Game Design Document

Shoot For Their Lives!

Corinne Cook, Hannah Deters, Xiao Fu, Michael Sawin, John Novak, Liana Pena

Overview

“Shoot For Their Lives!” is a vertical shooter PC game that puts the player into the role of a survivor whose goal is to defeat the zombies. Players can choose to battle the zombies alone or play in multiplayer mode. Once in multiplayer mode, players can choose to help each other or battle it out to see who can live the longest. Using different weapons and protection, players gain points by killing the zombies and advance through multiple levels battling to stay alive.

Story

When zombies first appeared on the streets of metropolitan areas, people couldn’t believe what they were seeing. They were unstoppable. Humans were being hunted through the streets and killed in their homes. The military fought hard, but was unable to defeat the overwhelming horde of undead. The number of remaining survivors dwindled, as did humanity’s hope. Now, with just a handful of survivors scattered across the globe, a few desperate humans have decided to take their lives in their hands and fight for the last of humanity’s hope. But the zombies are closing in, and the fate of all the survivors rests in your hands.

Characters

During the gameplay, the player(s) play as survivors. Survivors must use their weapons to fight off the zombies and stay alive.

• Survivors: Survivors are normal humans fighting against the attacking zombies. They have three weapons of choice: a pistol, a machine gun, or a shotgun. In addition to their weapons, they also have the added bonus of a protective fence. Though the survivors have the advantage of moving quicker than the zombies, their damage is not always as significant.

• Zombies: Zombies are the villains of the game. They too are able to shoot in their defense in order to try and prevent the survivors from winning. There are four different types of zombies, the standard zombie, the fat zombie, the zombie dog, and the brute zombie. Most of these zombies move at a much slower rate than the survivors, but their firing rate increases as the game progresses. Their goal is to destroy and kill the survivors so they can take over.

Powers/Damage Chart

Character	Speed	Damage
Player	100%	See Weapons

Standard Zombie	50%	100%
Fat Zombie	30%	100%
Zombie Dog	100%	100%
Brute Zombie	70%	200%

Weapon	Ammo	Firing type	Reload rate	Damage	Accuracy
Pistol	infinite	single bullet	2 sec	100%	100%
Machine gun	45	3 shot burst	2 sec	50%	80%
Shotgun	20	3 shot scatter	5 sec	200%	Widespread

Controls

This game will feature controls that are slightly different than a normal Flash game. We also plan to have the option for two players to play at the same time (see multiplayer). Controls for both players will be displayed here.

Player 1 Controls
[a][d] for left and right movement
[w] to shoot
[1][2][3] to cycle weapons

Player 2 Controls
[left arrow][right arrow] for movement
[up arrow] to shoot
[7][8][9] cycle weapons


Other Controls

[Esc] Menu
[P] Pause
[I] Inventory

Level Design

The level design features a top-down camera angle. There is a fenced-off area on the left side of the screen where the survivors of the zombie apocalypse are taking refuge. The zombies come in waves from the right side of the screen and approach the fenced area, and their goal is to kill the remaining humans. The player’s character is at the bottom of the screen, with a fence separating the character from the zombies. The fence protects the player from the zombies, but it also prevents the player from moving up, limiting the player’s motion to left and right.

Graphics

The game will be created in Flash, so all the graphics will be done in either Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Flash. We will be creating vector graphics that have a humorous feel to them. We will design a clean and understandable interface so the users will be able to navigate our game easily.

Sound

The sound for our game is going to be fairly simple.  We are going to have a low-key, stylized (like an old 8-bit game) soundtrack playing in the background that has a creepy monster attack sort of feel to it.  Also, if there are ambient sounds present in a particular level (rain, creaky doors, etc) they will also be a part of this background track.  We will have a specific sound for a zombie getting hit and another for a survivor getting attacked.  This way the player will have some auditory feedback in addition to the visual as to how well they are doing.  

The game will also have different sounds for each of the different weapons the survivor has available to him/her.  The pistol, machine gun, and shotgun will all have unique sounds so that the player knows exactly what they’re firing with at all times.

Multiplayer

While there may not be co-op in the prototype, there are plans to have multiplayer incorporated as this project goes on. Multiplayer will be accessible from the title screen with a 1P and 2P option.

The multiplayer will be very similar to the single player experience. Two players will be on the screen instead of one. The amount of zombies will be slightly increased, and the amount of lives will be decreased as well.

If the player chooses 2P mode, they can have the option for a head-to-head mode in which they will compete for points, or a co-op mode where the players will work together to keep the survivors behind the fence alive.

Special Content (unlocks)

There will be useable items that will appear on the playfield that can help the players for a limited amount of time, or a one time use.

• Limited Time ItemRapid Fire: Getting this item will increase the rate of fire temporarily to give the player an edge.
• One Time UseNuke: A player can use a nuke to clear the playfield of all zombies currently on screen