Game Design Document & "The Village" feature - Höllenfeuer mod for Unreal Tournament 3

Overview

Just about every game developing team has some sort of document that provides everyone the essentials they need to begin work, regardless of size. Although this project may only be a mod, game design documents are nonetheless critical if we want things to happen and quickly and efficiently as possible.

This document aims to help provide developers on the Tridel Games team a sense of direction through showing how the Unreal 3 mod will function and feel. After reading these documents, you as a developer for the team should know exactly what is expected of you and how it is to be done. I tried to keep this as short and clean as possible but still at the same time informative and enjoyable. The big picture comes mostly from Xantos, but the smaller things will be up to me and the very minute details that shall not be covered will be up to you to decide.

Contact me and give thanks if you believe I’ve done a good job, but please let me know if there are any discrepancies or typos and errors. My contact information is at the very bottom of this document. Thanks!

Story

You are Lieutenant Otto Mueller, a soldier in the 4th Panzer Division rolling into the Soviet Union of the opening day of Operation Barbarossa. Your childhood friend, Erich Decker, joined the German military at the same time as you and he fights alongside you in most missions. Your brother, Hans Mueller, is part of the Kriegsmarine and you almost never see him at all.

Level 1

The level begins in an open field where it is cloudy and overcast outside. You are riding on the outside of a tank with your field equipment on. Your friend is sitting next to you and the two of you are chatting.

Erich: “I wish we’d have some action. Where are all of those communist pigs?”

You: “We’ll be rolling into Kobryn soon enough. Just think – we’re part of the pincer movement that will bring the Soviets to their knees. I --!”

All of a sudden, you hear a large explosion and your ears ring. Dirt rains down everywhere.

You: “Everybody, off the tank. Now!”

Five men and Erich jump off of the tank and run to the trees that are off to the left of your position and look back at the carnage of the destroyed tank that was blown up by an atg.

*CUTSCENE ENDS*

The player is tasked with eliminating the ATG which is on the far end in front of the open field and allowing the division to keep moving. The player can use the hilly landscape as cover, and the Russians have a machine gun set up on the field flanking you most of the time.

OBJECTIVES:

Destroy the ATG

Hold off Russians so your troops can cut the barbed wire separating the field into two parts.

Capture the machine gun and use it to defend against a group of Russians coming from the right side of the field.

Destroy the Russian tank advancing from the front to allow troops to search the forested area ahead for Russians waiting to ambush once the division moves on.

Kill all remaining Russians in the forest.

Go back to your tank and continue on.

As of now, we do not have any voice actors. However, with the help of a sound engineer, we can possibly have one. There will be as many as five levels, but I do not have the time to write them right now.

Once a level is completed, a menu will pop up with something congratulatory and a message from your commander telling you what will happen next. Stats for the mission (% headshots, body shots, arm and leg shots, damage, and ammo used) will be in a separate clickable tab at the top of the menu.
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Mechanics

How does the game play, what does that translate into when you play it? Those are fundamental questions that have to be answered when you’re creating a videogame. This section will cover the broader aspect of the creation of this mod in terms of mechanics.

What can the player do?

Movement:

In this mod, all basic capabilities that are in UT3 will be included, such as movement, shooting, and leaning. However, the one thing that will not be in this mod will be jumping. After all, when you see footage of the Iraq war, how many soldiers are bunny hopping around? Exactly. The player will be able to walk, lean, duck, and aim. Also, he can freely look in any direction unless a cut scene is occurring. Looking will be in the first person view. Crouching and lying on the ground (prone) will be in the mod as well.

Firing:

The player can choose from an assortment of weapons to pick up from the ground, but weapons will be assigned at the beginning of the mission. The player will be able to aim their weapon either with or without iron sight or scoped views. However, without those views, aiming will be very difficult and rather hit-or-miss because of the lack of a crosshair. Grenades will be included in the form of stick grenades, or at least whatever the grenade of the particular army was. Larger weapons such as artillery and tanks will not be included for player use during the mod so far.

Maps:

The player character will be able to access the map with a key press and see in the rough on a sepia-toned map of the area the general locations of where the enemy has been spotted and where your troops are located. Objectives will most likely not be included because of the description when objectives are given.

What are the restrictions for players?

Restrictions:

Players will not be able to:

• Leave the boundary area
• Drive complicated vehicles like tanks
• Kill their own troops

Further restrictions may be imposed as the game progresses.

What happens when damage is accrued on the player?

The player will have no indication of damage in terms of a health bar. Health will very slowly return over the course of 3 minutes (speaking from health being at 1 and going back up).

When the player is hit with bullets or shrapnel, the screen will blur and the player will let out a yell. If hit critically, the player will fall over in a non-animated sequence (physics) and the camera will follow. The player will usually moan or something of the like and the screen will gradually fade to black over a period of about ten seconds. Or, if the player is killed very quickly (headshot or explosion), the screen will go black immediately but the player will still hear the outside world for about three seconds.

For both, the closer to death you are the slower the sound of your heart beating gets. Death reduces it to nothing. Then, the mod will reload at a previous checkpoint and game play will resume.

UI

The UI in this mod will consist of the main menu, the options screens, the mission selection screen and loading screens, the map, and of course, the HUD.

Main Menu

The main menu’s design will be entirely up to theMenu Artist, but a 3D soldier either Russian or German side of any rank will be on the front page looking at you. Just look at the main menu of Dawn of War for ideas.

There will be links that bring you to the Campaign Selection screen, the Options screen and a Quit button.

Options

On the options screen, setting options taken from UT3 will be displayed and they will be arranged in the same way as in UT3.

Mission Selection

On this area, you (the player) need to be displayed three-dimensionally on the left hand side of the menu and something that lets the player know it’s you should be there as well. For example, a 3D model of yourself with Otto Bueller above it would be nice. For each mission displayed, a thumbnail and a memorable quote from the mission needs to be shown.

Loading Screens

Loading screens in the mod should have a picture of the upcoming level’s landscape without the soldiers and fortifications present. Preferably an artwork. It will be an underlay for a letter written to your in game brother far away about what has been happening lately and foreshadowing for what will be in the level. A spinning game icon may be at the bottom left or right side of the loading screen, and a loading bar stylized to the game’s art must be displayed on the loading screen as well.

HUD

The heads up display present as you fight in the game will display your ammunition amounts when you reload, your stance when you are crouching or prone (it will fade in roughly ten seconds) and a green dot that gets redder the closer you are to your objective. Your hands will of course be holding your current weapon in the lower right and what you’re looking at will fill the rest of the scene.
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Enemies

Enemy Russians will have to seem ruthless and aggressive but still lifelike. Good AI is imperative, and the Unreal Technology allows for incredible AI programming. Enemies will behave as such:

• No difficulty levels
• Cover each other
• Flank you
• Throw grenades
• Use weapons that are picked up (if possible)
• Try to kill you either by shooting or melee (hitting you with their fists or weapon)
• Use cover
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Weapons

Here is a list of all weapons featured in this mod. Note that there is no detailed explanation of anything as of now, it should be up to designers to find out information about specifics. However, this may be revised in the future.

Soviet Union

• PPSh
• Mosin-Nagant
• SVT-40
• RGD-33 Stick Grenade
• TT Pistol
• Scoped Rifle

Nazi Germany

• Kar98k
• MP40
• Stielhandgranate Stick Grenade
• Luger Pistol
• MG42
• Scoped Rifle

No doubt there will probably be at least ten or even twenty revisions to this area in the future, but I am on a deadline right now. Expect changes soon.
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Assets

Assets are basically anything “physical” that goes into a game. Be it models, sounds, animations, etc. They are what define this mod and other mods out there.

Models

Models will be created for every seeable thing in the mod. Appropriate sounds and animations are also necessary for everything.

3D models need to have the object name prefix MOD_ and then whatever the name of the object is with no caps. For example, if you created a scoped Mosin-Nagant, the object’s actual name in the modeling program would be MOD_mosin-nagant and the filename would be the same except in .obj form.

Textures for the models must have the prefix MOD_[object name]_[whatever kind of texture it is]. For example, if you textured the alpha map for a Pine tree, the texture would be saved as MOD_pinetree_alpha.dds.

I don’t know if specific prefixes for sounds is necessary, but having them saved as MOD_[object name]_[what kind of sound it is]. So say that is you had a sound of a bird chirping, it would be saved as MOD_world_birdchirp1.mp3.

Characters: We will need (equivalent) German and Russian Privates, Corporals, Captains, and Colonels. Also, there will need to be separate unique models for your friend and your brother who [SPOILER] you will meet later on.

Weapons: Period tanks from each side (yet to be defined) will be created. Also, each weapon listed above will need to be made.

Environment: Pine trees are going to be everywhere. That was mostly what survived from the harsh Russian winters. At least three different versions for non-repetition will have to be created. Generic bushes (with and without leaves) are going to be in the mod. Due to the artistic nature and content of this mod, there will be no flowers. Tall grass and short grass (about two versions of each) should be in the mod.

Animation

Characters need to be able to climb up and down ladders, attack with and without their weapons, fire and reload their guns, and run, walk, crouch, etc. Facial animations and speech will be necessary, unless we cannot find someone able to do it. We’ve got to have animations for heads and bodies exploding from headshots or grenades and tanks.

Vehicles like tanks will need animations appropriate to how they moved.

2D groups of leaves on trees (a la SpeedTree) need animation unless it is too taxing on systems. Grass will e the same way.

Weapon reloading and fire animations will be needed.

2D Textures

Textures for everything – trees, the sky, plants, vehicles, weapons, people, you name it – need to be in the mod. Don’t forget that characters have 1024x1024 textures and most of everything else will be 512x512.
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Implementation

People who contribute to the mod will need to download an FTP tool like SmartFTP and go to the temporary FTP emailed to you. From there, models, textures, code, sounds, and other things will be available for editing and use.

You must get the Unreal Tournament 3 Editor if you’d like to be a level designer. To use it, you must purchase Unreal Tournament 3 and after installation, it will appear in the directory of the game. However, it may be on the FTP soon.

Version, Credits, Contact

Version: 1.0

Credits go to Noktus, Xantos12, Blu42, and all other members of the Tridel Games company that have given input for ideas