"Game Design Document"

VISION

A three-dimensional, third-person space flight game where you destroy asteroids or meteor showers that are about to hit the planet Earth. Planet Earth is damaged by hits and when there are enough hits it's Game Over.

GAMEPLAY

Core Loop

The player flies a spaceship with weaponry to destroy asteroids. As the game progresses, the asteroids become harder to destroy and become larger clusters. Also the weaponry is updated to become more efficient and the spaceships durability is improved with various protection systems.   

Game Mechanics

PLAYING AREA:

A solar system where going too close to the sun destroys the spaceship and also going too far from the sun makes it difficult to control the ship because the spaceship freezes. The duration of these can be improved by upgrading the ship.  Some kind of base rotates in Earth's orbit, where the ship is refueled and upgraded. In space, you may come across, for example, different types of space debris that you have to avoid hitting. If hit, the ship will be damaged. Hitting planets, meteorites, or asteroids will also damage your platform, or destroy it completely, depending on the size of the object you hit.

Reference image from insightias.

CONTROLS:

The platform is turned up/down, rotated left/right with the mouse.

Throttle is adjusted with the W/S keys.

 Lateral turning is done with the A/D keys

The first weapon operates from the Mouse 1 button

The second weapon is charged by holding down the 2 mouse button and fired by releasing the button.

Possibly also support for GamePad, e.g. PS DS4

SHOOTING:

Shooting with the mouse buttons, the ship's armament can be updated as the game progresses. At the beginning, the ship has only one weapon, which is a rifle-type burst-fire weapon that fires small projectiles. The original weapon can be made more effective by increasing the rate of fire and caliber of ammunition. The ship's second weapon can be upgraded with various rockets and bombs, which are more powerful but have a lower rate of fire and have a limited number of them.

CUSTOMIZATION:

You can customize the ship's armament, shields, etc. yourself through some kind of editor when the ship is at the base. At least by changing parts of it, maybe even more widely.

Protection of the ship (Duration of cold and hot) • Fuel tank (You can change to a bigger one, so you can fly for a longer time without refueling)

Weapons, missiles, etc

UI:

Description and quantity of weapons

Remaining fuel

The duration of the shields, whether they are in ice or fire. No automatic repairing, the frozen part can be melted and the hot part can be cooled by moving closer/further from the sun.

Time until the next threat hits the ground.

Some kind of communication device that receives information about the next threat.

Reference image from Galaxy On Fire 2

SAVING:

The game automatically saves every time a new meteor/asteroid wave is cleared.

Alsoafter customizing the ship, automatic saving.