Game Design Document

***NOTE - As of now, the game doesn't have an official title. The working/placeholder title used in the GDD for simplicity is "Heartland".***

## Story

The game takes place a British suburb in the vauge late 2000s. You play as Erika Seiler, a pizza delivery driver who lives in a studio apartment above the pizza place she works at owned by her uncle whose main goal in life is to be able to afford her own car and make riches, to which there are two ways of doing it - delivering pizzas and other legitimate jobs or doing oddjobs for various criminals.

During any time during free roam, the player can call a gang boss and request a mission to do for cash, which the gang boss will give them. Once the mission is done, the player can call the boss back for more. The mission type and rewards depend on the gang you're doing missions for. For example, the Raver's missions are vehicle-based, the Chav's are more gangbanger-ey, and the FC's consist of racketeering. Some missions will put you against members of another gang, thus lowering their respect for you. If a gang's respect for you is too low, they'll either refuse to give you missions or give you one just to ambush you.

If the player dies, gets arrested, or fails an objective during a mission, the mission is failed. If the mission is failed, the player returns back to free roam.

## Environment/Setting

The game takes place in a fictional suburb of Birmingham based on Bromsgrove during a vague part of the late 2000s. The suburban setting is used to emphasize the feeling of living in the suburbs as a "late teens/early 20s trying to make something interesting out of their town because they cant go anywhere more interesting"*(more on that in this article)*. The town, despite it's size, has a good number of neighborhoods and landmarks, such as a high street, working class neighborhood, middle class suburbs, council estates, and a modern industrial park.

The setting, as mentioned above, is a vague part of the late 2000s. Late enough for modern-ish car designs and electronics, but early enough to prevent any mention of current events in a satirical manner because we had enough of that shit in GTA 4 and 5.

## Gameplay

### **Health**

Health comes is the measurement of the physical condition of Erika in the game. It is tracked in-game by a meter in the top right corner of the screen. For example, if Erika is in good health, the meter will be full, as opposed to if she is on the verge of dying, to which the meter will be flashing. If Erika's health depletes entirely, she will respawn at the hospital and any missions she was on will fail.

Picking up first aid kits and saving the game via sleeping in your bed will regenerate your health. Likewise, food and drinks can help restore Erika's health. Buying armor such as helmets and bulletproof vests can also help deter bullet damage.

### **Melee Fighting**

Unlike similar sandbox games, melee fighting is given priority over gunfighting, as is relegated due to the game's UK setting.

The player's fists and a screwdriver are always in their inventory, while other melee weapons like bats, knives, and so forth have to be either bought or found within the map. The player can also disarm enemies and take their melee weapons. The advantage that melee fighting has over guns is that they can be chained together to form deadly combos, including a stomp or kick if an enemy is laying on the ground.

### **Gunplay**

As the game is in third person, the camera will go into an "over-the-shoulder" view when Erika is aiming her gun. Alternatively, the player doesn't have to aim their weapon, resulting in Erika firing her weapon from the hip. This causes the bullets to spray all over the place, due to recoil.

Erika can take cover behind various walls, vehicles, and so forth during gunfights to protect herself from gunfire. Cover works similarly to the cover in "Sleeping Dogs" and other sandbox games, such as the player being able to blind fire, peek out of cover and aim, etc. One drawback about being in cover is that the aim reticle doesn't appear while the plays is either in cover or blind firing. Rather, it only appears when the player is peeking out of cover.

Also worth noting is, perhaps obviously, guns are hard to come across in the game. Either they can only be found inside certain police vehicles or bought from merchants for exorborant prices.

### **Driving**

Driving is a major mechanic in the game, as the map is too large to be transversed only on foot in a timely fashion. Erika's default vehicle, unless another is purchased is a shitty moped, which always spawns at her house. Despite that, the player can also steal vehicles, either parked or occupied.

#### ***Stealing Traffic Cars***

While stealing an occupied vehicle, Erika will open up the driver's door and verbally threaten the driver while pulling him/her out. Erika will almost always attack the driver while pulling them out, either by punching them, hitting their head on the steering wheel, or kicking them if the vehicle is low enough. If the player is attempting to steal a bike, Erika will hold the handlebar with one hand and push/attack the rider with the other hand, knocking the driver off and prompting Erika to get on the motorcycle. Also worth noting is if Erika steals a car with a police badge in her inventory, she flashes it at the driver and falsely claims to be a police officer so she can steal the car without any repercussions.

#### ***Stealing Parked Cars***

If the player chooses to steal a parked car, Erika will first break open the window by banging a screwdriver on the corner of the window, unlocking it from the inside, and finally entering the vehicle. From here, the player has to complete a minigame consisting of hotwiring the vehicle, the process of which depends on what car is being stolen. For example, if it's an older or beater car, the player simply has to jam a screwdriver into the ignition and turn it, while with newer cars the player will have to remove the steering column and twisting the wires around to get the car started.

#### ***Car Damage***

Unlike similar games, the vehicle damage within this game also affects vehicle performance along with visuals. For example, if a car is launched off a ramp and lands improperly, the front end will be bent up and the suspension cracked, leaving it in a difficult state to continue driving. Front end collisions will leave the engine damaged and a loud clunking sound will be heard until the car eventually gives up, and so forth.

#### ***Manual Transmissions***

Like in reality, most of the cars available to the player are fitted with a manual transmission, unless the player finds a moped or imports an American car. Therefore, the player has to manually change gears whilst driving them. It's not as complex as some games have it, just press one button to shift up and another to shift down. Failing to shift into a higher gear will cause the engine to rev loudly and further failure to do so for a long enough period of time will cause the vehicle's transmission to blow, rendering the vehicle inoperable.

### **Inventory**

The inventory is a mechanic in the game which involves how much of an item the player can carry. Erika wears a messenger bag, which is where the player can access their inventory. The messenger bag is able to hold the following:

* **Drugs** - The player can buy and carry drugs in their inventory that they can access any time. The player can also sell drugs to other dealers and people at raves. The drugs and their effects are as follows:
	+ *Adrenaline*- Slows down time and numbs a small amount of pain inflicted on the player.
	+ *Ecstacy*- Increases the potency of music as well as giving the player better awareness of their surroundings by giving NPCs a faint white outline, etc.
	+ *Marijuana*- Slows down Erika's movements as well as causing her to humorously mumble to herself.
	+ *Mushrooms*- Causes hallucinations.
	+ *Painkillers*- Pills that quickly refill the player's health.

* **Weapons**- The player can carry two firearms; one handgun, and one long barrel gun like rifles, shotguns, etc. While she simply keeps the pistol in the waistband of her pants, she has to open up the bag to pull out or put back long barrel guns. The player can also carry other weapons in their bag, such as explosives, melee weapons, and the Screwdriver, which never leaves her inventory. Also, the player can turn over any firearms they may have to the police department in exchange for money

* **Fencable Items**- Some items can be looted from stolen cars or corpses such as jewelry, credit cards, cell phones, and even police badges. These can be sold to fences who work with each gang for more money. However, how much you can make depends on the player's standing with the gang.

* **Police Radio -**Like the fencable items listed above, the player can yank a police radio out of a police car, which can be used to tune into police chatter to hear what the police have to say about their exploits, as well as other chatter.

* **License Plates** - The player can steal license plates off cars by approaching the front & rear of a car with a screwdriver equipped. Conversely, they can apply new plates onto cars by doing the same method if license plates are in their inventory. However, driving without license plates/driving a stolen car without changing the plates will give the player a wanted level if a cop sees them.

* **Mission Items -**Some missions involve you having to carry or deliver something from point A to B. They go in your inventory.

If the player is arrested or killed, they lose everything in their inventory, save for the screwdriver. If the player wishes to discard anything in their inventory they either bought or stolen, they can do so by putting it in the closet at a safehouse. This is especially useful since space in the inventory is finite, so it's essential to, for example, remove a long barrel firearm to fit a police scanner into the bag. However, some items in the inventory take up little to no space, such as license plates or bottles/small plastic bags of drugs.

### **Police/Gang Mechanics**

#### ***Wanted Level***

Much like similar games, this game also has wanted levels to judge the law enforcement's hostility to the player based on their actions. They are as follows:

* ***One Star***: The police in the immediate area will pursue the player.
* ***Two Stars***: Additional police units are called in to pursue the player.
* ***Three Stars***: A police helicopter joins the pursuit.
* ***Four Stars***: Much better equipped Armed Units join the pursuit, who shoot the player on sight.

#### ***Police pursuing the player***

Unlike other similar games, the police in this game will actually pursue the player if they witness them committing a crime. The police actually chase the player on foot or with their police car, the latter of which won't "rubberband" itself into the player's vehicle, instead opting to follow it at speed. Police helicopters also join the chase on higher wanted levels. It won't pose a threat if the player doesn't pose one to it, only shining a spotlight over the player and only firing on the player if the player threatens the police.

As mentioned above, and again unlike similar games, the police aren't trigger happy. When they're pursuing the player, they will try to bring them in alive and will only shoot to kill the player if the player pulls out a gun on the officers or citizens.

***FRANK'S SAY ON IT***

ok so the wanted system will work like this player does crime, in this example it will be something small and twatty like smashing a car up any police roaming as street peds run to the player and grapple them (which will be only like half what the visible cop density is in the average GTA game cos police aren't as commonly seen on the streets of britain as gta games depict america)

if the first grapple is successful, the player cannot move and is being held by the copper while they radio for backup, during this moment the player can buttonmash a button as the act of resisting arrest and that plays an animation of either wriggling free or kicking the copper in the bollocks, then the players wanted level equivalent increases such that the next time a copper grabs you its basically game over (similar to bullys "you can resist once" mechanic)

also, if the player does something bigger like steals a car, they would get a higher wanted level equivalent than just smashing a car and chased by police cars, this would be a wanted level high enough to probably not allow the player to resist, however that could vary depending on how the actual experience is to play once we have enough progress to have a playable dev build

#### ***Heat***

Heat dictates how gangs and law enforcement in the game interact with the player. Accessed through Erika's phone, the Heat tab displays your standing with various gangs in game and the pressure you are under by law enforcement. The variables that add to heat are obvious to the player: rampaging in the projects will score you major problems with the Chavs. Their dealers will refuse to buy from you and fences associated with that gang will pay you poorly. Regulaly pursued by police? Expect your Police Heat to soar and police aggression to double. Police Heat max out? You're stuck with an APB. The full effects of heat on gameplay are as follows:

* Gang Heat
	+ ***Negative 1***: Gang becomes hostile. They will work to surround and beat you in their turf.
	+ ***Negative 2***: Gangs will shoot on sight you're in their territory.
	+ ***Negative 3***: Gangs will hunt you down and attempt to kill you.
	+ ***Positive 1***: Gang will defend you. If cops chase you through their neighbourhood, they will fire upon them.
	+ ***Positive 2***: Gang will lease out backup to you.
	+ ***Positive 3***: Gang will favour your business. Buy prices increased, sell costs decreased.

* Police Heat
	+ ***Level 1***: Undercover police will tail you.
	+ ***Level 2***: Police will raid your apartment and crack down on your associates.
	+ ***Level 3***: An APB will be issued on you, which won't go away until you're either arrested or killed.

The gang heat can be decreased by bribing an official within the gang who you have negative heat with. Police heat can either go away with time or bribing the receptionist at the police station.

#### ***Jail***

Whenever the player is arrested, they are placed in a jail cell at the local police station. There, the player can either:

* Pay a $500 bond and be set free, albeit with all weapons taken away.
* Escape by climbing through a broken window at the cost of getting Level 3 Heat again.

## Art/Sound

### **Art**

The game's artstyle is heavily reminiscent of lowpoly III-era GTA games. The cars & characters are no more than 4,000 polys, and the buildings are even less.

### **Sound**

The menu & background music *(if any background music is a thing)* will be based on synth-driven downtempo, much like Boards of Canada and Tycho, to emphasize the feeling of isolation of the game map. As far as the radio music goes, just click and read the thing to the right for what I'm thinking

## Interface

Something similar to GTA 3 ill fill this out later.