h1. Design Document

h2. Title

Solace: Star Requiem

h2. Short Description

A side-scrolling RPG-esque large scale game in which the player brings a customized ship into the game universe, collecting missions from various corporations and gathering parts with which to further customize their ship.

h2. Game Type/Genre

The game is a side scrolling action/adventure sci-fi RPG.

h2. Scenario

The universe is in turmoil (of course). Many of the once resplendent galactic empires have been torn apart by war, leaving behind shattered, struggling remnants constantly plagued by raiders and corsairs. Monopolizing corporations have taken control of what remained of governments, replacing their authority entirely and instating their own dominions, creating massive industrial powerhouses with which to take down the other corporations and gain complete control. In this corrupt and evil setting, the player is a mercenary, which in this universe is a rather lucrative business.

h3. The Corporations

This is a (supposedly) complete list of the major corporations in-game.

* *Crass Shipware Corporation* One of the largest corporate industrial companies. Produces all-around balanced parts and general equipment.
* *Krypt Incorporated* A specialist company operating underneath of Crass Corp. that focuses on missile and warhead technology.
* *Albrecht-Dross Corporation* An engineering-focused company known for its interesting designs. Produces general ship parts.
* *The Hachihe Foundation* A company specializing in computerized targeting, navigation, and sensory systems, as well as general electronic parts.
* *Intergalactic Armaments* A small start-up corporation specializing in heavy weaponry capable of massive damage and  large effectively armored craft.
* *Aton Technology Incorporated* A relatively crafty organization that deals in a wide array of specialized engines.
* *Opal Industries* A company that produces incredibly precise and deadly laser-and-plasma-based weaponry.


h2. Long description

To be written out in detail later, once I have some detail to put down.

h2. Game System

h3. Ship Customization

h4. Crew (Skills)

h4. Repair

* Novice Engineer: Provides the ship with a small repair bonus that is constantly active while the ship is in-flight.
* Graduate Engineer: Provides the ship with a significant repair bonus, similar to the Novice Engineer.
* Engineering Specialist: Provides the ship with a large repair bonus that functions precisely like the others.

h4. Parts Categories

h5. Chassis

The chassis of the player ship decides many of the major parameters from which the ship will function, such as Soak (a measure of how much external damage your ship can take before taking internal damage), Capacity (how much equipment weight your ship can handle before taking penalties to functionality), and Energy Cap (how much power output your ship can take before taking functionality penalties).

h5. External Parts

* Prow Mounted: Generally large weapons or equipment that hinder movement, but allow a large damage output or other beneficial advantage. May include large navigational arrays, mas-driver or rail-based cannons, or huge missile delivery packages.
* Hull Mounted: Small-to-medium sized weaponry and equipment that suit a wide range of purposes. Laser or ballistic batteries, small-scale navigational and sensory arrays, and similar equipment are found under this category.
* Dorsal/Pectoral: Two separate external parts slots designed for support equipment; stabilizing fins, additional engines, forward boosters, and crew suites. Each ship has two slots; one on top (dorsal) and one underneath (pectoral).
* Engine: Each chassis comes with its own, incredibly basic engine system, but it's slow moving and barely functional. An engine can be equipped in this section to offer a wider range of movement capability.

h5. Internal Parts

* Generator: Controls the amount of energy available to the internal and external ship parts.
* Stabilizers: Allow better control of the ship while flying, and faster response-times.
* Shielding: Provide the ship with a certain amount of Soak that is subtracted before the external armor. Require huge amounts of energy, but can keep your ship alive that much longer.
* NavSystems: Navigational systems that provide a radar screen on the command console. Can be enlarged through the pause menu.

h3. Parts Breakdown

h4. Chassis

Stats:
Soak: A measure of how much external damage the ship can take before taking internal damage from enemy fire.
Internal Integrity: How much internal damage the ship can take before becoming completely non-functional.
Capacity: A measure of how much weight in parts the ship can carry before taking immense penalties.
Energy Cap: How much energy output form the generator the chassis can handle before breaking down.
Energy Storage Limit: How much energy can be stored in the chassis.
Cloaking Capacity: Whether or not the chassis can support cloaking devices.

h2. Narrative Structure

To be drawn up at a later date.

h2. Game Play

The game will utilize a wide variety of keyboard keys, in addition to the mouse, to allow the player control of the game.

h3. The Shipyard Controls

__(The ship customization screen)__

* Mouse: Used to select ship parts from the pull-down parts lists, switch between the different ship part categories, and to select the ship color using color swatches.
NumPad or normal number keys:
* 1-7: Used to arrange the parts by corporation (each number key corresponds to a company). Once the parts are organized, the pull down lists under that part category will only show parts from that company.

h4. WASD

* WS: Navigates through the pull-down parts lists one at a time, up(W) or down(S).
* AD: Navigates through the ship part categories one at a time, left(A) or right(D).

h3. The Gameplay Screen Controls

* Mouse: Used to aim the currently equipped ship weapon and/or equipment.

h4. WASD

* WS: Moves the player's ship up and down.
* AD: Moves the player's ship left and right.

h3. Room Map

How are the rooms structured or ordered? Provide a map of the 'physical layout' of game world showing how different physical locations or rooms are ordered and/or connect to each other.

h3. Title and Information Screens

Describe the organisation and navigation structures surrounding the 'non-game' pages:the title page, the end game page, the help page, high score page...

h2. Audio Requirements

Almost all music/audio files will be in .XM format.

h2. Optional Ideas

h3. Ship Dueling

Online arena setup that can load saved ship blueprints from your downloaded game and put one of your choice into the arena against another online player. Complete with game lobby for organizing duels and general conversation, a small selection of arena maps, etc.

h3. Part Damage

During the course of a battle, a part equipped on any ship involved in the combat may take combat damage, meaning the part may no longer be used. This should be perhaps a %5 chance every time the ship takes damage (keeping in mind that internal parts cannot be affected by external hull damage and vice versa). This kind of damage will be removed at the end of the mission, subtracting an amount of money from the overall reward equal to %25 of the part's market price. There should be an even smaller chance that the part will take PERMANENT damage, meaning the part will not repair at the end of the combat mission. In this case, the part will need to be replaced entirely or repaired in the Shipyard. Parts that are special-issue, unique, or irreplaceable should NOT be affected by permanent combat damage, only temporary combat damage.