I.      GAME DESIGN FOR REMAKING SUNDOG RESURRECTION

 

1.      Objectives

A.     This is designed not to be, as Bruce Webster pointed out long ago, a “railroad” game, where the player connects the dots in a boring, liner fashion. While there are nine phases that the player must accomplish before winning the game, the intent of the game is to give the player a pocket galaxy to kick around in. That being said...

i.         PHASES:

a.       There are nine phases for the game. Each phase correlates to a stage of development of Banville, the colony you are bound by your uncle’s contract to help build. (see story). Each stage has “round requirements”, which are the stocks needed by Banville for that particular stage. Once all stocks are delivered to the warehouse in Banville, you get paid and the next phase begins.

 

ii.       PIRACY

a.       Carrying cargo though space will risk an attack by pirates. The player can carry cargo to lure the pirates, then attack them. Upon destruction, the player may receive a bounty for the kill or will be able to use the tractor beam to bring in cargo lost from the pirate.

 

iii.      MAKE MONEY

a.       There are many ways to make money

                                                                                                                                       i.      Trade cargo

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Kill street thugs and take their money or belongings.

                                                                                                                                    iii.      Destroy pirate ships for bounty or cargo

                                                                                                                                   iv.      Transport hand-carried goods in your ship lockers from one system to another and sell them on the blackmarket (accessed through talking or bribing the bartender, who will direct a customer over to your booth)


 

2.      Additional objectives

A.     These are objectives not present in the original game, but might be easily included into the remake to add depth and enjoyment

 

i.         BE A PIRATE

a.       A special part may be bought and inserted into your ship to act as a radar – it will find other traders as you sub-light in a solar system and you can fight them for their cargo. Since the game will already support spacebattle code, this additional twist should require minimal coding.

                                                                                                                                       i.      Spacebattle will be identical to the normal game play of fighting off pirates, with the possible exception that some traders are unarmed and are sitting ducks.

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Once traders are destroyed, you can tractor in their cargo. Again, this is already present in the original game and thus will require no additional coding.

                                                                                                                                    iii.      Destroy too many traders and the law enforcement of the nearest planet will mark you as a pirate. Landing privileges will be denied at the spaceport.

1.      Issues:

a.       A problem arises if you are banned from a planet that is crucial to complete the game, so these possibilities should be considered:

                                                                                                                                                                                                               i.      Allow landing despite restriction, but the player risks getting shot down in the atmosphere

                                                                                                                                                                                                             ii.      Bribe or pay someone to hack the system to clear your name on that system so you can land safely

                                                                                                                                                                                                            iii.      Land and roam about at will, but instead of worrying only about muggers on the street, law enforcement might attempt to stop you on the street and arrest you. Or shoot your outlaw butt.

 

 

ii.       TREASURE HUNTER

a.       The game will already have planet surface maps drawn, so a simple additional objective is to place crashed spacecraft or ancient ruins at random places on the maps, encouraging the player to travel from planet to planet and drive the pod across the planet in search of these “Easter eggs”. 

                                                                                                                                       i.      This again should be relatively simple to add to the original game.

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Benefits might include:

1.      loot crashed ships for parts or cargo

2.      Find credits

3.      locate something of cultural or historical value, and upon discovering it, the game will notify the player of the find and that they will receive credits in the bank for notifying the government of this find.

 

 

iii.      QUESTS

a.       The original game already had a dialogue engine where people could sit with you in a bar and just shooting the breeze. An additional aspect of the remake's engine could allow a person to sit with you and offer you a quest.

                                                                                                                                       i.      Quests could be:

1.      Deliver certain stock to planet (hand weapons, medical supplies, etc)

2.      Destroy a ship. Coordinates would be given on where to find the ship, and you must engage it in battle and destroy it

3.      Pickup NPC and give him voyage to another planet.

a.       This could be the speaker himself

b.      Once the quest was completed, the player would be rewarded, either in credits or some other form of payment (stocks, special parts for Sundog, etc).

 

 

iv.     MERCENARY

a.       You might be hired to fight in a war between systems or planets. Upon joining up with one side, you would patrol the planet’s locality and defend the area from any enemy ships.

                                                                                                                                       i.      Continue being a mercenary, paid for each kill, or quit as you like and return to the normal gameplay.

1.      Problems

a.       How should player sign up to defend a planet? 

b.      Should this be a quest?

b.      This engine might also be easily converted to allow the player to be deputized by the law enforcement and patrol the skies looking for pirates, with a guaranteed bounty for each kill.

 

 

3.      Story (pulled from original game’s manual)

 

SunDog: Frozen Legacy ™ is a science fiction adventure game set in the Jebal Imperial Protectorate, a loosely-knit federation of planets. All action takes place within the Drahew Region, a cluster of twelve systems containing 18 inhabited planets. You, the player, may travel within cities, from city to city, from planet to planet, and from system to system. Action takes place on several different scales, from sitting in the pilotage of your star freighter to driving across continents.

As the game opens, you have just inherited a one-man star freighter - the SunDog - from an uncle who died under mysterious circumstances. You also inherited the obligation to the contract he signed to aid in the building of a colony for a religious group. You have three tasks to perform. First, you have to find where the colony (named "Banville") is located. All you know is that it is somewhere on the planet Jondd. Second, you need to find, buy, and deliver all the goods needed to complete construction of the colony (your uncle was given the money necessary). Third, you need to locate the cryogenically-frozen colonists ("cryogens"), who are located in warehouses scattered all over the Drahew Region, and transport them to the colony as they are required.

Several obstacles await you in your efforts. First, you know almost nothing about the trading business, and so you must learn what is a good deal and what isn't. Pirates will attack you with hopes of forcing you to jettison your cargo, and muggers in the city will seek to take away your cash. You'll have to buy fuel and spare parts for your ship and have repair work done when your hull is damaged. And, of course, you have to eat and sleep.

As the game starts, you have just entered the SunDog via the airlock. You have never been on a freighter before, much less flown one. They're supposed to be foolproof - and you're prepared to put that to the test. Now, if you can just figure out where to buy fuel and cargo...

 

4.      Sundog principles

A.     Time:

i.         Time runs at real time speeds, at the following equivalencies:

a.       One real second is one Sundog minute

b.      One real minute is one Sundog hour

c.       One Sundog day = 24 Sundog hours

d.      SLEEP TIME: increases speed x10.  So when asleep, ten Sundog minutes = one real second.  

e.       PLANET-SURFACE TIME: increases speed by over 450x. Player will starve and fall asleep very quickly while traveling on the surface.

                                                                                                                                       i.      Rest will drop from 100 to 1 in about twelve real seconds on the surface, as opposed to 80 real minutes elsewhere in the game.

 

B.     In-Game Conditions

i.         There are four in-game conditions to monitor. Each condition is represented on a scale of 1 – 100 points (Except Health, which is the maximum value of the strength skill which was determined by the player when creating a game.)

ii.        If any of these conditions reach 0, the player dies.

 

iii.      Each conditions it to be quantified by a colored bar.

a.       90-100% = blue

b.      50-89% = green

c.       15-49% = yellow

d.      0-14% = red




 

iv.     Conditions:

a.      Vigor

                                                                                                                                       i.      Rated 1-100, and reflects an average of the conditions.

1.      This is not a true average, since persistent low levels of even just one condition will continue to lower Vigor, rather than dropping and then holding steady.

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Is slowly adjusted by averaging out of the other conditions. No sharp swings even if the other conditions have wild swings.

1.      Low nourish will slowly decrease vigor, while being fully nourished will slowly increase it.  

2.      Taking a peptab drug will increase your vigor 10 points (up until you max out the allotted vigor points), but will drop your health 10% of the total allotted hitpoints (strength).

                                                                                                                                    iii.      Fall-rate:

1.      Depends on other conditions.

a.       Without eating and running nourishment down to near zero, while keeping health and rest at max, vigor falls to 50% in 7 Sundog days.

b.      Rest

                                                                                                                                       i.      Rated from 1 – 100

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Sleeping will raise the rest level from 1 to 100 in 5 Sundog hours.

                                                                                                                                    iii.      Fall-rate:

1.      Player will go from fully rested to zero in 80 Sundog hours (80 real minutes of game play)

c.       Health

                                                                                                                                       i.      This reflects the Strength skill that the player selected at the start of the game.

1.      If the player only chose 50 points for strength, then this is the maximum points allowed for health. The health bar will display 1-100% of whatever this maximum health value is.

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Getting shot, taking drugs or eating bad food can also lower this.

                                                                                                                                    iii.      Rapidheal injectors will raise health by 10 points each.

                                                                                                                                   iv.      Fall-rate:

1.      Depends on how often you were shot, and by what weapon.

d.      Nourishment:

                                                                                                                                       i.      Rated from 1-100

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Fall-Rate:

1.      The player will go from fully nourished to dead from starvation in 7 Sundog days.

 

 

C.     Mouse-only interface

i.         Sundog was heralded as a game where it was run entirely by mouse (a huge newsworthy deal in the mid-80’s), and thus while in the SD:R project some keyboard input should be allowed, the mouse-only aspect should also be retained if the old-school user wants to play it like he did in the day.

 

     II.      CREATING A CHARACTER / FIRST TIME PLAYER


 

1.      Type in character name.

A.     While the keyboard should be used, for nostalgic purposes a graphical keyboard
identical to the one in the original game should be provided as an alternative.  
The arrow button is “SHIFT” for uppercase, and the + is pushed when you are done



 

B.     Assign attribute points:

i.         Limits:

a.       440 points given to assign

b.      Each skill starts with 30 points, and cannot be lowered under 30 (EXCEPT luck, which starts at 0)

c.       Can raise any one skill up to 100, but this exhausts ALL your points.

d.      A bell-curve math formula is used on the points assignment. If ALL 440 points are given to only one skill, that skill will only equal 100 points. It seems the higher you raise a skill, the more points are needed for each increment. Thus you can spread the 440 out to add significantly to several skills, whereas dumping it on one skill is a waste of points.

ii.       Attributes:

a.       Strength

                                                                                                                                       i.      Increased hitpoints so you get injured less easily.

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Allows you to convincingly threaten street thugs and people in bars. 

b.      Intelligence

                                                                                                                                       i.      Increases problem solving skills, knowledge

c.       Dexterity

                                                                                                                                       i.      Helps increase combat skills. It increases chance of hitting a guy on the street or in a spaceship.

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Slightly increases walking speed

d.      Charisma

                                                                                                                                       i.      Helps talk to people and get them to do what you want. It helps you haggle lower (or higher) prices when selling something in a bar, or to talk off street thugs who threaten you, or to bluff away pirates who threaten you in space.

e.       Luck

                                                                                                                                       i.      Helps avoid bad guys on the streets

                                                                                                                                     ii.      increases chance of winning at the gambling machine.

 

f.        These attributes can be changed during the game. Luck floats around at random, and your current luck is not displayed in-game (base luck is displayed). Other attributes can be affected negatively by events (injury, sleep deprivation, hunger, drugs, bad food, etc) and positively (eating, sleeping, drugs, etc)



 

 

   III.      GAME PHASES

1.      GAME BEGINS / PHASE 0

A.     Setting:

i.         Player stands in the Sundog, which is parked at the starport in Drahew city, planet of Jondd, Jondd system.

ii.       Inventory

a.       Player’s inventory is empty.

b.      Player has small amount of money on hand (usually between 400-600 credits)

B.     Contents of the Sundog

i.         Storage Locker:

a.       One row of “rapidheal” injectors

b.      One row of hamburgers

c.       a stinger pistol

d.      a body armor vest (lower quality type)

ii.       Parts Locker:

a.       One row of shunts

iii.      Storage Locker (Pod)

a.       Empty

iv.     ¼ tank of fuel.

v.       The mechanical bays are fitted with most of the parts necessary for operational status (no special mod parts), with a few blown or missing parts to reduce operating efficiency to somewhere around 75%.

vi.     Hull is slightly damaged (85% repaired)

C.     Bank

i.         The Jondd System Uniteller Bank has 36,470 credits in the account.

ii.       Each of the other original game systems will have a small amount of money in the bank, usually ranging from 1K – 4K. These amounts can be assigned by random calculation.

D.     Goals

i.         Locate and make contact with tiny Banville settlement, located at a random location somewhere on the surface of Jondd.

ii.       Banville settlement cannot be seen on the groundscanner (which can be purchased at planets with lots of blackmarket goods for sale) – it must be found first by pod, then it will be seen on the groundscanner for a direct landing.

iii.      Once contact is made, player will enter PHASE 1.

a.       At the conclusion of each phase, the player will receive a bonus in credits, and the city of Banville will suddenly expand with new buildings. These buildings are totally unique in the whole of the Sundog universe.

 

 

2.      PHASE 1

A.     Goals:

i.         Obtain the following stocks:

 

Fruits / vegetables - 1

grains / cereals - 1

seeds / sprouts - 1

stock embryos – 1

bulk plastics - 1

ii.      

 

 

 

 

3.      PHASE 2

A.     Goals:

i.         Obtain the following stocks:

 

meats - 1

spices / herbs - 1

sunsuns - 1

wood / fibers - 1

bulk metals - 1

cryogens - 2

B.    


 

 

 

4.      PHASE 3

A.     Goals:

i.         Obtain the following stocks:

 

      Food - 1

comgear - 1

synthesizers - 1

computers -1

bulk textiles - 1

cryogens – 4

 

ii.      

 

 

 

 

5.      PHASE 4

A.     Goals:

i.         Obtain the following stocks:

 

cadcams - 1

bulk synthetics - 1

grains / cereals - 1

nullgravs - 1

silichips - 1

spices / herbs - 1

cryogens - 1

 

ii.        

 

 

 

 

6.      PHASE 5

A.     Goals:

i.         Obtain the following stocks:

 

clothing - 1

droids - 1

fruits / vegetable - 1

meats - 1

pharmaceuticals - 1

cryogens – 2

 

ii.      

 

 

 

 

7.      PHASE 6

A.     Goals:

i.         Obtain the following stocks:

 

gold - 1

hand weapons - 1

silichips - 1

sunsuns - 1

solar cells - 1

cryogens – 3

 

ii.        

 

 

 

 

8.      PHASE 7

A.     Goals:

i.         Obtain the following stocks:

 

biochips - 1

fruits / vegetable - 1

gems / crystals - 1

organics - 1

silichips - 1

stimulants - 1

polyglass - 1

cryogens – 2

 

ii.      

 

 

 

 

9.      PHASE 8

A.     Goals:

i.         Obtain the following stocks:

 

clothing - 1

biochips - 1

pharmaceuticals - 1

radioactives - 1

rare earths - 1

synthetic stem cells - 1

synthesizers - 1

medical equipment - 1

cryogens – 2

 

ii.      

 

 

 

 

10.  PHASE 9

A.     Goals:

i.         Obtain the following stocks:

 

Robotics - 1

antimatter - 1

art objects - 1

centrifuges - 1

droids - 1

exotic metals - 1

furs / silks - 1

radioactives - 1

cryogens – 1

 

B.     Requirements:

i.         Need jump booster (can be bought from Banville for 200,000) to get to the remote system of Enlie (or some other far-flung place in the new galaxy). This is because the last cryogen is on the isolated city on Enlie (not the starport), accessible only by pod.

ii.       Need cloaker (to slip past Enlie warships)

iii.      UPON  DELIVERY OF THE LAST STOCK, the game will end

a.       You can choose to end it then and register your score, or you can continue to play and roam the galaxy to do as you want (play a pirate, trade, etc).

 

  IV.      GAME MOVEMENT

1.      All movement can be done through the mouse.

A.     Event: Left click

i.         will cause your character to move towards the curser.

a.       Speed will be same as original game

b.      When object it encountered, the character should attempt to slide along it towards the curser. If unable to slide towards the curser, it will stop.

c.       Character should be able to “chase” the curser – following the curser as it moves.

 

ii.       Left click will also pick up objects from within Zoomaction windows and move them about

B.     Event: Right click

i.         will bring up character menu/inventory window

ii.       close the current window

 

2.      The player can move about the city on foot or in a pod.

A.     Pod is slightly faster travel, and there is no danger of getting mugged.

i.         HOWEVER, the downside of a pod is that you cannot use the city’s teleporters

to quickly get around, and you need to legally park the pod when you leave it.

Otherwise, the pod gets locked up and you have to pay a fine at the Uniteller to get

the robot off your pod. 

 

3.      Collision detection can be accomplished by means of an invisible mask placed over the graphic.

A.     The mask will have black and white for detecting collision with a wall or object.

B.     If possible, the same mask will have colored areas indicating a hotspot, such as the doorway of a building tile.

a.       PROBLEM:

                                                                                                                                       i.      In the game, a building tile might appear the same on the outside, but the interior might be different (each bar might have a different interior). PROBLEM is how to code that particular tile to be a certain interior.

 

 

     V.      SUNDOG ENGINEERING

1.      There are six subsystems to the Sundog:

A.     These subsystems are composed of four rows of parts in the bay. Each row of parts add up to a status light indicating whether the row is functioning, and the degree that it is functioning.

i.         A row of all good parts = GREEN

a.       This adds 4 points to the status bar

ii.       One shunt = YELLOW

a.       This adds 3 points to the status bar

iii.      Two shunts = RED

a.       This adds 2 points to the status bar

iv.     Three shunts = RED

a.       This adds 1 point to the status bar

v.       If any part is missing or broken, the row is dead and the light is black.

a.       This adds 0 points to the status bar

 

B.     A colored status bar will indicate the subsystem’s overall health.

i.         The bar has a max value of 16. A fully functioning row adds 4 to the bar’s value  (see table above for row values)

ii.       Status bar colors:

a.       16 = GREEN

b.      8-17 = YELLOW

c.       1-7 = RED

C.     Each sub-system row must start with a control node, which cannot be shunted. All other parts can be patched with shunts, though the operating efficiency will decrease

D.     Unlike the example graphic provided, each row is identical to the other three in the subsystem.

E.      The lower the status bar is for a sub-system, the following takes place:

i.         Increasingly higher fuel consumption

ii.       Lowered effectiveness of the system

a.       A subsystem that is totally blacked out will not function at all.

 

2.      SYSTEM BAYS (with their location on the Sundog):

A.     Warp (top top)

i.         Installed parts (from left to right)

a.       Control Node, Flux Modulator, Photon Bridge, S/T Distorter

ii.       Special parts

a.       Jump booster

                                                                                                                                       i.      Inserts into S/T Distorter location

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Increases the ship’s warp range.

                                                                                                                                    iii.      Added boosters will increase the range even further.

 

B.     Sub-C (top right)

i.         Installed parts (from left to right)

a.       Control Node, Flux Modulator, S/T Distorter, Cyryofuse

 

C.     Guns  (top bottom)

i.         Installed parts (from left to right)

a.       Control Node, Cyryofuse, Photon Bridge, Plasma Tube

ii.       Special parts

a.       Concentrator

                                                                                                                                       i.      Inserts into photon bridge location.

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Each additional concentrator adds to the ship gun’s strength.


 

D.     Tactical (bottom top)

i.         Installed parts (from left to right)

a.       Control Node, Scanner, J-Junc Module, Photon Bridge

ii.       Special parts

a.       De-cloaker

                                                                                                                                       i.      Inserts into J-Junc Module location

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Allows player to de-cloak cloaked spacecraft

1.      Only one row needs to be changed – no additional benefit to adding more than one

b.      Auto-slew

                                                                                                                                       i.      Inserts into photon bridge location

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Allows ship to lock onto target spacecraft and keep it in the gun’s crosshairs.

1.      Only one row needs to be changed – no additional benefit to adding more than one

2.      The crosshairs should still shift around a bit, to make gun battles not boring and pointless. It should just help the player keep the ship on the screen.

 

E.      Shields (bottom right)

i.         Installed parts (from left to right)

a.       Control Node, Cyryofuse, Flux Modulator, Flux Modulator

ii.       Special parts

a.       Cloaker

                                                                                                                                       i.      Inserts into the Cyryofuse location

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Adds a "Cloak" button under the Tactical menu

1.      Only one row needs to be changed – no additional benefit to adding more than one

 

 

F.      Pilotage (bottom bottom)

i.         Installed parts (from left to right)

a.       Control Node, J-Junc Module, Scanner, J-Junc Module

ii.       Special parts

a.       Ground Scanner

                                                                                                                                       i.      Inserts into scanner location

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Adds a "City-City" button under the Navigate menu

1.      Only one row needs to be changed – no additional benefit to adding more than one

 

     VI.      FUEL ECONOMY

1.      Fuel economy will be determined by adding various consumption rates together for the final consumption rate.
A.     The current consumption rate will be displayed in the cockpit as U.P.M. (Units Per Minute)
B.   This rate will be calculated every "real" second, which equates to one "Sundog" minute

2.      Fuel tanks and the pod auxiliary fuel storage tanks will hold 17,000 units
A.     The original Sundog ship held 17 units, so this keeps with that tradition.
B.     The player will buy fuel at 1000 units a pop.

3.      Suggested list of consumption rates (probably not complete)

A.     GUNS = 10

B.     SHIELDS = 20 (at full power, less at lesser power)

C.     ENGINE USE = 35

D.     WARP CHARGING = 45

E.      LANDING = Subtract 150 units

F.      TAKE OFF = Subtract 300 units

G.     CLOAKER = 80 units

H.     DECLOAKING = 50 units

I.    AUTOSLEW = ?? units.

J.        "IDLE" CONSUMPTION (to power life support, etc) = 1 unit

K.     SHIP SYSTEM HEALTH = This is a percentage of the base system consumption rate.
i.         Percentage is determined by adding up the “health multiplier”
     a.       The multiplier is determined by adding up the four row health indicators.
     b.      Green is 0, Yellow is 2, Red is 4, and Black is 6.
               i.  Naturally, if all four rows are black, the system does not operate and thus there is no fuel usage.

ii.       EXAMPLE, using WARP SYSTEM
a.       While the system is in use (charging), multiply the normal consumption rate (45) times the health multiplier. If the warp section is totally green, there is no multiplier and 45 is the full consumption of the warp system.
b.      If you have a two green, one yellow, and one red indicator, this means your system health multiplier is 6.  Multiply the normal consumption rate (45) by 6 PERCENT (not by 6!) This is 2.7 (rounded up to 3), so the final fuel consumption rate is 48 (the normal 45 plus health multiplier 3 equals 48).
c.       This is a GOOD INCENTIVE to keep those mech bays healthy!

4.      EXAMPLE: The ship is in flight (so “idle” consumption applies), shields on full, engine is sub-lighting, there is some damage to the engineering bays totaling an additional 15 units per minute, the cloaker is on, and the guns are in use. This would be a grand total of 161 UPM. At this rate the tanks would go dry in 105 seconds (or 105 Sundog minutes). This is fairly close to the original game based on some tests I ran.

5.      EXAMPLE II: Without the cloaker activated (now the total is 81 UPM) you would still have nearly three and a half minutes until your tanks run dry.

6.      EXAMPLE III: Normal operation only with a healthy engineering system (“idle”, engine on) will total 36 UPM, giving the player 472 seconds (or nearly a bit over 7 and a half minutes) of sub-lighting time before the tanks run dry. Again, this is fairly accurate to the original.

7.      One drawback to this approach would be that during a fight when engineering bay parts are damaged, the player will run out of fuel REALLY fast with that health multiplier.
           A.     A solution to this problem would be to code a ceiling on the health multiplier effect so things don't snowball out of control too fast.