What is Derelict? (Part II: Gameplay and Mechanics)

We continue our journey to the introduction of Derelict with the presentation of the GamePlay and the game mechanics. If you are an avid gamer you will be familiar with most of the mechanics that will be described in this post. The game will be based upon mechanics that have been used for several years, and that proven to be quite successful among the gaming community.

2. Gameplay and Mechanics

2.1. GamePlay

2.1.1. Game Progression

There is no progression as a story point of view, there is a base story that gives the game setup, else it will be a pure competitive game based on leaderboards for the different game types. The player can improve his times and gain new achievements.

2.1.2. Game Difficulty

To give the game high re-playability the difficulty is “endless”, meaning that the HP and the Damage of the mobs will take into consideration the level of the mission, that will be picked by the player.

The HP and Damage will be generated based on an algorithm that uses the #mission_difficulty_number  as a main reference.

 2.1.3. Achievements

There will be an achievement system in order to increase the replayability of the game. The player will be able to check the achievement progress and the ones that are locked/unlocked. When the player completes it will be shown on the center of the screen that the player has earned that achievement.

2.2. Mechanics

2.2.1. Movement

The game will use standard FPS / 3rd person game keys, as described below.

2.2.1.1. General Movement

The game will use the mouse and the keyboard, the player will use the mouse to look around and the WSAD keys for the other movement.

  • W – Move Forward
  • S – Move backwards
  • A – Strafe Left
  • D – Strafe Right

The player will be able to look around/aim using the mouse.

2.2.1.2. Other Movement

There will be no additional movement, jump was considered but in order to make the game play more simple to the player that layer of complexity was dropped.

2.2.2. Objects

The player will have a range of objects he can pick and use to increase his odds of finishing the mission in the least amount of time. They range from powerups to new weapons (in-depth look the items section)

2.2.2.1. Picking up Objects

The player just needs to pass over and object to pick that object. The object will only be picked it it makes sense, meaning, if the player is full HP the game will deny the possibility of the player to pick HP, same goes for ammunition.

3.2.2.2. Using picked Objects

The user will have a set of keys to use the different weapons that he picks up, as well as the power ups. Some powerups will be activated when the player picks them from the ground, others he will be able to use later on.

  • 1 – Weapon Slot 1
  • 2 – Weapon Slot 2
  • E – Use power Up
  • Q – Use Item in Slot 1.

2.2.3. Actions

2.2.3.1. Switches, Buttons, and Keypads

Certain parts of the levels may be locked, and may need to be open from a remote location or the player will need to pick up the key that will allow him to access that part of the level.

2.2.4. Combat

The player will engage in real time combat, by pressing the attack button and using ammunition and special abilities. Enemies will also attack the player, either ranged or melee.

2.2.5. Special Abilities

Each class will have one special ability that can be used any time of the level, but that has a cooldown. When the level resets the cooldown also resets, but when the user re-spawns the cooldown remains the same (time attack mode).

2.2.6. Number of locations

The game will take place on 3 different locations, derelict spaceships, derelict space stations and derelict bases on planets surface.

2.2.7. Number of Levels

The game will have a total of 9 different levels at release.

2.2.8. Number of Classes

The game will have 4 different classes that the player will be able to choose from. Each of the classes will have unique traits, from different speeds to different HP and damage.

2.2.9. Number of Weapons

The game will have 8 different weapons at release, 2 for each class.

2.2.10. Number of Power Ups

The game will have 5 different Power ups.

2.2.11. Number of Special Abilities

Each class will have special abilities unique to each of the classes. They will be detailed in the class section

On the next post about “What is Derelict?” we will talk about: Story, Characters, Classes And Enemies.

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