Introduction
Sovereign
Sovereign is a first person shooter set in the future. Conflict between rival factions of space colonists over the more desirable planets have increased tensions to an all out war. Leveraging the power and flexibility of the Unreal 3 Engine Sovereign provides great visuals with exciting gameplay.
Throughout the document there will be images that preceed a section to indicate which milestone they are associated with. If there is no image then it can be assumed that the item is expected to be in by milestone 0- the 10 week deliverable.
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Story
The United Earth Alliance terraformed many planets and for a time utilized these planets for colonization and they thrived for a time. As the UEA continued its expansion deeper into space there were many more desirable planets found and terraformed. Eventually the planets that were deemed less desirable by the UEA were abandoned. Left with structures intact and no government to maintain order.
Factions
The Genetic Consortium and The Order of Divine Purpose are the two major factions which have splintered from the United Earth Alliance.
The reason that the Genetic Consortium left the UEA was so they would be able to follow their own research without the constraints imposed on them. They were interested in medical research that had wide sweeping ethical ramifications. The ultimate goal of their research would be to live forever. The method of doing so included a complete clone of a person with all of their memories intact. Then the original would be reduced to nothing but the base elements that the tissues were comprised of.
The Order of Divine Purpose considering the acts of the Genetic Consortium as absolutely heinous and unforgivable. They strive to maintain an ultimate goal of being natural- as God intended. For example they forego the usage of medical treatments that include any kind of genetic modifications to an unborn child. Their extreme beliefs lead their people to euthanize those who are injured or born with any kind of disability. This means that people of The Order tend to favor natural selection and end up managing being as close to perfection as possible.
Game Specifications
Sovereign's gameplay style merges fast paced rapid fire game style with the depth of a tactical more thought-out gaming experience to cater for players of all tastes.
Gameplay
Gameplay for Sovereign is based on the best elements of many games we've all enjoyed. The goal is to take the best of everything we enjoyed and sprinkle it with our own uniqueness.
Specialization
Initially, every player starts with 2 Specialization Points and every time a player makes a kill, kill points are given that will automatically be traded for specialization points. The first 10 kill points will give 1 tech point, the next 25 kills give another, etc for a maximum of 10 tech points that a player can receive, including the initial 2. Specialization points can be placed into Specializations for armor, weaponry, and vehicles and all Specializations cost 5 Specialization Points.
Experience
There isn't a specific notion of a level that can be obtained. Instead the player has a certain number of Specialization Points that they can use in order to unlock skills or abilities.
| Kills Needed to Get Next Specialization Points | |
|---|---|
| Gain Third Specialization Point | 10 Kills |
| Gain Fourth Specialization Point | 25 Kills |
| Gain Fifth Specialization Point | 50 Kills |
| Gain Sixth Specialization Point | 100 Kills |
| Gain Seventh Specialization Point | 200 Kills |
| Gain Eighth Specialization Point | 400 Kills |
| Gain Ninth Specialization Point | 700 Kills |
| Gain Tenth Specialization Point | 1000 Kills |
User Interface
First-person. No zooming out to see the world around the player. Somewhat minimalistic interface. A mini-map in the upper right hand corner of the screen can be used to show a radar that detects traps that players have placed on the field as well as local terrain and players within a certain radius. A weapons bar on the bottom middle of the screen, which would show abbreviations for which weapons are placed under which hot key. Potentially a picture of the player's body on the bottom left hand corner which would show damages to the player's character. Potentially a small box in the bottom right that shows how many bases your team has captured. Does not show which bases are captured by which enemies, because it is not information that your team would normally have.
Combat
Different types of weaponry is built into the selections that players will make.
Long range weaponry - is typified as requiring a keen eye, a steady hand, and a devastating blow to lightly armored opponents. Long range weaponry is typically weak against heavy armor and has reduced damage against medium armor opponents. Long Range Weapons also have the unique ability to do more damage to certain places in the body than other weapons. Tech points invested in long range weaponry prove your mastery at handling these delicate instruments and allow you to utilize more powerful weapons that depend on your skills.
Heavy Weaponry - Think weapons of mass destruction, in a more portable form. Heavy weaponry are designed to take out any and all units, vehicles and buildings. These weapons have a slow rate of fire and long load times, however they deal the most damage out of any weaponry. Unfortunately most or all heavy weaponry come with an additional movement penalty and may cause damage to player wearing light armor. Putting tech points into Heavy Weaponry allows the player to gradually build strength to use bigger and more powerful weapons. Having at least two points into Heavy Weaponry will remove the damage while operating heavy weapons with light armor.
Traps - Traps are weapons that can be strategically placed anywhere on the map, with the exception of the Genocide Field. The locations of all traps will be indicated to allies as a red dot on a mini-map and it will also be physically visible on the map in some form depending on the trap. To set a trap, a player must have invested at least one tech point into Traps. A player with one tech point in traps is allowed to set up to three traps and allowed to set up more traps with more tech points invested. Furthermore, a player with tech points in Traps will be more keen at noticing traps placed by opponents. A team with a player that has invested Tech points in traps, will be able to see traps placed by other opponents, on the mini-map, if the trap is within a certain distance of said player. Traps can and will hurt both allies and enemies, so be careful!
Spawning
When a match first begins all players will spawn at the same time. Once a player dies they will be resurrected after a duration which is dynamic based the number of players currently playing.
Weapons
Pulse Rifle - The Pulse Rifle when fully charged can do up to %20 damage. Each subsequent shot fired reduces the amount the weapon is charged and also how much damage the weapon gives. If you fire so much that you exhaust the entire charge set then the rifle will take some time to recharge fully... it could not be used until it is fully recharged. The pulse rifles are so old that many of them don't carry a charge well. They randomly have problems with their ammo capacity.
Pistol - This is just a generic pistol that everyone has access to. The key point is the type of ammo, regular ammo is more like hollow point bullets and are best against med to light armor. Regular ammo will do significantly less damage to heavy units and have no effect on vehicles. Armor piercing bullets do full damage to heavy armor but do reduced damage to light and med. Armor piercing bullets do reduced damage to light and med armor because the bullet travels cleanly through those targets. Players will have decide which ammo they want, they cannot carry both at the same time.
Combat Knife - Standard issue combat knife given to all of the United Earth Alliance troops. So many of them were produced that they're easily available and nearly every soldier for every faction is equipped with one.
Portable Dispersion Cannon - the PDC, has two modes, one that fires a small energy field and one that fires a energy pulse that disperses the molecules of the target.
Mode 1: Since a small energy field is fired, there is little time in creating the field, therefore the weapon can rapidly fire these small energy fields. The rate of fire for this weapon is medium, 100 rounds/reload, a max capacity of 100, and does 10% damage per short to enemy health.
Mode 2: Since the energy field disperses molecules, there is a chance the energy field will destabilize before firing. Therefore, the cannon requires a small amount of time to properly create the field within the weapon, before firing. The rate of fire for this mode is Extra Slow, 1 round/reload, a max capacity of 5, and does 80% damage to enemy health.
Players that utilize the PDC will be affected by a further speed debilitation equivalent to that of wearing Heavy Armor.
Laser Rifle - Will shoot a laser beam that is visible. This reduces camping in one spot since people will be able to see where the laser came from. The gun will recharge after 1 shot, recharge team should be 1-2 seconds. Cannot be used with heavy armor equipped.
Mines - The mine is a devastating weapon that can be used to destroy any unit that touches it and hurts any player nearby. The mine can and will be used against people who step on it, including those on the same team as the player who placed the mine. The mine is physically visible on the map as a blinking red dot.
Genocide Field - The Genocide Field is a base trap that any player, whether or not they hold the base, can activate. It can be used both offensively and defensively to destroy any player, including the team that holds the base, within the base. The genocide field will be physically visible as a large object that any player can easily manipulate by grabbing or pushing.
Defense:
The Genocide Field can be used as a last ditch weapon to destroy all opponents and allow for the team to respawn and reorganize within the base. That team can then decide either to continue holding the base or launch an assault on a new base.
The Genocide Field can be used as a last ditch weapon to destroy all opponents and allow for the team to respawn and reorganize within the base. That team can then decide either to continue holding the base or launch an assault on a new base.
Offense:
There are two specific offensive strategies that could be utilized.
There are two specific offensive strategies that could be utilized.
- The team that holds a base can split into two parts, allowing for one part of the team to lure the opponent into their base and activate the field, thereby wiping out the opponents. While the opponents are taking time to respawn, the other part of the team can infiltrate and take over the opponent's base.
- Have one team infiltrate the opponent's base and activate the Genocide Field and have another team infiltrate the base after the base has been cleared of opponents.
Armor
There are three types of armor commonly seen on the battlefields.
Heavy Armor - Only those with their safety close to heart. The users of heavy armor move slowly but enjoy a much greater defense capability. They can only be passengers in transport vehicles.
Light Armor - Users of light armor aren't hindered by the weight of their armor. They can move more swiftly than those wearing medium or heavy armor. They're able to operate any vehicle without issue. When running and jumping they don't lose forward momentum like those wearing other armor types.
Medium Armor - The standard issue armor tries to walk a fine line between maneuverability and defense. Users of the medium armor cannot operate transport vehicles.
Heavy Armor - Only those with their safety close to heart. The users of heavy armor move slowly but enjoy a much greater defense capability. They can only be passengers in transport vehicles.
Vehicles
Penetrator - Utilizing the resources at hand this vehicle is a standard hover-bike with a large metal spike affixed to its front. It's designed for quick infiltration of enemy territory.
EDU20 - EDU 20, also known as Effective Deployment Unit 20, is designed to get a large group of people from point A to point B safely.
Buildings
Mining Facility - Before the UEA abandoned its less desirable planets they built many structures to utilize the resources on the planet. The mining facility has been built on many of the planets with nearly the same layout in each.
Technical Specifications
The first consideration to make is whether players will have a powerful enough computer to play.
| Windows | XP/Vista |
| CPU | 2.0 GHz single core CPU (2.4 GHz dual core CPU or faster recommended) |
| Memory | 512 MB RAM (1.0 GB RAM or greater recommended) |
| Hard Disk | 8.0 GB hard disk drive space |
| Graphics | NVIDIA 6200 or ATI 9600 video card (NVIDIA 7800GTX or ATI X1300 or faster recommended) |
| DirectX | DirectX 9.0c compliant sound card |
| Multiplayer | Internet (TCP/IP) and LAN (TCP/IP) play supported. |
Sovereign is being made specifically with Windows in mind. However Unreal-based games are readily ported to any platform that has an Unreal runtime on it so it wouldn't be a huge stretch to port to Playstation 3, for example.
Game Engine
For Sovereign we're going to be using the Unreal 3 Engine. It is powerful, supported, and flexible enough for virtually any kind of game. There are many game franchises that have been very successful that use the Unreal engine. It is considered to be "next-gen" in that it supports very high polygon models and sophisticated graphics.
Programming Language
The Unreal 3 Engine gives us a comprehensive set of classes and functionality to mold our game idea into reality. The programming language used is called UnrealScript which is a member of the "curly-brace family" and has object oriented features much like Java.
Unreal Editor
UnrealED is provided with the Unreal Engine and gives us the ability to create maps, define important points for artificial intelligence, and define Kismet (Physics) animations. It is a comprehensive set of tools for creating the world and it's physical parameters.
Sound and Music
The music style will be a sci-fi western theme. Influenced by Unreal Tournament's soundtrack. Sound effects will be created specifically for Sovereign. Any voice acting will be done by the Aquedius Team.
Summary
Sovereign is about playing a game the way you want to. Fast paced rapid fire or slow and steady tactical battles- Sovereign has it.
