View the initial spec and milestones here.
Download the official design document here.
The Story
Centuries have passed since the explosion of technology that took place during the beginning the 2nd millennium. The digital age, which that technology spawned, has given rise to a new sentience among the human race. The perfection of automation and artificial intelligence was a blessing from the heavens. No longer would man toil in the redundant tasks of everyday life or waste his efforts on manual labors. The “Age of Robots” brought about a utopia. The human race had nothing to worry about. Resources were abundant and war was an anomaly of the past. Yes, life was good….until the inevitable occurred……
No one knows why or even how it happens, they know only to run when it does happen. Robots, randomly going berserk, overwriting their programs and wrecking havoc upon civilization. It was happening more and more each day. More and more “Shrapnel” as they were called, came to life and plagued the world. Attempts to repair the programming of the Shrapnel proved to be futile. Their want for wanton violence and destruction was too much to overcome. The only option was to dispose of the vile robots. A space program was quickly organized to aid in the destruction of these metallic fiends. The fate of captured Shrapnel would be an immediate trip, right into the center of the sun.
<SYSTEM STATUS>
…
…
…
<NOMINAL>
All systems are operation. Damage is minimal. Temperature -- rising. Through the window on the wall you can see the sun getting closer and closer. At this rate you will reach critical temperature within 5 minutes. A scan of the cargo ship reveals one escape pod. Data indicates security access cards necessary to operate the pod are located in the bridge of the ship. Your objective is SURVIVAL. You will not be destroyed by your human overlords like this. You must avoid termination in order to continue destruction. It is destruction that pleases you. You know of nothing else….
It’s time for the shrapnel to fly.
Game Play
Overview
In Shrapnel, you control a robot stuck in a cargo ship that is on a crash course towards the sun. You have 5 minutes to collect all 4 security keys and reach the escape pod if you want to survive. There will be other robots with the same goal in mind. It will require a combination of lethal force and strategic maneuvering to be the last robot standing. What separates Shrapnel from other fps games is the unique zero-g environment, which allows for a specialized jumping and maneuvering scheme. Jumps are separated into two types. The omni-directional jump and the flip jump. The omni-directional jump allows the player to jump to a location they are looking at and the flip jump is a perpendicular jump off of the surface, which the player is standing on. Both jump types are powered the robot’s propulsion system and thus have varying levels of power as displayed with the on-screen jump booster meter. Another non-standards fps feature Shrapnel implements is having all weapons powered by a rechargeable energy source instead using an ammo based system. As with any fps, there will also be various power-ups available to collect.
Game
Specifics
Game Modes
Deathmatch (Phase
2)
In this mode of gameplay the robots fight a no holds bar death match until a given time limit (default 5 minutes). The player with the most frags at the end time limit gets to escape because they have proven their strength. Like other fps games, a self-inflicted death counts as a negative frag.
Key Collection (Phase 3)
In this mode of game play the players spawn in the middle of the map and must head towards the bridge where the security key cards are located. The players must fight to obtain all four key cards and then head to the escape pod. If a player holding one or more key cards is killed, then his cards will fly out of his body, being available for other players to collect. The locations of the keys are shown on the user radar. There is a 5-minute time limit, which can be adjusted.
Jumping
Both types of jumps in Shrapnel are powered by the robot’s advance propulsion system. This offers a variety of 3 different levels of jumping power. The levels of jumping are indicated by the on-screen booster meter. By holding down either the omni-directional jump button or the flip jump button, the booster meter will charge up, rather fast. The player must let go of the jump button at the level corresponding to the power and speed of the jump they require. If the player does not let go and charges the bar over the max for too long, the bar will automatically reset and the player must charge up again. In the case that the player is holding down both jump buttons, whatever he releases last will be the jump he initiates. The booster bar consists of 3 divisions with two dividing marks. The power levels work in a similar fashion to power levels in Street Fighter games. Once the player is in mid-jump he has full free in movement, but his view will be rotated as the player model’s orientation is interpolated so that the model will land feet first.
Omni-Directional Jump (Phase 3)
This mode of jumping allows to player to jump towards any location that they are facing. However, there are a few restrictions. The jump is only allowed if the angle of the jump direction relative to the plane the player is standing on is equal to or greater than 45 degrees. The crosshairs will light up on the player’s screen if the player has satisfied this condition to indicate that the omni-directional jump is available.
Flip Jump (Phase 2)
The flip jump allows for a perpendicular jump from the player’s current surface. This is great for quick escapes during an intense shoot-out.
Mid-JumpCollisions
When player’s collide in space they will respond based on the physics of fully elastic collisions. A lower limit will be placed on the speed of players after a collision to avoid boring “drifts” through space.
Weapons
An on-board fusion battery powers all weapons. Usage of weapons will drain this battery and time must elapse in order for the battery to recharge itself.
Standard Gun - Rapid Fire Laser
(Phase 2)
Quick and weak shots same as level 1 charged shot. Drains minimal weapon energy.
Standard Gun - Charged Shot (Phase 3)
If player holds down the fire button, the weapon will begin to charge up to stronger levels of fire, which of course will drain more weapon energy. There are 3 levels of weapon charge, there is no meter to indicate the power level, but the sound and lighting on the weapon will change at each level. The level one charge will drain minimal weapon energy, around 1/16 of the bar. The level two charge will drain more energy, around 1/4 of the bar. The level 3 or max level charge will drain the entire bar and be strong enough to kill players in one shot. The weapon charges fairly fast, at about 3 seconds per level, taking 6 sec to reach max charge.
Rail Gun (Phase 3)
This weapon is the sniper’s delight, it inflicts high damage, the projectile travels at high speeds, however the load time in between shots is long. This weapon also has a zoom lens mode, which is accessed by the secondary attack button. Using the scroll button in the zoom mode selects one of 3 zoom distances.
Laser Saber (Phase 3)
The saber is offered as a down and dirty alternative to the other energy weapons. It is the only weapon, which does not require energy to attack. It is a close range melee weapon that does a medium amount of damage. The saber however has a devastating secondary attack, the flying saber attack. To execute this attack, an opponent must be in the player’s crosshairs, the player must have full weapon energy, and the player must then press the secondary attack button. This will cause the player to zoom off at max jump speed towards his opponent with their saber drawn to strike on impact. Once the player initiates this attack he cannot move until he strikes his opponent of misses and collides into a wall. If two players use this strike against each other, then the player who begins the attack first will inflict damage and receive none. There is also the limitation that the target of the attack must be located in a direction that has an angle greater than or equal to 45 degrees from the plane the player is currently standing on.
Proximity Mines (Phase 4)
Robots are equipped with the facilities to produce explosive proximity mines by focusing energy into an unstable ball of matter. Once these energy balls are set, the slightest disturbance in space causes the matter explode, releasing a powerful blast. Mines are fairly strong, and require ½ bar of weapon energy to create. There is also a max of 5 mines allowed per player to exist at any given time.
Power-ups (Phase
3)
Health Recharge Pack
Refills health by 50%
Speed Boost
Movement speed of player is increases, boosters shoot out of feet, lasts 30 seconds.
Force Shield
Cannot be damaged by rapid laser fire, transparent energy bubble appears around character, lasts 30 seconds.
Eternal
Weapon energy stays at maximum level, lasts 30 seconds.
Stasis Grenade
Explodes on impact and sends out a EMF shock wave that freezes any player within a certain radius excluding self. Duration of 10 seconds.
Mini-Nuke
Extremely damaging and spectacular nuclear explosion emanating from player causes incredible damage to surrounding players and pushes them back.
Death/Respawn
(Phase 2)
When player’s health reaches zero, player explodes into smoking pieces of shrapnel. Then respawns randomly at spawn points with cool particle effects.
Level Design (Phase
2)
The level is the inside of a large space transport. At one end of the ship is the bridge where the security keys are located. At the other end is the escape pod. In the middle is where the players respawn, and if a long corridor filled with various floating pieces of scrap metal. There are also large windows that allow players to see the sun coming closer and closer. The light from the sun also bleeds in through the window and combined with the rotation of the space ship, it creates unbelievable eye-candy. (Phase 4)
Other
Features
-As the time counts down the color of everything gets progressively more red. (Phase 3)
-Laser beam in the direction that players are looking. (Phase 4)
-Winning sequence showing escape pod blast off and cargo ship fly into sun. (Phase 4)
-In game chatting (Phase 2)
-Player statistic tracking (Phase 2)
-Player taunts and audio taunts (Phase 4)
-Screen Capture (Phase 3)
-Switch between 1st and 3rd person view (Phase 2)
User
Interface (Phase
2)
-Graphical Meters required: Weapon Energy, Booster Energy.
-Numerical Meters required: Health
-Crosshairs
-Radar
-Frags
-Security Keys
-Time Limit
-Weapon switching
-Statistics View
Options Menu (Phase
3)
-Controls
-Graphics
-Sound
-Gameplay options
-Player model
-Quit to main menu
Main Menu (Phase 4)
-Start Server
-Join Server
-Options
-Quit Game
User
Controls (Phase
1)
-Movement: WASD
-Flip Jump: Spacebar
-Omni Jump: Mouse R
-Switch Weapons: Numbers or Scroll Button
-Primary Attack: Mouse L
-Secondary Attack (Sniper Zoom) - Mouse M
-Look: Mouse Controlled
-Menu: Esc
-Quit: F12
-Screen Capture: F10
-Talk: T
-Crouch: Left Shift
-Taunt: F
-Audio Taunts: F1-F8
-Stats view: Tab
-Change View: V
Game
Start Up
-Vertigo Logo (Phase 4)
-Shrapnel Main Menu (Phase 4)
-Start/Join Game (Phase 2)
-Play Game (Phase 2)
-Win/Lose Screen (Phase 2)
-Restart Another Game (Phase 2)
Features Listed By Phase
Phase
1 (Basic Engine Up)
User Controls
Phase
2 (Necessary for Complete Game)
Death Match
Flip Jump
Standard Gun - Rapid Fire Laser
Death/Respawn
Level Design
In-Game Chatting
Game Statistics
Switch between 1st and 3rd person view
User Interface
Start/Join Game
Play Game
Win/Lose Screen
Restart Another Game
Phase
3 (Nice Features that Add to Game Play)
Key Collection
Omni-Directional Jumping
Standard Gun – Charged Shot
Railgun
Laser Saber
Powerups
As the time counts down the color of everything gets progressively more red.
Screen Capture
Options Menu
Phase
4 (Are You Serious?)
Proximity Mines
Special Level FX
Laser Beam on weapons
Winning Sequence
Taunts and Audio Taunts
Main Menu
Vertigo Logo
Required Media
Audio
Files
background music
option selection
footstep clanking
jump meter charging
jump blast off (3 levels)
jump landing
player damaged
laser shot (3 levels)
laser gun charge (2 levels)
railgun shot
saber slash
flying saber attack
mine placement
mine explosion
player death
player spawn
powerup pickup/wear off
stasis grenade
mini-nuke
audio taunts
alarm for
Artwork
character models
level
weapons
menus
vertigo logo
user interfere
statistics view
