Troubleshooters
A game for the IT Nerd in everyone
Background Information
The inspiration for this project came from friend’s work environment. We were talking one day about IT Help Desk Support and various frustrations when the idea began to form. The first question was what if mice were hand grenades.
Project Description
Troubleshooters is a light hearted first person PC shooter with a theme of IT workers and computers and the internet in general. The game will be a departure from the hyper realistic gritty settings we see in most games today. There will be two different worlds to interact with, the real-world and the cyber world. Weapons in the real-world section will be foam dart guns as to keep with the lighthearted theme, whereas in the cyber section they will be something akin to light guns that will digitize the players. In the cyber section players will have abilities to change the tide of the battle. There will be several game types to choose from and play. These may include team death matches, something like capture the flag, and other new types created for this game.
Troubleshooters
A game for the IT Nerd in everyone
Innovation Claim and Usage Scenario
This project is innovative because it is a departure from the gritty hyper-realistic games currently on the market.
This game would be played by people of all ages, but the main target is people in the IT field and office workers. Imagine coming home from a long day of IT help desk questions and being able to release your frustrations with mice grenades and the infamous “Blue Screen of Death”.
Since this is a multiplayer game, players will be able to player with friends and co-workers to relieve the stress of dealing with questions all day.
Basic Game Play
The basic game play is from a 1st person perspective. Players will compete either in teams or solo to complete objectives. Objectives will range from the most outs (kills) to collecting the most data. The survival mode is inspired by Halo’s fire fight and Resident Evil 7’s survival mode.
Players in the real world will be using weapons such as keyboards, mice, and other office related equipment along with dart guns and rubber chickens to fulfill their objectives and knock out the opposing team. They will use basic office structures as cover and strategic choke points.
Some office maps will contain teleports to reach the cyber world or other locations on the maps. Players in the cyber world will use weapons such as lasers, ray guns, and other gimmick weapons like the “blue screen of death”. Players in the cyber world will also have abilities that they do not have in the real world. These include DDOS, Power Surge, and others.
Troubleshooters
A game for the IT Nerd in everyone
Art and Audio HIghlights
The art style of the cyber world will have a Tron-esque appearance. Walls will be formed of streaming binary code while furniture will be made from wire frames and ASCII characters. Colors will be mainly neon reds, blues, and greens with yellow accents.
The real world will resemble modern office spaces. There will be cubicles, desks, elevators, bathrooms, water fountains and more. Each different office space will be multi floor because each office will be somewhat small and compact. The colors of the offices will be in muted neutral colors with natural colors as accents.
In the cyber world, players will have techo and electronica types of music. It will be very synth heavy to give a more cyber feel.
In the real world, players will have more of an elevator music feel. The music will be more subdued to reflect the setting.
Back Story and Mission
In an alternate timeline people are able to enter the cyber world of computers. IT professionals are not just “rebooters” they are also security and researchers. They create new technology for use by their company. It is their job to protect their research and inventions from others, while trying to steal the opposing companies research.
The mission of each game is to complete the single or multiplayer game type objective chosen at the start menu. Game type objectives will include free for all, team death match, and capture the data. If single player is chosen the objective survival
Troubleshooters
A game for the IT Nerd in everyone
Evaluation Criteria
The following question will identify the successful completion of the project:
Is there a list of weapons?
Does the list of weapons include type, description, ammunition, fire rate, and damage?
Do the weapons work as described?
Is there a list of game play types?
Does the list details of the game play types?
Does the detail include items allowed, win / lose scenario, and world?
Does the game type function?
Are there detailed floorplans / level designs?
Do the level designs include item drop locations?
Are themes included for the level designs?
Are the themes aesthetically pleasing?
Did the floorplan design work for team combat?
Evaluation Plan
The prototype will be evaluated as a single level game on PC. Evaluators will have the list of evaluation criteria as they play the level. As they play they will determine if weapons are accurately represented and detail is available. The prototype will have all weapons available for testing. Evaluators will also determine if the game type functions as it should. If the prototype is listed as a team death match, did it function as a team death match? Evaluators will also critique the floorplan layouts and color schemes. As the evaluators play the prototype level they will be looking to make sure that the layout provides fun and entertaining game play and it is balanced for difficulty.
Troubleshooters
A game for the IT Nerd in everyone
Platform
This will be a PC game with the following minimum requirements:
OS: Windows 8/10 (64-bit OS required)
Processor: Intel i7 920 @ 2.7 GHz, AMD Phenom II 945 @ 3.0 GHz.
Memory: 8 GB RAM.
Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 660, Radeon R9-270.
DirectX: Version 11.
Storage: 3 GB available space.
Sound Card: 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card.
Asset and Feature lists
Asset List
Office Furniture models
Texture / Materials for furniture
UI
AI
Weapon Models
Meshes for all Models and AI
Texture / materials for Weapons
Sounds for weapons
AI sounds
Lighting
Sounds
Music
Feature List
Triggers for Elevators and Transporters
AI
Winning Condition Last 15 minutes or more
Losing Condition Enemy steals information or player gets knocked out three times
Pick ups – Health, Ammo, Weapon
3d printer to make weapons – must be guarded