Gameplay

Duality game designer

Character, Controls, Camera (3C)

The game is shown from the first-person perspective. Currently, the plan is to make the player's body completely invisible - a floating camera that interacts with objects, basically. In the Realspace, the player is affected by gravity and by friction and can interact with physical objects. In Cyberspace, the player is not affected by gravity nor friction and cannot move physical objects. They can interact with buttons and terminals in both worlds.

Player Metrics

These values are attributed to the default player when they initially spawn. They should be helpful when determining level layout in order to properly assess where the player can go and what they can interact with in any given space.

Default Movement Values

Walking Speed

4.5 m/s (3 Unity units in one second)

Sprinting Speed

If the player is able to sprint, they can do so at 5 m/s (5 Unity units in one second). However, depending on the way design goes, we may prevent the player from being able to sprint at all (at least not until they unlock a certain upgrade...)

Jump Height

1.6m (can jump onto a block that is 1.5 x 1.5 x 1.5). This distance is increased to 3.2m when the room has a 30% Gravity modifier and decreased to 0.8 meters with 200% Gravity modifier. This means that they'll be able to jump twice as high if they modify the Gravity in a certain area to be 30%, and half as high if they modify the Gravity to be 200%.

Climbable Angle

The player is able to walk on ramps of up to 35 degrees.

Standing Height

1.98 meters ( Can fit in spaces 2 Unity units high)

Crouching Height

We have not implemented crouching yet, and we are not sure if we need to. If we do put crouching in, the player can change height to 0.98 meters (can fit in spaces 1 Unity unity high).

Strength

Can lift certain objects in the Realspace up to 1.5 x 1.5 x 1.5 Unity units by interacting with them. Large objects up to 2.5 x 2.5 x 2.5 Unity units can be pushed by moving towards them. This is reduced to 0 x 0 x 0 in Cyberspace (they can no longer pick up or push items). This characteristic is also affected by the Gravity in the room that they are in (e.g. they can only pick up smaller objects in a room with 200% Gravity and they can pick up larger objects in a room with 30% Gravity modifier).

Reach Length

1.5 meters (they can reach and interact with objects that are 1.5 x 1.5 x 1.5 Unity units away from them).

Failure

The only way for the player to die is through a Killbox - an empty trigger area that immediately kills them and forces them to respawn at the beginning of a level.

The player cannot deal damage to or destroy objects by themself. In order to deal with a threat, they must interact with other objects in the room.

Fall Damage

In the Realspace, falling from a great height may kill the player. This depends on the distance of the fall and the current Gravity modifier. Under normal conditions (100% Gravity modifier), the player can survive falls up to six meters high (6 Unity units). With 200% Gravity, this distance is reduced to three meters (3 Unity units), and with 30% Gravity and in Cyberspace fall damage is removed entirely.

Note: While carrying objects, the player's default Friction increases, reducing their base walking speed at a rate depending on the size of the carried object and the current Gravity value.

Vision

The player can see infinitely far in front of them and their default field of view is 80 degrees.

Realspace and Cyberspace

The game world has two spaces: Real and Cyber.

Realspace

The Realspace is the actual physical world. Here, the regular laws of physics apply and the player can walk, jump, move objects, etc. Usually, there are obstacles in the Realspace that cannot be solved just by moving through the world or objects around. The player needs to locate a terminal to jack into Cyberspace.

The puzzles in Realspace consist of platforming and manipulating physics objects.

Cyberspace

Cyberspace is the physical representation of WENDEE's neural network. In terms of layout, it is identical to the Realspace room that the player was just in. However, things can work differently here. There can be different objects and the laws of physics might invert. Objectives that were previously inaccessible can suddenly become accessible.

The puzzles in Cyberspace consist of solving logic questions and perhaps cyphers.

Physics

Gravity and Friction are two independent variables that can be changed by the player using a terminal. Each of those variables can be set to one of three values: 200%, 100%, or 30%. Before starting each new puzzle, these values return to their default values of 100% each, no matter what the player set them to at the end of the previous level.

Default Physics Values

Gravity

In the Realspace, by default the player falls at a rate of 9.8 m/s squared. In Cyberspace, they are free to float about freely without having to worry about Gravity weighing them down.

Note: Friction and Gravity settings should both be freely editable in the hierarchy while in Developer Mode.

Friction

While on the ground, the controller stops accelerating the same time they take their finger off of the movement button. Their player object continues to move for a fraction of a second in the same direction as default Friction does the work of stopping them. In the air, the player is able to move and change directions with almost as much ease as if they were walking on the ground.

Moving Objects

Any object in the world may have a “moveable” property. The player can pick up and drop objects that are light enough to interact with, but for heavier objects they can only push them by moving into them. The ease at which the player is able to move these objects is dependent on the object’s weight and the Gravity and Friction values in the room. For instance, after beginning a puzzle, the player may encounter a heavy crate that may be pushed, but to solve the puzzle the player may have to decrease the Gravity enough so that the crate is liftable to move to a higher location by interacting with it.

Moving Platforms

Some platforms in rooms may move from side to side, or up and down. These platforms may or may not need external stimulus in order to work. Levels need to be blocked out first in order to decide the specifics.

Doors

Doors should be in one of three possible states: Open, Closed, and Locked. When some kind of external stimulus is interacted with (e.g. a button or lever), if a door is not Locked, toggle its status between Closed and Open. Doors should be able to be set to start the level in any of the three states.

In puzzle areas, doors in the real world should always be in the opposite state to their counterparts in Cyberspace. Some puzzles may involve closing a door in Cyberspace in order to open that door’s counterpart in the real world.

When a player attempts to open a Locked door that’s outside of a puzzle area, a sound clip is triggered indicating the AI to tell them to come back to the Bridge.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse