Deep Down

Aus hagenberg.games Wiki
Deep Down
StudioRaccoon Rascals
PublisherRaccoon Rascals
Erstveröffent-
lichung
June 2022
PlattformPC
Spiel-EngineUnity

Deep Down is a Game by Raccoon Rascals for Game Production.

Link to our Trello Board: https://trello.com/b/v3W17vf4

Rollen und Aufgaben im Team

Lilith-Isa Samer

Story & Sound Lead | Art (3D) Assistant

Simona Beck

Project management & Game Design Lead | Story Assistant

River Gadermaier

Programming Lead | Game Design & Story Assistant

Emilia Bornschlegl

Art (3D) Lead | Game Design & Level Design Assistant

Benedict Haunschmied

Level Design Lead | Sound Assistant

Vision Statement

Link zu Trailer

External:

Underneath the ocean, in the darkness, the last shard of human memory is trying to piece itself together and find out, what happened to the people that created it. In a race against darkness, the memory collects pieces of knowledge that reveal what has been lost in the water deep down. Deep Down is an exploration game where the player gets to interact with objects to explore their story.

Internal Guidelines:

  • Deep Down is a game set underwater, in the darkness. We guide the player with lights and the bioluminescence that naturally occurs deep under water.
  • The player never sees the full screen, there’s always something in the dark..
  • The player gets to explore the ocean floor, where they find bits and pieces of history that explain how these found artifacts wound up underwater. The story bits never reveal the whole answer. They are always absurd snippets of the current world or of a world that could exist in the future, right before humanity goes under/self-destructs.
  • Humanity has gone too far, we didn’t save our planet in time so all the things we thought important are now on the ocean floor.
  • The player is not scared, but uneasy.
  • Player collects glowing orbs. They give them light.

Spielemechaniken

Deep Down is an exploration game with the objectives to explore the underwater world and interact with items (and/or collect some of them) to figure out what has happened to humanity.

Core Mechanics:

The main Core Mechanics include the walking mechanic, the item interaction, and the collection of light sources. The character moves around by floating above the seabed. It is possible to float faster by using the sprint mechanic, but the character does not have any jump mechanics. When it comes to interactions the character can read descriptions of items and/or listen to voice recordings. Optionally, the character can pick up certain items to use them later in the game.

Core Rules:

Game Design Diagram

The most important Core Rule is to collect light sources, which are placed on the map, to refill the “Glow-Meter” health bar. Once the bar is empty the character will stop glowing and will be reset to the last spawn point. To advance in the story you have to interact with items you find, which will give you more and more information about humanity and lead you through three areas of history.

Character and Resources:

While not human itself, the character is the personified remains of the collective memory of humanity. A small holographic projection able to move unbothered by the pressure of the sea. However, its memory has been corrupted. It's up to the player to try to piece itself back together to find out the whole story of humanity’s downfall.

The basic resources are light sources to keep the character glowing and to be able to see in the darkness of the sea.

Conflict:

The conflict will be to plan your collection of the light sources very well, so you can advance through the story without being reset to a spawn point after dying because your light went out.

Outcome:

When interacting with all the items you puzzle the found pieces back together to re-establish your memory of humanity’s downfall.

Level Design

The level represents an underwater hill with one main path and several side paths. The player will progress upwards for the entire level if they stay on the main path. To increase the difficulty, the level is divided into three areas of humanity's history – Past, Present and Future.

Paths:

There will be one big main path throughout the entire level. To make the level more exciting to explore, the player will be able to see some items somewhere apart from the main path without the possibility of reaching them at this point. Later on in the level the player can take side paths to reach the item they were able to see before.

Progression:

The level offers three areas with increasing difficulty, which are separated by two roadblocks. To progress through the level areas a certain number of artifacts per area must be found before the roadblocks can be removed to enter the new area. The artifacts, as well as some light sources, can be found all over the map on the main or side paths.

Spawn Points:

In case of character death, the player will be reset to one of the three existing spawn points depending on the player’s current position in the game. Spawn point for the past area is the starting position, for the present area it is the first roadblock and for the future area it is the second roadblock.

Level Areas:

  • Past Area: The past area introduces the possibility to collect artifacts and light sources, as well as the necessity to explore the side paths for further items to move the first roadblock. The side paths in this area are the easiest ones with a dead end which forces you to return to the exact same position on the main path you were before.
  • Present Area: This area introduces one-way-loop side paths which connect two positions on the main path and can only be entered from one side. The side paths have junctions now, as well.
  • Future Area: In this area the player has to combine their knowledge about the different side paths to choose the best route trough the area. There will be a lot of one-way-paths to create confusion.

Early level diagram:

Story

The year is 2525.

At the bottom of the ocean, a small sprite is looking for answers as to what happened to humanity. While not human itself, it is the personified remains of the collective memory of humanity. A small holographic projection able to move unbothered by the pressure of the sea.

However, its memory has been corrupted and it’s trying to piece itself back together to find out the whole story of humanity’s downfall.

Kept alive by the energy orbs scattered along the seafloor, the sprite is moving about collecting items that have made their way to the bottom of the ocean. They tell the story of the downfall of humanity from early industrialisation to complete nuclear annihilation and a failed final mission to Mars.

Link to full story (contains spoilers).

User Interface

Deep Down’s User Interface is mostly minimalistic and complies with the game’s overall blue color theme. The in-game UI consists of Info-boxes with a 2D minimalistic illustration of the found objects, as well as a Glow-Meter (which is essentially a health bar), and an Artifact List.

Asset List

Link to the Asset List

Licenses

Link to the License List of all used 3d models

Game Cover (Concept Art)