About the Project
Bounty was created as my second year project at university. It is a third person shooter set during the early colonisation of an increasingly lawless inner solar system.
This was the first game I created and with me creating all aspects of the game, from design, scripting and 3d/audio assets I learnt a lot.
The narrative is something I spent a lot of time in while also trying to implement as much of that lore into the level design. This is something I may revisit at some point in the future because of the level of detail and polish in the game design document.
Bounty
Bounty Playthrough
Level Design
One big focus for me is rewarding players for exploring the level, for example there are health packs located at areas of the map that are away from the usual path, or in corners of the room.
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I also tried to go for a very compact design of the level. This is inspired from Star Wars: Jedi Outcast, which in many cases has the start and end of the level beyond a single locked door and there is a journey through the level to get to the end. This is the feel I aimed for and with a bit more refinement, expansion and time I believe this can be a basis for an excellent level.
The environment in this way feels believable as ducking and diving into different rooms rather than going down one long path is much more realistic and how buildings are actually designed in the real world.
Modular Design
Every part of the level is built with modular pieces, allowing new, unique rooms to be built easily, as well as the designs on the walls easily editable with different patterns, all of which link together.
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This method proved to have some of its own unique challenges in terms of smooth indirect lighting as well as unusually shaped rooms. The results were worth it however, as each room was able to be changed, moved around and edited depending on the best gameplay allowing a good transition from whiteboxing to a finished design.
Narrative Design
As part of my assignment this project had to come with a complete GDD that talk about the level and the design processes. I went a step further and touched on many parts of the narrative far beyond the scope of the level and designed an entire universe, a series of important characters with their own arcs as well as the lives and cultures of different classes of people inside this fantasy setting.
Premise
The game is set in the mid 22nd century in a dystopian space civilisation in which the only form of law and order is regulated by large corporations outside the reach of Earthly authorities. The 1% are far richer than on Earth and the 99% are left, by all intent and purposes, to their own devices living month-to-month. Policing, Health Care and other basic services are practically non-existent beyond protection of what the corporations consider to be valuable assets. These services are then offered up as "perks" for the more valuable employees.
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The story follows the main character, Ærrol, a 65-year-old cargo transport pilot approaching retirement. This line of work is dangerous due to the lawless nature of space which is riddled with pirates and rival companies that wish to harm or steal the cargo. As such, Ærrol's job offers a very rare middle-class pay along with many of those "perks" such as a retirement fund and a free home.
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Due to a range of different factors, Ærrol gets made redundant. He gets a payout barely enough to see him through the month, kicked out of his home and no retirement fund. Left with just his ship Ærrol's main focus is to gather enough funds to see himself into retirement. A seasoned pilot, a skilled gunman and years of knowledge and contacts from various places and classes gathered from his lifetime career, he decides to become a bounty hunter - the only job that can offer quick, large lumps of cash.
Five Endings
Main Ending
There are five endings planned out in the GDD, with the main ending being a neutral ending between good and evil, with the main focus being on securing enough money to live the quiet life in his old age. This neutral ending focuses on completing bounties for the Worker's Union, killing, at first, low-ranking corrupt security personnel all the way to the CEOs.
The enemy in this path is the same people that forced Ærrol into this line of work in the first place. This timeline ends with other CEOs and higher-ups fearing for their lives and being forced into official recognition of the Union. In this way, Ærrol gets given a home and a retirement fund reinstated, as well as a general increase in life quality across most of Mars and the Asteroid Belt.
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The Hero Ending
In order to achieve this ending the player must choose bounties relating to a political organisation at every available instance. This organisation aims to set up a functioning governmental body on Mars, separate from Earth. This organisation got their initial funds from donations, turning them into assets that produce a profit.
Missions from this organisation will focus primarily on securing popular trading routes and the local space away from saboteurs and criminals.
Unlike the neutral route, many of the CEOs and other corporate criminals are not bounties to kill, but rather to escort back to your ship to transport them to face the justice system - a unique dynamic compared to other missions.
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The Sheriff Ending
This ending requires the player to take on all bounties by the United Nations of Earth at every available opportunity.
Earthly governments lack the technology and funds to maintain a space presence or authority. Instead they hire bounty hunters, a cheap way of having some resemblance of a police force to maintain order, respect and claimed ownership of the area.
Initially the player's focus will be on minor targets such as pirates and criminals interfering with Earth to Space trade. This will slowly progress to ensuring safety of certain political targets as well as eliminating any political opposition. This is a combination of what would see in the Hero timeline except in many of these missions requires BOTH killing a target while protecting another.
This timeline ends with Earth seizing enough assets and political swing to gain an authoritative foothold on Mars, an important stepping stone to create law and order in space.
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The Hitman Ending
This ending requires the player to choose bounties from the very same company that fired Ærrol in the first place at every available opportunity. This is the first of the "evil" endings that is available to the player.
This timeline is not too different to just a career shift within the same company, going from cargo transporter to exclusive hitman, hired by the company.
Targets on these missions will be not to dissimilar to saboteurs and criminals, but those hired by rival companies. This will progress to targeting much more important rivals.
The ending will be Ærrol getting the pension that was initially promised to him as well as a much more luxurious home gifted to him on behalf of the company, thereby succeeding in what Ærrol planned to do in the first place, but with a slightly more immoral route for it.
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The Bounty Hunter Ending
This ending is the most evil route the player can choose with missions posted by an anonymous source that are highly immoral but with a large payout.
Targets will start off difficult with them being important figures from the offset, progressing to more cruel targets, such as killing the families of important targets or sabotaging civilian transports with important targets inside.
In this ending, nothing in the universe changes with corruption and crime being as rampant as ever, but with Ærrol now in possession of a boat load of cash, enough to see him into retirement in luxury and security.
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