Concept

Name: Espionager

Genre: Stealth Action

Concept statement:

My concept is for a game reminiscent of the original Metal Gear (not Solid), helmed by Hideo Kojima & developed/released by Konami on the MSX2 in 1987. The original Metal Gear was a 2D top-down action stealth game, which pioneered a lot of elements we take for granted nowadays like line-of-sight, alert levels, stealth, etc. My aim is to integrate the core features, and strip away the story and most of the equipment options to simplify the experience.

Concept & Creation Process

My process for conceptualising this game was an exercise of looking at some popular stealth action games from the past decade or so to analyse the mechanics and gameplay loops that made the game engaging and enjoyable for the player. 

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, developed by Kojima Productions was the first game I looked at, being one of the most widely regarded games in the genre. The core gameplay loop of carefully examining a situation and picking the most appropriate equipment was very engaging, but I didn’t feel that such a “methodical” pace would work for this project.

That being said, the standalone prologue chapter Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes stripped the sandbox elements and wide array of equipment in favour of a smaller more contained experience. Once I got the hang of the movement and stealth mechanics, I was able to complete the level very quickly, remembering which guards move where and what environmental obstacles to avoid (searchlights, vehicles with lots of enemies in them, etc). This fast-paced gameplay was much closer to the kind of experience I was hoping to capture. My favourite part of this was the feeling of gratification I got when I was able to fly through the entire level faster than before, with fewer mistakes, and a higher score. The whole experience was more arcade-like than the full game.

I also looked at Hotline Miami, an indie game developed by Dennaton Games. People don’t generally think of stealth when they think of Hotline Miami but it is definitely a core component of the gameplay loop, being the simple task of killing every enemy in the level as quickly as you possibly can. Everything happens so quickly in Hotline Miami that you need to be on your toes for the entirety of each level, you never know when a stray guard will spot you from just off screen, or through a gap in an open door, and start engaging you. This, combined with the top-down perspective, was exactly what I wanted to recreate, combined with the reduced focus on outright killing enemies which is what made Ground Zeroes so engaging.

As for the visuals, I had decided early on to set the game in a hostile military facility, similar to that found in the original Metal Gear on the MSX, which this project is heavily inspired by for its visuals.

Audience & Competitive analysis

The audience for action stealth games is pretty big, it has always been a popular (if niche) genre. Recently the genre has fallen out of favour with AAA developers, which you can see with the unfortunate death of the Metal Gear series & Splinter Cell franchises, both of which were sources of inspiration for this project.

Some similar indie games would be something like Gunpoint, a 2D stealth-based puzzle platformer where you have to work your way through several levels, solving puzzles and avoiding detection. Another example is Hotline Miami, primarily for its top-down perspective and stealth mechanics based around enemies' direct line-of-sight of the player. I picture the gunplay of this project being similar to Hotline Miami, in that the action happens very fast and the player has to be able to react accordingly to situations in real time.

The audience I aim to target with this game are players of any age who enjoy a fast-paced experience, with an added dimension of strategy with the addition of stealth. Players who were fans of Hotline Miami and the Metal Gear Solid series (particularly the older games) should find a lot of the mechanics here very recognisable and easy to grasp, I don’t want this game to have a high learning curve, the mechanics should be easy to understand and intuitive enough to utilise properly. 

I want one of the unique selling points of my game to be its visually striking UI & world. What I mean by this is that I intend to take an approach of stylising the graphics of my game, using a combination of post processing effects and striking UI elements to create a visually memorable experience that draws comparisons to more gritty military games like Metal Gear or Splinter Cell, but with the added neon ultra-violent character that Hotline Miami is so well known for. I haven’t seen many, if any other games combining those two visual themes in such a way, and I think I pull it off.

Game treatment:

The player's core objective is to traverse a hostile military facility, to reach the secret document storage room and steal some secret documents, then escape. Along the way, the player will have to make use of their silenced pistol, knife and stealth ability to hide and in some cases eliminate enemy guards, whilst avoiding being captured or killed.

Players can shoot guards with their silenced pistol 5 times before their silencer breaks and they will have to find another one, or risk alerting all enemies in the level and having them converge on their position. Ammo and silencers will be scattered around the level. For when the player runs out of ammo, they can use their knife to get close and dispatch enemies quietly.

Stealth will be a simple system of action & response. If the player is within direct line of sight with an enemy, the enemy will traverse towards the player to attack them. When the player breaks line of sight, they will have a chance to hide before the enemy reaches their position and continues their attack. The player can go into stealth by either hiding in lockers placed around each level, or by holding Spacebar to deploy the tactical cardboard box to hide under for 3 seconds before the box. This allows the player a quick way of hiding themselves when caught in a sticky situation, however the player shouldn't be relying on it to complete the game.

Similar to the above screenshot of Metal Gear on the MSX, perspective will be top-down, with a camera far enough out that the player can see about half of the level at any given time, meaning that the player will have to explore the level to find the exit door leading to the next level.

Player resources will be: Health (deducted when attacked by enemies), pistol ammo, silencer (max of 1 on hand), tactical stealth apparatus (cardboard box, max of 1 on hand). Players can find these items scattered around the level to replenish their resources when needed. I want the player to have to make the decision: “do I risk taking a detour from the level exit to grab some resources from a high risk area to make my life easier in the next level? Or do I just leave now”. These sorts of on-the-fly decisions make games, especially stealth-action games, more compelling and more exciting.

Enemies will be humanoid guards with the ability to fire shots at the player, and alert other guards that they pass on their route towards the player's position when spotted or if the player fires their unsilenced pistol. Guards will reach the player's last known position, and if they aren’t within the line of sight anymore, then they will return to their normal behaviour..

If the player is killed, they will respawn at the beginning of the level with their resources the same as when they first entered the level. This creates a focus on perfecting a run, learning each level, what each guard’s surveillance patterns are, and what the best path to take is. My hope is that this maintains the pace of the game, even when the player reaches a difficult section and has to retry multiple times.

User interface will be fundamentally simple, relying on displaying core information to the player, keeping their focus on the level. Hotline Miami presents a great example of how I am picturing this. The interface is simple, it fits the existing art style and themes, and presents important information without overwhelming the player. I like the chromatic aberration you can see here, I think it really highlights the thematic disparity between the violence you’re committing and the colourful neo-retro music and colours. 

I’m not going to try and hit the same themes as Hotline Miami but I think by following this example I can add some more depth to the gritty retro themes of my game, both with a UI that supplements the style of the game, and with thoughtful use of post-processing that serves as an additive to the experience rather than making it more cumbersome. This is difficult to put into words but I can use Battlefield 3’s heavy-handed use of post-processing effects to demonstrate my point:

As a long time battlefield fan, I hate this. It gets in the way of the experience and to me is totally antithetical to the point of fast-paced, reactionary games like Battlefield, and like my game. I think post-processing is great and it will have a definite presence in my game, but finding that balance between form and function is critically important. If for example a player misses an enemy standing right next to them because the colour grading made them too difficult to see, it creates a frustrating experience where the game is at fault for causing the player to fail, rather than the player making mistakes.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Gear_(video_game)#Gameplay

https://worldofspectrum.org/archive/magazines/the-games-machine/2/0/1987/12/0#60