TITAN I DESIGN DOCUMENT by Corson Androski

Titan I is a game that takes place in a decommissioned Cold War era missile silo. The player stumbles upon the abandoned war machine by accident and becomes trapped underground. Two goals are central in the game: Finding a way out of the cavernous facility and uncovering the conspiracy that took place in the same complex of tunnels half a century ago.

		GAMEPLAY

	Gameplay is mainly story and exploration driven. There are two main goals in the game: escaping the subterranean maze and uncovering the story behind the missile base.  Progress towards these two goals is made by the player’s exploration of the environment. To keep the player from going through the game and ignoring or missing the story element, progression is dependent on finding notes that also tell the story. For example, to get through a locked door a player may be required to find a letter with a key taped to it. This kind of level design ensures that progression towards both goals is being made, and the player doesn't simply run through the environment and miss most of the game.

	Atmosphere is essential to making the exploration aspect of the game engaging. If the players have no interest in the place they need to look around, the game will not be fun. To make the environment immersive visual and sound design are extremely important.
	Included in the Concept Documents is a video demonstrating Titan I's gameplay. The video does not show a completely finished product, more of a proof of concept. The video demonstrates that gameplay, visuals, and sound all work together in a playable environment as intended.

		VISUALS

	Perspective: The game is 3D and played in first person perspective, which is the best approximation of having the viewpoint of the character you play.

	Lighting: Because the game takes place underground, the environment is inherently dark. In addition to finding a flashlight, the player will also find generator-powered floodlights periodically to break up the visual monotony of the heavily vignetted white beam of the flashlight.

	Textures: Considering the lack of maintenance for 50 years, the environment textures should exhibit some decomposition such as rust, peeling paint, cracks and dirt. Too much wear, however, would be unrealistic considering that the tunnels have been sealed underground. One texture shader that has proven essential is self-shadowing bump maps, or SSBM, which are image file that tell the engine how textures cast light on themselves at various angles. SSBM allow textures to interact with the flashlight, making them feel realistic and giving textures further detail. Included in the concept documents is a texture sheet that exemplifies the visual style of all textures in the game. The effect of SSBM's is shown in another image, giving a with/without comparison.

	Environment Geometry: The environment of the game is closely based off of the real Titan I missile complexes, although changes to the layout are made as needed when designing levels. When the silos were decommissioned much of the metal inside them was scrapped to minimize losses on the silos, leaving them fairly empty and torn up. Detail is vital to making the environment believable and interesting.

		SOUND

	Good ambient sound is vital in creating a convincing world. I've had the opportunity to visit an abandoned missile silo and found despite being far underground it was far from silent. The ambient sound for the game will largely consist of low grumblings, echos, and dripping. All of these sounds can be heard in soundscape of the included gameplay video.


		STORY

	The game begins with the player parked at the side of a dirt road with nothing but desert visible for miles. The player's car hood is open and steaming while the radio loops a storm warning for an approaching haboob, which can be seen on the skyline. A gate and dirt road nearby suggest much needed shelter may be close, and the player takes the path. The only thing down the path is a large, concrete well-like structure with a ladder leading down it. As the player descends the ladder it breaks, sending the player falling down the tunnel until they hit water. While underwater a level transition will be made (the underground area is loaded while the above ground area is unloaded, as there is no need to continue rendering it)
	When the next map loads the player will be rising to the surface of the water, looking back up the exhaust tunnel of the missile silo. Sand can be seen flying over the entrance of the tunnel. The only way for the player to go is through the blast vents, taking them into the exhaust room and entering the complex. A note leads them to a toolbox containing a flashlight, allowing them to begin making their way through the complex to look for a way out. Along the way notes, letters, journals, and documents can be found and examined that carry out several functions to progress the game. First, they give the player information that allows them to move to the next part of the environment and progress towards the goal of finding a way out. Second, these documents give general information about the Titan I missile complexes. I hope to track down and use real documents such as brochures and manuals that give context to the environment. Third, they tell a story about a conspiracy that took place in the silo 50 years prior.
	Through a series of documents the player is introduced to Kurt, an army corps engineer who is helping decommission Titan I complex 726-C in 1965. While working with a higher-up, Kurt notices that he is giving peculiar orders. Kurt investigates and discovers that he is hiding a pet project: a salted warhead that he intends to use in a preemptive strike against the soviet union.

	Notes/Letters/Journals:

1.    (found in Exhaust room) Looks like the rumors were right, and it’s not just this silo. It looks like they’re retiring our whole squadron, maybe even the whole deployment of titans. It’s crazy to think this complex has only been open 3 years and by next year it will be torn apart for scrap metal. I hope they’re looking for engineers in the new Minuteman silos, or I might be out of a career. Any ideas on your next move? -(unimportant name)

2.    (found in Exhaust room) whoever left their toolbox up the ladder by the mufflers – Dentan Industries is moving in soon, get it now or you won’t get it back.

3.    (found on Generators) Attention Dentan Industries employees: These lights and generators are the property of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and have been provided to assist Dentan Industries in their scrapping service. DO NOT remove these tools. They are to be left in the silo when it is sealed.

4.    (found in Power Dome)to: Kurt

     Did you see the notes on the generators? I know after they scrap the silo’s main generators that they’ll need this equipment to power the lights, electronic doors, elevators, etc. But it must be worth a few million, and the Engineer Corps is asking them to leave it all down here to rot once they finish? Beats the hell out of me why they’d want that, they’re going to be the last people to set foot down here. Could you confirm with our higher-up that we don’t want to get that gear returned to the Engineer Corps? Thanks, (unimportant name)

5.    Kurt's Journal: I just got word that the Titan Missiles are being retired. I didn’t think the first generation of ICBM’s would have a terribly long lifespan, but 5 years? It’s astounding. I’ve been asked to stay at 726-C and help plan it’s decommission. I think I’ll oblige, it will give the family more time to prepare to move again. I hope the kids take it well.

6.    Kurt's Journal: The incompetence of some of our “leaders” is astounding. Gen. Whelan, who's  has locked down silo #3 since it was announced that the Titan I missiles were being decommissioned, and now he’s forbidding the Dentan Scrappers from getting near it. The cribwork of the silos is the most profitable and accessible metal to scrap. I’m beginning to suspect he gave the order to leave those generators in the complex as well, but I’m not sure it would be acceptable for me to question him.

7.    Kurt's Journal: I’m not sure what to think of this. I went to Whelan’s office, and he had just stepped out for a moment. I shouldn’t have, but the door was open and I went in. On his desk was a hefty folder, lying open. It was an overview of the “Menoetius Project,” which he’s been apparently been leading for a couple years involving “research of alternative missile payloads”. He came back as I was looking at the document from the other side of his desk and showed no reaction. I asked him about returning the temporary generators and other equipment to the Engineer Corps and he told me that they are to stay in the silo for Dentan. When I asked about after they were finished scrapping he told me that at that point my job was done and the equipment was none of my concern.

8.    Kurt's Journal: Maybe I shouldn’t be writing this down, but it helps me collect my thoughts. I persuaded a friend in maintenance to help me get ahold of the Menoetius file so I could take a look and return it before morning, but I’m not sure what to do now. It’s not a study on alternative missile payloads as much as it is the development of a very specific payload, a salted warhead. It’s a nuclear weapon modified specifically to produce vast radioactive fallout. Any nuclear weapon will produce fallout, but they’re primarily blast weapons. This is different. This weapon won’t just level a city like Little Boy did. It will explode in the atmosphere and has the potential to spread radioactive fallout hundreds of miles in less than 20 hours; the fallout may not even stay within soviet borders. At best it would be indiscriminate genocide, at worst a doomsday device. I can't sleep, I need to finish reading through the report.

9.    Kurt's Journal: It’s inside our complex, this new warhead. It has to be in silo #3, he’s sealed it off so he can store the warhead in it. Keeping the silo intact, keeping the lights on… He won’t be able to launch his warhead from this silo once it’s decommissioned, but it looks like he’s going to store it here until he can find somewhere else… to launch it from? God help us if he manages to bypass the fail-safe measures. I can’t understand what his intentions with this weapon are.

   Whelan must have friends in high places, there no other way he could have gotten this pet project of his off the ground. Somehow, he’s doing this without answering to any higher-ups; he may be the only person who knows the nature of this project. It’s insanity, and if I can bring attention to it I know it will be put to an end.

10.    Whelan’s journal: There’s been a complication. The titan I missiles are being decommissioned, and the salted warhead is not ready for launch. Soon every silo suitable for launching this missile will be scrapped unless I preserve one missile tube on this base. I’m going to seal it off from the construction crew until the missile is ready to be launched, hopefully sooner than later. There’s no telling when the USSR will attack.

11.    Whelan’s journal: One of the supervisors scrapping the silo seems to know something about the Menoetius Warhead. For national securities sake, he must be silenced. It is a monstrous thing to do, but I know I'll be remembered as a hero in the history books.

Towards the end of the game Kurt's remains are found in a sealed off room. Next to him are the Menoetius Project Documents and a nametag Identifying the body. In an epilogue message, it is revealed that the investigation surrounding Kurt's suspicious disappearance led to the discovery of Whelan's plot, which was quickly snuffed.