Shadow Descent

Combining an entertaining, virtual narrative experience with history

Serious games are more serious than they are fun.

Where does history fit in with games?

•The player doesn’t learn history because he changes it. Why does he change it? Because he can and wants to. The problem mainly lies on who the hero is. He/she cannot be an important historical figure. He/she must be someone unknown. “Shadow Descent”

•Shadow Descent is a unique history-based action-adventure game. •The player interacts with important reference points, such as timeline events, historical dilemmas, and memorable historical characters with the human weaknesses and ambitions they possessed. •In “Shadow Descent” you create your own story without changing the broader history.

Project Aims:1) To create an adventure game

with a strong historical background.

2) To teach while entertaining. 3) To give players the

opportunity to participate in history by following different paths and interacting with NPCs in different ways.

4) To appeal to a player’s emotions by making historical figures (such as Rosa Luxemburg) believable.

Stakeholder groups:•High school and university students.•Adventure fans who want to try something new and innovative in the genre. •History enthusiasts.

Plot:

October 1918. Germany has lost the war. Revolution reigns in the country. The Naval High command decides to fight to the death and order the sailors at the Kiel naval base to go out on a last, suicide mission. Sailors revolt. They decide to head to Berlin and take over the government instead. You are Walter Scheller. You will either side with the mutiny, take a neutral position, or go against it…

Protagonist:The player assumes the role of Walter Scheller, a German sailor who is soon pressed into either the Communist Party or the Freikorps (according to the player’s choices). He is sent to different areas in Berlin to participate in operations. Taking part in the Spartacist Revolt of 1919 he is the illegitimate son of Friedrich Ebert, the socialist Chancellor of Germany.

Main Characters:1) Rosa Luxemburg2) Karl Liebknecht3) Karl Radek4) Friedrich Ebert5) Gustav Noske6) Chief of Berlin Police, Emil

Eichorn7) Dietrich Petersen (senior

sailor and revolutionary)

Gameplay:

•Camera:First person. Players react to the environment through their avatar’s eyes.•Interaction with other characters:Cutscenes . Dialogue wheel.•Interaction with the environment:Bar on bottom half of the screen displaying the player’s inventory. Items used with hotkeys.Inventory is also accessible with the press of a button in order to mix items.Ex. The player acquires nitroglycerine from the revolutionaries but must also buy string from a shopkeeper in order to assemble an explosive pack.

Action sequences:•The game utilizes a set of mechanisms: a) Inventory based puzzles. b) Shooting NPCs players are sided against. Weapons are

acquired from gun stores found in Berlin.c) A few stealth sequences. Players utilize shadows and the

ability to crouch. They are also able to shoot lights or create a distraction for the enemy guards by breaking a window or throwing a Molotov cocktail.

Enemies:•Freikorps: Battle hardened veterans, they use rifles and sub-machine guns to assault a rebel position. Patrol in groups of three.•Spartacists: Mainly consisted of factory workers and sailors, they lack training and weapons but not resolve. Mob –like patrols.

Graphics:•Our ambition is to create a 3D environment using darker colors and shadows. We hope to achieve a film-noire aesthetic which represents the city of Berlin in 1918. People after WWI were moving into a period of pessimism and the burning city of Berlin was no exception. •We hope to give special attention to the game’s art: buildings, roads, costumes.

Dialogue tree implementation

•Ability to influence stance towards the characters.

•This also impacts the player’s standing or status in relation to the two main political factions.

•It determines future support or opposition the player receives.

Example<Officers shout: “You bastards are going to pay for this!”><Sailor asks Walter: “You with us Walter?”>

•“We stand together and die together.” [agree] Result +1 relationship with Spartacists.• “No, it’s too dangerous. If we mutiny, we’ll be executed!” [cautious] -1 relationship with Spartacists.•“I’m not sure. I’ll do what the majority does.” [uncertain]•“Yes, let’s kill all the bloody officers!” [aggressively agree] +2 relationship with Spartacists, -2 relationship with Freikorps.•“No. I am a soldier. I follow orders! We owe it to the Kaiser to go out into the North Sea and beat the Brits!” [disagree]-2 relationship with Spartacists, +2 with Freikorps.

Result:

Short-term: Scheller is involved in a brawl

a) against the officers;b) on the side of the officers against the other sailors;c) does not participate in brawl and the new objective is to head towards the train station.

Long-term: a) goes with other sailors to make revolution in Berlin;b) Is approached by right-wing officer and recruited and sent to Berlin to stop revolution;c) Is approached by right-wing officer, refuses to be recruited, fights, runs away to Berlin.

Thank you!Euelpidis EconomakisPetros –Ioannis Paraskevopoulos