Devils Horde

Concept Statement

What if Call of Duty Zombies (Treyarch,2009) and Binding of Issac (Himsl,Mcmillen,2011) had a fantasy medieval baby, where you will fight for the devils entertainment using bows, magic and anything else you can get your hands on see how long you can survive against the Devils Horde.

Concept Creation

The concept came from pulling inspiration from a range of games and game-types that have been proven to perform well in the industry already, whilst displaying quirks that are unique to this singular game. Devils Horde is a combination of a couple different games, by dissecting and rearranging certain components of each. Taking the small detailed maps and environments from Call of Duty (Treyarch,2009), combining them with the rogue-lite elements from Binding of Issac (Himsl,Mcmillen,2011), making every play through different. There are infinite combinations that can be made by the randomised pickups and a huge amount of enemies, as inspired by Vampire Survivors(Poncle, 2021).The game becomes a 2D top down, Timed survival game with an ever increasing range of difficulty as you progress, encountering a range of personal upgrade possibilities and differing enemies.

Genre

Rouge-lite, Casual Action. I've gone with these genres because it reflects the genres of the games i'm mashing up. The action side of the Devils Horde comes from the intense combat from the increasingly harder and numerous enemies from Vampire Survivors(Poncle, 2021). Mixed with the random pick ups from Binding of Issac (Himsl,Mcmillen,2011) which gives us the rouge-lite aspect with a similar feel to that of the gaming experience of Call of Duty Zombies (Treyarch,2009).

Audience and Competitive Analysis

Devils Horde will attract people who don't have a lot of time to play games, you don't need to sink hours and hours into it to get the full enjoyment out of it. The game would draw its audience from the members of each fandom of each game that love to game but need a more relaxed approach to the more time sensitive developments of the inspiration games. Where it is common to need to endlessly play these games to improve skill and develop more advanced techniques, Devils Horde provides the fun and room for improvement without the extensive time spans. Devils Horde will have a pretty big audience cross over between a lot of the games that it has taken inspiration from, some more than others. For example there will be a bigger cross over between the audience of Vampire Survivors(Poncle, 2021) and Devils Horde because of the game play loop being constructed in a similar way. The difference being Devils Horde will lean more into each playable characters ability changing up the play style dependent on their strengths, weaknesses and abilities. The maps will also be different, in Vampire Survivors(Poncle, 2021) the maps are quite sparse and open where as in Devils Horde the maps are going to be smaller and have unique elements to each map.

Vampire Survivors(Poncle, 2021) has seen a huge amount of success since its release in 2021, earning itself the Best Game Trophy at the BAFTA Game Awards and the Game Design trophy. The elements that are pulled from Vampire Survivors(Poncle, 2021) coupled with the more intricate and considered maps of Devils Horde will aid in the development of a more strategic game play experience.

Game Treatment

You are the greatest warrior in your culture, so great you have attracted the attention of the Devil himself and now you’re forced to be his puppet. You must fight for his entertainment constantly surviving an onslaught of his soldiers and beasts until you can fight no longer. At the start of the round you'll start quite vulnerable with only your basic starting weapon. As you progress you'll have the opportunity to pick up more advanced weapons and abilities which are randomly generated each and every time. Your goal is to survive for as long as you can and the longer you go on the harder it gets. As you develop there are more unique enemies which spawn in and the overall number will be greatly increase with it. Each level will have unique elements to it that can be used either to your advantage or will be a disadvantage to you. This will all depend upon the way you choose to play and the luck of the draw with the items randomly generated. Your strengths and weaknesses as you play will be exposed and you must use strategy to overcome them and defeat the encroaching hordes.

Feature List

• Controller Support
  • The game will incorporate the ability to switch between Keyboard and mouse or plug in a controller, This makes the game more alluring to a broader group of people who prefer to play with different controls whilst being quickly and easily interchangeable depending on comfort.
• Multiple Different Maps
  • an interesting feature that encourages continued exploration of the game. Each map having interesting Elements to it that will either hinder or aid your progress
• Co Op Local Multiplayer
  • Games are always more fun when you are able to include your friends. Not only this but with multiplayer it changes the entire dynamic of the game play and changes the way a player must think about moving through the Maps. It gives the opportunity to explore the different roles you as a player may take on in order to overcome the enemies.
• Random pick ups for abilities and weapons
  • Keep things interesting, you never know what you’re going to get or what to expect next. You could play countless times and still find new combinations that are more effective than the last. The player is forced to branch out and adapt outside their usual game play or comfort zone.
• Enemy count and type Reflected by Difficulty
  • As the Time elapses the amount of enemies and their types increase
• Different Playable characters has different starting weapons and abilities
  • Each Character has a different starting weapon and hence a different strategy
• High Score
  • The Longer you can survive the better the score

Concept Art

The art style of the characters (shade,2022)

An Example of what the Maps will look like with environmental elements such as a water fall that drags the player

Showcasing the huge amount of enemies in Vampire Survivors(Poncle, 2021)

References

Treyarch, (2009) Call Of Duty Zombies [PC] Activiosn

Himsl,f McMillen,E 2011 Binding of Isaac [PC]

Poncle, 2021 Vampire Survivors [PC]

Shade, 2022 Punny Characters https://merchant-shade.itch.io/16x16-puny-characters#download