10 page design document for Shanty Town

Design by Tom Hughes

For Xbox live arcade, PSN, WiiWare and Steam

Rating 18+

Ship Date TBD

Game Story:

Rico is the second hand man for the drug baron O Turbrao. You command the favela taking out rival gangs and using drugs to rule the favela. But a change of heart leads you to create your own secret army and lead your men to defeat O Turbrao using the equipment that you can buy by selling drugs and robbing in the city or any passing citizen who is not from the area. You buy the weapons using the money you have claimed and getting ay of the locals to join your side to start to create an army to start claiming land to which you lead the final assault to defeat O Turbrao and his army to rule the Favela or will O Turbrao have an informant that has watching your every move? Will he succeed or will Rico planned his own surprise?

Game Play:

In Shanty Town the player is Rico the second hand man to the most violent drug baron who has ever lived in the Favela O Turbrao. Rico starts to feel O Turbrao is starting to become to violent and secretly you have started a small business and a few men are willing to help in the cause the task is to gain money to buy for weapons and also convince the locals to join your side to get rid of O Turbrao and make

the favela a safe environment for the people. The game play will be like Grand Theft Auto and stronghold combined. The game play will be up to the player to choose if they want to complete tasks or stay behind and build up your army. But some missions can be decoys for O Turbrao to attack your base and steal money and weapons while you’re away so certain missions do have repercussions. Other missions could be to hard for the player and can be killed in the process and means that they do have to restart from the last successful mission. Once the missions are completed in which you have the choice of 30 to complete you can then take on the O Turbrao using the army and yourself you command your army to victory but if fail the favela will remain under rule and the game will have restart the boss level again from the start.

Game flow

The first set of missions will be very easy for the player as at most their will only be a couple of the enemies their at the first set of missions as the game along more enemies will be added and also the missions will be more difficult for the player also if you die in the mission you will not be able to complete the mission again as your chance of the mission as ended. The player can attack the boss at any given time but the smaller the army the less chance you will defeat O Turbrao the earliest you could defeat him would be after you have completed at least ¾ of the missions to earn enough reputation to recruit members and also have enough money to buy weapons for the army. As the game progresses you gain more power, which means you, can start to use the people to get the money and weapons and also to gain more members as the game goes along you have more power and the weapons become more powerful to the final level the you have be able to buy armour for yourself and some of your more skilled shooters.

Character(s) and Control

Player Character:

Rico: you start of a pre-set character but once you gain money you can change your style of clothing from rags to designer clothing and having a smarter hair cut form an afro as well as Clothing you can use the money you gain to buy better weapons and Armour for you and your army to build the strength of the army is important for the final battle when you need to use wit and skill to defeat the enemy.

With the equipment you can buy there are disadvantages such and some guns are heavier than other so this can slow you down or the army down if they are carrying a heavy gun but the gun is more powerful and can shot through thin walls. Where as a light gun means you can run quickly and aim faster but the range and power are much more decreased.  With grenades they have effect on the person movement or weight but you are only limited to 2 unless you buy the utility belt which then you can equip up to 7.

The player controls every single action in their army as well as how they go about completing the mission every single action is caused by the player and they must navigate their way to victory.

Main gameplay concepts and platform specific features

The player engages in a world of where you have to build up your resources and then attack this is not a straight forward shot them-up style game it requires thinking and planning in how you will create your empire and how you will use the men you have to form a style of attack that will be most effective

The sequence of the play is broken into different parts that you have to complete but all in one map so the game doesn’t suddenly jump from one place to another the missions are all based in one area. The game itself is much like a strategy game in which you have to gain control of the whole area much like other games e.g. (Stronghold) and also a bit like Grand Theft Auto the game will other a much different type of strategy game like never before it offers much more scenarios in which if you complete or fail different outcomes will happen to you and the enemy and can alter the game itself you cannot go back to the mission again once you have done it or failed it unless you do the game again some missions are harder than others so it understanding what missions to do that will mean you either progress quicker or let the enemy be able to overrun you.

The game will offer more realistic camera shots so you can see the progress of the enemy to see how they are progressing and using this to build up an army to able to defeat O turbrao   

 

Part 6: Game World

The game takes place in a run down favela in Rio de Janeiro,

Brazil. The favela will be bleak and ill-developed to coincide

with the nature and violence of it’s inhabitants. Since the

player is free to roam the world within the favela, not much

of the rest of the city will be seen. Although the favela is

very large and separated into 5 different sections, so there

will be plenty of scenery for the player to explore. Also, if

the player manages to become the leader of their faction,

they will be able to explore some of the city outside the

favela, which holds nicer scenery than the slum. Below are

several pictures of real life slums, which will give you an

idea of what the favela would look like:

Part 7: Interface

Throughout the game, the player will be presented with a

HUD (Heads Up Display), which will include a health bar,

an icon to denote what weapon is being used and how much

ammunition is left, and a map showing the player the

location they are in and an arrow leading them to the next

point of interest (missions, characters, new weapons etc.).

The player will also have a menu available at the push of a

button, which will show them what missions are available,

the weapons in their inventory and a larger version of the

map.

The inventory will be of the same layout as the inventories

in a game such as Resident Evil, in that the player can

select their weapon or combine them with other smaller

weapons, such as a Molotov cocktail from a napkin and a

bottle of alcohol. An example of this inventory is pictured

below:

The heads up display will be in the same fashion as the

heads up display in other sandbox games such as Grand

Theft Auto, with the map, ammunition and other icons. An

example is pictured below:

Part 8: Mechanics and Power-Ups

The game will have many choices and possible endings for

the player to choose. The player can choose a faction/gang

to join at a young age. When this gang is chosen, they can

either stay with them, betray them further down the line

and join another one, rat them out to the police, rise up to

overthrow their current leader or other assorted choices.

These choices hold many possible implications or endings.

For instance, if the player overthrows their leader, the game

is practically complete and the player will be free to roam

around the favela as they see fit without being challenged.

If they choose to join another gang, they can keep on

betraying their gangs and move on the next one, thus

allowing the player to explore as they see fit but still

maintain the same level of challenge.

The only real power-ups in the game are new weapons,

which increase in power as the game goes on. Throughout

the game, the player will progressively rise from a small

pistol with unlimited ammo to heavy machine guns and

rocket launchers. Other power-ups also include rising skill

level, which means the player can bribe or have more power

over police and even their own leader. An example of this

type of power up is seen in games such as Skyrim or

Fallout, where the player can increase the ability to sneak

around and persuade enemies as their skill increases. This

example is pictured below:

Part 9: Enemies and bosses

Enemies mainly come in the form of rival gangsters. Police

can also be considered enemies but will only attack if you

provoke them or if you have recently committed a crime. If

this happens, they will arrest you and you will have to bribe

them to be released. Rival gangsters will attack you if they

see you in their territory or if you are trying to commit an

act of crime against them. Their immediate response will be

to shoot at you. Whilst one of them won’t be much harm, as

more gangsters are alerted to your presence, they will start

to converge on the player, and without backup of fellow

gangsters, the player will most likely die.

Bosses mostly come in the form of rival gang leaders or the

players own gang leader in the event that they try to

overthrow them. Bosses are typically much more powerful

than normal enemies and can use heavier weapons such as

rocket launchers and large miniguns. The boss will take

longer to defeat and the player will have to use a strategy

rather than merely shooting them repeatedly.

Part 10: Cutscenes, Bonus material and Comps

CG Cut scenes will be presented every time the player

finishes a mission or starts a new one. In the cut scenes, a

character will inform the player of what their mission is and

send’s them off on it. At the end of the mission, the cutscene

will show the aftermath of the mission, whether it be good

or bad. Longer missions may also feature cut scenes that

link between different objectives.

Extra material will come in the form of different vehicles

and costumes that the player will be able to unlock once

they collect enough money which they earn through

missions. The game is ongoing, so the player will have to

keep completing side missions after they have completed

the main storyline if they want to afford more expensive

material.

Since the game is very similar to other sandbox games, they will be our main competition. Especially Grand Theft Auto 5 which is due to be released soon.