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Version 1 Journey to Neo City Nicholas Stone

Journey to Neo City

Design Document


CONTENTS

Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................................ 3

Narrative ................................................................................................................................................................. 3

Play Skill Atoms ....................................................................................................................................................... 3

Controls .................................................................................................................................................................. 3

Weapons ................................................................................................................................................................. 4

Pickups .................................................................................................................................................................... 4

Enemies .................................................................................................................................................................. 5

Environmental Elements ........................................................................................................................................ 5

Cinematics/Scripted Events .................................................................................................................................... 7

Level Breakdown .................................................................................................................................................... 8

Flowchart ............................................................................................................................................................ 8

Level Map ........................................................................................................................................................... 9

Light Map .......................................................................................................................................................... 10

First Area – Parklands ....................................................................................................................................... 11

Flowchart – Introduction of elements .......................................................................................................... 11

Map ............................................................................................................................................................... 12

Flow .............................................................................................................................................................. 12

Risk v’s Reward ............................................................................................................................................. 12

Mini-Boss (Stronghold Doors) ........................................................................................................................... 12

Sewers – Environmental Puzzles ...................................................................................................................... 13

FlowChart...................................................................................................................................................... 13

Map ............................................................................................................................................................... 14

Flow .............................................................................................................................................................. 14

Risk v’s Reward ............................................................................................................................................. 14

Stronghold Yard ................................................................................................................................................ 15

Flowchart ...................................................................................................................................................... 15

Map ............................................................................................................................................................... 15

Flow .............................................................................................................................................................. 16

Risk v’s Reward ............................................................................................................................................. 16

Mini-Boss Facility Door ..................................................................................................................................... 16

Facility ............................................................................................................................................................... 17

Flowchart ...................................................................................................................................................... 17

Map ............................................................................................................................................................... 17

Flow .............................................................................................................................................................. 18

Boss – Computer System .................................................................................................................................. 18


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Journey to Neo City is a 2.5D platform shooter designed to be a prequel level for Contra 3. Targeted towards

fans of the series, UT2D Mod uses base mechanics from the contra titles while reintroducing some elements

that haven’t existed since the earlier titles such as natural elements.

NARRATIVE

Journey to Neo City begins in the outskirts of the city as Lance and Bill are making their way into Neo City. The

level begins in the overgrown parklands located to the south of Neo City. After their original transport was

shot down by the aliens there are working their way towards the city while trying to secure a vehicle.

Working their way through the parklands they reach a stronghold but after a battle at its gates they have to

descend into the sewers to find a way past the walls. After trudging through the sewers they escape into the

stronghold and fight their way towards a facility where they combat an alien AI system.

PLAY SKILL ATOMS

AS the level progresses the player will be introduced to each element in a way that unsure the player has

mastered the required ability before they can move forward. These begin with the implementation of no

damage areas, weaker enemies and environmental puzzles before the introduction of instant kill elements.

The skills the player will need to learn are:

Shooting

Jumping

Double Jump

Avoidance

CONTROLS

The control system used is the UT2D mod’s standard control system.

A - moves Left

D - moves Right

Space - jumps

R - reloads

Mouse - controls the aiming radial

Left click - shoots

Mouse wheel - scrolling changes weapon


WEAPONS

The player will have an infinite amount of ammo for any weapon they have. They will have their weapons reset

to default after each death, so new more powerful weapons are valuable rewards. The weapons implemented

in this level are:

Enforcers

Standard gun

Rapid Secondary Fire

Shock Rifle

Direct beam damage

Minigun

Rapid rate of fire

High level damage

Rocket Launcher

Instant kill weapon

PICKUPS

Journey to Neo City only uses one type of pickup, health pickups. These will heal the player to full health.


ENEMIES

All standard enemies are the same type of enemy equipped with different types of weapons. Each weapon

type sets how the enemy will react and what they will do.

Runner

The runner has no weapons; instead they just run at the player and deal damage to the player on

passing.

Running Gunner

The running gunner is equipped with an enforcer. They run at the player while shooting straight

ahead.

Sniper

Snipers in the first area are equipped with the enforcer but once in the stronghold they will be

equipped with a rocket launcher that has a slow rate of fire.

Straight Shooter

The straight shooter is equipped with a Minigun. They shoot from one side of the screen to the other

in a straight horizontal line.

Grenade Thrower

The Grenade Thrower is equipped with a grenade. They lob the grenade towards the player.

ENVIRONMENTAL ELEMENTS

TRIPWIRES

Trip wires are the basic traps in the first area. They require the player to jump over them to get past and are

partially obscured by the environment. Detonating on touch they deal damage to the player. The first tripwire

will deal only a small amount of damage increasing to more potent tripwires eventually becoming instant

death elements within the stronghold. This will be conveyed through more explosive barrels beng placed

around the tripwire.

PLATFORMS

Platforms require the player to move vertically, encouraging exploration and advantages to height.

GUARD TOWERS

Guard towers are manned by the Sniper. Beginning as scouting posts they become more formidable once the

snipers are equipped with the rocket launcher. They draw the player’s attention up; indicating awareness is

required across all areas of the screen.


BARRICADES

Based on the concept of the Middle Tower’s in Contra 3, the barricade is a blocking point for the player.

Guarded by two enemies, it has to be destroyed for the player to continue. Once the player has entered the

stronghold the barricade become stronger taking more damage to destroy.

Enemies

o Straight shooter on top

o Grenade Thrower behind

Shoot until it breaks

ACID TRAPS

Acid Drip

In the sewers are a series of acid based traps. The player will first be introduced to the acid by a slowly

dripping leak that does a small amount of damage to the player.

Acid River

The acid rivers are instant kill zones. The player learns that the acid is dangerous initially from the acid drops

but it is reinforced by the depth of the rivers which can be seen in the cutoff point of the screen.

Acid Torrent

The Acid Torrent pours down large quantities of acid in timed bursts. The player needs to avoid the acid while

working their way down the shaft. This is a more powerful element then the acid drip and as such it will deal a

larger amount of damage.

FIRE BURSTS

Broken pipes throughout the sewers leak out gases that burst into flames. The player must avoid them or be

burned. The first fire element is small and unavoidable, dealing a small amount of damage to the player, the

later larger fires are far more powerful, which is indicated by the size and ferocity of the flames.


CINEMATICS/SCRIPTED EVENTS

The level will contain 5 scripted events. These are at the start and end of the level, at the start of each mini

boss encounter and the boss.

Start

As the level opens up the camera will pan along giving the player a view of the parkland areas, the

dangers of a tripwire ending at the first guard tower, showing the player the enemies ahead.

Stronghold Door Mini Boss

Once the player has reached the stronghold doors the camera will pan around and show the size of

the doors and the enemies guarding it. It will stop with the weak point of the door indicated to the

player.

Sewers

Once the player drops into the sewers the camera will pan along showing the player the acid drips

and the acid water, indicating the dangers ahead.

Facility Door Mini Boss

Upon reaching the door the camera will move into the facility and show an alarm going off, with

guards racing towards the door. This will let the player know that enemies are about to come out and

attack them.

Boss

Once the boss has been reached the camera will focus in on its weak spot, then show the guns that

have just been lowered into the field to kill the player. This lets the play know what to attack and

what will attack them.


LEVEL BREAKDOWN

FLOWCHART


LEVEL MAP


LIGHT MAP


FIRST AREA – PARKLANDS

The first area of the level is linear. The player will start to the left and move towards the right. There are no

path deviations. The background consists of a sky darkening and a city in the distance, the city the player is

heading towards.

FLOWCHART – INTRODUCTION OF ELEMENTS

Encounter List

Start

Tripwire

Platforms

Guard Tower

Platforms

Barricade

Tripwire

Platforms

Tripwire

Runners

Guard Tower

Platform

Tripwire

Platform

Barricade

Guard tower

Runners x3

Tripwire

Platform

Mini-Boss


MAP

FLOW

The player begins on the left side of the map moving towards the right. The first element, the tripwire was

shown to the player during the opening cut scene. As the progress the will encounter a blocked off area, where

they will be forced to learn to jump and move across platforms. The player will then encounter the first

barricade, which they will learn to destroy to move on. It also teaches the use of crouch so they can duck

under the straight shooters fire. The final encounter is the runners. They trigger before the player reaches a

tripwire so the first runner can either be killed before it reaches them or detonate the tripwire, drawing the

player’s attention to them if they were caught unprepared.

RISK V’S REWARD

The first area doesn’t include any risk for rewards scenarios. The player is rewarded with a gun upgrade later in

the area just for getting to that point in the game.

MINI-BOSS (STRONGHOLD DOORS)

The stronghold doors are the first Mini-Boss the player has to deal with. Designed as an advanced version of

the Barricades, it has 2 stationed guards who have a low re-spawn rate until the player has destroyed the

doors.

The doors are destroyed by shooting the indicated weak point until it runs out of health. Once the doors are

destroyed they will break and the sewer grate will blow off, unable to go past the gates the player will descend

into the sewers.


SEWERS – ENVIRONMENTAL PUZZLES

The sewers consist of environmental puzzles, where the player needs to navigate through to the other end.

The environment is mostly concrete with piping, acid in the waterways and tanks.

FLOWCHART


MAP

FLOW

The sewers introduce more environment based traps and removes enemies from the equation. This gives the

player some calm down time from the foes so they can focus on learning environment navigation. Each

element is introduced to the player, first in a safer way and later in more dangerous forms that the player has

learnt to avoid.

RISK V’S REWARD

The sewers introduce more risk for reward scenarios, where the player can divert off the main path to gain

access to better weapons but at the risk of unexpected dangers and more hazards. Here the player must make

the choice to take the risk of death for a better weapon or to continue with what they have in hopes they will

get something later. The blue path indicates the riskier areas that will reward the player with a more powerful

weapon while the main path is easier but gives little power to the player.


STRONGHOLD YARD

The stronghold yard is mostly a linear path, where all deviations return to the original path before continuing.

This area is mostly about combat, with various enemies to take out. The environment is like a prison yard, with

fencing, concrete and metal structures taking up most of the area. The background continues to show the city

in the distance.

FLOWCHART

MAP


FLOW

The stronghold begins to introduce the more powerful version of previous elements. These elements are now

more powerful and as such have a different look. They are larger, made of concrete and steel and have more

explosive devices around them.

RISK V’S REWARD

The stronghold uses path deviation as well where the player can travel off the straight path into riskier areas

for the sake of a more powerful weapon.

MINI-BOSS FACILITY DOOR

A timed event, the player needs to last against a series of spawned enemies until all are defeated. The enemies

are spawned inside the facility and run out at the player in waves. Once all have been killed the door will open

and the player can move on.

Waves

Wave 1

Running Soldier x 2

Wave 2

Running Soldier x 4

Running Gunner x 2

Wave 3

Running Soldier x 6

Running Gunner x 4

Grenade Thrower x 2


FACILITY

Inside the facility the player has to jump over crates and shoot enemies up on ledges and among the crates.

FLOWCHART

MAP


FLOW

The facility is a straight run to the end, a few enemies to kill but nothing new to learn. The player is required to

apply their learned control skills to move to the boss before engaging it.

BOSS – COMPUTER SYSTEM

The boss follows the standards of a typical contra boss, where there is a weak point to shoot and it attacks in a

series of phases and patterns.

1st

Attack Phase

3 directional shots o Three shots fired in rapid succession o Initial set at around 225 Degrees

with each following shot being reduced in angle around 10 degrees

Low Beam o Player must jump the attack

First phase ends when the core is damaged around 50%

2nd

Attack Phase

Dual roof blasts o Player needs to move back and

forth to dodge the shots

Slow shot directed at the players current location

Boss is killed once its health reaches 0%

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