DevLog #1 - Threat Level Inspiration

I wanted to start my DevLog by sharing a little bit about the inspirations behind the game. I believe, that this can give the best insight into what Threat Level Rising might look like in the end. While the core gameplay loop of the game is quite simple, I made decisions on various mechanics and visual treatments that I liked from other games and put special twists on them to make them a unique conglomeration. But first...

About the Game

Threat Level Rising is a 3rd-person action shooter that takes place in a multi-purpose high-rise building. As a bad-ass action hero,  make your way to the top, floor-by-floor, taking on an ever-increasing assault of bad guys and objectives. As you progress, unlock special abilities, collect awesome weapons and gain experience to become the ultimate action hero. Time is important in TLR, whether you are racing to the top to foil the big, bad boss, or racing to diffuse a bomb on the current floor, your decisions on how you tackle objectives matters in seconds. Also, the your skills and precision shooting will ensure that your race to the top is efficient. The more you play, the better action hero you become.

Game Design

The primary inspiration for TLR is 1990's action movies like Die Hard, Demolition Man, Total Recall, and Terminator to name a few.. As a kid, like many of you, I spent a lot of my time pretending to be a hardcore action hero shooting bad guys and always saving the day. Whether it was playing commando in the woods behind my house, or super spy in my hallways; I've always believed, as a game developer, that the best games harken back, in their most simplest forms, to games we played as kids. This is a game I've always wanted to play.

Gameplay Mechanics

*The list below may change upon final release.

• Hero Controller: Fortnite - cartoony movement, animations and camera
• Combat:  Doom - varying enemy types
• AI: F.E.A.R - talkative enemies and dynamic behavior, Bioshock Series - enemy movement styles (strafe, crouch, pursue, fall back), Doom - simple enemy pursuit
• Abilities:  Dishonored - switchable abilities that can be unlocked.
• Death Mechanics:  Super Mario - 3 life system,  Roguelikes - lose all progress but gain skills.
• Level Design: F.E.A.R. - arenas and choke points design, Super Mario - safe zone -> combat zone -> end goal progression
• Difficulty: Dark Souls - gain expertise through practice, progressive difficulty
• Progression - Stanley Parable, Infinity Blade

Aesthetics

• World Design: Brutalist architecture, 1990's shopping malls, Total Recall production art
• Low Poly Style: 90's Playstation Graphics
• UI: 1990's NES / SNES Game UI
• Cut Scenes: 1990's NES cut scenes
• Character Design: Ren and Stimpy and The Incredibles