FMS 394 – Final Project (Fall 2021)

Game Title: Pandora

[Sean Vanderford]
1. Game Description/Summary
You awaken deep in a forest you’ve never seen before, with no memory of who you are

or how you got there. Now it’s up to you to discover the mysteries of the forest while uncovering

the mysteries of your past.

Pandora is a virtual reality survival game set in a expansive forest that completely changes

come nightfall. The game combines interactivity and discovery in a way that encourages players

to try out new ideas and explore the mysteries of the forest. What appears to be an ordinary

quite forest in the day, becomes a bioluminescent world at night, full of both beauty and

danger where hostile creatures lurk in the dark. Players gather resources to craft items and

build shelters that will help them survive the forest.

The interactive gameplay and level of agency will provide a completely different experience for

everyone who plays the game. By making this a VR game, players will become more emersed in

the forest and start to feel like they’re truly in the world of the game. The player will have a lot
of choices presented to them like where to build their shelter and what to build it out of, if they

decide to build one at all. Everything found in the forest can be used to craft new items that

allow the player to build tools which can help them survive the forest and what lives there.

Passive creatures can be found roaming the forest in the day while hostile creatures stalk the

bioluminescent night. As the player learns more skills and gain strength, more of the world will

become accessible for them to explore. Along their journey players will learn about who they

are and how they ended up in the forest, though who they where may not be the same as who

they’ve become.

2. Target Audience/Platform
Pandora is a game that is designed to be accessible to the general gaming community.

This game will be developed for the PlayStation VR headset and work in combination with the

single controller. By making this game for the PS VR headset, players won’t need a high end

computer or have to purchase an entirely different gaming system. The only hardware required

in order to play, is the physical game and the headset, making it accessible to a wider range of

players.
Because of the limited hardware

requirements, the game will be equally

accessible to hardcore, casual and new

gamers. The game will feature very little

dialogue and interaction with other characters

so there won’t be any offensive language,

drug use, sexual content, etc. Though the

game is geared towards late teens to adults because the dark nighttime elements may be scary

to some players. The target audience is people looking for an immersive experience who enjoy

lots of freedom of exploration and creation with the challenge survival. The rating is aimed to

be somewhere between “E10+” and “T”. There won’t be any mature content in the game but

the darkness of night, hunting violence and the hostile creatures may be scary elements to

younger audiences.

3. Game Story and Characters

The story of Pandora feature two main narratives, the player driven narrative and the designed

narrative.

The player designed narrative will be formed by the decisions the player makes, what to build,

where to go, what to do. This narrative will be similar to the game Minecraft, where the player

has freedom to explore the world around them and to build or craft things when and where

they want. By providing this level of freedom, the game will inspire players to use their

creativity and problem-solving skills to build and design their own world. This narrative
develops as the game progresses and the player decides who they want to be in the forest and

how they choose to play. They may choose to live on the ground, in a cave or take to the trees.

Each area will come with its own challenges and benefits to the player.

They can also decide how they will survive in the forest by choosing what they eat,

either foraging or hunting, and how they survive the hostile creatures, by fighting or hiding. The

creatures living in the forest will be the only form of NPCs. These creatures can be hunted for

food and resources while others can be tamed, becoming both mounts and companions. All of

the choices will allow players to create their own unique experience that will define both their

character and their world. The world of Pandora will grow with them as they grow in knowledge

and physical ability. Every decision the player makes will affect their stats, agility, knowledge,

strength and stealth. These stats will increase based on the player’s actions, unlocking new

possibilities and giving players access to new areas and equipment along the way.
 The second narrative is the main character’s backstory. The game will feature a day and

night cycle as well as a sleep mechanic similar to that in the game FarCry Primal. Overtime

players will become tired and their energy will start to deplete. The only way to restore this

energy is to sleep. Players will be able to choose where they sleep and for how long. This

mechanic will give the player a way to fast-forward to night or day depending on their current

objective. Every time the player sleeps, they will experience dreams in the form of cutscenes

that will give them glimpses of memories from the main character’s past. These cutscenes will

be passive moments, the player will still be able to move their head to look around, but the

events will simply play out in front of them.

Over time this will build a backstory for who they were and how they ended up in the forest.

Details of the main character’s name and appearance aren’t necessary to the story, these
specific details will be represented by the person playing the game. The player fills the role of

the main character, creating a more immersive experience. The important details are what the

main character did, where they came from and their motives behind it.

For the backstory, the main character came to this place for personal gain.

You worked for a

company that

specializes in

traveling to remote

planets and

stripping those

places of the

natural resources found there. Upon arriving at the forest, the team began excavating the area

and mining its resources with the use of their equipment. They cut down trees, mined minerals

from the earth and along the way uprooted anything that may have been living there. This isn’t

the first planet you and your team have ravaged and everyone is quick and ruthless with their

work. Once they gather all they can carry, the crew begins loading the last of their haul onto the

aircraft. The team sets out on a final trip to gather the last of the resources. The members of

the crew are greedy people and know that the larger their numbers, the smaller their cut and

the less cargo the aircraft can carry. On your way back to the ship, while traversing a small
pathway with a massive drop-off on one side, one of the crew members tosses you a heavy log

while the others from behind shove you towards the cliff’s edge. You tumble and plummet to

the bottom of the cliffside. Presuming you’re dead or will be soon, the rest of the crew

continues to the aircraft and leaves with everything you’ve gathered.

Whether the character’s backstory is consistent with who the player has chosen to be,

depends on the choices made along the way and how they play the game. By only experiencing

small snippets of the backstory at a time, the player will start to get a sense of who they were

and can make more informed decisions as they progress through the game. The character arc is

entirely dependent on whether or not the player chooses to approach the forest differently

from when they first arrived.

The goal is for the player to feel connected to the forest as they grow to learn more

about it and the creatures who call it home. The memories the player experiences in the form

of dreams, will reveal hidden locations throughout the forest that players can search for that

will trigger the next set of dreams and shed more light on the player’s backstory. These

locations also contain resources as a reward for the player’s efforts and encourages further
exploration. Either way, the forest will become their new home, the relationship with their

surroundings is up to them.

4. Gameplay and Interaction

The player wakes up in a forest and must find resources to survive. At the beginning of the

game, players are limited in their knowledge and abilities. They must explore the forest in order

to learn how things work and gain strength to explore more of the world.

Goals:

1. The main goal is for the player to survive. This is achieved by restoring health with

the use of food and bandages. Taking shelter from the elements and avoiding

danger will also be key for the player to survive in the forest.
 2. Players may choose to find shelter in the forest. Shelters provide protection from

the elements and from the hostile creatures that roam the night. These shelters also

provide a respawn point should the player die and are good for storing items in

chests.

Shelters-

• Gound level (craft hut or tent using resources)

• Tree tops (craft a hammock, requires climbing ability)

• Caves (discovered by exploring the area, few resources needed)

3. Once players have established resources and a basis for survival, it’s time to explore.

The player starts out in a “safe zone” where they can learn the mechanics in a low-

risk environment. Once players reach a certain stats level, they can choose where to
 go and what to do by traversing one of three obstacles, but they must stay alive

while doing so.

Optional directions-

• Maneuver through the cave

• Cross the river

• Climb the wall

4. While learning about the world, players will learn about their past in the form of

dreams when they sleep. The dreams reveal hidden areas relating to their past,

players can choose to set out in search of these hidden places to gather resources

and unlock answers to their past.

5. The end goal is to uncover who you are and how you got here. Once the player

discovers all the hidden areas, a final cutscene will play that shows the events that

unfolded answering the question of how you arrived in the forest. After the final

sequence, players can choose to continue roaming the forest and exploring the

world of Pandora.
Mechanics:

1. Gather resources:
Simple resources can be gathered without requiring tools

Complex resources require specific tools to gather

Simple-

• Rocks
• Sticks
• Leaves
• Vines
• Water
• Feathers
• Dirt/Mud
• Fruit
Complex-
 • Stone
• Flint
• Wood
• Bone
• Animal skins
• Meat
• Bait

2. Inventory:
Items are stored and accessed through the inventory
Inventory tracks to headset’s movement, locked in center of view
Player starts with small backpack, option to upgrade later for more carrying capacity
Chests store items safely in a single location

3. Crafting:

Players combine
resources to craft
items
Items allow player
to collect larger
quantities of
complex
Crafting items levels
up player’s ability,
unlocking more
crafting options
Weapons-

• Knife
• Spear
• Bow
 • Arrows

Tools-

• Axe
• Shovel
• Pickaxe
• Hammer
Items-

• Oar
• Torch
• Rope
• Logs
• Chest
• Bait
• Large Bag
• Saddle
• Fishing pole

4. Build:
Items are combined to build structures

• Hammock
• Sleeping mat
• Tent
• Fire pit
• Ladder
• Raft
• Traps

5. Movement:
• Crawl
• Climb trees
• Climb rock walls
 • Swim
• Run
• Sneak
• Jump
• Roll
• Slide

6. Skills tree:
• Knowledge
• Strength
• Agility
• Stamina
• Stealth
• Crafting

7. Creatures:
Large creatures can be tamed with bait and ridden by crafting a saddle

-Passive
Small

• Fast, hopping, rabbit type

• Furry, quick, fox type
• Scurrying, climbing, squirrel type
• Slow, crab type, found near water
• Aquatic, swimming, elusive, fish type
• Multi-colored, fast, flying bird type

Large

• Fast, strong, mountable, horse type

• Massive, calm, intimidating, elephant type
• Heavy, docile, grazing, bull type
• Slow, roaming, wide headed, longhorn type
-Hostile
Small

• Elusive, hissing, biting, snake type

• Crawling, poisonous, quiet, scorpion type

Large

• Heavy, armored, aggressive, rhino type

• Grounded, quiet, stalking, tiger type
• Climbing, dark, stealthy, panther type
• Large, flying, swooping, pterodactyl type
• Aquatic, reptile, sneaky, alligator type

8. Cooking
• Meat- gathered by hunting animals

-Provides very little health when raw, cooking over a fire increases item’s stats

• Fruit- gathered from trees and bushes

-Can be eaten raw or cooked with meat to increase stats

9. Sleeping
Player’s energy depletes over time, sleeping recovers energy stats
Sleeping serves as a save point for player progress
Player chooses where to sleep and for how long, amount of energy recovered is based on
quality of sleep

• On the ground
• In a hole
• In a tent
• In a hammock
• In a cave
• On a raft

10.HUD (heads-up-display)
Limited HUD keeps the player immersed in the game and provides basic information

• Health bar
• Stamina bar
• Energy bar
• Mini-map

11.Death
When player health reaches zero, the player dies

Respawn will either be the previous checkpoint or at the last location player slept
Player damage-

• Fall
• Drown
• Attacked, large creatures
• Poisoned, small creatures
• Burned
• Starved
 • Freeze

Controller Layout:
Move: Left Stick

Turn: Right Stick

Look: VR Headset
Run: L3 (press left stick)
Jump: X
Crouch: Circle

Roll: Circle + falling

Slide: Circle + running
Select/Interact: Square
Open Inventory: Triangle

L-Punch/L-Grab/Aim: L2
R-Punch/R-Grab/Shoot: R2
Throw: R1
Craft menu: L1
Pause Game: Options button
Navigate Inventory: D-Pad arrows/Right stick
Access Skills Tree/Map: Touch-pad
5. Game Design

Pandora combines survival elements from games like Rust, with the freedom and

exploration of Minecraft all set in an Avatar inspired forest. The story and sleeping mechanics

are inspired by FarCry Primal where they player can sleep for select amounts of time and

choose to either follow the story or explore the open world. Pandora feels like stepping into a

dangerous and magical world full of exotic creatures and beautiful environments to explore.

Players will be surrounded by the sounds of birds and wild animals, as they’re visually

captivated with stunning virtual reality. They will have to use their own knowledge of survival

combined with experimentation to unlock more abilities to explore the forest and the secrets it

holds.

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