Final Assignment: Game Concept
Advanced Topics in Game Design
(AXM-E5007)
Tidal Quest
Submission by
Shamit Ahmed
1st year Game Design and Development
Aalto University
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Overview
Genre: Isometric, action, exploration
Platform: PC, Console, Mobile
Target age: 10+
Rating: E10+
Competitive Products:
● Subnautica (2018)
● Dave the Diver (2023)
● Abzu (2016)
Game Summary
”An isometric, action-exploration game where you dive deep on a quest of saving sea creatures,
only to unravel deeper conspiracies.”
Unique Selling Points
1. Progressive Exploration: Topdown underwater action-exploration game where players
explore the vast and mysterious ocean depths in a progressive manner both in terms of
player’s character progression and unlocking new areas.
2. Detailed Worldbuilding: The game provides a detailed and tightly interconnected
underwater world with several areas, sea creatures and pirates who are trying to exploit
them.
3. Environmental Awareness: The game raises awareness about various threats our
oceans are facing and motivates players to become advocates for marine conservation
in the real world. Thus creating an unique and rewarding gaming experience with a
meaningful impact.
4. Interconnected Storyline: Involving sea pirates in the story adds an extra layer of
intrigue and mystery, making the gameplay not only about saving marine life but also
preventing nefarious activities that threaten the ocean ecosystem, creating an engaging
narrative.
Game Outline:
Gameplay Mechanics
1. Underwater Exploration: Navigate diverse underwater environments, from vibrant coral
reefs to deep-sea trenches, using a customizable submersible equipped with tools for
exploration.
2. Pirate Confrontations: Players can face off against sea pirates in action-packed
sequences, employing strategic maneuvers and mechanics to protect both the marine
life and their research facility from harm.
3. Upgradable Equipments: Players can collect resources and upgrade their submarine,
laboratory equipment, and tools to tackle increasingly complex challenges in the ocean
depths.
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Core Loop:
The core loop of the game will always have the player start from the research facility and dive
deep into the sea with their submarine. After that players explore different underwater terrains
where they locate and capture the creatures. At the same time, players will also fight their way
through the enemies and collect pollutants. After all the tasks are completed, players can go
back to the lab where they can experience the meta loop.
Fig: High level overview
Meta Loop:
1. Scan & collect different species data
2. Mini games during fish research and treatment
3. Submarine Upgrade (speed, capacity, health)
4. Player Upgrade (character customization, oxygen, health)
5. Equipment Upgrade (net, tranquilizer)
6. Lab Upgrade (tank, research/cure speed)
Characters:
Player:
● Personality: Non- violent, knowledgable, expert diver
● Actions: Swim, Dash, Dive, Throw Projectiles (net, tranqu ilizer etc)
Sea Creatures:
● Personality: Mostly Non- violent and healthy but there will be injured and sick creatures
whom the player has to identify and rescue
● Actions: Swim, form groups and roam around, flee from player and pirates
Pirates:
● Personality: Violent, ignorant, not the best divers
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● Actions: Swim, Dash, Attack and steal sea creatures, Throw Projectiles (Harpoon),
Melee Attack (sword)
World Design:
The game world is set underwater including environments ranging from vibrant coral reefs to
deep-sea trenches. The levels will become more complex for the player to navigate around both
while swimming and manuevering the submarine and the visuals will also reflect that sense of
difficulty.
Narrative Structure
The earth's oceans are in grave danger due to a multitude of threats. Pollution, infections,
injuries, and even the sinister activities of sea pirates have disrupted the delicate balance of
marine life. As a dedicated marine biologist and expert diver, you find yourself at the forefront of
a groundbreaking initiative known as "Tidal Quest."
A distress call prompts you to embark on a mission to explore the vast and mysterious ocean
depths, rescuing and rehabilitating marine life. As you explore, you encounter sea creatures in
distress - dolphins caught in plastic nets, sea turtles with injuries, schools of fish contaminated
by toxins, and majestic whales battling infections. Your task is to carefully approach, identify the
problem, and initiate the rescue operation.
Once rescued, the creatures are transported to the research facility, where they receive the care
and attention needed for their recovery. The ultimate goal is to nurse each creature back to
health and release them back into their natural habitat. Successful releases contribute to the
restoration of the ocean's balance, unlocking new areas to explore and revealing the
interconnected web of marine life. As players progress, they uncover a sinister plot behind the
pirate attacks.
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Storyboards:
1. Player would locate a whale in distress and approach it in order to initiate the rescue
operation. After getting closer they will spot pirates trying to attack and capture the
whale. Player has to eliminate the pirates, gain trust of the whale and rescue it to safety.
2. Player would avoid various underwater obstacles including sea monsters, natural
barriers, mines and high pressure areas etc and collect different kind of pollutants
including metal and plastic using the right apparatus.
Motivation:
1. Create a project that raises awareness about topics such as environmental pollution and
marine life conservation.
2. While researching, I found an absence of isometric action-exploration games that are set
underwater.
Reflection:
Based on the plethora of knowledge we have gained during the “Advanced Topics in Game
Design” course, this concept can be reflected upon based on multiple topics. Although the game
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idea does not have that many puzzle elements to it yet, puzzle design can be implemented in
multiple occasions such as how to strategically navigate around the levels and interact with
pirates or even while capturing the creatures. They can also take place in the laboratory or
player base where they might have to solve puzzles to research and treat different species.
From game design perspective, I have tried to implement my learnings about gameplay pacing
in order to design fun and engaging gameplay that also has a lot of replayability. The game
maintains a flow of intensity that loops through each interaction and ties them together. Starting
from the lab, after overseeing the existing the creatures and upgrading equipments, the player
goes straight into the sea where they combat pirates, capture fishes, collects pollutants and
uncover secrets of the deep sea. After all that high intensity gameplay, player again goes back
to the lab which provides them breathing period to relax and engage in gameplay that are less
skill and reflex based than the underwater gameplay but more strategic and thinking based. In
the cycles of engagement, most common player activities such as swimming, dashing, fighting,
throwing net, tranquilizer etc in order to catch fish etc are the micro engagements. Going from A
to B, catching fish, collecting pollutants, researching and curing creatures etc could be the mid
cycles of engagement. Finally, the process of reviving the marine life one creature at a time,
advancement of research and upgrading equipments, unlocking new areas and storyline
progression etc are the long term cycles of engagement.
Fig: The cycles of Engagement
The game concept can also be thoroughly balanced and refined utilizing all the learnings from
the art of game balancing class. We can balance the progression, difficulty and economy of the
game in order to optimize player experience and replayability.
Finally, I would like to say that, “Tidal Quest’ is a game concept that I would love to bring into
reality by utilizing all the fascinating game design concepts I have been introduced through this
course.
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