By Egotistic Studios

1. The Tears of Gaia “Reset the past, Restore the balance. Fight through the horrors to return to the land”. By Egotistic Studios

3. Story: It is the year 2213; civilisation has been destroyed by wars fought because of overpopulation, as well as over – pollution of the atmosphere which has caused Earth’s ozone layer to disappear rendering the surface hazardous if ventured into for too long. In addition to this the plant life has mutated spreading rapidly over the planet’s surface and taking back some of the world’s largest metropolises. This plant life also requires very little carbon dioxide to grow and so expels very little Oxygen, meaning simple tasks have become much more difficult and exhaustive actions can cause death.

4. You play as a middle aged female, of a player selected ethnicity, who was part of a science team working on genetically modified food. You have contracted a degenerative muscle mutation from overexposure to pure radiation and become more ill as the game progresses. You set off on a quest to scatter your husband’s ashes as well as choose a final outcome, increase the oxygen output of the plant life or restore the ozone layer. You must travel through a range of environments to reach your final destination. The landscape is mostly a barren wasteland; rolling deserts lick the foundations of once grand cities and the vegetation is everywhere spreading and creeping above and below ground. The main antagonist is a human male who has become fused with the earth and sees the wasteland as his, as he is connected to it. As well as viewing the landscape as a utopia that he controls.

5. One of the individual aspects of this game is that all of the player’s weapons will be plant based, such as vines and creepers for silent takedowns and spore grenades etc. Some of these weapons will when used, have the ability to change the landscape, such as to create cover or expose enemies. The game will be entirely open world with access to all areas with the use of the characters arm mounted crossbow/winch. This will give the player multiple options bout how they navigate the levels.

6. Key Characters: Protagonist Pure Protagonist, a human female scientist who is trying to scatter her husbands ashes. As the game goes on and she becomes more attuned to the environment and its effects on her she slowly starts to change physically, to the point where depending on the players choices through out the game she can become unrecognizable.

7. Key Characters: Protagonist Corrupt This is what the protagonist may end up looking like, as you progress through the game certain choices can change your physical appearance and abilities. There are bonuses for using certain biological and evolutionary enhancements, like being able to deploy your own minions to command, adapting to a deadly environment, surrounding yourself in noxious gas to kill crowds of enemies. The more you change your original genetic code the more of an obvious mutation takes place.

8. Key Characters: Antagonist The main antagonist, he has melded with the land itself and in doing so has managed to take control of the wastes. He secretes a pheromone that when inhaled by a being that has succumbed to a feral nature and is more mutated than not he can force them to serve him. Although he has this form of control many humans have turned to him and believe he is their god and so defend him with unmatched zeal. Realizing you are a direct threat to his power due to your innate ability to meld biological matter into mutations he has dedicated his time to ending your life.

9. Dystopian Theme: The obvious reason that this represents a dystopia is firstly the landscape. A traditional wasteland with the ruins of what has come before. As well as this the mental regression of the populace to its primitive instincts and nature attacking us, almost in response to how we polluted it, could all be seen to be factors that contribute to a dystopian civilisation. On a separate level the idea of a dystopia is a matter of perception, like the old saying “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” sometimes a living hell can feel much more enjoyable to that person than a commonly perceived utopia like heaven. Especially if that person is, or feels, in a position of power, or has some ability to exploit the people or area for personal gain. For our game we picked an idea where the world is for more or less a world that has gone to hell. A traditional view on a dystopian scene, however we will be incorporating ideas of perception into various elements to show that what is right for some isn’t for others. Such as characters that were of little significance in the old world but have risen to a higher status by taking advantage of the situation.

10. Example: The major antagonist has turned the land To his benefit, while it may not be pretty and green like it used to be, it is all under his control. So even though it’s a hellhole, its his hellhole, and he owns every inch of it. To a man who is obsessed with power and now has much of it as well as loyal followers/slaves he pretty much feels like he is in heaven.

11. Example: The wastes of the new world are filled with monsters that were but mere shadows of the old one. Cannibals, necrophilia's, murderers and other people who for their socially taboo and sickening acts where cast out, imprisoned or killed for their habits and behaviours. But in a world where there is no law, to kill and kill again without fear of oppression or punishment. That’s an idyllic world for those kinds of people, a utopian view on a dystopian world.

12. The adaptive nature of mankind: As the environment changed for the worse mankind adapted to new extremes, too stubborn to give up. Some set up communities to survive, huddled in hovels behind make shift walls, Others found opportunity in the harsh lands salvaging, raiding and such. Through out the game many different factions with different views and looks are found surviving what ever way they can. Various signs used by the barbarians to signify claim. Sigil belonging to “The Arboris sect” Logo of the “dirt track cartel”

13. The Dirt Track Cartel: Infamous in the waste the cartel is a loosely tied group of raiders, salvage experts, traders and mercenaries that prowl the waste looking for anything of value, abandoned towns and old wreckage still litter the land scape. Taking what they can they barter, beg, steal and hire out their services to anyone interested, going from town to town etching a living off of the scraps of the past. The dirt track cartel are predominantly human, though they live in a changed world they have developed a purist view, that anything not pure human is less than human. This racism has earned them a bad reputation with certain parts of the wastes and more so with other factions in the trading towns, street and bar fights are a common amongst the towns they visit. They would be barred if not for the goods they provide, a necessary evil to most. Dirt Blast Salvager “Iron Stag” battle truck

14. Barbarian of the “flab gut clan” Barbarians: The Barbarians are predominately the most aggressive Of the various tribes, clans and factions of the waste. They where once human but have become more fungal based, increasing their size and strength, but loosing most of their logical thinking. Their bodies absorb nutrition from the air around them and it appears that their bodies rapidly evolve for their environment, some living in mountains where their skin is as the stone they inhabit, others in radioactive waste pools and have developed immune systems that can cope with it. There are as many tribes as there are variations and while they have different strengths and weaknesses with nick names like “flabby guts” and “bulge's” the most common link is that they hate outsiders, enough so that they attack on site.

15. The Arboris sect: The Arboris sect are a large mass of humans and mutants that have a deep spiritual belief in Gaia, the mother of us all, or more commonly know as “the all mother”. The sect see nature take back the planet and believe that once the globe is covered in her presence she will remake mankind as a whole and we will all return to her to be reborn a new race. Nicknamed hippies and weed heads for the genetically altered cannabis they cultivate and smoke these religious individuals teach peace and kindness to all, regardless of age, race or mutation, however, they also sport a large military presence at any town they have claimed and have close ties to many mercenaries and benefactors of a religious nature. Many of their followers protect the cloaked figures of the brotherhood with a fanatical zeal that rivals the fury of the barbarians, and praise them as heralds of a new age.

16. Technical Details • Engine is UDK • Platform is console and pc • Sound editor adobe auditionand audacity • Modelling 3DS max • Animation is motion builder and 3DS max • Games of the same design: RAGE, Fallout 3 and metro 2033 • Publisher Bethesda

17. Bibliography http://www.1zoom.net/Space/wallpaper/253930/z501.6/ http://media.cmcdn.net/17059619/940x522.png http://skybolt.deviantart.com/art/Post-Apocalyptic-Hunting-Truck-151208222 Concept art is credited to Ben and Edd Google images for anything else not listed