Echoed Symphony (using this from now on) Prologue

Wrote up the Prologue for the game today:

The dark, moonless night sky holds its power over the city. It covers up every nook and cranny that escapes the hard industrial lights adorning the walkways with its cold, black nothingness.Rain falls in this darkness, as it always has; a reminder to the city's inhabitants that there is no hope for them. There is only work that will bestow them with credits, so they can feed and clothe their family and survive another day.

The society here is run on the principle that you are merely a slave to the system. To be able to work, you must enlist for an Interconnectivity Persona code, or IP, which entitles you to a slot in their system and a personalized hub to connect to the mainframe. Those who do are provided with lavish accommodations and are automatically assigned a job. Those who don’t are part of the Underground: a collective of many different walks of life that are either soon to convert to the business-side of society or are working out a way to level the playing field by taking down or hacking the system.

No one has hacked it yet, but there’s talk of technology that can. Everyone who has temporarily hacked into the system’s mainframe has been cut off within seconds, tracked down within an hour, and were never heard from again. Faint whispers and murmurs speak of a hacker able to crack the code and reclaim control over the world. It just so happens that these prophecies are about to come true.

Revised Design Document

Updated it today to reflect new changes:

E.code Symphon.exe

Bryan J. Taylor

High Concept
A third-person musical shooter. You are a hacker inside a computer system, using a VRV (virtual representation virus) to implant yourself into the OS and combat an AI that is trying to regulate data flow on the internet. Codenamed a "conductor", you use music to overload servers and shut down anti-virus executables, and ultimately their host programs.

Features

• Music is your ammunition, and instruments are your guns. Defeat enemies to amplify your music, overload the sector and shut it down!
  

• No health? No problem! In E.code Symphon.exe, you can not die. If you are hit, the volume of your musical infection dampens, but as you defeat enemies, the volume gets stronger, preparing you to overload each sector's gate and proceed to the next area.
  
• Each host produces one song (you will need to construct a new song to overload the signal of each host, as the mainframe will block your previous signature from access), and each sector contains one instrument from that song.
  
• The quicker you unlock the next area, the higher your score.
  
• You can level up your character's weapons as the game progresses as you will have more power over the connection.
• When you arrive through the final gate, there will be a guardian for you to battle. You will use tactical fire against the guardian's weak point to destroy the guardian and shut down the system!
  

Player Motivation
The player battles against an AI and it's forces that is trying to restrict data flow and enforce censorship on the internet.

Genre
Artistic TPS

Target Customer
Anyone that enjoys music and wants to play a somewhat casual shooter.

Competition
None are similar to this game that would directly conflict with the sale of this game or the other.

Unique Selling Points

• Dynamic musical shooter, compose a symphony of virtual destruction!

• Hacker-themed storyline, cool tech-based graphical style
  

• Cover system
  

• Intricate and challenging boss battles

Target Hardware
Windows PC

Design Goals
Awesome: Every moment in the game should offer an opportunity to pull back from the game and appreciate the musical gameplay.

Musical: Give the player the feeling that they are overcoming an uphill battle. Ensure that they are given the opportunity to play the game differently each time.

Fusion: The combination of light, color, and music will envelop the player in a controlled synaesthesia experience.