“Eterna Hunt†is a first person survival game in which the player is thrown into a fantasy world and must build a shelter, gather resources and defend themselves and survive for seven in game days. “Eterna Hunt†is an open world game, that will feature a number of different environments and mechanics. It will be a PC game built using the Unity 2017 engine. This game is intended for an audience of 12+ due to minor violence.
Game Introduction
- Genre
- “Eterna Hunt†is a first person open world survival game based in a fantasy setting. The player must survive for 7 in game days in order to win the game.
- GamePlay
- “Eterna Hunt†is a first person open world survival game that runs over the course of 7 in game days in which the player must survive to complete the game. The player must construct a shelter to shield from the elements and the hostile mobs during the night. The player will grow hungry over the course of the day so they must gather plants and hunt to sustain their hunger. When hunger reaches 0, the game ends. When the health bar reaches 0, the game also ends. The player takes damage when exposed to the elements with no proper equipment, when poisoned and when attacked. These can be combated by consuming an antidote, constructing protective clothing and staying near fire. The player can also tame certain fauna that will be their companion and fight for the player.
- Target audience & platforms
- “Eterna Hunt†is intended for an audience of 12+ due to minor violence and the difficulty of the game. The gameplay of this game is intended to be challenging with the use of mechanics and would be very difficult for younger players.
- Look and Feel
- The world of "Eterna Hunt" is based in a whimsical fantasy setting that features exaggerated environments with unnatural colours and animals. The world is backed with ambient music to add to the mysterious and unfamiliarity of the environment, aiming to get the player to explore.
Story
You wake up from a deep slumber and find yourself at the edge of a dense unnaturally coloured fairy forest with giant trees and plants with absolutely nothing in your inventory besides an empty journal and a stick of charcoal. You can see a looming volcano and a tundra in the distance. Your stomach rumbles- you’re peckish. All the surroundings are very foreign and unfamiliar to you. You don’t know how long you’ll be here for.. the sun is rising in the sky, daylight is burning. You must construct a shelter to shield yourself from the elements and surrounding creatures. The creatures you can see now are docile, which would make good hunting targets. Perhaps you could tame one of these creatures to have as a companion and help protect you. Though, you don’t know any of these plants or animals, so you will have to be careful with what you eat so you don’t poison. You can keep record of edible flora and fauna in your journal.
Night will soon fall, and you can hear growling the howling in the distance. The peaceful creatures run for shelter.. and from the incoming hostile mobs. Prepare your weapons if you haven’t set up your shelter yet- and fight for your life. The creatures of the night are unforgiving. If you manage to strike some down, you can use their carcasses to gather meat and parts to make stronger weapons. Be careful though- it gets extremely cold at night, so you’ll want to make a fur coat or stick by a fire to avoid taking frost damage. The volcanic area is unbearably hot, but some gemstones that can be found throughout the map have a cooling effect.
Civilization will find you in seven days time, deeming you safe. Can you survive until then?
How to Play
- The player's goal is to survive for 7 in game days- to do this, the health bar and hunger bar must never reach 0.
- The landscape has animals and plants the player must eat in order to retain their hunger and health bar.
- Collecting plants can be done by clicking on the plant, while the player must first attack the animal before it's meat can be collected.
- Weapons and clothing can be made using material from the land.
- The game ends successfully if the player survives.
- If the hunger or health bar reaches 0, the game ends and starts again.
User Interface (controls)
W, A, S, D - Move
Move Mouse - Look Around
Spacebar - Jump
Left Click - Pick Up/Interact
I - Inventory
Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + P - Pause
Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + P - Resume Play
Heads Up Display (HUD)
The HUD in "Eterna Hunt" will show the health bar of the player, a hunger bar of the player, along with the day number the player is currently on.
The hunger and health bar will display in the top right of the screen while the day count will appear on the top left of the screen.
Characters
Since this game is a first person game, there will be no visible character. However, the player is free to imagine what the character looks like!
Level Design
Since the game is based in an open world, there will be truly only one level in the game, which is the overworld. However, there will be several different terrains in this overworld level, such as:
- The Hollowed Forest - The player's spawn point. Filled with large vegetation and mainly docile creatures. It's distinguishable by it's giant trees and flowers and unnaturally coloured, almost dream like state,
- The Moonlight Lake - Found in the depths of the Hollowed Forest. It's edge is home to plants that can be used to make antidotes. Animals gather here for water, which makes it a good hunting ground. Distinguishable by its deep blue tones and moonlight that pierces through the trees at night.
- The Wisp Tundra - A mostly barren snowy area which features tall mountains and heavily furred creatures. The enemies are stronger here. Blue gems are most commonly found around the mountain area which can be used in crafting weapons with a frost effect and protective clothing against the cold.
- Mount Enji - The volcanic region of the land. Features a staggering volcanic mountain with lava trailing down into the surrounding land. The lava has a very distinct pink colour. The enemies are stronger here. Here the player can find red gems which they can craft weapons with a flame effect and clothing against the heat.
The world will feature 4 main areas, though more can be added if there is a lack of variety.
Global Elements
There will be natural boundaries in the game- such as dense trees that the player cannot pass, mountains that the player cannot pass etc that acts in place of an invisible wall.
Only certain plants and objects can be interacted with therefore most of the terrain of the game are neutral objects.
The player can look around the map using their mouse- since the game is first person the camera will be able to rotate up to 360 degrees.
Audio & Sound F/x
My idea for music in this game would be a very subtle track running in the background that changes depending on the region the player is in. For example, the tundra would have an icy track playing in the background, the lake would have a water based track etc.
If possible, I would like some sort of battle soundtrack for when the player is being attacked.
Other sound effects such footsteps, animal sounds, weapon swings etc. would also be implemented.
Technical Requirements
The audio in my game would have to be composed by someone else as I have no experience in composing music. I would have to ensure that my audio would be labelled for reuse due to copyright grounds.
Player Elements
There will be a number of sound effects the player experiences, including:
- A footstep sound effect for when the player moves using the WASD keys.
- A weapon swinging sound effect when the player swings their weapon.
- An audio cue when the player collects an item.
- Changing background tracks depending on the terrain the player is in.
Global Elements
The background music will be subtly in the background while the player explores the world so it's not overly imposing. It's aim is to aid in the atmosphere of the game.
Different tracks will play for different areas of the game, each reflecting the ambience of the terrain.
Menu Fx
I am not entirely sure of the music to include in the background of the main menu and ending screen, hopefully this will become clearer when I have a design for these elements.
Key Features
- First person open world survival
- Fantasy elements
- Temperature, day/night cycle, hunger and poison mechanics to make gameplay challenging
- Tamable fauna that protects the player
- Gameplay is timed- 7 in game days.
- Diverse world