Game Concept

Ariel, Christian, Jeff, John
Game 100 - Exploring Game Worlds
Instructor Cox
F 12-4
03.04.2011

Game Concept

What if you were given the power to change the world what would you do? The codename for this game is Project Agera. Agera is Swedish for “ to take action” and that this the basic premise for the game. Agera is a single player action role-playing game set in the modern world with a twist on expectations and is for the PC, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation 3. The game takes inspirations from many different sources including Japanese RPG’s, anime and the video game culture in general.

The player controls the game through a first year high school student as he progresses from year to year to eventually graduating. The student is a part of the video game subculture and a geek in general trying to get through the gauntlet that is the high school social scene. On the other hand he also has stumbled into a secret war between different factions for the control of the world and has to choose which side to align himself with. As the story unfolds the player becomes more powerful and gains new skills, but the final outcome of the story is determined by player choice.
Though the tone of the story is grand and world altering, the tone of the actual story-telling is light hearted, unexpected and even referential to the culture of video games. The story starts off in a simple narrative structure, but as the game progresses there will be different branching paths presented through the choices that the player makes. For example as you complete missions for your faction and learn more about what they stand for another faction will try to tell you their perspective on the situation and try to persuade the player to change sides. Another way that the narrative changes is by how the player chooses to act or respond when presented certain situations. For example the player could choose whether or not to be nice to a specific character and, depending on how the player acts, that character would either help you in a time of need or completely change allegiances and become your enemy later down the line.

    The story takes place within a modern city that is an amalgam of a fictional

metropolitan area mixed with various elements of real world locations. The most important location and where a good part of the story takes place is at the high school where the player goes. The story of the game starts during the modern time and progresses into the near future. The game is an open-world game, so there is a non-linear path of how and when to do things. There are overarching missions for the player to complete, which contain smaller mission type experiences. In addition to the persistent story mission there are missions that are activated by several triggers which include, starting missions from non-player characters, passing -by when certain events occur, random encounters and starting mini-games. The typical win condition would be to get the task done, for example get to this place before it’s too late or fight off all the enemies in this area. There is no game over state, and if the player fails a mission the story is modified to reflect the mission outcome, but the persistent story’s mission can not be failed or the game will revert to an earlier checkpoint. The persistent story is broken-up into the four years of high school, which is further divided-up into chapters.
      The player’s interaction model is through directly controlling the main character in the story. The game’s primary camera model is third-person auto-follow with player controlled options to pan the camera around when necessary. There are other camera models that will be present in the game. For example the camera will go into a zoomed-in over the shoulder view when the player needs to aim at a specific target. Another example is that the game might go into an overhead view during a particular mission as a homage to another game. 
     Project Agera is aimed particularly at players who play a lot of video games and will appreciate the various references and in-jokes to other games. It is a project that is made as a love letter to the collective of video game fans. There is also a broader audience that the game will appeal to with the game’s Anime art style and story telling tone, so anime fans or people who enjoy crazy stories should find something to look forward to in this game. In fact everyone should play this game. Project Agera is a different type of game that deviates from the standard hoard of first person shooters or by the books role playing games. It is a game that is not strictly categorized into a particular genre but rather it takes elements from various types of video games to create something fresh and enhance the player experience. It is a game that doesn’t follow a linear story but instead does what only a game can do in that it allows the player to totally immerse themselves in a fully realized universe and decide how the story will unfold.