Dominion Upholder

Keys

Movement W, S forward and backwards, (you only need to tap, you will continue moving in increments)

S,D for turning, you need to be moving, but the faster you go, the slower you turn.

Weapons Q, E they will shoot where the turret points

Working Title: Dominion Upholder

Concept:

A game where you can fly a spaceship around to different locations and fight enemies, trade or enjoy other random events.

Dominion upholder is a casual rouge like with permanent death, where the player can explore a galaxy, fight enemies, contemplate moral dilemmas and upgrade their spaceship. Risk vs reward is something you will need to carefully consider in each scenario if you want to survive and thrive in a galaxy full of dangers.

Genre or category: Roguelike

Dominion upholder is under the roguelike category.  The key features categorising it as such are mentioned in Wikipedia (n.d.) as its usage of mechanics such as permanent death, random ‘dungeon’ generation, resources and their allocation, and exploration. According to Kopczy´nski, Celi´nska & Ctrn´act (2017) roguelikes are generally seen as a subgenre of computer role playing games with more focus on skills than following a story.

Concept creation process/area:

The core concepts of Dominion Upholder are:

• Permanent death as a means for the player to be invested in keeping themselves safe.
• Exploration of the map, go anywhere at any time without restriction, however natural increasing of difficulty in areas will help guide the player.
• Simplistic control style for combat, using only a few buttons.

Influences include: FTL from Subset Games (link in references) for the simple map style, event at location systems, shops, and situational dilemmas. Stardrive by Zero Sum (link in references) for the combat system.

The concept was meant to simplify and use base elements of these games combined into a fun, casual, easy to play game.

Audience and competitive analysis:

The target audience for Dominion upholder are more along the lines of casual gamers, they can play without being too focused, e.g.: maying watching a movie in the background.

The age range for Dominion Upholder would be focussed on older teens and adults as the methodical planning and text-based interactions may be uninteresting for children.

Dominion Upholder will appeal to players who also have specific interests in:

• Enjoy a slower paced game,
• Like to continue a single playthrough for a long time,
• Enjoy the uncertainty accompanying permanent death mechanics,
• Enjoy deciding between resources when limited in cargo capacity,
• Enjoy min-maxing or trying different configurations with their controllable unit,
• Enjoy strategy and planning,
• Enjoy role play.

Game treatment and concept art:

Overview and Setting

The Galactic Utopia Dominion (GUD or Dominion) has created and enforced peace throughout many systems, and although its recognised citizens enjoy the benefits, there are still many who actively try to disrupt dominion activities. The dominion wishes to expand its sphere of influence to create peace and harmony in unruly outer systems.

Player

You are captain in the Dominion.  Your primary mission is to maintain peace throughout the Dominion as you see fit. You are given the authorisation to make decisions on behalf of the Dominion and are expected to behave in a way which displays the Dominion in a positive light towards its recognised citizens and contributes to the overall efforts to ensure peace, including the destruction of any potential threats.

The player ship is viewed from top down, controlled with wasd, the speed is set in increments, each time you tap w you go up and your ship will continue moving at a constant speed until you press w or a again. You can turn the ship by holding s or d.  The turrets are controlled by your mouse, simply move the curser in the direction you want to fire, and any turrets capable of shooting will do so. 

Figure 1: Players basic starting ship.

 Ships

There are different ship classes including fighter, gunship, corvette, and hauler. Each have their own advantages and disadvantages. The fighter is fast and nimble but lacks firepower, whereas the corvette is slow, but tough with superior firepower.

You will be able to purchase ships and swap them outside of missions. 

Figure 2: P ship of each different class, (from left to right) Corvette, gunship, fighter, hauler.

 Station

Shops will be available to purchase repairs, weapons, and upgrades to improve your ship, you can also purchase cargo and supplies to use on missions or trade for additional resources.

Figure 3: Trading hub showing the players ship docked at the bottom and items available for purchase in the middle.

Weapons

Ships will usually come stocked with a default weapons loadout and you will be able to swap them for weapons you find or purchase.  Weapons are also upgradable to improve their capabilities. Weapon classes include lasers, beam weapons, missiles, plasma guns, ballistic guns, Electromagnetic weapons.

Your ship will not be able to shoot everywhere, weapon arcs will control what your ship is currently able to attack.

Enemies and combat

When entering an event with enemies you will have the option to fight and flee at any time, the type, strength, and number of enemies which spawn, and corresponding rewards will be based on the sector of space you’re in.

Figure 4: Player in combat with enemy ships.

Moral dilemmas

You can consider different situations with benefits and consequences for decisions made. Sometimes rewards or punishments may be immediate, other times they might be delayed.  Available decisions may be impacted by what weapons, upgrades, or crew your ship has.

Figure 5: Example of a moral dilemma the player may face.

Survival

Your ship will have its own pool of health, if it reaches zero your ship is destroyed, and you have lost. Upgrading your ship and augmenting its weapons is a good way to keep you alive.  Death is permanent in Dominion upholder; you lose everything, and your game is reset.

 Maps and exploration

The galactic map (shown below) are different systems the player can go to, some are already controlled by the dominion, the enemies will be easier, and rewards less, others are unruly sectors where enemies may be stronger, but with greater rewards available.

The system map is entered once the player chooses a map within the galactic zone, from here the player can explore the different events. These system maps are automatically generated when the player loads into them each game, so that no two games are the same, increasing replay ability. The events and shops are randomised.

You can explore the maps in any order you like and are able to go to the more difficult areas without having to wait.

Figure 6: The galactic map shows different sectors of space which can be travelled to, and how dangerous they are.

Figure 7: The system map shows events the player can access to learn about the galaxy and engage with.

Allies

During combat within Dominion controlled space you may encounter friendlies under attack, or they may come and aid you, increasing your chances of success.

Storyline

The main mission is to kill or capture a specific individual who is leading a terrorist cell against the dominion.  They will be difficult to defeat and in an area that holds tough enemies, so you will need to improve your ships capabilities before confrontation.  Once the mission is complete you will still be free to explore the maps.

References:

Celi´nska, Ctrn´act & Kopczy´nski, 2017, HyperRogue: Playing with Hyperbolic Geometry, Bridges 2017 Conference Proceedings, viewed 25 Aug 2023, <https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dorota-Celinska-Kopczynska/publication/336702574_HyperRogue_Playing_with_Hyperbolic_Geometry/links/5dae0eb2299bf111d4bf8e60/HyperRogue-Playing-with-Hyperbolic-Geometry.pdf>

Wikipedia, n.d., Roguelike, viewed 27 Aug 2023, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roguelike>

FTL: faster than light, subset games, <https://store.steampowered.com/app/212680/FTL_Faster_Than_Light/>

StarDrive, Zero Sum Games, <https://store.steampowered.com/app/220660/StarDrive/>