Game Concept Assignment - Warspite Devlog

Warspite » Devlog

2 years ago by OKVirtue

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Warspite Concept DevLog

Working Title: Warspite

Concept Statement:

Command the titular battleship Warspite and battle your way through the Atlantic and Mediterranean. Sink ships and avoid submarines while teaching those pesky Germans a lesson in naval supremacy.

Genre:

Warspite is a top down action game, similar to shoot ‘em up style arcade games where the player has to fight in and endless battle against increasing numbers of enemies and collect upgrades to fight harder.

Concept Creation:

I’ve always had a fascination with boats, ships and other nautical themed things, especially huge warships because of the sheer scale and power they represent. There were a few influences behind the idea I ended up going with for my game, namely Vampire Survivors and 20 Minutes Till Dawn, two recently released games on Steam that are based around surviving against and endless horde of enemies, both top down with a pixel-art style. Warspite will be significantly slower paced compared to the two examples given but in the same general genre.

For example, at the start of the game there will be fewer enemies spawning, and they will be smaller and weaker. As far as warship-themed enemies go, smaller weak enemies will be frigates or destroyers, gradually gaining size and strength until you are facing ships of the same size as the player, dealing and taking more damage.

As enemy ships increase in class, their guns will get bigger, and their armour will be thicker. Despite a ships armour, all enemies will have a weak spot where you can hit to deal extra damage.

Enemies will semi-rarely drop upgrades for your ship, increasing your speed, power and protection. For example, picking up an armour upgrade will make It so your ship takes less damage, or conversely if you pick up a damage powerup, your shells will be able to punch through thicker armour and deal more damage.

Another inspiration was the ship the game is based on: HMS Warspite. A Battleship serving in the royal navy throughout both world wars which frequently fought against the odds and came out victorious, somehow sustaining surprisingly little damage in the process. In modern culture it has been given the reputation of a videogame protagonist in that it can somehow come out on top in seemingly one sided fights.

20 Minutes Till Dawn – flanne, 2022, Steam

Audience and Competitive Analysis:

While there is a very wide audience for shoot em up style games, especially after the success of a few indie releases in the past year or so, Warspite is also aimed at people who have a shared interest in naval-themed games, which are admittedly few and far between, Wargaming’s World of Warships being by far the biggest, except it is a much more complicated game. Age-wise the game would likely be PG because of the general theme of war and the inherent violence associated with it, even if it isn’t graphic. Competition for Warspite would likely come from the games I have previously mentioned as the conceptual inspirations.

Game Treatment and Concept Art

Setting

You are the captain of the famous battleship Warspite and it is up to you to fight back against the German Kriegsmarine and turn the tides in the war on the ocean. You have been spotted by an enemy fleet, vastly larger than your own. Will you go down guns blazing or will you break their line and come out victorious?

Gameplay

Warspite takes place on a 2D Ocean arena map, the player will spawn on one side, and enemies will continuously spawn for the player to attack. Rarely, enemy submarines will also target the player with torpedoes, which cannot be destroyed and will have to be dodged in order to survive, one or two hits from an enemy torpedo is enough to sink the player’s ship. Larger enemy ships will have a chance to drop upgrades to assist the player.

Sound Effects

There will be sound effects for most in game events such as cannon fire, shell impact, ships exploding, etc. If possible they will be self-made/mixed sound effects.

Design and Concept Art

Warspite will take place on a 2D ocean from a top down perspective. Every ship will have guns split into individual turrets, in the player’s case the turrets will follow the mouse, and in the case of enemies, their turrets will follow the players location. Ships will have their sprites rotate based on velocity. There will be a relatively simple menu with a play button and possibly a leaderboard, options and potentially a “character” selection menu.

Above is a potential sprite for the player’s ship, a bare hull with a turret as a separate sprite to make animation easier

Work in progress menu art, sprite work not my work, mainly serves as a proof of concept.

Crude concept art of game scene In unity showing how enemies will spawn off screen and move into the player’s view

Mechanics

Ship movement will be done by accelerating and decelerating with W and S, and controlling rudder movement with A and D.

Firing the ship’s main guns will be done by aiming the turrets with the mouse and then firing with mouse 1

Upgrades can be gained by killing certain enemies, which will buff the player in various ways. As time progresses enemies will become stronger and spawn in larger groups.

Once every few minutes an enemy submarine will launch a salvo of torpedoes at the player which cannot be destroyed and have to be dodged otherwise the player will take huge damage.

Enemies can also drop repair kits to allow the player to recover lost health.