Game Description:

• Short description of what the game is
  • Gun Soccer is a 2 vs 2 soccer game where you shoot the ball with guns. Imagine rocket league but replace the cars with guns. 

• Dynamics
  • Player experience
    • Easy to start, intuitive to play (FPS)
    • Multiplayer with friends, but still a competitive experience
    • Quick game to pick up for a bit of fun, similar to how it feels to play a quick game of Smash Bros with your friends
    • Rewards getting better at the game
    • Also rewards quick thinking and trying different strategies (ex. Shooting the ground so you launch and get a better angle to shoot the ball)
• Controls
  • Player actions
  • Interface devices
  • PS4 controller scheme
    • Left Stick - player movement
    • Gyro - player look / rotation
    • R2 (right trigger) - Shoot
    • X - jump
    • L1 (left bumper) - reset gyro
    • Option - pause menu

• Inspiration (for gameplay)
  • Rocket League
  • Team Fortress 2
  • Splatoon
  • Overwatch

Team Description:

Gameplay Description:

Gameplay Loop

1. Start Menu - The game will start on the start menu where players can customize their character, loadouts, and select the map to play on. When all players are ready, the game will begin.
2. Players will spawn into the map in their starting positions, and be unable to move until the game starts. The goal of the game is to shoot the ball into the opposing team’s goal. The team with the most points when the game timer ends wins.
3. When a team scores, the game timer will be paused as players and the ball are reset back to their starting positions. Then the game will continue.
4. When the game ends, the game will display the ending scene with the winning teams and score/stat boards. Then it will revert back to the start menu.

Win Conditions

Much like soccer, the winner of a round of GunSoccer is the team with the most points scored after a certain amount of time passes. We will experiment with the ideal time for each individual game, to see what feels best. If the score is tied, there will be a sudden death overtime.

Core Mechanics

1. Multiplayer: An important part of what makes multiplayer games fun is the interactions between players. In GunSoccer, there are two main ways to interact: competition between teams, and cooperation between teammates.
   1. Competition: As a competitive game where teams play against each other to try and shoot the ball into the opposing goal zone. Players can shoot at the opposing team to knock them back and disrupt their aim or positioning, or even knock them out and lose control with ragdoll. Maps will also contain obstacles that can hinder players, or facilitate new ways to score.
   2. Team Strategy: Teammates will have to work together to score points and defend their goal. Shooting at teammates can also knock them back to reposition them without the risk of knockout.
2. Easy Entry with Depth: The game controls are simple and intuitive (basic movement and shoot), and the game is easy for new players to jump into. However, the skill ceiling and teamwork strategies can still bring a lot of depth to the game for experienced players.
3. Player Mobility: Positioning is important to help gain angles to shoot the ball at for scoring. In addition to basic mobility (moving forward, backward, left, right, and jump), players will also have access to rocket jump by shooting at a platform near their feet. The map will feature obstacles and platforms that will require the player to combine different movement mechanics to gain positional advantages.
4. Replayability: Competitive multiplayer games are often replayable due to new strategies/behaviors from other players. GunSoccer will also feature multiple maps with various themes and obstacles to keep the game fresh.

Additional Mechanics

1. Weapon Types: We were thinking of having multiple weapon types that players can choose from to use to enhance the gameplay experience. Each weapon will have different strengths and weaknesses (.e.g. a rocket launcher that has a large area of effect blast but takes longer to fire) so players can choose a weapon to match their playstyle, as well as synergize their weapon selection to cover the weaknesses of their teammate.
2. Abilities: Like a game like Overwatch, these would be special skills that allow you to gain a quick edge in the game. We are still thinking of the best way to implement this, and will need to playtest to find out what is the most fun, but an example of an ability could be bonus movement, faster firing on some of your weapons, or a shield to help block the ball.

Character Design:

• Character will be humanoid/human character
  • Thus as players would expect you can move freely and jump around
  • No dash intended as of yet but will have a good base speed so as to not feel clunky
  • Metal legs to enforce the idea that the players are expected and able to rocket jump
    • Many platforms will be obviously impossible to reach with normal jumps and will need to utilize rocket jumping
  • The backpack is modded with little jets that let the player manouver in the air after being launched or when jumping
  • The backpack also releases a force field for a few seconds after being hit so that repeated hits are not possible
  • The soccer ball is much larger than the player and that is why the guns are necessary
• Guns will be very obvious in their usage and ability
• We will draw on people’s assumed knowledge of basic weapons seen in games
• Shotgun → strong blast short range weapon
• Sniper → strong ranged but long reload
• Uzi → fast but imprecise close range weapon
• Pistol → standard speed, range, and strength weapon
• AR → fast speed, mid range weapon
• Rocket launcher → big blast on impact

Level Design:

• We will have most platforms only accessible with rocket jumping (jump then shoot the ground below you)
• Bigger goals will give fewer points than the smaller ones

• Base Arena
• Open space allows for beginner-friendly learning ground as well as a very high level competitive aerial space
• Skiiball inspired goals with smaller ones having a higher score
• Whole stage brings the ball back to the center (no dead space where ball could fall)

• Rotating cylinder
• The whole stage rotates around the axis of the cylinder
• Blocks on the ground will make ball bounce as it rolls around
• Floating platforms will stay there
• Encourages aerial manouvering

• Fan Bowl
• Spherical shape will bring the ball to the bottom and the fans in the bottom will bring the ball up in the air
• Keeps the ball moving constantly and thus makes the player be on move the whole time

• Gravity level
• Floating targets will let you flip the gravity of the level (or flip the level)
• When flipped the sides will have changed and you will have to score on the opposite side

• Other designs
• The left design has doors on each goal where you will need to hit targets to open the goal for a few seconds where you can finally score
• The right design has goals of opposing teams all over the arena and so you don't have the comfort of sides and have to always be moving and adapting

Music and Sound Design:

• Enhancing overall aesthetic using audio
  • Matching design themes with appropriate music style/genre
  • Layered background music tracks to increase intensity based on in-game parameters
• Themed music to give the right vibe
  • Space theme
    • Techno sounds
    • Hyperpop-esque
    • Percussive
  • Western theme
    • Ragtime energy?
    • Harmonica, piano, banjo
  • “Hamster” theme
    • Mallet percussion-focused (marimba + xylo)
  • Futuristic theme
    • Super synthesized
    • Unexpected harmonies
    • Whole-tone scale passages
• SFX Design Direction
  • Combo of realistic/synthetic sounds but more minimalist to mesh with “lowpoly” vibes
  • Crisp but resonant to enhance feeling of competitive stadium
• Dynamic sound
• The intensity of the game increases with different triggers
• Time limit -> tempo increase?
• Distance to net -> increase in volume + more layers
• Maybe the intensity spikes for a split second on each shot that hits on the ball so it almost gives the combo noises in games for repeated hits

Control Flow Diagram:

• Since our game doesn’t have a very fixed progression line of story/actions that a player has to follow, our flow chart of the game flow is quite simple. The main action/complexity that adds to our game’s replay value is that it is able to encompass player movement and decisions within the round. 
• The main flows of the game
  • Start menu to mode select to stage select to play
    • The player can select the level and avatar before playing, which will be able to showcase the different themes/art styles related to specific level mechanisms/designs.
  • Exit anytime, no saving needed
    • To ensure the player has full control over the game, we will make sure that the exit button is always accessible, whether directly on screen or available in the menu when paused. The player should be able to pause the game at any given moment as well, and authorized to change their controller, audio and video settings when needed.
    • Possible because it’s local multiplayer, less likely to be abused.
  • A regular game will look like…
    • The score will start as 0-0, with a set timer starting to count down. Whoever is able to get the most points once the timer runs out wins.
    • If the timer runs out and there is a draw, players will enter “sudden death”, that is, whoever scores next wins.
    • The game can be paused at any second, and during the game, there will be weapon switching and level-specific mechanics that the player can interact with.
    • After a game ends, the player can choose to exit, play again, or go back to the main menu.

Development Timeline:

Our ranking of Tasks with priority:

Essential:

• Roof collision (enclose arena)
• Win condition (game actually works and resets and ends)
• UI
• Gyro controls
• One really good level
• Start menu
• Handle 2 player vs 4 player (would be nice to have showcase reasons)
• Animations (character and also the gun moving)

Definitely want to do:

• Ragdoll knockout / knockback
• Weapon Types

• Load out selection
• Level select
• Character customization
• Multiple maps containing obstacles

Nice to have:

• Map Events
• Player locomotion changes
• Abilities

Weekly breakdown: