Amsterdam

**Name and Student no: Elan Elangovan (1704391)**

**Story World – Character Design**

**Hub:** Amsterdam

**Events that defined characters in the city:**

Amsterdam being a city that had minimal influence of the silk road took less damage than most of the apocalyptic cities. The supernatural beings were yet to fully destroy the cities and turn into their own terms of rule, like in the original era. The gifted on the other hand split due to the chaos caused by their uncontrollable powers and the choice they chose. The Gifted that felt guilt of the chaos they caused formed a group called the moderators and the rest of them split into groups based on the mythical powers they possessed. With city surviving just about, it had a load of travelers that were looking to grab any opportunity to survive in the city. Nonetheless they also faced lot of troubles wherever they decided to hole up.

The meaning of the name (as powerful as an Eagle) suggests Aart is a strong character. Aart is a traveller and a gifted who was brought up by a Dutch family outside of the Netherlands in eastern Europe. His city being fully destroyed he fought is way out of there trying to save as many people as he can but miserably failing and scavenging out of there with his sister Dafne and his best friend (Sidekick) Robin Dtzuch. The group head onto Amsterdam as they hear there is still a chance of civilization surviving in their hometown. Aart thrives to survive and protect of those he cares about as long as he can.

**Role in Gameplay and Connection to the plot:**

Aart will be constantly travelling and looking for supplies to survive. Although he is a gifted that became enchanted, he has managed to learn to control the power that he has which is Mind control. Aart is able to control other people’s minds and manipulate them but his power is not enough to control the supernatural beings.

The player plays as Aart travelling along the way encountering and clearing dragon's lairs, bridges embargoed by trolls, mischievous forest spirits, unstable Gifted and so on. Aart will use people that he meets such as Alberton, Reita and other characters that will be of use to him throughout the game.

Born and raised in Utrecht, a small town near Amsterdam, he had a sharp eye for exotics since young age. Lost his family during a Dragon attack while they were travelling across eastern Europe. Alberton barely managed to escape and hole up in Amsterdam. He moved to Amsterdam just before the break of the apocalypse due to the climate change.

Amsterdam being a home for most exotic items he immediately took advantage of the situation to start collecting ingredients. Facing the outbreak, he learns about the drugs that can be used to moderate the powers of the gifted. The naive man is no other than the one who manages a group of gifted people to manufacture dis-enchanters. He gives jobs to gifted people to collect the required items needed for manufacturing dis-enchanters.

**Connection to Plot:**

After splitting up into a group the moderators were very unsure how to get themselves a lot of dis-enchanters. Most of them saw stealing as the only option but it proved very risky as the Evil groups that didn’t want to control their powers were on a mission to cause chaos and more than that they were very keen on killing the moderators, just unleashing their powers and not even caring about the destruction it did to the world. Alberton Wasp was the first to discover that the dis-enchanters can be crafted with limited supplies of certain exotic items. So, the moderators turned to him for help which made him a considerable character in the city of Amsterdam. Even though he thought very high of himself the moderators looked up to him more like a shopkeeper where they could buy drugs and other items.

**Role in Gameplay:**

The shopkeeper or crafter that makes the dis-enchanters and other useful items in the game if the player provides him the perfect materials for him to craft. The player can also use him to level up certain tonics which will improve the time that lasts grants more control over their powers. The Alberton also has a leveling up system which will automatically happen when the player finds the right ingredients and gives it to him for each set of drugs he wants to manufacture.

Reita being one of those who has suffered a lot from the Re-enchantment chose to be a moderator trying to learn to control her powers. Reita has multiple powers such as turning invisible and being able to control air and water. Reita’s power turned highly chaotic which led to her killing her own family. She couldn’t live with herself and tried to kill herself. She was tended to cure by Alberton and since then she has been a moderator trying to fight herself and for the little goodness that was left in this world.

**Connection to the plot and Role in gameplay:**

Reita is a main collector of exotics and she travels outside into the wilderness unlike other moderators in search for them. On travel she meets Aart and finds him interesting being able to control his powers. She sees him as a source of collecting dis-enchanters because the only way she knows how to control the powers is by consuming them. They have conflict but they get together once she learns more about Aart. The dynamic between the two characters is strong as Reita feels guilt for killing her own family because she couldn’t control her powers, seeing Aart controlling his powers makes her bring out the deepest emotions in her. The use of one character’s past and the other’s present creates a dynamic connection between them in the storyworld.

**Evil Groups:**

**The Behemoth Force:** The Behemoth force posses the power of destroying things with brute force. The think that they can be accepted in the supernatural world if they destroy everything and prove them their worth. The player will be encountering them as enemies while they play as moderators and travelers.

**Venom Squad:** These bunch of gifted who can’t control the toxicity in them tries to kill all the moderators by poisoning them. Their main target is Alberton as he has the remedies and the means to hold them effectively.

**Skinners:** The Skinners possess firepower plus they are cannibals who would eat anything that they can burn. The Skinners think that they can actually overcome the supernatural beings and take over the world. They have already proved that they are the strongest among the gifted who chose to be chaotic**.**

**Mission Design Amsterdam hub (Elan Elangovan 1704391)**

**Mission Name:** Trip to paradise

**Minimum Level requirement:** 1

**Characters Involved:**

Aart Schippers, Dafne Schippers, Robin Dtzuch and Members of Behemoth force

**Information about mission:**

Aart travels in search of a place to live with his sister and friend after losing his parents to the massacre by supernatural beings in the city. He runs into the notorious gang called the Behemoth Force. The members of the gang try to rob and kill them for supplies.

**Objectives:**

Aart has to protect Dafne and Robin and be careful not to lose supplies. Aart uses his known powers to take the gang that tries to rob them and keeps traveling west to the city

**Optional Objectives:**

* ·       Defeat all the enemies without taking damage.
* ·       Drive to the city without losing supplies.
* ·       Complete within 6 minutes

**Reward:**

* ·       200 Experience points
* ·       Gang Info
* ·       Disenchanter (level 1)

**Mission Name:** City of Survivalists.

**Minimum Level requirement:** 2

**Characters Involved:**

Aart Schippers, Dafne Schippers, Robin Dtzuch and Alberton Wasp.

**Information about mission:**

Aart and his acquaintance make their way to Amsterdam. Aart learns about the moderators and sees good in them. He decides to help them in the time being. He comes across Alberton Wasp. As he usually does Alberton asks Aart to find some items that will help him make powerful disenchanters.

**Objectives:**

Aart should search the first set of exotic items and provide them to Alberton.

**Optional Objectives:**

* ·       Find the items within 4 minutes.
* ·       Don’t get spotted while retrieving the plume
* ·       Finish within 7 minutes**.**

**Reward:**

* ·       250 experience points.
* ·       Disenchanter (level 1).
* ·       Ability upgrade. (Level 1 – 2)

**Mission Name:** Person of Interest

**Minimum level requirement:** 2

**Characters Involved:** Aaron Schippers, Reita Skies, The Behemoth Force

**Information about mission:**

Alberton asks Aaron to go fetch a ‘snake oil’ (Item used for producing moderators). Aaron finds out that the last supply of snake oil was robbed by the Behemoth force in the forest nearby. Aaron goes to check where he meets Reita Skies as she finds something interesting the members of behemoth force is talking about.

**Objective:**

Aaron is tasked to pair with Reita and infiltrate the camp and recover the items. He should also find the secret stash which contains the information on the location of a dragon lair.

**Optional Objectives:**

* ·       Find the stash within 1 minute.
* ·       Retrieve the snake oil stash by controlling one’s mind.

**Reward:**

* ·       250 experience points
* ·       Snake oil
* ·       Disenchanter (level 2).

   **Hub Linking - Moscow Trade Route [Robbie Peden - 1701176]**

  Due to the level Cap in Amsterdam the player will be limited also with what is available at that market. Having a Moscow distributor in Amsterdam will add a lot to the Amsterdam Hub. It will allow the players to get a taste of what is to come in the game, reward players who have done well and saved to gain more powerful equipment and generate an artificial economy for the game to make it feel more real and alive. Prices will be doubled when in Amsterdam if the player wishes to purchase them due to the difficulty smuggling goods over the border. This will limit player from steamrolling the early game but also allow them to use powerful equipment if they are struggling. I have included just an example of the price difference in the Amsterdam market compared to the actual Moscow hub. The market will also be useful in the later game as some players will be able to use these interlinking markets to purchase exclusive materials for that region in Amsterdam to save them the travel time however the price will be fixed so it is up to the player whether they want to spend double to save them the time. The other benefit of this market is that when selling to this vendor the price will be increased by 10% as your good are more valuable in Amsterdam and save the distributor from smuggling the goods over the border and into the hub.

## Technology - Flood Barriers [Jeremy Totten - 1804685]

During the climate crisis that devastated the planet throughout the 21st century, the Netherlands, and particularly Amsterdam, suffered greatly from rising sea levels, being approximately two levels below sea level at the beginning of the century only to end up 20 meters below sea level nearing the century's end. In order to counter this predicament, engineers were commissioned by the government to construct a giant flood barrier in order to prevent the ocean from seeping its way into the city. The engineering team, known as the Ingenieurs van Hoop ("Engineers of Hope" in English), built a massive wall along the coast of the Netherlands that could be raised and lowered through a series of secret codes and switches, activated by multiple people coordinating simultaneously, so as to prevent just anyone from accidentally letting the ocean water in or, in a worst case scenario, purposely sabotaging the barriers in order to create chaos and destruction.

Thankfully, the barriers were able to be constructed in a relatively short amount of time. However, it wasn't ideal, as the water levels did get dangerously close to deadly. Hundreds of homes were completely washed away by the ocean, coastal towns were made unlivable, and beach fronts drew further inland. Fortunately, the fatalities were minimal.

Amsterdam was seen as an essential city by the government of the Netherlands and requested a second wall be built around the city in case the first one somehow failed. However, this was met with criticism from the public who lived outside the city and created a massive divide among the people. The Netherlands eventually put it up to a vote which overwhelmingly went against building the second wall, so the second wall was never constructed.

...At least, that's what the public were made to believe by the government while the project went underway, despite the clear disapproval from the people of the country. In secret, this team of highly paid engineers constructed the second wall underground, only to be risen to the surface in the event that the first wall were to be destroyed somehow.

These flood barriers were one of the most effectively constructed projects near the end of the 21st century due to the lack of attention from monsters in the country, due to the low profile the city of Amsterdam managed to keep during the rise of the supernatural beings.

## **Character Design [Rob Brown – 1700406]**

Given that several group members are contributing towards the character design of this story hub, I’m tailoring my contribution towards NPCs who serve the purpose of providing world-building context rather than any direct tasking.

**Adam Bjersorn**

Adam has been travelling through the different hubs of civilization since the re-enchantment. A loner since before the world ended, he found letting go of the notion of the survival of his loved ones to be frighteningly easy. While he recognized that his old ties were gone, he began obsessing with making a new name for himself by trying to chart the new world by land. His travels have given him knowledge of the many different methods that the cities have employed to continue existing, some of which have rattled his morality and furthered his hermit mentality.

While Adam has been able to harness powers like the Gifted, his travels have ingrained a deep sense of moderation into him, as such he has only deigned to even attempt to use his powers in situations that would otherwise cost many lives. His travels have also allowed him to diversify the form of his powers, loosely understanding how to apply them across several contexts.

Due to his exposure to the various cultures created by the
re-enchantment, Adam is inclusive in his vision of a rebuilt civilisation, extending this outlook right until the Behemoth Force and Skinners come into play (their lack of conscientiousness is what he believes to drive the chaos of the new world). He is dedicated to this belief to the point that he’d willingly sacrifice himself if it would mean as little as peace for Amsterdam.

Often situated near the eastern edge of what used to be Vondelpark, Adam serves as a vendor and will have his dialogue change based upon key events around Amsterdam. He quickly recognises the significance of the player. Regardless of their decisions prior to meeting him, Adam will try to act as a moral compass for the player; befriending the player if their beliefs align and respectfully trying to sway the player otherwise. The player can recruit Adam to assist him on certain missions, provided they are persuasive enough to convince Adam of the merits of the task.

**Soren Larrsen**

Soren operates as an active single unit, having turned pre-enchantment military history into an obsession of his. When the re-enchantment came, Soren was months away from his dream of enlisting in the military; meaning that when the last of the traditional government systems fell, Soren was left without anything to house his desire to serve a higher cause. For a while he tried to find a group that would represent his old-world ideals of territorialism, patriotism and loyalty to an idea, as opposed to loyalty to those immediately around him.

Soren actively distrusts the Gifted, putting him at odds with the more inclusive nature of Amsterdam. He despises Arcane Scientists for what he sees as devotion to an idea that is antithetical to his vision of a rebuilt society. It should be made clear to the player that Soren doesn’t quite understand the change in paradigm that the re-enchantment brought about as he constantly pursues ideals that are completely incompatible with the more even-tempered sensibilities of the post-re-enchantment unionists.

Within the game world, Soren will occasionally make an appearance in the more war-torn areas, always willing to help the player fight against the Gifted (provided he isn’t aware if/that the player is one), turning hostile to the player (with fair warning) should he discover them.

Any NPC’s aware of Soren will express their distaste for what they see as a washed-up idealist who should have perished with the old world, an alienation that only fed his obsession. Open affiliation with Soren will lead to many NPC’s slightly disapproving of the player. A player well versed in navigating his dialogue will be able to sway him to a more realistic perspective after accompanying him on a quest to the ruins of a military compound, providing a chance to expose the cowardice and corruption that led to the destruction of the pre-enchantment military.

## Character Design: Amsterdam [Andy Fong 1703189]

Eduardo – Eduardo is one of the very young characters from Rotterdam who were gifted with powers. He decided to move from Rotterdam to
Amsterdam because his home town was destroyed by the ancient monsters and his only thought was to move to Amsterdam because of how popular the city is, and he believes he can grow a live there. He’s young and extremely impatient and has decided to use the specially developed drug ‘disenchanters’, which gives him
the side effect of being partially blind for a while. Eduardo’s special gift
allows him to make people forget about meeting him, which basically makes him non-existent as no one can ever remember encountering him. He hopes through
using his powers, he can find out more about what happened to his village and
who was behind the idea of destroying his family town.

The player will control Eduardo and use his powers to
protect him and Melody. They will also use his powers to find out why the ancient monsters decided to destroy Rotterdam and who was behind the master plan.

Melody – Melody is also from Rotterdam but unfortunately isn’t gifted with any superpowers. She decided to leave Rotterdam because all her family members were killed from the destruction by the ancient monsters. She only decided to move to Amsterdam because she met Eduardo after the destruction and believes he’s the only one she can trust because she has no one else left in her life. The reason why Melody and Eduardo link up together well is because Eduardo informed Melody of his powers and his decision of taking the drug, so Melody also needs to look out for Eduardo because when he is blind due to the side effects of the drugs, he is extremely weak and can easily become a target by others. She hopes that through the help of Eduardo, she and him can
help improve Rotterdam and build a new town where the ancient monster had
destroyed Rotterdam. Through the path she goes to helping Eduardo, she
discovers the drugs that are being made and the effects they have on people.

The player will control Melody and will have to control her
to help protect Eduardo and gain materials and friendship from other players who will be needed in order for her to build her new town in Rotterdam.

Thanco – Thanco is a legendary monster who was part of the
plan of destroying Rotterdam. The ancient monster has powers which allow him to go invisible for a certain amount of time. His part of the story is that he continuously wants to destroy things and is addicted to destruction and death. Thanco doesn’t have any alliances because he got so badly addicted to destruction and death, he decided to kill all the people who helped him. He hopes to continue to travel to other cities/ towns and continue to kill innocent people. His powers get drained very easily which he needs to go to his base and regain energy from. The reason why Thanco connects to the other two characters is because they are in the search for the person behind the destruction and Thanco is that person who was behind it all and he needs to make sure they don’t find him.

The player will control Thanco to destroy certain cities and towns and at the same time make sure people who were affected by his decisions don’t find him by using his powers.

## **Level Design: Rembrandt Tower [Morgaine Jones - 1701700]**

### **Tower History**

While wondering around the town, the player can come across the once popular skyscraper 'Rembrandt Tower'. After the Re-Enchantment the building was mostly abandoned, leaving it to slowly decay and crumble. Once the city started getting back on its feet though, some people decided to make some use of the monumental building. A few floors were cleared, allowing certain office spaces to be used again. People were thrown back into work, using whatever access to internet they can get to complete their jobs. With the Re-Enchantment having caused many to completely change their lives though, very few of the original workers have returned to the building. The lack of workers has caused whoever did decide to come back to quintuple their workload, leaving all drowning in paperwork.

### **Entrance**

Entering this building, the player will immediately be met with a receptionist asking what they want. The player must use their dialogue skills to persuade the receptionist into letting them inside. There will be different options for the player to say and depending on the answers chosen they can enter different areas first.

* **Flirting =** Flirting with the receptionist will get them to give the player a key to the boss's office, with the promise to meet them after work is over.
* **Threatening =** With a few choice words, the receptionist will be cowering at the player's feet. They will give the player all thekeys, but a single wrong move later on will get the receptionist kicking them out immediately.
* **Persuasion =** Coming up with a convincing lie will allow the player access into the building. The receptionist will think the player is a new janitor and give them keys to all janitor cupboards and private office rooms.
* **Failure =** Failing all of the dialogue paths will get the receptionist kicking the player out of the building, barring all entry until the next day.

### **Boss's Office**

This room will be locked and needs a key to get in. With the boss being inside the room during the day, the player must come back at night to get inside. Behind one of the paintings there is a safe that holds many useful items to the player such as large health and mana potions, money, expensive clothes, and a high-level power weapon.

Completing the Missing Stapler mission will give the player a key to the safe. After getting into the office, there will be one of two situations triggered:

* If the player succeeded in flirting with the receptionist earlier, they will be there waiting for them. After a brief exchange, the receptionist will reveal the safe's location and offer for the player to do whatever they want with the contents (*they're not the biggest fan of the stuck-up boss*). Finding out there is a code required too, the player has to collect clues around the room to get access. After getting the items from the safe, the receptionist will say "Well with that done..." and the screen will fade black. The player will then find themselves back in the entrance area with no one else there. There will be a lipstick mark on the player's cheek that will disappear after a day.
* The room will be empty, and the player is free to explore however they wish. There will be a code alongside needing the key to the safe, with the numbers scattered in hints around the room. The player has to collect the clues to get access.

### **Janitor Cupboards**

Within these cupboards, the player can find lots of different useful items. In some there will be keys to other rooms, while in others there can be health potions, lockpicking sets, change of clothes, quest items, etc.

### **Offices - Level 1**

This floor will mainly be lined with private office rooms, with an open space in the middle filled with office desks. Most of the rooms will be blocked off or empty, and only a few people at the desks as well. At one of these desks, the player can find an NPC called Charles. Charles is the most mundane, average person the player has ever met. After talking a bit, he will reveal how the work has quintupled since the Re-Enchantment. The overload of work has made everything unorganised since he was last here, and now he can't find his specific stapler anywhere. The player is then assigned the quest to find the Missing Stapler somewhere in the building.

### **Offices - Level 2**

The second level is similar to the first, with private offices lining the walls and an open space in the centre for office desks. A lot more of the private office spaces are useable here, with more people using them. The different people each have their own problems needing solved. Maybe helping them out with their problems will make them give the player a favour in return?

### **Offices - Level 5**

With this floor in not as much use as the other floors, this one is only half available due to uninhabitable or blocked off areas. It is a mixture of conference rooms and private offices in here, but most still locked. The player has to find the keys scattered over the building to access the rooms. (*In one of the conference rooms, the player can find the missing stapler*).

### **Offices - Level 7**

Most of the floor is comprised of private offices here, with the Boss's Office at the end of the winding corridors. The people on this floor believe themselves to be really important, and don't like unnecessary talking. Distracting them repeatedly could cause them to get angry at the player and kick them out of the building. Threatening the receptionist from earlier will backfire at this point.