DEFCON 1: Global Threat : Action Games : GD Video Game Design

Idea Info

Name:
DEFCON 1: Global Threat
Index:
Primary
Category:
Action
Submitted:
8/23/2003 3:29:24 AM
Written By:
bizpimp

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DEFCON 1: Global Threat
8/23/2003 3:29:24 AM
By: bizpimp
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Category: Action Games

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The title of my game is: DEFCON 1: Global Threat

Story:

‘Project Silent Reign’ was an attempt to surreptitiously dominate all defense capabilities throughout the world. The attempt had failed on account of multitudinous unattainable codes overpowering our own defense capabilities. ‘Project Silent Reign’ was postponed until further notice.

The United States of America’s Military Defense Systems (MDS) operatives were sent to retrieve Garret J. Hobbs, ex U.S. Military’s Joint Chief of Staff and former CIA; now working as an illegitimate computer technician/engineer (a.k.a. hacker). Hobbs is assumably the only man available with the intelligence to comprehend such malfunctions within military mentality. After weeks of tracking Hobbs, MDS operatives took him into custody; without explanation. Hobbs was brought to CIA headquarters, at Langley, Virginia; to discuss the matter at hand. Hobbs agreed to help under certain conditions; total admittance and control to defense administration facilities within all MDS branches and the Pentagon. After lengthy discussion, the conditions were mutually agreed upon.

Little did U.S. Military Intellect know, HackTech, an illegitimate noncommercial association, affiliated with a terrorist coalition, assigned Hobbs to corrupt Military Defense Systems; by injecting a virus capable of overriding their system database - consequently stalling all radar systems - enabling a faction of HackTech’s affiliates to launch an undetected thermonuclear attack upon the United States. However, Hobbs had something better in mind. He did in fact corrupt U.S. Military Defense Systems, and while doing so, came across the existing files that contained ‘Project Silent Reign’. Hobbs found and decoded the presumably unattainable and multitudinous codes, and succeeded in activating and overriding all other defense systems around the world; thus, supplying HackTech with an unbelievable amount of power.

MDS officials discovered Hobbs intentions; but were too late. Total access and complete control of all defense capabilities had already been sent. Hobbs was arrested and placed in solitary confinement. Unfortunately, Hobbs committed suicide before his interrogation session; so no leads to HackTech had been declared. However, an entry code was found within an unaffected computer; which required Hobbs to enter HackTech’s address, in order to send. Within minutes, the U.S. Military’s top computer engineers located the sending address, identifying coordinates somewhere within Russian province.

A high-emergency condition alert, DEFCON 1, has been initiated. Unable to dispatch air forces, MDS has instructed ground units to invade and attack upon the first indication of threat. You and your troops have withstood hazardous and jeopardizing conditions before, let’s pray you can do it again. Your objective: Infiltrate HackTech and terminate all perilous possibilities.

Gameplay:

DEFCON 1: Global Threat is a squad-oriented, action/ FPS (First Person Shooter) game (3rd person optional). The player (you) procures the role of a highly experienced, well trained, Joint Operative/ Commanding officer (leader); in command of seven subordinate operatives (black ops), throughout a covert operation.

Missions: Large branches of the illegitimate association, HackTech, are located far from its primary offices; thus supplying numerous diverse and intense missions throughout various locations. Missions are dwelt in nonlinear, Real-World environments; residing within indoor and outdoor localities.

Missions range from requiring the player to move stealthily across enemy lines to ambushing the enemy. Strategic infiltration could very likely result in wild shoot-outs and close quarters combat. Missions involve time-sensitive operations, sniping and demolition, intercepting enemy communications, capturing prisoners, and concealing enemy bodies. “A global threat is at hand, failure is not an option.”

NOTE: Replayability of missions is optional; however, enemy placement is randomized so that the same methods can not be used to beat a level. If this were not the case, enemies would always be in the same place or patrol route; therefore, beating the game would become a matter of memorization and trial and error.

Enemy AI: Enemy intelligence is highly advanced. Consequently, they react quickly to gunfire, spot corpses, track players down over wide spread areas, sound alarms and/or request backup from others in their vicinity.

Team Members: The player is accompanied by seven subordinate operatives. These operatives are at the player’s every command. However, their level of intelligence and expertise is more than enough to handle risky situations fittingly. Thusly, they will not hesitate for the player’s orders when fired upon. These highly trained operatives are not controllable through gunfire; therefore, only certain commands will fit accordingly to their current situations. NOTE: Do not open fire upon your team of operatives, as they WILL treat you as the enemy.

The team in which the player will lead and command is listed (in order of rank) below:

Point (Scout/Assassin)
OPs specialist (tactical/sniper)
Intel specialist (decker/basic science and engineering)
Medic (Healer/martial artist)
Tactical Comm. OP(Telecommunication/ satellite specialist)
Automatic Gunner (Gunnery/demolitions)
Rifleman (General soldier/demolitions)

Gear and Firepower: Before beginning a mission, the player has the option of interchanging certain equipment within the appliances/weapons Inventory. The appliances/weapons Inventory is listed below: A bullet (•) represents that the appliance or weapon is interchangeable within the inventory.

Med. Kit
Flashlight
Field Protective/ Gas Mask •
Night vision/Thermal goggles •
Combat Radar
Security camera scrambler •
Serrated combat knife/ bayonet
C4 -plastic remote explosives
M67 Frag. Hand Grenades •
M34 Smoke Grenades •
M-9 Pistol
M-16A2 Assault Rifle

The player cannot hold more that a single item which contains a bullet (•); for example, if the player chooses to wear a gas mask, the player cannot wear night vision goggles at the same time. Nevertheless, the player can drop any equipped weapon and pick up a different weapon during gameplay. NOTE: When more weapons and/or appliances are picked up, more weapons and appliances will become interchangeable within the Pick Ups Inventory.

Pick Ups Inventory: (Listed below are the weapons that the player may find throughout the game)

XM8 Lightweight Assault Rifle
M-4 Carbine Rifle
M14A1 Rifle
M40A1 Sniper Rifle
M2 Machine Gun
M-240 Machine Gun
M-249 SAW
MK 19-3 Grenade Machine Gun
M203A1 Grenade Launcher
M252 Mortar Launcher

HK USP Pistol
HK 94 Rifle
HK G36 Assault Rifle
HK53A3 Submachine Gun

Type 56 Assault Rifle
Type 68 Rifle
Type 89 Rifle

AKS-74U short Assault Rifle
AK-47 Assault Rifle
AK-74M Assault Rifle
AK-105 Assault Rifle

Listed below are the appliances that the player will find scattered throughout maps or near friendly/ enemy corpses:

Clips/ Ammunition (all guns)
Med. Kit
Flashlight batteries
Serrated combat knife/ bayonet
Frag. Hand Grenades
Smoke Grenades

The reader may have noticed that the weapons located in the appliances/weapons Inventory differs from that of the Pick Ups Inventory. The appliances and weapons located in the appliances/weapons Inventory are those of which the player can access is the start of each mission. When the player finds and “picks up” a new weapon or appliance, it is then accessible within the Pick Ups Inventory.

Weapons and appliances are localized to specific regions, even separate countries!

Interactive objects: Throughout many missions, certain objects will be interactive; such as turrets, APC’s (armored personnel carriers), reconnaissance vehicles, etc. Turrets are controlled in a sitting position and require both hands to operate; thus firing ‘machine gun’ style. Most interactive objects will be located within enemy lines; however, military vehicles may be taken outside enemy territory-vise versa. While some vehicles may exhibit mounted weaponry, (for attacking enemy drop-ships, hordes of ground patrolling enemies, etc.) their purpose is mainly to travel expeditiously across vast terrains. Other interactive objects may consist of simpler capabilities; such as communication devices, land mine detectors, card keys, etc.

Single and Multiplayer Gameplay:

Multiplayer Basics: Multiplayer modes consist of a split-screen gameplay, supporting up to four players to compete in numerous games. Cooperative play is a special case - only two players are supported in a split-screen gameplay.

In single player mode, one or two players infiltrate HackTech, with the help of AI team operatives, attempting to terminate HackTeck’s master plan and discover the secrets behind Project < no name yet >. The backstory and situation of DEFCON 1: Global Threat is covered in the Story section.

In multiplayer mode, 2-4 players engage in one of five classes of competitive multiplayer games: Head-to-head (deathmatch), Team head-to-head (team deathmatch), Assault (objective games), Capture the Flag (objective games), and Team Infiltration (objective games). Each of these types can be customized with different options for a huge variety of experiences. A description of all five multiplayer classes is listed below:

• Head-to-head: Kill as many competitors as possible and try to avoid being killed by them. The player who reaches the frag limit first (or has the most frags when the time limit is reached) is the winner.

• Team head-to-head: Identical to Head-to-head, except players join one of two teams and attack only enemy team members.

• Assault: Players are divided into two teams, attackers and defenders (attackers being HackTech’s security officers, defenders being a team of U.S. operatives). The attackers are attempting to destroy or take over an objective, such as blowing up a computer terminal, or evading enemy lines to reach an LZ (landing zone). The defenders’ job is to prevent them from doing so. The players' objective is to conquer the base in less time than your opponents’ team. Example: If the first attacking team completes the objective in three minutes, then the sides switch and the team that was defending is now attacking and has three minutes to take the base. If they fail, they lose.

• Capture the Flag (CTF): The players are divided in to two teams, red and blue. Each team has a base with a flag that they must defend. Points are scored for a team when a team member captures the opposing team’s flag, by bringing it back to the team’s base while their own flag is safely contained in the home base.

• Team Infiltration: Virtually equivalent to cooperative gameplay. Players select the role of one of the following team ranks: Point, OPs specialist, Automatic Gunner, or Rifleman. NOTE: No single player can select the same rank as another. The ranks of the Medic, Intel specialist, and Tactical Comm. OP. are CPU characters (see ‘Bots’ below), as well as the Commanding officer (leader), thus they are not selectable. The team of players is assigned a single objective- to neutralize a nearby hostile environment. Working cooperatively, players must follow and comply to the Commanding officer’s orders. Each player has a rank (mentioned above) addressing them suitably during gameplay. Example: The OPs specialist may be stationed on a hidden land elevation, assigned to provide cover protection for the additional players. If all players complete the objective successfully, they will progress to a different hostile area.

Bots: Bots are CPU (central processing unit) characters that are not controllable by any player, only the gaming console. A “computer-controlled” bot’s skill level can be set anywhere from Novice to Expert, as well as the number of bots featured in any multiplayer game. The player will be able to use bots in the multiplayer maps, either to increase the competition when there are few players, or to play the multiplayer maps alone. NOTE: Bots are not accessible within Co-op games.

Key Features:

• Single Player/Co-op mission-by-mission gameplay
• Progressive In-game cinematic cut-scenes
• Random Scenario Generator
• DM, Team DM, CTF, Assault and Team Infiltration Multiplayer modes, featuring Random Map Generation
• Real-World weapons and grenades
   - Multiple fire modes per weapon
   - Location/Region specific weaponry
   - Weapons contain authentic military designations
• Real-World Locations/Environments, including Germany, Russia, Hong Kong, and Afganistan
• Seamless Indoor and Outdoor Combat, including underground explorations
• Environmental effects: snow, rain, fog
• Parental lockout and Violence level controls

Conclusion:

DEFCON 1: Global Threat accommodates a fairly realistic gameplay; therefore, it is aimed at a mature audience. Accordingly, it will feature animated violence, animated blood and gore, and minimized vulgarity and profane speech. Unlike many FPS games, DEFCON 1: Global Threat does not include features like slow motion movements, invincibility, or low gravity settings, without enabling the proper cheat codes. Blood and gore will not exceed to the extent of chunky mutilated body parts flying overhead every time an opponent is shot.

I do realize that there are many “the fate of the Earth rests in one man’s hands” kind of games; be that as it may, I have found that the audience for such games is massive. I have tried to present this game with a stealthier and more tactical approach, however it is tempting to steam in with guns blazing.

All in all, DEFCON 1: Global Threat includes a huge array of gadgets and guns, diverse mission objectives, tactical decision making, and most importantly, a frenetic trigger happy gameplay. I hope you all enjoyed reading. Feedback is greatly appreciated. Only constructive criticism will be taken seriously.

Resources and Inspirations:

For more information regarding DEFCONs (DEFense CONditions) view this site: http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/c3i/defcon.htm

In 2005, the U.S. Military will issue a new Lightweight Assault Rifle, the XM8. However, I have included it in the appliances/weapons Inventory. To see a pic of the upcoming XM8, and the many other weapons (listed above) featured in DEFCON 1: Global Threat, view this site: http://world.guns.ru/assault/as61-e.htm

NOTE: Many inspirational FPS and squad-oriented gameplay elements were taken into account when creating this game idea (Delta Force: Urban Warfare, Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix, Halo: Combat Evolved, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, and Unreal Tournament to name a few). However, DEFCON 1: Global Threat’s plot is totally and completely original and innovative, by yours truly.

Add your comment to this Game Idea

Project < no name yet >
8/23/2003 3:41:36 AM
Comment by: bizpimp
As mentioned in the beginning of the plot, Project < no name yet > is capable of overriding all defense capabilities throughout the world. The problem is, I have not yet named the “project”. I was thinking along the lines of “Project Override” or “Project Global Override”. A friend of mine, sparda590, thought that the plot involved a sort of manipulation of security; thus, contemplating the name “Project Manipulation”. I still can’t think of an appropriate name for such a extraordinary project. Any ideas?

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