Akshat Sinha - Project Plunder

An action adventurer set in a dystopian future where you play as a mechanic, who creates augments for his body, to help him go around efficiently as well as use them for combat against a race of a highly intelligent computer race

GAMEPLAY AND MECHANICS DEMO

Project Plunder was a proof of concept student project, where I worked primarily as a Designer (mechanics and level designer), Programmer (C#), and an Art Director

The game followed the story set in a dystopian future, where humans plundered for food and scraps. In the time and age, humans, who now lived in small settlements, were totally disconnected from the rest of the world.

You play as a mechanic who stays in one such settlement. One day when you come back from collecting scraps, you notice that your settlement has been ransacked by a highly intelligent AI race, and they have taken control. You use your skills as a mechanic to craft gadgets to fight said AI.

The gadgets created by the protagonist gives him the ability to glide; grapple on to buildings and structures; and dash. Other augments that the protagonist can develop are: EMP, gravity boots, a cloaking device, drones, etc.

Gameplay Loops and Game Progression

The flow of the game is unique for every player. The whole settlement lies on the edge of a cliff, diving the town into three areas, on three different levels. These three levels also work as the three levels of the game, each getting progressively more difficult. The three levels have different characteristics and different ways to progress. Before each level the player is presented with a map of the next area, after looking at which, they have to decide what augments to take forward. Some augments might be more usable in certain areas than the others. Upon entering the settlement, the player can collect scraps, which they can further use to develop more augments. Augments in the game are usually of three types, which majorly affect the core loop of the game. They are : augments for mobility : augments for combat ; augments for both mobility and combat.The secondary and the tertiary loop of the game deal with restoring power to the people in the settlement. At the end of each level, the player encounters a device which is used to generate power for the robots, upon destroying which, the enemies in that particular level are disabled. The player does this for the next two areas as well, until they reach the final level, where they have to get on top of the central control tower and destroy the main power source.

Process and Experience

Top down map of the settlement, showing the progression of the game.

THUMBNAIL 1 : A rough thumbnail I made, for where the player starts the game. Its in front of the main entrance to the settlement. Player can see other people from his settlement laying dead

THUMBNAIL 2 : Upon walking along the wall, the player finds a part of the wall to be broken, which he climbs to get on top of the wall

THUMBNAIL 3 : The player gets on top of the wall, using his grappler. This is the tutorial level where the player is introduced to several game mechanics, for movement and combat

The demo for Project Plunder took about 4 months. Our team was of four (including me), where all of us had well defined roles. This was my second student project working in a team, and was an absolute delight to work on. The whole project was also made remotely, as the production took place during the first wave of COVID-19. I worked mostly as a designer and developer. The first month was spent entirely on pre-production, where my task was coming up with game ideas and mechanics. For this game, I wanted to focus on movement, and making that the core mechanic of the game. I wanted the movement of the player itself to be very fun to use. After a month of iterating different game mechanic ideas, and figuring out the minuscule elements for the said mechanics, we had a clear roadway ahead of us.

The next two months was used for development and art, which were both happening simultaneously. I worked with Nitik, for developing the game mechanics. My contribution in development was mostly on making the augments work and combat. I also did most of my level design in this stage.

In the final month of the game, I worked on polishing the game, and visual styling. I also modeled and textured the main character in this time.

By the time we were done, the the demo version of the game was ready. We achieved what we were aiming for, a fun movement system and mesmerizing dystopian visuals. In the end all the mechanics were working perfectly with each other in synergy.