By Flora, Jacob, and Molly. Version 0.1
This is a game about forming groups and the reliance on those groups to overcome adversities. It does this through the lens of swarming animals, such as shoals of fish and flocks of birds. Through these animals we hope to tell a story about community and becoming part of a whole greater than the sum of its parts, rejecting the capitalist individualist ideals and embracing more collectivist concepts in order to defeat predatory enemies. The game furthers these themes with its world.
Set in a post climate catastrophe earth caused by rampant late stage capitalism, with crumbling buildings and flooded cities as a backdrop the player progresses through an exploration centred 2.5D side scrolling game world, solving various environmental puzzles to unlock areas and finding friendly animals to add to their swarm. The primary player character is a small robot with the ability to assimilate into swarms of animals, be it shoals, flocks or herds. When the player character assimilates into a swarm, the player starts to control the swarm as a whole. The player quickly moves away from controlling this individual entity to directing the movements of an entire group. When their swarms are large enough they can use it to surpass predators that block the player's access to the subsequent areas, either by evading the predator by using the increased evasive abilities of a swarm, or by using the swarm to attack the predator. After entering the new area the swarm disperses. This forms the primary gameplay loop; explore, collect, progress, repeat.
Because of this gated progression, the environment is separated into distinct biomes. This progresses from the depths of the ocean, controlling shoals of fish, then through to the surface, transitioning to the air and controlling flocks of birds, and finally to a mountain where the player controls herds of animals such as hares.
The game's story will revolve around transferring a message. The robot that the player controls starts its life in a research outpost at the bottom of the ocean. This outpost exists to monitor the state of the planet during its slow recovery from the climatological catastrophes that have left it uninhabitable for human life. The drone robot is released to transfer data from this deep sea outpost to the remaining populations that have moved off the planet. To do this they must ascend, until high enough that their signal can penetrate the atmosphere and reach what little human life still exists outside the bounds of their home planet.
What you hope to achieve by producing this project from both a personal and a professional/commercial angle.
Professional Goals:
To create and release an enjoyable game with strong thematics revolving around climate change and cooperation, that can be shown in our end of year arcade event as well as build part of a portfolio.
Personal Goals:
Molly - To become accomplished in 3d modelling and animation techniques, as well as becoming more refined when using Blender and Unity
Flora - To create a unique game that can be used on a CV or resume and shown in professional contexts, as well as developing leadership skills and become accustomed to working in small development team environments.