Выполненный как второе тестовое задание на позицию «гейм-дизайнер» для компании Glu Mobile (первое — Subway Surfer teardown), этот концепт мобильного раннера с элементами РПГ и ТД привел меня на собеседование (которое я не прошел — слишком «категоричным» оказался 🙂

Overall short description

Cyber-maze is 3d maze-runner game with rpg and TD elements.

In the dark future of mankind callous corporations completely conquered all the intellectual property. You either rich and pay fortunes for copyrighted education or don’t know even how to read and count. Only small rebellious group called “Qz” challenges then for the sake of informational freedom. You are one of them — Qz’er, diving in the cyberspace, breaking through ICE and retrieving masterpieces of art and science.

Core Mechanics/Systems

Core

Main goal is to go through the longest consequence of points in shortest amount of time, avoiding being captured by personalized firewalls, collecting as much as possible standard runner-like bonuses and power-ups in the same time.
Player’s avatar, controlled by device’s accelerometer, in FPV “fly” through digital, composed of symbols (like ASCII) maze.
For map awareness player can any time switch to bird’s-eye view. Avatar’s movement continues, player maintain control over the movement, accelerometer’s sensitivity increases significantly.
For each point passed, system counter-work becomes stronger.

Maze

Procedurally generated digital maze (like in Matrix)
The faster player manages to appraise and remember the maze map, the less frequently he need to switch to that mode and risk time loss and being captured,
With game progress “liberated” information adds to the maze’s structure — Shakespeare’s sonnets, trigonometry’s formulas and impressionist’s art appears in those walls.

Runner

Moving through the maze player’s avatar collects “files” — coin’s analog, power-ups — as classical runner’s power-ups, dodges and jumping over enemies and obstacles (like in Diamond Dash)

TD

In bird-eye’s view player not just passively watch the maze, but can affect it with expendables and abilities (like in Crimsonland or Evil Wizard or Kingdom Rush)

RPG

Collected “files” player can spend on abilities (affect available expendables like in Kingdom Rush) and skills (affect power-up’s time of effect like in Subway Surfer)

Retention

  1. Addictive short-session gameplay
  2. Associations with very hot, actual theme
  3. High social value of game actions
  4. Regular updates

Monetization

  1. Player will buy premium  “chips” to spend it on unique expendables, on resume the game after collision or catch-up, on unique skins
  2. Player will buy regular “files” to spend it on abilities and skills, on regular skins.

Social

  1. Reposts with results of each run increases award — the better results, the more motivation for reposts.
  2. Friends from authorizes social networks who installed the game can be invited on co-op run (4 players max) (like in Crimsonland)
  3. Referral system — player earns solid reward for each one, who installed the game from his invite and acquired middle level in terms of game progress.

Brief design production plan

look pic.1.1 “cybermaze_prod_plan.pdf” (for link to google docs, or for file attached)

Content needed

  1. logo
  2. graphic blocks for 16 maze generation patterns
  3. SFX&VFX effects for moving (turns, jumps)
  4. files and bonuses (2d, effects for picking up x 5 elements)
  5. 8 icons for skills and attributes
  6. 8 icons for purchasable options
  7. 4 icons, “cast” effects and lasting effects for expendable abilities
  8. 4 AI-bot’s (2d+animation)
  9. 4 avatar skins (only skins, animation stays the same)
  10. 2 premium skins (skins+animations)

Brief updates plan

Theme-style updates

(like in Subway Surfer), with time borders of content availability
  1. New blocks for maze generation patterns (china-town, memorial square, east market and so on)
  2. New expendables, skins, enemies

Co-op expansions

  1. Max co-op player limit extension
  2. New co-op mode (CTF and Snake mix, for example)

UGC

Symbol blocks (texts, formulas, code strings) for the maze walls can be provided by players and included in blocks for maze generation patterns (after moderation, of course)