Elevator Pitch
ZENITH is a side-scrolling roguelite platformer immersed in a post-apocalyptic science fiction world. You play as Zero, who must discover a way to cure the android virus—or destroy the androids once and for all.
Concept
ZENITH, while having a heavy emphasis on its fighting mechanics, is equally story driven. The very mechanics the player elects to play with have a great impact on the story itself. Mechanic-wise, the player has the option as they progress to graft cybernetic enhancements onto Zero, making them significantly stronger. These cybernetic enhancements alter things like amount of damage, damage type, speed, and health. However, this comes with a catch—add on too many cybernetic enhancements, and you run the risk of becoming an android yourself. The player may find themselves having to resist android control over their own bodies if they aren’t careful.
Narratively, you play as Zero, a member of the NAIL faction (No Artificial Intelligence Left). Tasked by the NAIL Captain to find a way to destroy androids, you are sent into Entech HQ to find a kill switch—whatever that might be. Along the way, Zero may learn that NAIL’s goals are not entirely humane. Zero has the option to run into the Vultures—another faction less concerned with wiping out all the androids, and more focused on searching for a cure. Zero is then faced with a decision—stay with NAIL and eradicate the androids, or join the Vulture’s search for a cure (if it even exists)?
Core Gameplay Loop
Due to the nature of a roguelite, the player will often find themselves dying and restarting many times throughout the course of the game. The core of the game, then, is creating newer and more powerful builds on every reset the player experiences. Exploration and curiosity are at the center of ZENITH—the player must learn new and inventive combinations in order to survive.
Game Objective
ZENITH has multiple end goals, as outlined in the concept of the game. Ultimately, there are two major endings the player can attempt to achieve: wipe out the androids or try and save them. Both endings, however, revolve around the exploration of Entech HQ and eventually confronting the perpetrator of the virus itself: ES8-10.
Art Style
The art style will be a gritty, sketchy portrayal of a dark cyberpunk style. There will be a heavy emphasis on darker colors, with pops of bright neon light (blues, yellows, and oranges). In-game dialogue will be accompanied by portraits of each character, echoing the same design ideas as those in the environments. While there may be some pops of warmer colors, a majority of the game will have a cooler color palette to bring out more of the horror elements of the game.
A majority of environmental art will be centered on Entech HQ, since that is where the game primarily takes place. Entech, being the creators of the androids, has been mysteriously preserved while the rest of the area has fallen into ruin. That isn’t to say the building itself is in perfect condition—in fact, many androids have begun to use it as a base of operations, with establishments similar to that of military checkpoints within the building itself. The deeper down the player explores, the more obvious the android influence on the environment is. Here are some reference images from Halo 3 ODST, Dead Space, and Signalis respectfully.
Influences and References
Because this game pulls so much inspiration from many different genres, there is a lot of references that spawned some of the ideas for the game as well. One of the bigger influences was the Cyberpunk RED table-top RPG. That game had some of the original ideas surrounding cybernetic enhancements, and essentially losing yourself to technology. Another notable influence was the game Dead Cells, purely for the style in which the game is presented—it operates as a roguelike, with platformer/shooter mechanics. Finally, I would be remiss if I did not mention my inspiration from Dead Space, which perfectly encapsulates a horror science fiction setting with an oppressive atmosphere—something I aim to mimic throughout ZENITH. In fact, I plan on designing a lot of the different androids similarly to how Dead Space presents the Necromorphs.
Genre and Target Audience
As I mentioned before, this will be predominantly a horror roguelite. Because of the mature content often found in many horror games, the target audience will be towards a more mature group (18 years or older). The game itself will consist of platforming and shooting to defeat enemies. Because of this, it would be wise to market to those that are already fans of either (or both) genres.
MVP (Minimum Viable Product) Goals
The minimum requirements to make this game fun would be implementing the fighting system, as well as a good movement system to make platforming feel good and exciting to do. Some enemy variety would add to the replay-ability of the game, as well as make the combat in the game more complex. On top of this, offering a few power-ups (cybernetic enhancements) to allow even more variety in how they might play the game circles back to the core concept of the game; so, it is critical that at least a few of those power-ups are included.
Player Design
Currently, Zero is a purposefully androgynous character so a wider player base might be able to identify with them (similar to how Link is designed in Breath of the Wild). Their appearance is subject to change as the player chooses to add or subtract cybernetic enhancements, but their base design is relatively simple. They are denoted by their crystal blue-eyes and dark, straight hair. They have a tan complexion and often wear darker clothes. Since Zero starts as a member of NAIL, they start out wearing a NAIL uniform. This may be subject to change as the player progresses through the game—since again, Zero’s appearance has the chance to change drastically depending on how the player chooses to play.
Without any enhancements, Zero can run, jump once, punch, and shoot. Depending on the enhancement, Zero will gain the ability to double-jump, grapple enemies, or alter the types of their attack completely (flamethrowers, electric shock, iron snares, etc.). Here are a few reference images, including Elster from Signalis, Leon Kennedy from the Resident Evil 4 remake, and V from Cyberpunk 2077.
Enemy and Obstacle Design
The main obstacle/enemy throughout ZENITH is the androids. Depending on the stage of the virus, there can be a lot of variety in how the androids appear and fight. It is also possible that the player will have to fight members of NAIL or Vulture, depending on which side they decide to join. It should be noted that there are two kinds of androids currently—series 1 and series 2. The only critical difference is that series 1 androids will always become infected. Series 2 is capable of suppressing the virus depending on how strong they are. The ZENITH Virus stages are as follows (pulled from the GitHub):
Stage 1: Symptoms include lack of verbal speech, highly mechanical and stiff movement, and black "eyes" (optic sensors). Androids do not make an effort to hide the fact that they are an Android, or that they carry the virus. Androids in this stage are slow-moving, but still highly dangerous. It is advised to keep a good distance between any Android with black eyes. Close contact with an android in this stage isn't guaranteed to be fatal unless in large numbers.
Stage 2: Symptoms include all symptoms of stage 1, but additionally, they have developed patrolling tendencies. As a result, their speed increased moderately. Another peculiar symptom of stage 2 is leakage via the optic sensors. They have been dubbed "devil tears" by the NAIL faction, due to their tar-like appearance. At this point, it is common for Androids to form small "strike teams" that patrol the ruins of city streets in search of remaining humans.
Stage 3: Unlike stages 1 or 2, Androids in stage 3 of the infection begin reverting to their pre-viral state: They attempt to hide their face to obscure devil tears. Some Androids begin to move in a more natural way--although some Androids are better at this than others. In summary, Androids attempt to present as human to better infiltrate human settlements. Androids have re-evolved the capability of verbal speech. Or rather, they have elected to communicate out loud again (some theorize that they had previously communicated via telepathy/connection to a hivemind). This is also in an effort to appear more human. It should be noted that series 2 androids are predisposed to evolve directly to stage 3. Due to their already realistic human appearance and behavior, a lot of series 2 androids (if they succumb to the virus) jump directly to stage 3, making it hard to tell if/when they actually become infected. The only visible side effect, in this case, would be the devil tears since that is the only persisting symptom.
Stage 4: Many Androids do not make it to this stage, since many become damaged or completely destroyed. Despite this, there has been a steady increase in Androids evolving into stage 4--perhaps to combat the wear-and-tear many infected Androids began to face. While Androids still act human (like stage 3), they begin to attach modifications to their body. It is not immediately obvious if they are doing this out of self-preservation (repairing damaged parts), or to eliminate humans more effectively. Regardless of reasoning, this enables Androids to heal and repair themselves. The obvious drawback is that Androids are no longer able to maintain a human appearance--instead becoming grotesque amalgamations of circuitry, machine, and sometimes decaying human parts.
Stage 5: In direct response to stage 4, Androids become able to merge with other Androids. Androids at this stage are referred to as "Hives" by the NAIL faction. Hives are able to self-repair due to the sheer mass of androids. The larger the number of androids in the hive, the faster they are able to do so. Hives are essentially completely immobile. However, that is not to say they are not dangerous. In fact, they are considered one of the most dangerous forms of Android so far. This is due to their ability to hypnotize humans/Androids via telepathy. Those with Entech implants/prosthetics are extremely susceptible to a Hive's call. Androids that have so far resisted the virus so far are also more susceptible. It is also possible, while extremely rare, that someone without any Entech cybernetic enhancements could fall victim to a Hive’s call. Only a large and powerful Hive would be capable of doing this.
Audio
Audio is what one might expect from the cyberpunk genre: very electronic and robotic sounds, full of synths and electronic drums. There will be typical diegetic audio for things like attacks, footsteps, doors, etc. There will not be voice acting, but rather a plain text scroll with a sound (similar to games like Undertale). The nondiegetic audio will mostly be comprised of a variety of predominantly electronic music. Here are a few songs I am taking a lot of inspiration from:
Untitled v1 By Radiohead: https://youtu.be/ZTvniQgAQ0o?si=eWRZ-ZQ0b5KyYRS9
Winter Contingency from Halo Reach (specifically starting at 9:18): https://youtu.be/TM2YqbsEzp0?si=mud-fMvxXWHWokP1&t=558
Connor Main Theme from Detroit: Become Human: https://youtu.be/7AjNEE1UVgE?si=LyWibJpEPReAcWIY
Altars of Apostasy from Ultrakill: Infinite Hyperdeath: https://youtu.be/m5ra-w1xct8?si=Y5Mx2sBfG73A4ODr
Athoth a Go!! Go!! By Machine Girl: https://youtu.be/Mifdwh7w9fA?si=bmpNzQ5Ntv9n5Xkt
User Interface (UI)
The UI for ZENITH will be relatively simple, outlining the player's health and different enhancements/attacks they have (and their respective cool downs). Using Dead Cells again as an example, the UI will be designed similarly with the health and move set in the bottom left. Instead of a map on the right however, that will be replaced with a small inventory system. Here is an image from Dead Cells to better illustrate the idea:
User Experience (UX)
For those new to the genre, the actual mechanics will be easy and intuitive to use. Of course, there will be a learning curve when it comes to crafting different builds to progress in the game, but the core movement mechanics are relatively simple. Settings such as brightness, font size, key binds, and volume will be features added early on into the game. Further into development, more accessibility options would be ideal, such as translations, color blindness settings, etc. Ultimately this game will be made primarily for PC, but eventually will be compatible with console as well. It will not be compatible with VR or mobile.
