wave. wave 2 works the
same way wave 1 one did in terms of how and when the enemies spawn
this wave however there was a random item spawn and you picked up a
shield. Using this shield you didn't take any damage for this wave. You
also used the plasma super you received at the beginning of the first
wave to dispatch a lot of enemies to finish the wave off. The third wave
has double the number of enemies from the first two waves and also has
the stealth enemy mixed in with the usual enemies of the first two waves
making this wave much harder not only because of the numbers but the
added threat of stronger enemies. This wave also starts off with a shield
item spawning in which you collect to replenish your shield to maximum.
After taking a lot of damage at the hands of the stealth enemies you
destroy all of the enemies in this wave and move onto the next wave the
next wave of enemies again ramps up the difficulty through a higher
number of enemies that spawn. The item that spawns at the start of this
wave is a new weapon that you can use it's the electricity weapon. As
well as this weapon another super spawns during this wave as well as a
health power up that you use to replenish your health after the stealth
enemies damaged you in the last wave.
The next wave keeps the same number of enemies but adds the gunner
enemy into the fray. The gunners are a very slow but very powerful
enemy that can cause a lot of damage. This wave starts off with an ultra
spawning which you save until the final boss battle after the 6th wave.
The rest of this wave however goes off smoothly as you use the super
you acquired previously to clear out all of the remaining enemies to
move onto the final wave before the boss. This wave again doubles the
numbers of enemies which largely consists of swarmers which you
destroy by using your plasma weapon. The health item that spawns at
the begin gin of this wave replenishes you health back to full in
preparation for the boss battle the now ensues.
The boss battle for level 2 is based around the square nature of this
level where the boss stays in the centre and uses multiple beam attacks
that when fired out ricochet around the level until they die out. When
you start this boss battle you have full health, the electricity and plasma
weapons and a plasma ultra. The boss battle begins with a small
message from general creed telling you need to destroy this boss to
move on.
After fighting this boss for a while a shield item spawns which you use to
attack the boss with disregard to its attack using the ultra to finally
destroy this boss and move on to the next level.
Sound
The sound design for Absolute Horizon will be taking reference from
games such as Super Stardust, Geometry Wars, Shattered Horizon, etc.
All these games being set in the future with new futuristic weapons and
technology has made them produce interesting and different sounds to
use. These are the types of sounds that would be incorporated into
Absolute Horizon giving the game not only a visual feel of the distant
future and its new technology but the sounds that go along with this
technology.
Effects
With a game like this in terms of sound the sound effects are what you
will be hearing most of your time playing so the effect sounds need to be
of a good quality and represent their action well. As I cannot give you
audible samples of the kind of effects that would be used during the
game I instead will list all of the different sounds that would be
implemented into the game for your ship. As with the animations which
can‟t be shown I will list the sound effects for your ship in a table to show
what kind of sounds would need to be used for certain actions and
describe what they might sound like.
Dialogue
With this game being a small cheap PSP Mini all of the story dialogue
during the game will be in text form with accompanying character
images. There are only three characters that have dialogue during the
game your character, your commander (General Creed) and The
Commander of the enemy mother ship that will speak at the last level
(Cardinal Bal-Gorath).
Camera
The camera system for this game is based on a 2D plane but the
camera itself doesn‟t work the way it would usually in a game if this type.
Whereas with most game like this the camera would be static and show
the entire screen at once in Absolute Horizon the camera doesn‟t move
the world around you moves instead keeping your ship at the centre of
the screen. I have decided this would be the best choice because of the
nature of the game and its chosen platform. With all the action that
would be taking place at later points in the game I believe that the
screen wouldn‟t be big enough to display all of it without out being too
small to see the details.