Introduction week: Game Pitch - "Centrum"

Auguste Lubickaite
Oct 19, 2020
2 min read

The first week of the university heated all of the students brains up right from this start. We were split into groups of 6 and assigned to pitch a game idea in 5 minutes without any limitations for the magnitude of it. And is where me and my team started to think big.

I knew right from the start that I wanted to create a mixed genre RPG with a bunch of crafting, survival and fighting mechanics. As we browsed through Pinterest, our eyes immediately met a bunch of steampunk mechs. And this was a perfect opportunity to work on the surviving/crafting/fighting idea, so after a few more discussions, "Centrum" started to take shape.

Unique selling point Inspired games:

Adventure Survival/ Action Rust

The target audience is: Iron Harvest

age 13+ Borderlands
Enjoy MMO games and the steampunk genre Pacific Rim

Mood board

What the game is about:

"Centrum" is a game about technological development, where you spawn into randomized lowlands without anything on you and play in survival mode ("Rust" or "Minecraft"). As you begin to find more materials, you can start building your first vehicle, which will look and feel different depending on which biome you found those items on.

Now when you have your first "RRusty" mini mech, you can start exploring for valuable mining spots in Midlands. If you find a free one, great: you capture it and build a defending system. If not, you can team up with other players to raid others, or steal either from them, your own teammates, the choice is yours~.

After you settle in and start to feel comfortable with your gear, your game transitions from survival to adventure as you expand, build your army of players, and work on your mechs levels and statuses. This is the only way to enter your first PvP zone, a fight for the entrance to Highlands, the "Centrum" for the highest value metal.

And CONGRATULATIONS, you now transitioned to the action-adventure part of the game where you and your team can start to capture as much of the city as your built mechs can handle. Build your factories or participate in PVP to test out your machinery with other high-level players to prove your dominance and steal the items from them.

Now, if you thought that's it, take a break from constructing, because the central map can generate live events at any point: mech races through the valleys or parkour tournaments on top of Centrum city roofs.

Mech mood board

Mechanics

Rules and conditions:

These need to be met (Eg. Rule: player can only jump once ( Condition: If met, the player can increase jump by using a certain skill of crafting).

Raids/Defending/Factions:
Defending own base or raiding bases, Reputation skill and faction score increases
High ranking targets
Owning land gives special buffs to the player’s factions

Players skills (Skill tree):

Intellect/Intelligence pathway
Power/Strength pathway
Knowledge/Reputation pathway
Abilities: Eg. Dual wielding
Weapons: Eg. Ranged Weapons: Steam powered rifles, Tesla cannon

Mech Skills (Skill tree):

Speed/Agility pathway
Tank/Armor pathway
Power/intelligence pathway
Abilities: Eg. Deployable Shield
Weapons: Eg. Throwable items/Storage: Fuel canisters, mines

In conclusion, I can confidently say that I was lucky to be assigned with such a progressive team, with whom I can envision good games coming true. Of course, as 1st-year students and as a team of 6, putting this project into practice would take decades, but a romantic developer mind can always dream, right?