DESIGN DOCUMENT

Contents

1 Hive Mind 1

2 Game play 12.1 Core game play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.2 Game Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.3 Game Play Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2.3.1 Goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.3.2 Detailed game play description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.3.3 User interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2.4 Scores and rewards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.4.1 Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.4.2 Emotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.4.3 Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

2.5 Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

3 Game Structure 33.1 Main menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.2 Game flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

3.2.1 Start of the game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.2.2 Level complete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.2.3 Level failed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.2.4 Game over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.2.5 Game complete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.2.6 High score screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

4 Art and visual style 44.1 Main style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44.2 Character design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

4.2.1 Player Characters (PC’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54.2.2 Non-Player Characters (NPC’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

4.3 Level artwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54.4 Menu artwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

5 Level design 55.1 Level description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55.2 Level interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65.3 Specials and power ups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65.4 Level length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

6 Story 66.1 Story line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66.2 Story flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

7 Sound 77.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77.2 Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77.3 Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77.4 Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

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7.5 Ambient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

8 Specifications 78.1 General specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78.2 Technical specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

8.2.1 Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78.2.2 Game size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78.2.3 Frame rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

9 Usability 89.1 Usability issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89.2 How to play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89.3 Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89.4 Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89.5 Learning curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

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Contents

1 Hive Mind

Hive Mind is a combination of an RTS and a Third Person Shooter in which you control a wholegroup at once. It is about a group of robots that has to escape from an experimental lab thatis being taken over by insects. Your squad consists of four different types of robots which areall specialized in killing specific insects. It is the duty of the player to let the robots attack theright insects.

2 Game play

2.1 Core game play

Hive Mind’s core mechanic consists of walking (with your left stick), aiming (with your rightstick) and selecting your four different unit types to attack (with Left Bumper, Left Trigger,Right Bumper and Right Trigger.)

2.2 Game Modes

Hive Mind has one game mode in which you play the whole game. There are no mini-games orstages in the game where you have to play with different core mechanics.

2.3 Game Play Description

2.3.1 Goal

The main goal of Hive Mind is to escape from the lab. You must survive and advance throughthe stages.

This goal applies to both the linear stage and the non-linear stage. The secondary goal ofthe linear stage is to force the player to become experienced with the different types of units inthe group that the player is controlling. The secondary goal of the non-linear stage is to createa slight chaos and challenging the player and unleash mayhem.

2.3.2 Detailed game play description

In order to achieve the games main goal and survive throughout the game, you must destroyyour enemies before they destroy you. Firstly, you must keep on walking to advance throughthe stages. You can’t win the game by standing stand still. Secondly, to destroy the enemies,you must first move the cursor or pointer to the location of the enemy on the screen (or closeto its location) and then pull a trigger or bumper on the controller to let part of your squadattack those enemies. In the following seconds, the triggered units will attack the enemies youpointed at until they have all died or you have given your units another command. One of thefour types of units is stronger and much more effective against specific enemies. The playerconstantly has to look at the type of enemy and let the effective units destroy them.

2.3.3 User interface

The user interface, or UI, of our game consists of several important elements. In the middleon the top are the score the player has obtained up to that point and the number of spawningpoints that have to be destroyed before advancing to a new stage in the level.

In the bottom corners of the screen are the four buttons displayed the player can use toattack with his different robots. Next to each of the buttons is an emblem which represents the

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type of unit that will be activated when that button is pressed. In the emblem stands a numberwhich represents the number of units of that type that are currently in the player’s group. Thisis to be used as a health indicator.

Each of the four buttons on the screen can be in two states: available and used. When abutton is pressed it goes from ’available’ to ’used’ , becomes darker and seems to be pushed intothe screen instead of coming out of the screen. As soon as the unit assigned to attack with thebutton has finished its attack, the button goes back into the ’available’ state. By doing this, aplayer can see immediately if a unit he wants to use is available to be used or if it is busy.

2.4 Scores and rewards

2.4.1 Progress

The player progresses by surviving and destroying the enemy. By doing this, the player com-pletes the stages.

As of the arcade part of the game, the player earns points by destroying enemies. Thenumber of squad units alive will act as a kind of multiplier. So if you survive everything whilemaintaining a high number of squad members your score will be higher than if you survive withless.

2.4.2 Emotion

The satisfaction of Hive Mind is the fast rushing over and killing the many enemies. The playeris supposed to feel like a group of termites running over a mountain with great numbers andspeed, like a hunted group military soldiers running and fighting for their lives, like a huntedgroup of bison. The player has to constantly feel the pressure which releases once in a while,while playing the game.

2.4.3 Feedback

The most direct feedback that Hive Mind will contain is the amount of units in the playerssquad and the amount of enemies on the screen. With less units on the screen, the player isnot doing so good. With a lot of enemies on the screen, the player has not chosen the rightstrategy and will he most likely not survive. The rest of the feedback will be given through theuser interface, with average health per unit type in your squad, the amount of units, score andcombo’s, all giving indirect feedback.

2.5 Controls

The game will be controlled by the Xbox 360 controller.

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Table 1: Controls for Xbox 360 controllerInput ResultLeft analog stick up & down Walk to front or backLeft analog stick left & right Strafe left or rightRight analog stick up & down Move Cursor up and downRight analog stick left & right Move Cursor left and rightLeft Trigger Attack with unit type 1Right Trigger Attack with unit type 2Left Bumper Attack with unit type 3Right Bumper Attack with unit type 4Start Pause menu

3 Game Structure

3.1 Main menu

Buttons: DescriptionStart game Starts gameOptions Shows optionsHigh scores Shows high scoresExit Exits game

Options: DescriptionMain volume Slider from 0-100Music volume Slider from 0-100Effect volume Slider from 0-100

3.2 Game flow

3.2.1 Start of the game

When you press ’Start game’ the ’introduction’ level starts.

3.2.2 Level complete

The level or stage in Hive Mind is completed when the final battle is won.

3.2.3 Level failed

The level or stage in Hive Mind is failed when you die. When you die, you have to start overagain.

3.2.4 Game over

The player is game over when the squad is dead, thus when you failed the level (because at thispoint there is only one level).

3.2.5 Game complete

When you completed the game it will look exactly the same, but instead of ’GAME OVER’ itwill show you ’WELL DONE!’ and ’You have successfully escaped!’.

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3.2.6 High score screen

The high score screen will show the rank, name and score of the best players.

4 Art and visual style

4.1 Main style

The main style for our game will be a futuristic fantasy design. The game will take place in anunderground laboratory which is created by and employs a revolutionary new technique: usingliving materials to create live. Every object in the game, including the characters, will look likethey were put together from different parts like machines only the different parts of each objectwill look like they were grown instead of made. Objects like metal plates, tubes, nuts and boltsare replaced by wood, vines, branches and leaves.

The laboratory in which the game takes place must look and feel like its own unique Eco-system. Each object, enemy and character must look like it serves a purpose within the system.Living systems like plants, mushrooms and slime blend into wooden constructions, roots andvines. The laboratory looks like it has been around for a while. Most of the different partsare overgrown and partially infected with mold and fungus, other parts have grown togetherbecause of it or are connected by strong ropes made by the robots.

4.2 Character design

In the squad are 4 different classes/characters that you use. All the classes use middle/long rangeweapons. The classes you have: Shotgunner, Machinegunner, Grenadier and Rocketlauncher.

The shotgun type is the most powerful at short/middle range. His character is a bit lazyand leaning back. His posture forces him to wait until his enemy is close to blow his brains out,the more he can kill the more active he will get. The weapon he uses is a shotgun kind of gunthat fire a load of earth gathered materials.

The machine gun type is the role model for the new robot army. He is quick, intelligent andwants to give up anything to survive and escape from the lab. He is the most powerful at middlerange. His weapon fires a lot of special bullets per second. The bullets are a combination ofpoisonous roots and an indestructible earth material. These special roots infect digital parts ofan enemy.

The grenadier type is a small and scared type. This model isn’t designed for warfare. Itwas designed to seed new mushrooms in the labs for oxygen supplies for the doctors who wereworking there. The design went kind of wrong and it came out that the mushrooms that heseeded were highly explosive. Instead of seeding it redesigned itself to throw the explosivemushrooms towards enemies.

The rocket launcher type is a massive machine that is the most effective on long range. Heis the big brother of the squad who will defend his teammates at all costs. On the other handhe is a very shy type which always operates in the background of the squad. The weapon heuses is a huge launcher which fires compressed burning hardwood. On the first collision withan enemy the rocket will shatter into a huge amount of piercing and burning parts.

The enemies in the game can be defined into 2 groups: walking enemies and floating/flyingenemies. All enemies communicate with each other using ultrasonic sounds. The walkingenemies come in 2 types: fast walking ant like enemies, and big, slow walking, bug like enemies.These enemies don’t have an own will. They are programmed to prevent any escapades.

The flying/floating enemies are fast creatures mainly for scouting through the levels. Theare represented as giant bees.

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4.2.1 Player Characters (PC’s)

The player controls the 4 types of units as one squad.

4.2.2 Non-Player Characters (NPC’s)

The NPC’s will be the enemies. The enemies are insect based robots. They can communicatewith each other using ultrasonic sounds. Their artificial intelligence is highly advanced. Onthe contrary, their bodies and weapons are very basic but lethal. They can attack with meleeand ranged attacks. The insects’ objective is to find the ones who want to escape from the lab.They can hardly operate solo and are very powerful in groups. Using their ultrasonic sound,the other group can locate the player very quick. The insects operate on the floor and in thesky.

4.3 Level artwork

Each level in Hive Mind contains two stages. The first stage is a linear level in which the playergoes from point A to point B. These levels are designed to resemble a system of caverns withseveral chambers designed as breeding chambers with cocoons in which the different parts forthe robots are grown. Throughout these caverns hang numerous vines and roots that connectsupply the different cocoons with nutrients and other substances to help them grow. Thesevines and roots are in constant motion resembling the motions a human esophagus makes whenswallowing.

4.4 Menu artwork

Hive Mind has only a few menu’s. These menus are designed to look like they are part of thewhole game world. The menu’s consist of a frame ’grown’ from the living materials within thelaboratory/factory. Suspended between various parts of the frame is a thin canvas on whichthe various options are written. Some parts of the frame actually pierce through the canvas tohold it in its place. Because the frames are ’grown’ we can design them in any shape we wantand create separations between menu’s.

The different options can be selected by using the left analog stick or the D-pad and eachoption is selected with the A- or Start-Button. Options are represented by text only no buttons.The selected options are highlighted to make sure the player understands which is selected.

Text will be designed to fit the design of the frame. By doing this we can allow certain areasof the characters to light up instead of all the words.

5 Level design

5.1 Level description

All the different maps have different textures and decorations. The first maps are more colorfulwhile the later maps are darker. The maps will be exported in pieces and will be imported intothe level editor. We will use the level editor to place breakable objects, spawn points, NPC’s,etc.

The theme is a giant lab. The player goes through this lab which has 3 different styles.Every stage has almost the same routine but different styles. You go through a linear tunnelarea and at the end you come in an open non-linear arena.

Not only does it go from light to dark, but the areas will also be more affected by the insects.The overall color changes over time. The more the player is getting towards the end of the game,

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the more the textures will be colorful. That means that in the beginning, the textures are moredesaturated.

The only problem is that there is only one level and thus only one map.

5.2 Level interaction

The reinforcement and extra squads are locked up in a cocoon and the player can shoot thecocoon so he frees his teammates. There are no extra animations required for any of this.

5.3 Specials and power ups

There are no specials and power ups: the cocoons are designed to give the player morehealth/reinforcement.

5.4 Level length

The expected time on an average stage is about 2 minutes.The expected session length is about 10-15 minutes. Because there is only one level we

expect the player will play the full game because it isn’t very long.

6 Story

6.1 Story line

In an attempt to create ’live’ scientists decided to approach that aspiration from a whole newperspective. By using living materials from nature’s womb they hoped to create a new life form.Deep below the earth scientists build a laboratory where they created their first prototype: abasis insect build completely with wood, earth, roots and vines. Because its body consists ofliving materials the insect was capable of living and its own cognitive thoughts.

Even though just a prototype that first basic insect was a great motivator for the scientiststo keep producing. Now that they knew it was possible the scientists would not stop. Theiraspiration proved to be too great to handle. The artificial intelligence within their prototypesstarted to show the characteristics of a collective mind, a Hive Mind. When the time camewhen the insects where too numerous to control, it was already too late. The scientists couldnot challenge the insects when they decided as one to take over the laboratory.

A few scientists rushed down to the lowest level of the laboratory where their pride-projectsresided: Humanoid robots. The scientists rushed to release them from the growing chambersbefore they were fully grown and became a part of the collective Hive Mind. As the scientistsset the humanoid-robots free they are killed by several insect robots.

6.2 Story flow

The player is introduced to the point of the story where the scientists set the first robots ofthe player’s group free and is immediately thrown into battle with the insects that killed thescientists.

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7 Sound

7.1 Overview

The player should feel like he is in a claustrophobic environment. This effect can be done byusing DSP (Microsoft reverb). The moment the environment changes to a bigger scene theaudio will change accordingly. The reverb effect will change every sound that is playing exceptfor the music.

7.2 Music

The music must change pace accordingly to the number of enemies that are approaching theplayer and the activity of the squad units. This can NOT be done OF COURSE by adjustingthe master speed/pitch, because that would ruin the melodies.

How we can do that is by changing the drum, bass and guitar tracks according to the stateof the squad. The more intensity in the game will result in more intense music.

7.3 Movement

Movement will sound like your foot is stuck in the mud and you are pulling your foot out of themud. Some enemies will be able to fly. These flying sounds must be made very recognizable.These sounds must be scaled to a bigger proportion because these creatures are pretty big.

But alas, we haven’t found the right sounds yet, so there is not much sound for movements.

7.4 Weapons

Every weapon of the squad in the game has a recognizable sound. Not every weapon of theenemies are in place yet.

7.5 Ambient

The only ambient sounds present are water drops.

8 Specifications

8.1 General specifications

Not allowed: Red blood or gore, nudity, mature language and cracking bone sounds.

8.2 Technical specifications

8.2.1 Platform

The platform of this game will be the Xbox 360, the game focusing on Live Arcade using theXbox 360 controller.

8.2.2 Game size

The screen resolution of Hive Mind will be 1280 x 720 (aspect ratio 16:9). The field of view willbe approximately 100. The game must fit in 100 to 500 Mb.

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8.2.3 Frame rate

Hive mind will have to run in minimum 45 frames per second and maximum 60 frames persecond if your PC is powerful enough...

9 Usability

9.1 Usability issues

In Hive Mind, the player will have to know what the different types of robots can do. They arethe different types of weapons you can employ, so it’s important the player knows their strengths.By showing the player which strengths a robot has also displays the different weaknesses theenemies have.

9.2 How to play

When the game starts the difficulty of the level is very low allowing the player to become familiarwith the controls, the different types of robots and the different types of enemies. At the verystart of the game, the game will guide the player through all the buttons that can be used by asmall in-game window. Every time the player obtains a new type of robot the player will haveto use that robot immediately to advance in the level.

9.3 Timing

The basis controls are explained at the very start of the game. The specific utilities of everyrobot are explained when they are obtained by the player.

9.4 Layout

The layout will be small 2D in-game windows with when necessary animated controls.

9.5 Learning curve

As the game progresses the player will be allowed to use more different types of robots and willbe controlling a larger group. With every stage the amount of enemies will increase, they willbecome more strategic and attack in larger and more diverse waves. At specific points duringthe game the player will have a chance to get another type of unit.

During the first few stages the difficulty curve is not very steep but as the game progressesthe players have to become more experienced to complete the final levels.

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