Pitch Proposal

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CC Image 2001: A Space Odyssey Soundtrack Album by HaarFager (Pro) at Flickr

3001: A Space Game – Pitch Proposal

Executive Summary

3001: A Space Game is meant to be relatively simple. The objective of the game is to complete each level or world with the highest amount of points possible. The levels are each based off of different planets, and have obstacles that the character can shoot, jump over, or super jump over. Once a level is completed, the character will earn a certain amount of points, and these points are translated into money. This money can be used to personalize your spaceship and buy power-ups.

The game should be centered around 3 core ideas, outer-space, simplicity, and making money. The game takes place completely in other solar systems with nothing on Earth, and is all about making money off of exploring the great beyond. The game is easy to play, as its controls, layout and graphics are relatively simple, but the levels will not be easy to complete, especially as each level doesn’t save your progress.

Game Description

Overview

The year is 3001, and you are a space explorer. The age of colonization, imperialism and westward expansion has returned, but this time history is repeating itself in space. You are a great Earthen explorer, who is paid to explore different planets in solar systems abroad. Exploring the planets is no easy task though, and you are found with many obstacles along the way, including aliens, meteors, and more. But, once you’ve completed your mission/level on a planet, you get paid for your service. If you complete each mission/level with the addition of finding or completing the bonus quests, you will earn more money. The main character is always you. You can change your name, your spaceship, the colors, and more. The more money you earn, the more options you will have.

The Quest

The game is broken into levels, each level being like a world to explore, and each world increasing with difficulty as you continue to move on. The quest is all about making money. Of course, it is centered around the idea of space exploration, but for the sake of this game space exploration is largely monetized. Some of the bonus items you can earn in a level to earn more money are things like shooting a certain meteor and finding something hidden inside it, or doing super jump and finding something hidden in the sky. Ultimately, the quest is to gain money by finishing levels/exploring worlds and surviving.

Main Character

Like stated above, you are always playing as yourself. There are several different spaceship options you can choose from, and you can also change the color of your spaceship. The more complex the customization option is, the more money you need to unlock it. The main character is player in a third person POV.

Sketch of Main Character

 

Possible Ship Option
Another Spaceship option

Opponents

The opponents for this game are mostly the courses which include obstacles that are to be evaded or shot at (if it’s an alien). The aliens have no intelligence, and will only hurt you if you run into them.

Sketch of Opponents

There aren’t super clear opponents, the objective is more to evade then to defeat. The aliens can be considered an opponent, but are treated as more of an obstacle.

Alien: An obstacle and also an opponent found in a level

Environment

The environment of the game is definitely outer space, as that’s the concept the whole game is built on. Some sub descriptions could be futuristic but mixed with retro. Most of the planets will probably look like futuristic versions of old retro space games, which is the idea.

Sketch of World

An example of what a level/world could look like

Menus

Main Menu/Starting Menu

Controls

The controls will be through the arrow keys on the keyboard. The up arrow will be jump, side arrows will be shoot, and the bottom arrow will be power jump. The space bar can be used to use any power ups that have been collected. Otherwise the speed of the ship will stay the same throughout the game.

Sounds

The sounds for this game will include background music, which will be present at all times (unless turned off in the settings menu), a sound for jumping and a separate sound for the super jump, a sound for when you have “died” and the sound of bullets when the shooting mechanism is fired. The sounds should all have an electronic/sci-fi vibe to them, and the bullets will sounds more like lasers than your average machine gun or rifle. The death sound should have the same sort of vibe/idea as the Mario death jingle, or something similar to that. The jumping sounds will be simple, and possibly something like a “whoosh” or a “kablam”. (I do not know how to describe sounds well in writing and this sounds a lot different in my head.)

Summary

My game, 3001: A Space Game, may be simple in its graphics and concept, but it is the type of game that someone could play for hours on end on a long car ride or a boring plane ride. It may have simple controls, but it will not be an easy game to beat. With the combination of outer-space, retro and futuristic genres, this game will be something unlike many others. Its quest to gain wealth can be applied today, and the historical concept of imperialism was applied long ago, and now both have been applied to the future and the concept of space exploration in this game. You, the main character, will embark on a fantastic journey through planets you never knew existed, you will defeat aliens and dodge meteors and comets, and through all of it you will earn money. This game might not be realistic, but I think that’s one of its best qualities. It will take you to another world (literally).