Riftstalkers

Game Summary Pitch

Riftstalkers is a cooperative wave shooter set in mixed reality where the players are destabilizing rifts to avoid an infection from spreading to the earth.

Player Experience

The mercenaries will have the main job of dealing with the waves of enemies. They get to select their equipment at the start of the game and use it during the waves of enemies attacking. One or several of the players will have to solve tasks around the level to close down the rift.

Platform

The game is developed to be released on Meta Quest 3. Co-location mixed reality experiences.

• Development Software
• Unity 2022.3.20f1
• Jira for documentation and management
• Github

Genre

Multiplayer. Our goal is to have a fun multiplayer experience incorporating cooperative aspects. The players have to work together to

defeat the waves of enemies. The players act as a squad of mercenary soldiers working together as a specialized force.

Wave-shooter. There will be waves of biomechanical monsters attacking the players which they will have to kill.

Horror. We aim to make the world and the enemies scary through surviving in a thrilling battle for life as they slowly get overwhelmed by

the enemies in an environment that’s repulsive and a reminder of humanity’s loss to the enemy.

Target Audience

The main target audience is the VR/XR market of gamers. The group is smaller than one would prefer, but this is the niche with the market

we are entering. Mostly young adults ages 18-30 who enjoy a creepy setting along with cooperative play, and have interest in and/or have

previously invested in VR equipment.

Concept

Lore/Background

Humanity (Referred to as 2116 Humans from now on) arrived in an alternate dimension using the Riftweaver. In this alternate dimension

(referred to as Dimension X from now on), humanity fell in 2024 by a hostile hivemind which only seeks to replicate and consume. This

hivemind is a biomass which takes control of and puppeteers whatever resources they get to create an army. In this case the hivemind has

taken over human technology and is using it against us to break into our reality to continue it’s objective of spreading and consuming.

The first base created by 2116 Humans had a Riftweaver that was possible to link up which allowed for a permanent rifts in different

science-bases across the planet between 2116 Human’s reality and dimension x. These are the rifts which the players seek to destabilize

and destroy. If too many of the aliens break through and escape, humanity is lost.

Gameplay Overview

The players will have to close down the different rifts spread across the world by solving different tasks together. These tasks will not be

super complicated but time consuming and difficult when under pressure.

All players will be working to defend each other and the rift from the aliens, while solving the tasks necessary to deploy the rift-destabilizer.

Once the rift has been closed, everyone has to move through the rift, back into the human world as the rift begins closing. This is where the

final stand happens as enemies will more aggressively try to pour out of the rift and the players have to defend the human world and make

sure not too many aliens escape into the human world.

Game loop

1. Selecting loadout & level: The players select their loadouts in the lobby as well as which level

2. Start of Level: The players drop down into the level where a rift is in the center. Enemies are pouring out from the rift

3. Enemy Wave: The players are preventing waves of enemies from travelling through the rift. Tasks are being done to help destabilize the rift.

4. Between Waves: The players defended against a wave and get some time to breathe before the next. Resupply, change up positions, etc.

5. Repeat 3 and 4 until all the tasks are done

6. Final Stand: The players have destabilized the rift and now are back in the real world. The rift is closing.

Gameplay-flow:

The players start out in a lobby.

• All weapons available in the game are displayed on a weapon-rack in the AR-world (in the lobby).
• The players pick their weapons and load into the game
• The players start each round in the AR-world, where they bring their weapons into the VR-world.
• One of the players picks up their rift-destabilizer-kit and brings it into the rift.
• The scene is run over by the swarm’s goop and slime. The players have to start shooting aliens immediately.
• Players have to place the kit in a highlighted spot (if debris is laying over the spot, this needs to be cleared out first).
• The rift destabilizer automatically sets itself up and starts the process of destabilizing the rift.
• The mercenaries will have to defend the rift as well as the rift-destabilizer as the waves of enemies attack
• The swarm will attempt to get past the players and into the real world through the rift, players will be warned of enemies breaching the rift
• Once these tasks are done, a countdown will begin before the rift closes. This countdown will be announced verbally either over a
• system, a radio, or whatever. The players will then have to go back into the AR-world and defend it from any aliens trying to escape last
• minute. This will be a last stand.
• If no enemies escaped into the real world by staying in it for a minute, then the players have won and successfully stopped the invasion

Setting

Slightly sci-fi leaning more towards modern. Weapons have advanced somewhat from our current ones, but still share similarities in look.

Dimension X looks like the ruins of 2024 humanity. Almost 100 years have passed and a tumor-like slime growth (The Hivemind biomass) is

growing on most buildings and places, and in some cases it’s the only thing holding the building together after all these years.

There’s a 2116 human facility which is the outpost lab. The lab was overrun by the hivemind and taken over. Anyone who were there when

the attack happened died and the Riftweaver found there was taken over. The place has a style similar to the reference images below. The

growths found on buildings would’ve started to take over the lab.

Game Mechanics

Mercenary mechanics

Combat Mechanics

Weapon Selection: Mercenaries can choose from a variety of weapons such as pistols, rifles, shotguns, and explosives to defeat monsters.

Ammo Management: Limited ammo resources

Reload Mechanic: Mercenaries must manually reload their weapons during combat,

Enemy Variety: Different types of monsters with unique strengths, weaknesses, and attack

Task Mechanics

Environmental Interaction: Mercenaries can interact with various objects and environmental elements to solve tasks, such as

pushing/pulling levers, rotating gears, or moving objects to trigger mechanisms.

Cooperative Task: Some Tasks require teamwork between mercenaries, where one player may need to activate a mechanism in the VR

world while the other player solves a corresponding Task in the AR world.

Logic Task: Mercenaries encounter logic-based tasks that require deductive reasoning, pattern recognition, or memory skills to progress.

Object Manipulation: Mercenaries can pick up, examine, and manipulate objects within the game world to uncover clues or solve Tasks.

Time-Based Tasks: Some tasks are timed, requiring mercenaries to solve them within a certain timeframe.

Team Roles

Jonas Almaas Jerner - Creative

Tor Arne Sandstrak - Producer

Dário Ivo Almeida Ribeiro - Game Designer

Austin Cameron Wortinger Bakke - 3D Artist, Game Designer

Pia Ramstad - 3D Artist, Game Designer

Eirik Smith Olsen - 3D Artist

Erik Green Leth-Olsen - 3D Artist

Sander Leander Ervik Jensen - 3D Artist

Mila Kaneva - 2D Artist

Michael Bæck Lundgren - VFX

Håkon Magnusson - 2D Artist

Kamen Kamenov Stanev - 2D Artist

Kristian Reiersen - Programmer

Aleksis Bojaruns - Programmer

Leon Nikolai Engelsvold - Programmer

Uliana Sechkar - Programmer

Dan Ioan Pumnea - Sound

Janko Zorbas - Sound

Thamara Gonzalez - Sound

Tobias Haugstad - Sound

Noah Alex Hunter - Sound