Alright, so I finally managed to start a proper project with Unity, and here it goes;
CONCEPT IN SHORT
I’m actually going to spew out quite a bit of text, so I’m going to compress it all into one sentence first. Zircanedium is an endless futuristic stealth game involving replayability by dozens of mechanics, and gamemodes, along with randomized elements in every map you play.
MORE IN-DEPTH
Zircanedium is an endless futuristic stealth game (as stated once already) set in an AI testing facility, with diverse mechanics, multiple gamemodes, (possibly multiplayer) and dozens of playable levels. (The visual style is being re-thought, yet again)
Gamemodes:
The gamemodes planned for now are:
-
Ghost: You are not allowed to be detected. If you’re detected while playing in Ghost-mode, you lose.
-
A to B: Your goal is to make it to the end of the map, detected or undetected.
-
Predator: Your goal is to eliminate every single enemy from the level, detected or undetected.
-
Time Attack: Your goal is to make it to the end of the map before the timer runs out, detected or undetected (It is randomly picked if the player can or cannot get detected during a Time Attack).
-
Saboteur: Destroy/Disable all traps in the level.
-
There will be more gamemodes later on.
Random elements:
This is something that may or may not need to be explained, but as they’ll play a big role in the game, I’m going to do so anyway. Zircanedium will utilize random elements in way, that allows for a lot of replayability. You may stumble upon the same level twice within a few hours, but some things won’t be the same. The things I’m planning on completely randomizing are:
- Enemy paths
- Some decoration’s positions
- Lights
- Positions of traps
- Gamemodes
- There’ll be more things randomized later on, these are probably the most meaningful ones
Enemies & Threats:
A game isn’t good without some sort of threat, right? As the game is set in an AI testing facility, you’ll encounter robots, turrets, sound detectors, surveillance cameras, laser grids, and more.
Player Equipment/Gadgets/Utilities:
- Mute-nade : A grenade that creates an aura of silence around a small radius.
- GrenadEMP: A thrown projectile which disables traps and enemies for a short period of time.
- Infra-patch: An eyepatch that allows the player to see through walls. The Infra-patch requires energy, and can be recharged at small chargers placed around the map. It also allows the player to see in the dark.
- Smoke-bang: A thrown projectile that creates a smokescreen, which will allow the player to slip past enemies and cameras.
- Lure: A small ball equipped with tiny speakers emitting sound, distracting enemies.
- EMP mine: Does what the GrenadEMP does, but is triggered when an enemy steps on it.
- Shockade: A small device on the player’s arm that allows taking down the enemy robots. The Shockade also requires energy, which is shared with the Infra-patch.
- Camouflage: A device that camouflages the player when they go inside some foliage, such as trees or lay down in a flower bed.
Other mechanics:
What I’m going for with Zircanedium, is a game with really diverse stealth mechanics. So, I’m trying my hardest to add features, such as:
- Leaning
- Laying down
- Camouflage
- Some sort of darkness/light recognition
- Noise
- Lots of interactable objects in the environment
- There’s more, but these are probably the most notable ones.
‘Endless’
I also stated that Zircanedium is an ‘endless’ stealth game. What that basically means is that the player will make their way through different rooms (not procedurally generated!), that all have randomized elements, and a different gamemode. When they reach the end of a room, they will move on to the next one. This goes on until the player fails the objective given to them (See gamemodes above), or dies.
Level design:
My ultimate goal with the levels of Zircanedium is giving the player as much freedom as possible. Each level will have about 2-5 different ways to complete them, all of them being different in some way, while still allowing the player to slip past enemies.
Updates:
I will try to update the post as frequently as possible, but only when I have something notable to show. If I’ve made a few 3D models for the game, I might not showcase them separately, unless they are actually important. I will be making videos of each bigger update on YouTube, on my channel. Click here to see the latest video (#3)
Gameplay Demo - Update #5 (Downloaded .exe from Dropbox): click here
(I’ve had some issues with Web Player so I had to make the game downloadable from DB)
A new demo will be uploaded after every 5 updates.
Feedback on the idea/mechanics is welcome!
Here are a few screenshots of my current test scene (I only managed to take two, as my screencapture program decided it didn’t want to work anymore).
New screenshots will be posted when the new testing scene is finished or otherwise noted in the update logs.
Screenshots:
Thanks for taking the time to read, much appreciated!
TAP
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Please keep in mind that this is in the “Work in progress” forum for a reason.
Thank you.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
