Game Concept

OVERVIEW:

Working Title:

Game Name: Sh.A.M (Shift And Move) (get it like shifting gear in the car)

Concept Statement:

All kinds of bad guys are coming to get you and you must defend yourself! Your skills are in question! You have a car and a gun, show off your drifting and shooting skills! Use powerups to improve your maneuverability and shooting to last even longer against the onslaught! Become the drift king!

Category/Genre:

Action adventure: Run around and shoot in a fantastic world! Every game has this its fine.

Bullet Heaven: You will be shooting A LOT.

Arcade: One significant level with simple controls and a short gameplay loop.

Concept Creation Process:

I was playing vampire survivors while listening to initial D. I hadn’t seen car/drifting movement used in the bullet heaven genre and I thought that the controls themselves as well as the gameplay loop would be relatively simple to implement, resulting in a simple gameplay core that could be easily built around to make a fun and exciting game. I decided to have the player shoot out of the car's sides as it would encourage the player to use the drifting mechanics to their fullest potential to line up shots. I wanted the title of the game to be a clever acronym and after a bit of thinking I landed on Sh.A.M (Shift And Move) as it allowed for a relevant gameplay title and also allowed for a potential plot (involving falsification) later down the line if time is available.

Audience and Competitive Analysis:

Potential competitors are Vampire Survivors and its derivatives; however, the drifting and sideways shooting mechanics should give the game a unique enough identity this will make players' movement significantly different from the enemy movement as well as create an asymmetric gameplay loop thus separating the game from others in the genre further and giving it more of an identity to stand on. It also bears a small similarity to driving games with its movement mechanics but not so much so that it will have to compete with other games in the genre. The potential for a theme may also set it apart. The use of powerups as opposed to a leveling system will also set Sh.A.M apart from vampire survivors.

Target Audience:

The target audience will likely be people who what a more fast-paced and skill-intensive version of vampire survivors. As such it will cater more to the players who want skill-based gameplay, fast and fun movement and flashy effects and combos.

GAME TREATMENT AND CONCEPT ART:

The initial thought for how the game would play. The player would gain speed then break and turn using the inertia built up from their driving to rapidly reorient their vehicle to hit multiple enemies.

A more detailed image that shows a slightly less sharp turn with the angles of fire visualized. As shown the car will only allow the driver to shoot out the driver and passenger windows making drifting necessary to hit multiple closely packed targets without a power-up.

The level(s) will be a simple looping tile set that continuously generates as the player moves. This will allow the player to move at a respectable pace and not feel like they are trapped by level borders while they are speeding around and drifting. The level itself will likely be modeled after a parking lot.

One potential powerup will be side-boosters that upon activating will spin the players' car around allowing the player to rapidly change their shooting direction ad also smash into enemies. Another powerup may be one that briefly makes the players' vehicle invincible so they can plow through enemies letting the player see how many enemies they can get in one swoop while letting them play with the speed. One more power-up could allow the player to shoot in all four directions at once, giving the player an opportunity to clear the screen more easily.

Enemies will likely be simple goons that move in a straight line toward the player for the most part, but some enemies may have unique behaviors like strafing, teleporting, and shooting. The more complex enemies will also be prevented from showing up in the early game so that the player has time to adjust to the controls as well as to give the gameplay a smooth difficulty curve. The enemy variety will give the gameplay a higher skill requirement thus engaging the player.

To keep the player engaged with the gameplay a scoreboard and combo meter will be implemented so that players can see their skill pay off in a tangible way when they kill multiple enemies or do something else stylish. If there is time, small touches like cool particle effects and flashy bonuses will be added to help keep the player further engaged.