Pitch: Clockwork Revolver

Clockwork Revolver
PC
Target Audience: 15 - 21 M
Rating: T

Game Summary: Two words: Robot Cowboys.  Welcome to a wilder West, pardner.

On the lawless Frontier, cyborg bandits prey on the helpless townsfolk. The law means nothing to men with steam-boiler hearts and hydraulic claws. But there's a new gun in town: a robot bounty hunter with a grudge to settle. Blast thugs to scrap metal on a quest to avenge your maker. But will you fight for justice? Or will you burn the Frontier in your wake?

Game Outline:  Play the mechanical desperado in an isometric, top-down shooter. Each level represents a bounty, and ends in a boss fight against the target. Use the money you make to purchase upgrades, weapons and costumes. But be careful: the choices you make will decide the fate of the Frontier!

Unique Selling Points:

• Fast paced arcade action mixed with RPG character development.
• Isometric camera allows for interesting combat and exploration.
• Characters and enemies can be created in 3D!
• A morality system that doesn't lock you into "good" or "evil"
• In-depth character customization [more variety than a human hero could have].
• Extremely suited to mini-games and alternate modes (horse/motorcycling chases, etc).
• Seriously: Robot Cowboys!

Similar Competitive Titles:

• Red Steel 2: fantasy-western beat-em-up
• Laura Croft & The Guardian of Light: Isometric camera shooter [but in full 3d]
• Diablo II: 2D isometric action

Task #1: Brainstorm Game Ideas (due 5/9)

Our first major job is deciding what kind of game we're going to make. Throwing a lot of ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks is a great way to get started. 

This week, each team member will come up with at least 3 game ideas. Each idea should be outlined in a one page document, and posted to this blog before April 2nd. We'll crit all the ideas next week, but the write-ups should be able to speak for themselves!

Here's an example of a one-sheet pitch, taken from Scott Roger's book Level Up. We don't have to follow his formatting if we don't want to. [The notes in red are the author's, not mine]

Farm Wars (Game title) Concept Overview
XBOX LIVE/WII WARE/PS3 Download (platform)
Target Age: 15-21 (target audience)
Rating: E10

Game Summary: Old MacDonald has a farm... and those animals are fed up! Tired of being exploited, the animals build cybernetic death armor and attack! Farmer MacDonald must fight frenzied waves of killer cows, sinister sheep and crazed chickens to protect his produce. Sell your crops to upgrade the farm and buy weapons! Farm as well as you fight, otherwise you'll "buy the farm!" (Include the beginning, middle and end of the game story, give an indications of the game play style, the player's objectives and elements. Keep it short and sweet.)

Game Outline: Players create and maintain a basic farm, plants and cares for crops during the Farming Round. Enemies attack during the Battle Round.Harvest and sell remaining produce during the Selling Round. Use profits to buy new seed, rebuild your farm and upgrade your weapons in the Buying Round. After a Season (4 sets of 4 rounds), the player will fight a boss to progress to the next season. Later seasons will feature weather that will affect farming, selling and battle rounds. (Don't go into great detail, but it needs to be more in depth than a summary).

USP (Unique selling points)

•  RTS action meets farming simulation!
• Build and breed unique farm, weapons and crops. Hundreds of combinations!
• Over 50 weapons from a simple hoe to the DeathBringer3000!!
• Fight hordes of enemies and bosses!
• Multiple game endings based on player's performance.
• Multiplayer "Barnyard Brawl" battle mode.

(Use USPs to highlight cool and unique features- game play style, game modes, single or multiplayer, technology innovations, cool features. There shouldn't be more than 5-7 of these)

Similar competitive products:
Tower Defense, Harvest Moon series, Lock's Quest
(Choose competitive products that are successful, recent or very well known - preferably all three.)   

 
  

Announcing the PLSE Dev Blog

We'll be using this blog to post and discuss content related to our upcoming game. It's going to be a wild (and possibly maddening) adventure for all involved, so brace yourselves. Let's work hard and make something fun together!

As always: "Break your backs, boys!"
-Mike Salyh, PLSE Games