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MASTRIX
Concept Document
2-27-05
Premise: Bringing momentum to new worlds.
Genre: Space Shooter
Audience
Anyone who can learn the mechanics of Mastrix would enjoy it. The plot may be too mature for young children, but the game is simple enough for anyone. The single player mode will provide enough challenge for skilled players without being impossible. The multiplayer mode will be easy to learn and well balanced for players of all skill levels.
Story
After Space Ship One claimed the Ansari X-Prize, private corporations quickly claimed the realm of space travel. There were huge profits to be made in space mining, and with the formation of the Universal Trade Organization (UTO), companies pooled their efforts and reached farther into space than we had ever imagined.
This would have been a golden age of scientific exploration, but as the UTO expanded, the entire world faced a new problem. Material greed brought about fatal consequences. The world's supply of oil was gone. No one even saw it coming. Other resources were also dangerously low. People everywhere were frantic. Huge gas guzzling SUVs, now useless, filled the streets all over the world, as their owners abandoned them and pondered their new lifestyles. "Should I walk to the grocery store? Do I really need groceries? Maybe I'll take the bus. Wait a second, THE BUS USES GAS! AAAAH!" Pandemonium followed. The UTO convened immediately to address this dire emergency.
Many ideas were proposed to solve the Earth's problem. Radical ideas like alternative energy sources and synthetic fuels were rejected outright. The world needed a practical solution, not fantasy. The world needed genius, and that came from the head of the UTO Defense Force, a division of the UTO dedicated to protecting the interests of the UTO in space. The plan was simple; the UTO would supply the Earth's massive demand for resources bye exploiting the abundant Mastrix solar system. If anyone got in the way, the solution was obvious. Destroy them.
All the UTO needed was an ace pilot crazy enough to answer the call. That's where you come in. The danger, the distance, or the ethics, you might have considered. If you didn't have bills to pay. Bottom line is, the UTO is paying you enough for this job to put you in permanent retirement. If you survive. Mastrix awaits.
Core Gameplay
Physics
The player's ship can turn with constant speed, and accelerate forwards or backwards, as in Asteroids, Spacewar and derivatives thereof. Some locations will have gravity which pulls the player's ship (possibly into a crash). For advanced players, in multiplayer and on later levels, other ship physics are possible, such as movement with rotational inertia.
Objectives
In single player mode, the player will be given a number of objectives in an open area, and the level will end when they are all complete. The main focus, however, is the many destructible enemy ships in the way. Objectives include destroying targets, planting your flag on planets, and stealing valuable objects.
In multiplayer, there will be different modes, the most basic being the traditional deathmatch: kill every other player, repeatedly. This could be done either with traditional weapons, or in a special mode where players push asteroids into their opponents (as in Half-Life 2's gravity gun). Capture the flag would also be available, and other modes are possible if time permits.
Interesting and Unique Game Elements
Single player mode will focus on fetch and destroy strategy while avoiding obstacles and dealing with various elements in space.
Obstacles could be planets with their own gravitational field or black holes that must be avoided at all costs.
Levels will require strategy as well as quick reflexes to complete.
The player can choose from various ships with unique capabilities.
Multiplayer offers unique competition modes unusual to space shooters: death match and capture the flag.
Game Design Initiative at Cornell | CIS 300: Introduction to Computer Game Design