After a series of brainstorming sessions with the leadership team, I wrote a game vision document for Untamed that clearly defined our design pillars, core themes and the game’s major game features. This document also outlined the game's lore and narrative arc, setting the stage for the creative development that was necessary to complete the final pitch.
Below I have included excerpts from this document. They served as a great way to communicate the high-level game vision, and get creative buy-in from the rest of the members of the team.
GAME VISION
PLAYER’S JOURNEY
In Untamed, players are one of Elukai – unique individuals whose awesome abilities allow them to tame and control nature. Branded as outcasts, they are exiled to a wild and beautifully dangerous world they must explore, survive, and eventually conquer with other players like them. The player’s journey will encompass learning about their world and their special abilities through engaging gameplay and a deep and immersive and personal narrative – and, combined with compelling multiplayer content, will create a completely unique game experience.
CORE THEME - TAME THE WILD
Tame the Wild is at the heart and soul of the game and will be a common thread that ties our designs, our systems and our story together.
Creatures are central to the game experience. Their complex ecology and hierarchy defines almost every aspect of the player’s progression. Through tracking, hunting, taming, and unleashing these creatures in combat, they will gain resources and upgrade equipment that will enable them to further explore the world and conquer even greater challenges.
This core game experience will be enhanced through engaging content and a compelling narrative – culminating in a saga where the player has tamed the wild and become the true master of their domain.
DESIGN PILLARS
EPIC WORLD: The originality and scale of our environments, our creatures and our story are epic and awe-inspiring, drawing players into an beautiful and unforgettable world that ignites their imaginations.
ACTION COMBAT: The combat system is immersive and impactful, putting players into the middle of the action against challenging foes with a variety of unique weapons and combat abilities.
PLAY TOGETHER: Our game is designed for players to experience their adventures together, encouraging social connections and rewarding cooperative and collaborative play.
ENDURING CONTENT: Our game systems are designed to keep people playing for years to come, providing ever increasing challenges in a living world that never stops growing and changing.
SETTING AND STORY
Overview
Aurelia is a wondrously beautiful and fantastical world, covered in lush forests and jungles, awe-inspiring mountain ranges, and other incredible natural wonders that defy the imagination. Creatures of every shape and size roam the earth and skies, their savage beauty matched only by their unbridled ferocity. On Aurelia, the natural world is feels like the physical manifestation of a deep and visceral dream, where one each and every vista is more impossibly magnificent than the next…
…but for thousands of years, Aurelia has been the battlefield between ancient, titanic forces of almost unimaginable power. The ruins of countless civilizations and their magical wonders lie shattered and overgrown throughout the world, their people and their stories lost to ravages of time and memory. During periods of peace, other civilizations rise again to replace them, many of them unaware of the dangerous powers that lie in wait for their destruction…
Setting
It has been more than a thousand years since the Dread War, and from the ashes of this conflict has risen the Verallin Empire – a severe and militaristic society built upon strict discipline and order. Sorcery of any kind was outlawed. Libraries were sacked, temples burned, and practitioners of the mystical arts were put to the sword. Because of the knowledge that was destroyed in the aftermath of the Dread War, the true reasons behind it have become little more than myth and legend – but the empire is still ruled by fear and superstition of the dark powers that had once almost destroyed them.
In this world, those who display any mystical capability are known as the Elukai. As they grow into adults, these individuals begin to manifest powers that allow them to control and manipulate nature. When discovered, they are branded as witches, warlocks and sorcerers – those whose very existence is outlawed by the Verallin Empire. Once captured, they are sent to Jutaan, a remote continent that has served as a prison for the outlaws and exiles of the empire for hundreds of years. This savage land is beautiful, wild and unbelievably dangerous, populated by a vast host of deadly creatures who live and hunt among the overgrown ruins of Jutaan’s mysterious and violent past…
Game Story
In Untamed, players are one of Elukai. Having been discovered and captured by the empire, the game begins with the player arriving on the shores of Jutaan. During the first part of the game, players will be learning their powers while navigating the often brutal politics of Jutaan’s ragtag communities – but soon they become aware that something more dangerous and insidious is happening there. Vast swaths of the forests and jungles have fallen prey to a mysterious rot, which has infected both men and beasts who approach them.
As the player travels deeper into the unexplored wilds and shattered ruins of Jutaan, they begin to learn about the truth about Aurelia’s past. For eons uncounted, the world has been a battlefield between the destructive forces of Order and Chaos, an eternal war waged by incredibly ancient and powerful beings on both sides. At the center of this conflict is Aurelia itself, whose awe-inspiring and savage natural beauty represents the true balance of Order and Chaos – and the Elukai the ultimate expression of their combined power.
In time, players discover that the island is a prison for something vastly more dangerous than the societal dregs of the empire – an Avatar of Chaos imprisoned during the Dread War that, If allowed to escape, would bring incomprehensible ruin once again upon Aurelia. The story concludes with an epic battle to stop this cataclysm from happening, giving the player an exciting victory while hinting at the deeper story of an incredible world that they are only now just discovering…
MAJOR FEATURES
[NOTE: The material below is just an excerpt of a longer section that I wrote which described the game’s major features. I have included two parts of this section an examples.]
CREATURE INTERACTIONS
Overview: The player’s relationship to creatures in our game is an extremely important aspect of their journey. As one of Elukai, the player has innate abilities that allow them to tame the creatures of our world and use them in various ways to survive, explore, fight and discover. The player’s relationship to creatures is a defining aspect of our game, and will often serve to facilitate entry into and interaction with the game’s major features.
Creature Taming: Taming creatures will be one of the most important systems in Untamed. Throughout the world, the player will be presented with opportunities to tame the creatures that they encounter. Tamed creatures will serve different functions depending on the creature type. Some will serve as mounts, others as allies in combat, and still others as helpers on the player’s personal Haven.
The taming mechanic will be fun and intuitive, but will increase in challenge and complexity as players begin taming higher level creatures. Taming higher-level creatures will provide improved utility and power in their respective areas, giving players an ongoing chase throughout progression. New areas discovered and explored by the player will usually offer new creatures to be tamed. Almost every creature type in our game will be tameable, with a few potential exceptions for bosses and other unique creatures.
Familiar: The beginning of an Elukai’s journey begins with finding and taming a Familiar – a creature that is essential to unlocking the their true potential. In many ways, the familiar serves as an amplified extension of an Elukai’s senses, instincts and supernatural abilities. They will aid the player in things like finding secrets, taming creatures and casting spells.
The relationship with the Familiar will be central to the player’s experience. The familiar is always visible on the character. Like the character, the familiar will change and evolve visually throughout the game. As the familiar grows in power, so does the player. Although the familiar does not speak, the relationship between the player and familiar will be highlighted through animation and other audio.
Combat Pets: Certain tamed creatures will be used in combat. See “Creature Combat” in the Combat section below.
Mounts: Certain tamed creatures can be used as mounts in our game. Exploration will play an important part of our game, and mounts will be very useful in traversing large and expansive environments more quickly. Higher level mounts will offer increased speed and alternate movement types – including gliding.
Haven: The player’s personal Haven will serve as a mobile home base, and this mobility will be facilitated by a creature. At the beginning of their journey, the player will need to find and tame one of these creatures – which will then serve as the Haven’s mode of transportation for the rest of the game. This creature will be large and visually impressive, highlighting the importance of the Haven in the player’s progression.
COMBAT
Overview: The combat experience in Untamed is meant to draw the player into the action. It is meant to be an immersive, impactful, and intimate experience. The camera is close to the character, allowing the player to see the finer details of their weapons and their costumes. The player’s melee attacks have weight and impact. The player, creatures and enemies react to being hit. God of War 4 and Horizon: Zero Dawn are good touchstones for this combat experience.
Player Choice: The player’s choices in combat should feel meaningful. In general, the combat experience should feel less hack-n-slash and more deliberate, strategic and tactical. Movement and position should matter in every encounter. Players can choose different weapons and magical enhancements that will allow them to exploit creature vulnerabilities and be more successful in combat.
Cooperative Play: Our combat system should be designed from the ground up with cooperative play in mind. Abilities and damage types should be designed to be used cooperatively, but still be effective if used alone. Creatures and encounters should be designed to provide opportunities for individual players within a group to be the hero, but should not be overly punishing if those opportunities are missed.
Combat Model: Untamed will have an open, classless combat model. Players can choose any available weapon, and can earn expertise through skills and abilities for that weapon. The game will feature both melee and ranged combat. If they want to earn expertise in multiple weapons, they will have the option of doing so – they will just need to spend the requisite time and effort. This model will give players longer-term progression goals for their character, as well as allowing them to keep the same character while exploring other gameplay options and experiences.
Weapon Types: The game will feature both melee and ranged weapons. Players will be encouraged to play with both types throughout their experience. Many weapons will be upgradeable through the game’s crafting system. Weapons can also be imbued and enhanced through the game’s magic system (see Magic below).
Armor: Armor will be the primary source of damage mitigation in the game. Some armors will have greater mitigation against certain damage types than others. Some armor will be upgradeable through the game’s crafting system. Armor can also be imbued and enhanced through the game’s magic system (see Magic below).
Creature Combat: Players will be able to use certain tamed creatures in combat. These creatures can be summoned during combat encounters, and will have different behaviors and abilities depending on the type of creature that is summoned. The number of creatures available to players in combat situations, as well as how many of them that can be summoned at any given time, will vary depending on how they develop their characters.
Magic: At the beginning of the game, magic will primarily be themed on control of the natural world. This means that we will lean heavily into both elemental themes and animalistic themes. At higher levels, it will also encompass Order and Chaos themes as the player begins to discover the deeper story of their world. In general, magic will be used to enhance and amplify melee combat, ranged combat and creature combat, and not serve as a primary weapon itself. This enhancement will be achieved via objects that are found and/or crafted by the player during their journey. The player’s Familiar will also facilitate magical abilities and spells while the player is in combat.