Game proposal

Rating: MA15+ strong violence, adult themes

Platform - PC

Genre - FPS (First Person Shooter)

1. Using some of the techniques discussed in this chapter, begin developing a concept for an original game idea. Discuss the central theme of your idea, and the methods you used to bring your idea into existence.

The central theme for my game will be about a post-apocalyptic wasteland brought about by a crippling plague that infested over half the worlds population, in response to this the world's military purged the infected. but in the process destroyed the majority of the livable areas, making the population fight for survival and resources. the environments will be either ruined cities or barren wastelands. My idea came from playing games like fallout, S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Metro 2033, etc which have very interesting and engaging environments.

a screen shot of upcoming game Fallout: New Vegas



2.Create a back story,environment and three character descriptions associated with your original game idea. how are these elements integrated and linked through a central theme?

The back story to the game is that in the year 2056 a deadly plague infected over half the population, changing them into brainless mutants, these infected soon started to ravage the cities of the world. in response the military launched and all out assault on the "infected", this war lasted for 5 years before the military nuked the infested areas. this left the world in ruins, with very few cities remaining, and forced the surviving population to settle in the wastes, exposing them to the remaining mutants, and savage wildlife. The environment of the game will mostly be of the last city , which is mostly destroyed with a few livable areas. and the outside wasteland. the city is located in a small canyon, this is what allowed most of it to remain intact. the wasteland part of the environment will be mostly desert with some smaller mountains and camps. the game will be an FPS for the PC.

The Player an unnamed survivor who has to go out into the ruins of the city to find supplies to help him survive the harsh wasteland and to protect him from the wildlife. He will be lightly armoured, and carry a very basic gun, with limited ammo. he is of average height and build with short hair.

General Beckett the leader of the survivors city, a tyrant who controls the last remnants of the military and rules the city with an iron fist. he is an ex-soldier who has many years of combat experience. He is roughly 6 feet tall, well built, and bald.

Pilgorr leader of the mutant tribe, a decayed, horrifying presence is the only way to describe this savage, left diseased and rotting thanks to the military virus, Pilgorr see's all humans as the enemy and will go out of his way to destroy any he see's. "" is 7ft tall, muscular and scarred. this is due to the effects of the virus

3. Document your concept with reference material and original sketches. how did you capture your reference images? create thumbnails and silhouettes compile these images into an art bible to help guide your vision.



this is my design for my level layout, it shows where the objects in my level will be placed and shows objectives, player interactions, and ammo pickup spots.
















when designing my level i played several games including the fallout series, Metro 2033 and the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series, these games are all set in a post apocalyptic world and helped shape my vision of the final build.

an image of the fallout 3 environment

after drawing my blueprint i went on to think about how my buildings would look. i looked at more games and real environments that had been destroyed by war or age.

concept art of a ruined city.





a design for how my town buildings will look, they will show signs of damage and age but still be able to provide cover.














a concept of the abandoned shops that will be in the smaller towns of my level. they will provide cover from enemy fire.

1. Imagine that you are a level designer working in the 1980s. Knowing the limitations associated with this era, what type of game would you develop?

due to the limiations of the technology, i would make a game similar to aesteroids as it would be alot easier to do than a full colour game where you would have to program each individual sprite and pixel.

2. Play three games- one from the 1980's, one from the 1990's, and one released after 2004. Compare and Contrast how levels and environments are designed in all three games.

Game from the 1980's- Pacman, In pacman the level design is simple, and basically just a maze of lines to form the level, the enviornment is basically non-exsistent.

Game from the 1990's- Duke Nukem 3D, this game was one of the first first person shooter games to utilize "3d graphics" and environments, this was done with sprites and gave the illison of 3D even though it wasnt really in 3d, compared to the 80's this game shows longer levels, bigger environments and shows the progression of level design from the 1980's - 1990's.


Game from 2004+ - Call of Duty 4, this is one of the modern games that shows just how far level design has come, this game features full 3d environments, and long levels with various objectives and progression. this is just one example of how far level design has come since the days of line maps, and sprite illusions


3. How does a game’s genre affect the way its levels and environments are
designed? Choose one level from three different games—each from a distinct
primary genre—and compare how these levels are designed with regard to
setting, goals, puzzles, and risk–reward system.

A games genre definitely effects the way it's levels and environments are designed, for example in an fps game the environments would be more focused on the closer visuals like buildings, streets, trees etc. in FPS games like Half Life 2 the player has to solve puzzles by searching the environment for the solution.

Whereas in an RTS game the environments would be less detailed as the camera view is from the sky, showing more objects on the screen, and puzzles in RTS games are almost non-exsistant an example of this is the game Dawn Of War.

In RPG games the environments and levels are larger and more aimed at exploring the enviornments that have been created, this means that the settings in games like Mass Effect are Large planets, or space stations, which allows for more goals, puzzels and a broder environment.