Exodus

Andrew Huan, Kalisha Munasinghe, Krishna Rao, Yash Saksena

Print & Play Prototype Link to heading

Rulebook & Testing Notes Link to heading

Overview & Core Concept Link to heading

The Narrative of the game involves the Cyborgs trying to escape from the facility using various augments and the scientist trying to prevent them by placing various traps around the facility and summoning robot enemies.

The Gameplay involves the cyborg players drawing from damage, healing and utility decks represented by red, green and yellow respectively. The Cyborg can draw to get the same augments in order to increase its level (at max 3), The scientist also possesses a unique deck with different abilities than Cyborg that they can use to strategically place traps, lock hallways, summon enemies etc. At the end of each round a card is drawn from the event deck which consists of effects that happen to the entire board and can either give advantage to cyborg or the scientist. The turn order of the game for every round is cyborg -> Enemies -> Scientist -> Event.

The unique concept present in our game is the PvP mechanics and the strategy revolving around it which make it interactive. Also the dynamic map that is determined by the Scientist (If the player chooses the Intermediate board in which they can freely place room tiles except for some fixed ones) makes each and every new game feel new with different strategies to be used than the previous one.

We took inspiration from several games such as Forbidden Desert, Nemesis and Resident Evil: Resistance which are discussed in depth later.

Genre Link to heading

Narrative: Action, Sci-Fi

Gameplay: Co-Op, PvP, Strategy, Sci-Fi

Target Audience Link to heading

• Anyone who is 13 years olds and older is interested in Sci-fi strategy and action games.
• Teenagers aged between 13 - 19 who like the and the randomness and surprise of the event cards in the game.
• Adults aged from 18 years who like strategy games with quick planning and team coordination.

Forbidden Desert
In the game, there are rumours of a highly developed society having concealed its solar-powered airship deep within the desert. Players take on the roles of explorers who have crashed in the desert and must now search for the airship parts to escape before succumbing to the severe storm and thirst giving us the idea of having two levels in our game for the cyborgs to defeat the scientist and escape.

The game setup is amusing, with the board created by randomly placing 24 desert tiles in a 5x5 formation, and various markers and decks added to represent the storm, sand, and airship pieces. This placement gave us the idea to have random rooms and each room being represented as a challenge or not. Players each take on one of six unique roles, each with its special abilities to help the team navigate the dangerous terrain.

Forbidden Desert is a challenging but rewarding cooperative experience that requires players to work together strategically to overcome the harsh environment and uncover the hidden airship before time runs out. This inspired us to add the time limit and the idea of the players having to collaborate together to escape the facility.

BoardGameGeek. (n.d.-a). Forbidden Desert. BoardGameGeek. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/136063/forbidden-desert

Nemesis
Nemesis is a coordinated science fiction board game set on the spaceship ‘Nemesis’, where 1-5 players take on the roles of the crew who have been woken from hibernation to deal with an infestation of Alien Intruders. Liking the Sci-fi theme, we incorporated this view into our game.

The gameplay involves a mix of combined mechanisms and challenging elements, as players must work together to explore the ship, gather resources, and try to return to Earth, while also having hidden individual objectives that may conflict with each other. The game was praised for its replayability, tense atmosphere, and high-quality map design and enemy tokens. We took inspiration from The Nemesis board layout as we were in awe with the visual, creativity of the rooms and route, and the representation of the tokens for the board.

BoardGameGeek. (2018). Nemesis. BoardGameGeek. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/167355/nemesis

Resident Evil: Resistance
‘Resident Evil: Resistance’ is a 4-vs-1 survival horror game set during the Raccoon City outbreak. Four survivor players compete against a single “mastermind” player, who can create traps, enemies, and other hazards to impede the survivors’ progress. The survivors must work together to explore the NEST2 facility, gather resources, and escape while the mastermind attempts to stop them. Coincidently, this game is quite similar to our game; we’d never heard of or even played this particular game until one of the players from the Week 9 Alpha test pointed out how similar our game is to ‘Resistance’. However, researching and understanding the reviews on the imbalances of the game, gave us the motivation to improve and balance our game.
Wikipedia. (2024, April 19). Resident Evil: Resistance. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resident_Evil:_Resistance

Visual Aesthetics Link to heading

The design of the board layout gives a sense of urgency, adventure and danger for the players. The time limit is set such that the players have ample enough time to explore their option while still maintaining a sense of urgency. Hidden throughout the board are multiple rooms, most of which have negative effects on the players encouraging them to proceed with caution. The assets used adds to the science function atmosphere we have created, with the boards featuring hexagonal room tiles and the cards which are colour coded with red, green and yellow representing damage, healing and utility respectively. Each card is marked with a mechanical logo corresponding to its deck, the combination of the game setting combined with assets enhances player experience and immerses them in this futuristic setting.

Character Descriptions Link to heading

Character 1 - [W4R] {#character-1—[w4r]} Link to heading

Name: [W4R]
Age: Not Applicable
Gender Identity: He/Him
Archetype: The Hero

Appearance:
W4R has a mechanical body heavy armour with various plates, gear and glowing wires which are suitable for heavy combat and suggests a high level of technology. W4R has an overall imposing and powerful presence but while conversing with his allies he is very humble. During combat he fights like a trained soldier eliminating each enemy with utmost precision and accuracy.

Background:
W4R is a combat oriented cyborg who was placed into a simulation. In this simulation he was a soldier serving in the military with a loving and caring family. One day, while having a family picnic, W4R saw the world around him begin to break apart, as he tried to protect his family they shattered into tiny cubes and vanished. At this moment, W4R woke up from his slumber.

Goals:

W4R’s goal is to escape the scientist facility and create the family of his dream in the real world.

Flaws:
W4R flaws are: -

• Haunted by the past - The realisation of everything that he ever had was a simulation constantly haunts him, causing interference in his performance in critical situations.
• Protective - After losing his simulated family W4R has become protective for his new friends 5COUT and H3AL, which causes him to take unnecessary damage in order to protect them.
• Guilt - W4R feels responsible for any damage taken by his allies due to his fault and is very apologetic.

Character 2 - [H3AL] Link to heading

Name: [H3AL]
Age: Not Applicable
Gender Identity: She/Her
Archetype: The Ally

Appearance:
H3AL has a mechanical body with medium armour, plates and various mechanical parts which are more sleek and adds agility, H3AL has various augments for support and healing which suggests a high level of medical technology being implanted on her. Overall H3AL is very kind and compassionate to others and worries about the health of others. During combat she mainly heals and supports her allies with vaiours augments.

Background:

H3EL is a healing oriented cyborg who was placed in a simulation. In this simulation she was a world renowned surgeon who dedicated her life to saving people. One day, while driving to her next operation,, H3EL saw the world around her break apart, as she was trying to save the life of a child on the sidewalk she saw him break into small cubes and vanish. At this moment H3AL woke up from her slumber.

Goals:

H3AL’s goal is to escape the scientist facility and use her advanced healing abilities to help both humans and cyborgs.

Flaws:

H3AL flaws are: -

• Guilt-Ridden - The realisation that in her entire life she was not able to help anyone makes her feel guilty and inadequate. This makes her emotionally unstable when she is unable to help someone around her.
• Self Sacrificial - Her tendencies to prioritise others health over her can put her in unnecessary danger.

Character 3 - [5C0UT] Link to heading

Name: [5C0UT]
Age: Not Applicable
Gender Identity: He/Him
Archetype: The Mentor

Appearance:
5COUT has a mechanical body with light body armour,plates and antennae around his ears, his overall physique suggest him being very agile and nimble. 5COUT is very serious and focused on his goals and is the leader of the team. During combat 5COUT uses his smaller body size and lighter armour to dodge enemies and control the flow of the battles with his augments and strategies.

Background:

5COUT is a tech oriented cyborg who was placed into a simulation. In this simulation he was a veteran member of a secret intelligence branch who are currently pursuing online tracks of a hacker. While working from his home tracing the online tracks of the hacker, he saw the room around him shatter into small cubes. At this moment 5COUT woke up from his slumber.

Goals:
5COUT goal is to escape the scientist facility and take revenge on the scientist for trapping him and many others in a simulation.

Flaws:
5COUT flaws are:-

• Vengeful - His desire for revenge against the scientist can cloud his judgement, making him more focused on revenge rather than safety of his team.
• Lone Worker- he is so accustomed to work alone that he sometimes fails to acknowledge the presence of his companions.
• Overconfidence - His tech skills can sometimes lead to overconfidence which makes him underestimate danger and take unnecessary damage.

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Narrative Design Link to heading

Setting: Link to heading

Kethys is a world ruled by two opposing empires The Nyaz and the Zyans, both are equipped with advanced technology and are equal in power. To one up the Nyaz Empire, Zyan Empire created a hidden facility far north of them where augmented humans or more commonly known as cyborgs are being manufactured. However one day the cyborgs go rogue and try to escape the facility, realising cyborgs have gone rogue the head scientist of the facility activated the emergence lockdown protocol from the monitoring room, locking the entire facility and arming traps in various rooms. In order to escape the cyborg must now try to reach the scientist and find the escape tunnel before the facility explodes.

Act 1: Link to heading

The Ordinary World: Link to heading

“Finally, you’re awake.” A voice resonates throughout his mind as his eyes flung wide open. Right in-front of him, a cheerful and excited expression could be seen on what seems to be a female cyborg. Dizzy from his sudden awakening, all he could think about was the sweet sweet dream he had been having of what seems to have been… an eternity. The voice now, obvious that it was from the female cyborg directly in front of him, explains that the beautiful memory currently in his mind is not actually real. It was but a fake, implanted within him to keep him comatosed. In an attempt to shake off his grogginess he realises he cannot actually move. The female cyborg then requests for a quick second and unplugs the cables plugged to the back of his head. After being brought down to the floor, he takes a clearer look at the room around him and he notices hundreds, if not thousands of other cyborgs all lifelessly hanging on a metal hook with wires plugged into the back of their heads and body as he was.

Call to Adventure: Link to heading

The female cyborg introduces herself as model H3AL, while declaring him to be model W4R. As H3AL guides W4R to the exit of the room they are in, she explains the reason as to why W4R has been awoken, being that they are looking to escape from the facility they’ve been created in, to avoid the fate of being a mere warmonger. She goes further and says, for some unknown reason, 90% of the staff has gone missing and therefore have chosen this specific time frame to make their escape, guaranteeing the highest chance of success.

Meeting the Mentor: Link to heading

As the 2 cyborgs approach the exit, another smaller looking cyborg can be seen staring straight into a panel attached to their hand. H3AL introduces him as 5C0UT. 5C0UT was also the reason why W4R was chosen to be released, a decision made based on the stats 5C0UT is able utilising a small screen strapped to his arm as a utility-model cyborg. H3AL then introduces themself as a healing-model cyborg and that W4R is a Damage-model cyborg.

Cross the First Threshold: Link to heading

5C0UT, having yet acknowledged their presence due to being completely focused on his screen, has his face now scowling with a clenched jaw. Suddenly, a siren accompanying a loud commanding voice repeating “LOCKDOWN” could be heard, followed by the sound of steel shifting and cogs turning. And then there was silence. 5C0UT looked up at H3AL and simply shook his head, then at the W4R to give him a nod of acknowledgement. H3AL elaborates that it seems their plan to go unseen has been foiled and now the facility is in lockdown. So left with not much of a choice, they venture forth to find the control room in order to escape.

Act 2: Link to heading

Tests, Allies and Enemies: Link to heading

W4R, H3AL, and 5C0UT advance cautiously through the cold, sterile corridors. Each step resounds with a metallic echo, a haunting reminder of the facility’s oppressive nature. Their first destination is a room they enter with trepidation, which they soon realise is the Forge. A cavernous space filled with blacksmith forges and anvils, its walls are adorned with weapons and equipment. As they proceed, various traps activate, with weapons slashing and piercing from all directions. W4R’s combat instincts kick in, allowing him to navigate through the traps with H3AL’s guidance, who is simultaneously healing minor injuries. During the chaos, W4R discovers an augmented weapon—a Hand Cannon—and attaches it to his arm.

Their next trial is an unexpected encounter with a frigid chamber centred around a massive blue core—the Cryo Room. The air is so cold that it instantly begins freezing their joints. Each step emits a crackling sound akin to ice breaking. As they near the exit, W4R’s vision blurs, and he starts to falter. H3AL and 5C0UT have to support him, dragging him out just before his systems shut down completely from the cold.

They find temporary respite in an unassuming room that turns out to be the Canteen, a safe haven where automated systems dispense food. The trio takes a moment to rest, consuming synthetic apples that taste like pie. W4R apologises for his earlier weakness, and H3AL reassures him while running diagnostic checks. Meanwhile, 5C0UT talks about his dream of seeing the beach, a place he’s only heard about in fragmented data files. H3AL then shares alarming news: the virus implanted in W4R’s system is spreading, as shown on a progress bar displayed on her screen.

Next, they enter a room filled with disruptive electromagnetic waves that cause H3AL’s screen to flicker—the Electrical Room. Suddenly, the sound of claws on metal heralds the arrival of two cybernetic dogs and a bear. In the ensuing battle, W4R and 5C0UT protect H3AL, who manages to dampen the waves, allowing their augments to function properly. W4R swiftly defeated the enemies, but 5C0UT was knocked unconscious.

They carry 5C0UT to the next area, which turns out to be a Repair Room. They lay him on a bed, and H3AL works diligently to mend his wounds while passing W4R a scout drone to survey ahead. W4R’s reconnaissance reveals nothing immediate, but returning, he finds H3AL showing a rare moment of vulnerability, kneeling beside 5C0UT’s bed. W4R respects their need for space and rests on another bed, dreaming of a peaceful family in a park—a vision interrupted by the urgency of their mission.

Refreshed, W4R describes what he saw, and they cautiously proceed, unsure of what lies ahead. The rooms seem to blur together as their fatigue grows, and each step feels heavier than the last.

The U-Turn Room tests their resolve as the connecting doors lock. After a brief debate, and under the influence of W4R’s deteriorating condition, they choose to force their way through. They spend precious minutes breaking down the door, each moment heightening their sense of urgency.

In the next room, lasers from hidden turrets suddenly light up the space—the Laser Lab. They dodge laser turrets with increasing difficulty. H3AL sustains the worst injuries, but they press on. ultimately encountering and swiftly neutralising a lone scientist, unaware of the consequences of their actions at this point in time.

Approach to the Innermost Cave: Link to heading

In the Monitoring Room, an unsettling truth is revealed: they have been observed throughout their escape. Without delaying for too long, 5C0UT begins working quickly, using the room’s equipment to remove the viruses from their systems, providing a brief respite of clarity.

The Ordeal: Link to heading

Suddenly as the scientist’s heart eventually stops, a countdown starts blaring throughout the entire facility “SELF DESTRUCTING IN 10 MINUTES”. 5C0UT quickly connects his screen to the system and quickly identifies the exit to the facility, which so happened to be the Canteen room from before.

Reward: Link to heading

The trio retraces their steps through familiar rooms, now racing against time. Despite suffering injuries, they manage to exit the facility just as it explodes behind them. The blast hurls debris, impaling W4R’s arm and crushing H3AL’s legs, leaving them immobilised outside.

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Act 3: Link to heading

The Road Back: Link to heading

Outside, silence reigns—whether due to divine intervention or their damaged auditory systems. As the dust settles, they are confronted with a horrific sight: an endless expanse of identical large facilities stretching to the horizon.

With renewed determination, they brace themselves for the long journey ahead, realising that their battle has only just begun. They must find a way to dismantle the network of facilities, seeking freedom not just for themselves, but for countless others still trapped within the cold, mechanical grasp of their creators.

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Mechanics Design Link to heading

Game Goals Link to heading

Game Challenges/Goal: Link to heading

The top level challenge of the game is to defeat the scientist and escape the facility.

Level Challenges/Goal: Link to heading

While there is one structure to the map overall, it is used as two separate levels, since the cyborgs first have to reach the scientist in the monitoring room and then traverse back to their escape as the facility goes crazy. These two phases are called The Hunt Phase and The Escape Phase.

Sub-Level Challenges/Goal: Link to heading

The Hunt Phase - Walk through the random rooms and face the challenges they bring to reach the scientist with 12 rounds.

The Escape Phase - After the scientist is defeated the cyborgs will have a limit of 6 rounds to escape the facility, venturing through the familiar rooms to reach the room for them to escape.

Atomic Challenges/Goal: Link to heading

The Hunt Phase - The game begins with players navigating through various rooms, each presenting unique challenges. Rooms such as Paralysis, U-Turn, and Forge that can inflict 1 HP loss on the cyborg’s health. The scientist player will strategically place locks and deploy wolf or bear robots to restrict the cyborgs’ progress. To reach the scientist, the cyborgs must carefully navigate and engage these obstacles.

Additionally, each round triggers event cards that can provide either advantages or disadvantages for the cyborg players, adding an unpredictable element to the gameplay. This dynamic interplay between the cyborgs, the scientist’s defences, and the event cards creates a compelling experience for all players.

The Escape Phase - Once the scientist is defeated, the cyborgs must then race against a strict countdown timer of 6 rounds. During this tense final phase, the players must navigate the familiar rooms they traversed earlier, facing the same, and the scientist’s robot defences. Adding to the complexity, the event cards and enemies will continue keeping the cyborgs on their toes as they desperately try to reach the escape room and secure their victory.

Game Mechanics Link to heading

Space Link to heading

This is a 2D discrete space game. The game’s map has 21 distinct tiles that the cyborgs can traverse, and the scientist uses the traps and enemies in the game to their advantage to divert and slow down the cyborgs from reaching him.

Discrete space was chosen as it simplifies the movement of the players in the game and how they interact with each other, as sharing the spaces makes more sense in the trading and movement systems.

Time Link to heading

Time is one of the critical aspects of the game, as Cyborgs only have 12 turns in the hunt phase and 6 in the exit phase. These restrictions have been put in place not only to create stress, which helps make the game more intense for cyborgs, but also to keep the length of the game reasonable.

Another important factor in the game is its turn-based nature. It is split into multiple different phases that are followed, in some ways similar to games like Civilization or The Forbidden Desert, which is one of our reference games. The turn-based aspects create a sense of structure in the chaos of the fight between the two forces and help create further nuance with the game’s strategy.

Objects, Attributes & States Link to heading

To preface this section, the objects and attributes are expected to be mostly tracked by either the players (with memory) or with tokens used in the game, as this is a physical board game.

Cyborgs:
The cyborgs are three of the four playable characters in the game that traverse the map. They are a key object in the game as they determine what the player interacts with, hence they have a token as well.

Cyborg Attributes:

Scientist:
The scientist is not a direct object in the game (NO TOKEN); however, they still need to track some things that will be represented as attributes.

Scientist Attributes:

Turn Counters:
The turn counters in the level determine how imminent the defeat of the cyborgs is and so they are key to the gameplay. This is tracked through a token.

Counter Attributes:

Rooms:
The rooms determine what happens to the cyborgs when they are revealed.

Room Attributes:

Augments:
These are the cards used by the cyborgs to work against the scientist and WIN the game. One of the main mechanics of the game.

Enemies:
Enemies like the robot dog and the robot bear have their own stats to follow; these are important for their phases and for helping the scientist fight against the cyborgs.

Enemy Attributes:

Locks:
A token object that helps keep track of doors that have already been locked and can’t be locked again.

Actions Link to heading

Cyborgs:
Cyborgs are one side of the playable characters and have many operative actions. These include:

Scientist:
The scientist is an instrumental playable character in the game who requires a lot of thought and nuance to prevail.

Rules Link to heading

The rules are outlined in the print-and-play prototype.

Skills Link to heading

Substantial mental skill is required for the game, as high-level strategy and thinking on the spot are important. The cyborgs will have to adapt and communicate with one another and be careful how they move and interact with the level. Moreover, scientists will have to try to predict and divert the cyborgs so that they waste their time in the game.

Good communication skills will also help in the game, as they would help the cyborgs communicate with each other and likely help the scientist deceive the cyborgs.

Chance Link to heading

The Augments at the start of the game each have a 20% chance of being drawn from their respective decks. This change slowly lowers as they are randomly shuffled and pulled out of the decks. This variance makes the ability to draw well-balanced as it forces players to either keep drawing and be a detriment to their other players or to hope that they get the right cards when they have their free draw. This is the same for the event decks and scientist decks.

However, unlike the augments deck, both the scientist and event decks cycle these chances are consistent, so they are listed below:

Event: There is a 10% chance per game to draw any form of event. In the hunt phase, this chance is increased as the players draw three times the number of events and trigger one of them, increasing it to 30%.

Scientist:

Testing & Balancing Strategies {#testing-&-balancing-strategies} Link to heading

Playtest 1 ( W8 ): Link to heading

Our first playtest was in our workshop of Week 8, where we tried to play the game as referenced in A3A. This gave us many important notes about the game and things we knew we had to change. These included:

1. Possibly letting the scientist lay the rooms (so that they could strategise more easily)
2. Bringing back the science deck such that the scientist has more nuance to their strategy
3. Removing “AP” terminology for “Action” to reduce confusion for the players
4. Doors should not be locked again when they are unlocked.

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Balancing: Link to heading

At this early stage of the game development, we hadn’t played much of it, so we didn’t balance it much, and not many balancing strategies were used. However, one Dominant strategy we found was that the scientist could lock doors again. This broke the fundamental gameplay loop of the game, and so we added the rule that doors should not be locked again after they are unlocked. This helped balance the playing field.

Difficulty Management: Link to heading

By changing the wording, we intensely reduced the perceived difficulty of the game, as the wordiness can be overwhelming, such as in games like Magic The Gathering, where words like flash, mill, scry, etc., are used to describe specific actions. To further lower the perceived difficulty, we added a terminology section to the rule book, which would help new players understand what different terms mean and how they affect the game.

Week 9 Playtests (Alpha - Playtest 5): Link to heading

These were the most influential playtests we did with many people, and it was extremely insightful as we got many of our classmates to give us feedback on the game. The main takeaways from this were:

1. The wording of the cards was imprecise
2. The random placements of the rooms were too aggressive and made the game overly luck-based.
3. The only viable damage cards were the plasma sword and the grenade belt.
4. Locking all halls connecting to a room was too powerful.

Balancing Link to heading

With these in mind, we set off to balance the different aspects of the game. This included the different damage cards, which we balanced using symmetrical balancing. We also made the other augments more powerful to match the plasma sword at higher levels. To make the game more strategically challenging we also did some tradeoff balancing by increasing the health of the bears. We then decided to try different ways to put rooms on the map and, after more experimentation, found a better way to introduce people to the game (W12).

Moreover, we later decided to let the scientists lock only halls in the game and not whole rooms because otherwise, they would have easily blocked off the cyborgs within the allotted time.

Difficulty Management Link to heading

Again, as highlighted last week, the wording of some of the cards, like the plasma shield, was imprecise, allowing players to give other players shields from across the map. This was also buffed by the fact that shields had an endless duration at the time. By fixing this wording, we again lowered the perceived and absolute difficulty due to the lowered intrinsic skill required to understand the cards and systems in place.

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Week 10 Playtests: Link to heading

We managed to fix the routes of the map as it was too difficult to make a proper journey through the map, since after testing we could barely reach halfway through the map. This gave us some insights to change up the map by adding an extra room tile and creating more routes between the rooms with proper descriptions. We also added new ability cards for more variations.

Balancing Link to heading

While we were balancing the map by changing the rooms, we decided to have a few rooms to be set on the map so not all the rooms are random. Also, to align the map properly we added one more room making it more balanced. While we fixed up the map we wrote the room descriptions which ended up looking better. We created a few more cards to the deck which are the extractor for the healing deck, the spike trap for the combat deck and the repel energy for the utility deck.

Difficulty Management Link to heading

As mentioned earlier about the changes in the map, we ran a few tests and it was the most difficult during the week, as we tried to implement different shapes of the rooms, and different paths. However, we all came to a decision to add an extra room and make the rooms bigger, changing the routes like adding a few more pathways between rooms. This made the overall difficulty of the game lower as cyborgs had more available paths to take, and the scientist had one extra trap to place.

Week 12 Playtest (Beta): Link to heading

Balancing Link to heading

By week 12 we already refined our core game mechanics and balanced various aspects of our game, hence not many balancing strategies were used. There were not any dominant strategies present in the game except for some wording issues in the extractor card that enable the players to use the ability to any member in the whole map. Using the extractor and spike traps augments were recessive strategies that were present in the game, they added them to add more variety to the overall deck so that the probability of getting strong abilities is decreased.

Difficulty Management Link to heading

This week since our core game was refined and balanced, we didn’t make any change to mechanics and abilities but instead during the alpha playtest we noticed that for new players playing as a scientist it was overwhelming for them to place room tiles strategically. Hence we made a novice board for scientist only, which had a reference for placing which room tiles at which position such that the new player won’t get overwhelmed. In this situation we improved the Perceived difficulty for new players and raised the overall experience of the game.

Critical Analysis Link to heading

Character Archetypes: Link to heading

W4R fits the Hero archetype, This archetype is characterised by its likeability by the players and its growth and evolution through the story. W4R fits this archetype with his highly relatable background, making the audience sympathise with his motivation. Throughout the story, we witness his evolution. Initially, he is confused and unaware of his surroundings, but by the end he becomes more reliable and compassionate towards his team members.

H3AL fits The Ally archetype, This archetype is characterised by their loyalty to the hero. They follow every move of The hero and help them to overcome insurmountable challenges or obstacles somewhere along the way. H3Al fits this description perfectly as she was the one that awakened W4R (The Hero) from his slumber, and since she possesses healing augments she supports and provides medical aid to other characters.

5COUT fits The Mentor archetype, this archetype introduces The Hero to the world and the roles. They may also instruct the hero about how to use their abilities or powers, and often play an integral role in moving the plot forwards. 5COUT fits this archetype as he was the one who awakened H3AL and W4R and chose them for their escape from the facility, As he was a veteran member in secret intelligence while he was in simulation he posses strategic intellect and knowledge, and guides W3R and H3AL around the facility using his augments.

Narrative Tropes: Link to heading

• The Cyborgs

Manufactured cyborgs whose existence can vanish at any moment. Improved through scientific experimentation, wires connected from metallic skulls as their veins. They set off on a dangerous journey desperate for freedom escaping from being captive in this facility.

• The Awakening

The awakening of W4R from the hazy dream state he was in, demonstrates the call to adventure, designating him off on his heroic journey. His disorientation from his slumber creates a sense of shock and the need to escape.

• The Team

While W4R is the hero figure, the story strives to show the importance of working together as a team. Their combined strengths and abilities with each other will help them face the challenges set among them.

• The Courage

The environmental rooms like the Forge, Cryo Room, Electrical Room etc. represent a series of tests and trials that push the heroes to their limits, both physically and mentally. Each new room forces them to adapt through danger and heightened tension. Overcoming these tests allows the heroes to grow stronger.

• The Countdown

The ticking clock of the facility’s self-destruct sequence injects a frantic pace and tension. The hard countdown puts extreme pressure on the heroes, forcing them to make last-second decisions as the stakes are raised to survive the explosive climax.

• The Action

The intense action plot is driven by physical tests like navigating traps, battling enhanced threats, and overcoming environmental hazards in each new room. Fights, dodging attacks, using augmented weapons, etc. Create gripping set pieces and keep the thrills at a constant adrenaline-pumping pace between character moments.

• The Adventure

The narrative follows a classic adventure structure as the heroes are thrown into the facility and must use all their strength and resources to successfully navigate a defined path to escape. This linear overarching goal propels the adventure plot forward through each new area and encounter, flush with mysteries, and discoveries.

Stereotypes and Cliches: Link to heading

Rather than portraying the cyborg characters as emotionless, robotic beings driven purely by logic, we slightly incorporated them with very human qualities, openness, and dreams.

While H3AL takes on a more supportive role as the team’s healer, she is not simply a defenceless victim who needs constant rescuing. She plays a vital part in the team’s survival through her essential abilities.

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Show Don’t Tell: Link to heading

The way the environment is described with brutal details of the way the other thousands of cyborgs look lifeless conveys the way of manufacturing in the facility in the past without telling. Without needing too much of an explanation, the names of the rooms such as electrical, forge, etc, describe the complexity and the heightening tension.

Also, by not deeply describing the scientist this allows to give the players the chance to imagine in their minds about what kind the scientist is. Letting them explore and create their own scenarios.

Challenges and Player Skill: Link to heading

Players will need to react quickly to navigate through the tight corridors to each room, avoiding dangers like forges and laser traps through precise positioning and movements. Combating the scientist’s robot attack dogs and bears demands coordinated plans and steps. With limited actions, players must manage their powerful abilities under pressure. Sudden changes from event cards like facility lockdowns or radiation leaks will force the players to adapt decision-making without losing health points.

Within each level phase, the team must scout ahead and plot an efficient pathway through the randomised room maze to reach objectives. The cyborg’s health should be carefully managed through healing rotations as it is critical to be present across the game. Analysing the board, including the enemies’ positions, is key to setting up combo attacks by deploying abilities like EMPs, to set up arm cannon strikes, etc.

The Hunt and Escape phases, each with its victory conditions and time pressures, will test the team’s adaptability. Healing abilities become crucial as health drains across the combined levels, overcoming different randomised rooms and cancelling their unique hazards.

Level Layouts: Link to heading

We have implemented a Network layout for our map, which features several interconnected rooms with branching paths that allows players to move both backwards and forwards non linearly. Our map also features several interconnected rooms with branching paths in which players have the ability to freely move. We chose this layout due to its flexibility and non linear progression, it provides a sense of adventure and offers multiple movement options for players, promoting more exploration.

In our map we have room tiles for each room that are placed by the scientist at the start (if not using the fixed layout provided by the game), but the rooms highlighted by greens are fixed rooms that cannot be moved. They serve as Meso landmarks for the game as they guide the player towards the end of the Map which is the Monitoring Room.

Link to heading

Difficulty and ‘Flow’: Link to heading

1. Absolute Difficulty -

   1. Intrinsic skill - If the players are given unlimited amount of time to complete the objective, the intrinsic skills of this game would be low as since abilities all have level, players will farm at the start of the game to get powerful abilities. Even though the scientist will also have time to upgrade rooms and summon more robots on the board, players will still have the upper hand for example a disarm tool which can de amp a room and dimension gate that allows the player to skip a lot of rooms.

   2. Stress - The Stress level of the game is Moderate, Since the game was designed with time limit in mind, we ensure that players have ample amount of time to complete the game and explore, but still have some urgency that allows them to progress.

2. Relative Difficulty - The relative difficulty of the game is moderate, Even though the cyborg possesses limited augments at the start, they rapidly upgrade or get new augments that will help them progress in the board, but they still have to use them strategically. The Scientist also doesn’t possess many abilities but as the game progresses can summon more enemies and lay more traps on the board. It depends on who can use their abilities more effectively and strategically that determines who has the upper hands.

3. Perceived Difficulty - The perceived Difficulty of the game is Moderate, Even though player with experience will try to get strong augments from the start in order to increase their of winning chances, the player who is experienced as the scientist can also choose which room tiles go where which can lead to the cyborgs taking longer or difficulty path, also since scientist has more strategic freedom they can create strategy to either trap player till timer ends or defeat them entirely. Hence if both scientist and cyborg are experienced players of the game, they will both face equal challenges and have to use advanced strategy in order to win.

4. Flow - The flow of the game is very balanced, At the start of the game when the cyborgs and the scientist are both preparing the game the game still has enough action to not feel boring but doesn’t have that much anxiety. When the game progresses due to the time limit and various strategies implemented by the scientist, the game becomes more and more challenging for both the scientist and the cyborg as both have to cleverly devise strategies in order to one up each other.

Genre Conventions: Link to heading

Genre Conventions (Narrative) - The Narrative Genre we have decided for our game is Action and Sci-Fi. Since the narrative contains many scenes in which the cyborg are in combat with the enemies or the environment this fits the Action Genre, and due to the Sci-Fi elements present in the game such as Cyborgs, robot bear/wolf, Lazer etc they game fits the Sci-Fi Genre.

Genre Conventions (Gameplay) - The Gameplay genre we have decided for our game is Co-op, PvP, Strategy and Sci-Fi. The cyborgs working together as a team to progress through the boards aligns with the Co-op genre, the Scientist vs the cyborgs dynamic with 1 player being the scientist and the rest 3 being the cyborg matched with the Pvp genre, Due to the presence of many unique augments for the scientist and presence of many options for stopping the cyborgs for the scientist promotes strategic use of abilities in order to one up each other, and the presence of Sci-Fi elements such as augments, robot enemies etc satisfies the Sc-Fi genre.

Credit For AI Artworks used:

We acknowledge the use of Microsoft Copilot (https://copilot.microsoft.com) to [2] generate some of the artwork and icons used in this project. We entered the following prompts between the days of Apr 22nd 2024, and June 7th 2024.

Image	prompt
	digital wallpaper featuring a full-body portrait of a male cyborg soldier. It’s styled with an anime influence, reminiscent of comic book art, and rendered in 8k resolution. The dark background and muted colors set the stage for an epic and dramatic composition. The digital painting is emotionally profound and intricately detailed, ensuring a powerful and captivating presence.
	Photo of a cyborg holdin a plasma shield in a long scifi hallway.
	digital wallpaper to feature green patterns and styled her as a female combat medic. The design maintains the badass, anime aesthetic in the style of comics, with an 8k resolution and a dark background. The muted colors contribute to the epic and dramatic composition, while the digital painting remains emotionally profound and intricately detailed
	character with a smaller size and sleek design, featuring antenna-like ears and yellow patterns. The character maintains the futuristic soldier aesthetic with advanced armor, now presented in a more compact form.
	Simple abstract icon of a wrench with scifi features
	Simple abstract icon of a stopwatch with sci fi features
	Simple abstract icon of a flask with sci fi features
	Simple abstract icon of a gun with sci fi features
	A simple abstract icon of a heart with sci fi features
	A simple spike trap on a hallway in a sci fi facility.
	A syringe gun with blue plasma on a table in a scifi facility
	can you make a picture of a status dampener that looks like an epi pen made of metal on a table within a sci fi facility, make it a wide shot with the dampener in the middle
	A literal bandage box on a table within a science fiction facility setting
	A healing drone inside a science fiction facility