Nova: I wrote this document in order to help us figure out what is still needed to be, and what has already been decided. 

The following questions have been taken from some of the 47 still unanswered sections of the GDD, and have categorized it as best I could.

Nova:  Please also note that we are needing to make, test and complete this entire game for submission within two weeks now. I believe we need to establish and concentrate on only the things we absolutely need in order to get this project done.

Please add your suggestions, opinions, answers, following each:

Game Style

1. How would you describe the genre of our game?

Construction and resource management simulation

2. How would you describe the game setting?

Earth became over polluted and forced all life to die or leave. Humans now live in small groups, relying on spaceship technology created in the 22nd Century by Michael Hawking (grandson of Stephen Hawking) 

You play as a space cowboy. Surviving in an old spacecraft pulled by a space beast, you must find and travel to the last known habitable planet to ensure your crew survival and prevent the space wagon from giving way.

The game begins when the player finds themselves alone on the space-wagon, orbiting a wasteland of a planet, running out of food for the space-beast, and the ship is beginning to break down. Their only option is to go down to the planet and try to scavenge resources and food.

3. How would you describe the overall game concept?

The game has similar mechanics to Fallout Shelter. Manage up to four characters on a spaceship and use the characters to complete tasks. Tasks include upgrading the ship, feeding the space beast (that mobilizes the ship) etc.. There is also risk involved, because you send out a character to collect resources from the nearby home planet that has a toxic atmosphere.

4. How would you describe the atmosphere of the game?

I’m envisioning the game as kind of grungy looking and dirty with the ship itself made of rough and rusty metal, with some computer terminals in the walls, and numerous damage features. 

5. What should the name of our game be?

The Great Space-Face Disaster Management Sim

Jump on the Space Wagon; (a play on “jump on the bandwagon”) 

A Hungry World

Into the Maw

Don’t Get Eaten

Ravenous Ace in the Hole

6. How would you describe the lore of the game?

Some time in the far future, an outlaw resides in space inside a space wagon hauled by a space beast. Their home planet experienced an apocalyptic event involving pollution of toxic gas, rendering it uninhabitable. The outlaw orbits their home planet, seeking out for the last remaining resources in its crust. The outlaw recruits crew members with varying professions, and together, they aid in each others’ survival.

There is a horrible space beast  attached to the hull of the ship that threatens to destroy the last of what they have if they don’t continually feed it. How will they escape this predicament?

Game Mechanics

1. How would you describe the physics of our game?

The game is a 2D Platformer style game that has a basic gravity system.

2. What type of combat happens in our game, if any?

The only combat in our game happens “behind the scenes”. The results of which are displayed in a window or text popup. Actual combat does not occur in an interactive way.

3. What would you say the objectives are?

• Upgrade the ship to level 3 and release the space beast to gain your crews freedom (Win Condition)
• Keep the space beast fed
• Keep your crewmates alive and fed
• Clearing Damaged Stations
• Getting more resources from crewmate missions

4. How does randomness play into our game?

Resources gathered from the planet are randomly determined, perhaps based on some conditions such as character equipment and/or selection, ect. Additionally, random events can occur that can affect the stored supplies, characters, ship, or state of the game.

5. What are all the needed aspects of crew management?

• Stations (Bunk Room, Kitchen, Medbay)
• Crewmate Energy (Food for crewmates) (Sleep For Crewmates)
• Crewmate Health ( Decreases Energy If Critical) (Can Be Healed)
• Missions
• Assigning crewmates with the correct specialization to speed up the tasks.

6. What are all the needed ship upgrades, and how do you see them working in the game?

• Level 1 (First Stage)
• Level 2 (Second Stage)
• Level 3 (Final Stage, Unlocks Win Condition)
• Upgrades will come in the form of increasing your ship size.
• Ship size will provide room for additional crewmates and more stations.
• Upgrades will require large amounts of metal.

7. What are all the needed ship upgrades, and how do you see them working in the game?

Major Upgrades

Engine upgrades: the ship needs an engine to mobilize without the space beast  (win condition)

 ^ This is the final upgrade that wins the game (I believe)

Ship Repairs

Sometimes due to random events, stations can be damaged or even destroyed. They must be repaired or rebuilt to use once again. 

New Station Upgrades

The player can add more stations to empty station spaces on the ship. Level 1 starts with only 1 option to add a new station, while level 2 and level 3 has more open spaces.

The player can choose which new stations to add.

Level 1 - There is one open room to add a new station to.

Level 2 - There are more open rooms to add a new station to.

Level 2 - There are even more open rooms to add a new station to.

7. What are the attributes of a crew member?

Name -  The name of each character

Specialty - (if exists) - ie: Doctor, Engineer, Chef, ect - Some do not have a specialty?

Energy - Characters operate stations at the percentage that their energy is at. Four equal parts constitute a character’s full energy:  1 part Sleep, 1 part Health, and 2 parts Food.

Sleep - Characters must sleep at least ⅓ of each day, or they won’t operate stations as well, and must go to the bunkroom and sleep for 8 game hours in order to fully restore, or less to partially restore if the crewmate is needed. If a character is fully restored, they can continue to provide 25% to their energy for 16 game-hours. Otherwise, that 25% is reduced accordingly.

Health - If drops below 0, the crewmate dies - If critically injured, their health slowly drops and must be taken to the medbay and healed by another character before they reach 0. While a character is injured, that 25% of their energy is reduced by the corresponding health percentage (ie: if a character’s health is down to 50%, their energy is reduced by 12.5% from lack of health)

Food - Characters need to eat. Until the player constructs the Kitchen Station, they are only able to get half (1 part) of the energy back from eating (25%). Once they have a Kitchen Station, 

8. How would you describe crewmate missions?

The missions take time to conduct, and while gone the crewmate(s) they are not displayed on the ship meaning they cannot work the stations.

By sending Special Crew members, more materials, food, or other resources can be gathered than usual.

One the mission time has been completed, the crew appears back on the ship, the ?engineering station? Is again able to be used to reequip and refill the ?dropship? And a popup window appears that informs the player what was collected and if anything unexpected happened.

9 How would you describe the Station-Crewmate interactions? 

Crew can repair stations in order to keep them operational (if they are damaged)

Crew can add upgrades to the ship and thereby add new stations to interact with.

Original Stations:

     Cockpit - Required to feed the space beast.

     Bunkroom - Required to restore tired crewmates’ energy.

     Engineering Bay - Required to refuel, reequip, and refill the air of the dropship for missions. An Engineer Character can do this 2x faster.

     Med-Bay - Required to heal characters who are injured. A Doctor Character can do so 3x faster.

Possible station additions:

     Radio Station - Gets more crewmates (where normally can only be gotten with rare random events during off-ship missions)

     Workshop - Allows the crew to craft more equipment for off-ship missions?

     Kitchen - Allows food to be prepared for the crew that will provide them with more energy. A Chef Character will do this 2x faster.

     Barista Station - Adds more energy to a character even beyond the 100% max up to 125%

     Shield/Defense Station- Protects ship from asteroids, pirates, and some other random dangers - someone has to be at the controls in order to generate the maximum defense

     Onboard Farm - Grows food for the crew and/or space beast

10. How would you see time playing a factor in the game?

The space beast gets hungry over time and must be fed. If not fed for long enough, it will destroy the ship. It must be fed twice a day or more in order to keep it satisfied?

Every day the crew needs to be fed?

Once a game-day a down-to-planet mission can be undertaken to gather new supplies?

^because space poisoning. If they go more than once they die because toxic environment.

11. How do you see recruitment working?

Sometimes on the off-planet missions, an extra crewmate is “rescued”

And a Radio Station can be used to get new crewmates?

10% chance of a crewmate from the surface mission with no radio

After the day ends, if the radio is used, the percentage chance of acquiring a new crewmate on the next surface mission is increased, to a maximum of 50% chance.

The additional percentage chance (up to 40%) is determined by the amount of time in 1 day divided by the amount of time actually spent on the radio.

12. How would you describe the win condition(s)?

Upgrading the ship enough until it can mobilize without the space beast and fly off to another habitable planet.

13. How would you describe the loss condition(s)?

When the space beast becomes too hungry, it destroys the ship.

When all the crewmates die.

If the ship becomes damaged beyond repair - (maybe)

Game Elements

1. What art elements are still needed (describe each one)?

Space beast

SpaceShip background

UI Elements (Metal, food, ship icon, space beast profile picture)

Stations (kitchen, feeding room, medbay e.t.c

1 Regular Character Archetype picture

Trade Ship

Pirate Ship