Accurate Precision

Design Document for:

Scar of the Dragon Mod

All work Copyright © 2006-2007 by Christopher D. Lee, AKA Leedeth

Last Modified: January 24, 2007.

I started work on this design document for a video game modification in June 2006. Most of the work was done between then and April 2007. Not much has been done since then.

I don’t have the necessary skills to complete a mod, so I’m now releasing it publicly. This is not a license to distribute this though. If this is posted anywhere else, please inform me. If anyone wants to use my ideas in their mod, please tell me. I could help with the design.

I plan to develop the story further, so please, don’t steal my ideas. If you want to use anything please contact me first.

Thank you to Kiith-Somtaaw (aka Spartan-048) who has helped immensely with the concepts and design. http://www.moddb.com/members/67164/kiith-somtaaw

My website is: http://leedeth.wordpress.com/

Back-story/Teaser Text:

Outer space is a strange entity. It is an empty void, vacant of all matter, and is in fact very dangerous to any living organism. What makes it so alluring is the chunks of material floating around in the expanse. Asteroids, comets, planets, stars…even the possibility of intelligent alien life.

Yet humans sought to annex this vast new domain. Many looked up at the awe-inspiring star-filled sky. Each had the same look, filled with wonder, and awe…. But each had a different vision. Some looked up with hopes of securing new resource deposits for their mining company, others had dreams of building self-sufficient space stations, and still more wished to secure new land and dominions for their country. Despite their outlooks, every one of them had a sense of exploration, a sense of discovering the unknown. Once they invented the required technology, nothing was going to stop them, come hell or high water.

Market Research:

Unfortunately, many games feature dragons as enemies, or mounts, but only a few have tried to implement dragons as playable characters. None have featured them as playable characters in the first-person. This is where the mod will try to fill the gap. It will feature the ability to play a game through a dragon’s eyes in the first-person, and ride a dragon as a human passenger in the first-person.

Games where the player can play as a dragon:
- First-Person Shooter: None
- Third-Person Shooter: The I of the Dragon http://www.i-dragon.com/
- Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game: Horizons: Empire of Istaria http://www.istaria.com/

Games where the player can have a dragon as a mount:
- First-Person Shooter: None
- Third-Person Shooter: Many
- Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game: Many

Unique Features:

- First game to feature playable dragons in the first-person perspective.
- First game to feature wind dynamics associated with olfaction (sense of smell).
- First game to feature dragons versus humans armed with modern weapon systems.

Team Name:

The Target Engine:

- Real Virtuality 2, which is the underlying game engine for Armed Assault and Virtual Battlespace 2. Advantage: realism, support for massive online battles.

There are also two other “next-gen” games in development: Operation Flashpoint 2 and ArmA 2.

Note: Multiplayer battles may require 80 or more players (or AI) at one time, to fulfill the platoon (40 personnel) composition and increase strategy and communication requirements. This is why I’m leaning on this engine more.

- CryENGINE2, which is the underlying game engine for Crysis. Advantage: fully interactive and destructible environments. Disadvantage: supports only 32 players.

Summary of the Game:

This mod is a realism-based science-fiction first-person shooter with elements of fantasy. It features infantry combat as well as ground-based vehicular combat. There is an emphasis on the use of military tactics as it increases survivability. The player is able to play as either a human or dragon.

Gameplay Details:

- This is a squad-based first-person shooter game. In-game there are several squads. The squad members will be controlled by the artificial intelligence in single-player, while in multiplayer/co-op they will be gradually replaced by players. A team that can communicate and work together is beneficial, but not mandatory.

- Single player is more about plot development, while multiplayer is a mix of both plot development and territorial based, since the single player campaign will be exported to multiplayer.

- This mod will be the first game to feature wind dynamics associated with olfaction (sense of smell).

- There are different types of dragon, such as the western dragon, which can fly. It will have heavy scale armour, and be able to carry out airborne attacks. It will compensate for its weight disadvantage with speed gained from flight. The eastern dragon, on the other hand, will have light scale armour, but will be limited to ground combat. It will compensate for its lack of flight with a light build able to attack far more effectively than the western dragon on ground.

- The dragons will have a combined flight and fire bladder. The more gas they expend for fire, the less maneuverable they will become. It will slowly replenish with the consumption of food, provided they are able to live long enough to do so.

- Weather should be used to the player’s advantage. For example, night will provide visual concealment, and storms will provide visual as well as scent and sound concealment.

- The game has single-player and multiplayer game modes. In single-player there is a main human campaign, with a smaller dragon campaign as a side story. Multiplayer will include:
Humans vs. dragons
Humans vs. humans
Dragons vs. dragons
Dragons and humans vs. dragons
Dragons and humans vs. humans
Dragons and humans vs. dragons and humans

- Like Armed Assault, there will be combined co-op and multiplayer. What this means is that you can play with a full server of AI, then as more people join, they gradually take the spots of the AI. So really, every mission is a co-op, unless the server or mission player limit is met.

- Because of the storyline, there will be an emphasis on conservation of all supplies.

Game-play Flowchart:

No flowchart yet, so I’ll use text.

- Humans have overwhelming firepower compared to dragons, but this is only true when there is distance between them, in close combat the dragons are overwhelming.

- Humans have projectile weapons, which excel at range. Dragons have melee weapons – and a limited fire breath weapon, but know their abilities and limitations well; in close combat they are devastating.

- Dragons have heavy scale armour, which will resist most small arms ammunition when receiving fire from long range. The distance is debatable at this point but the general idea is around the so-called effective range, or, after the bullet’s energy passes below a certain threshold.

- There are also different types of dragon, such as the western dragon, which can fly. It will have the aforementioned heavy scale armour, and be able to carry out airborne attacks. It will compensate for its weight disadvantage with speed gained from flight. The eastern dragon, on the other hand, will have light scale armour, but will be limited to ground combat. It will compensate for its lack of flight with a light build able to attack far more effectively than the western dragon on ground.

Summary of the Plot:

Detailed Plot:

- Driven on by their quest for exploration and discovery, as well as other important issues such as securing resource deposits, many people started up companies researching spacecraft technologies. Many years after, when Earth was ready to place staging stations on the Moon and Mars, a space elevator was constructed. Moonbase (name!) and Marsbase (name!) were primarily designed as staging areas and outposts, respectively. Many countries decided to build large exploration ships designed to research and defend the closest star systems. They were sent in pairs, as a security measure for the crews, 2-4 weeks apart from each other. This provided a security measure if the first was destroyed to allow the second to escape unscathed, as well as being close enough to provide assistance, albeit slightly delayed. These ships were sent foremost as research ships, but also to construct early warning systems, as the countries were rather preoccupied with security.

- Note: Each ship is equipped with one or two full companies of security crew, depending on size. (A company is est. 175 personnel)

- In this story we will follow the journeys of one of these ships, which will enter the orbit of a planet. Some onboard system will malfunction and the ship will be put in a rapidly deteriorating orbit, and crash land on the planet’s surface. They will land in a dense deciduous/coniferous forest. On re-entry the outer sections of the spacecraft will be damaged heavily from heat since it was not designed for this kind of maneuver. The planet will be almost an exact copy of Earth, save the lay of the land, and miscellaneous inhabitants, such as the dragons. They dig in, set up outposts as well as a perimeter, and plan to await the arrival of the other ship, but the dragons discover them quickly and they are attacked. They find that the dragons are able to break into the spacecraft through the weakened sections, as well as being very hard to fight in the dense forests, so they decide to split up. One half will stay at the ship, and the other half will seek refuge in the mountains, only going as far as they can without having to climb. The reason for this is to allow their heavy weapons, such as autocannons, to be able to target the dragons before they reach them. In the dense forests, their heavy weapons were largely unsuccessful due to the extremely confined space. On the excursion to the mountains, the leader of their company is killed in action, and the player then assumes command. The mission continues as planned. Soon after they set up camp in the mountains, they receive an urgent distress call from their ship. They turn back and head to their ship. They lose contact soon before they arrive. They discover that everyone that was left behind is missing, and the only evidence left is the ship, which is melted down heavily near the entrances, vehicle wrecks, and numerous firearm cartridges and blood stains lining the ground outside and corridors of the ship. They are soon ambushed, but make it out with valuable maps and other information. When they were in the mountains, their defence did not work very well, so they decide to travel to swamplands, despite it being a long ways away. The swamplands will provide a huge flat piece of land, able to see for miles around. The only disadvantage is the soft earth and large water composition.

- A side-story will now start. On their long perilous journey they pass through different dragon territories, some friendly, others not. That’s where the dragon side-story cuts in.

- Another twist. Other ship arrives, attempts to contact crashed ship. Since the crashed personnel were able to extract a long range radio from the ship, they were able to establish communications with them. Now a political plot. The second ship sent from Earth was actually controlled and owned by a separate country, and they wanted ownership of this planet. This was because at the last minute, plans were changed back on Earth. Now the fight begins between the two human factions, along with the dragons.

Faction Details:

- Two races: humans and dragons. The humans involved in the game are the expedition ship’s crew. The player will play as a member of the ship’s security forces. The dragons involved in the game are the inhabitants of the planet that the humans encounter.

- The dragon faction is class based; weapons are not interchangeable and each species of dragon has different characteristics.

- Like Armed Assault, the humans are able to either deploy with the default load-out, or customize their load-out according to equipment allocations for a particular mission.

Levels/Missions:

- The levels will range from huge, dense woodland and tropical forests, and beautiful mountain landscapes, to enormous prairies with gentle rolling hills, large treacherous swamplands, and barren deserts.

- Urban combat is restricted to caves and camps; permanent structures such as concrete buildings are not planned to be implemented.

- Like Armed Assault, the game world is one huge map, with the ability to have potentially millions of mission possibilities.

Squad/Platoon/Company Composition:

Much of this is based on the U.S. Army.

Squad

The squad consists of 9 personnel. It consists of:

- Squad Leader (leads two teams, which are in turn lead by the Team Leader) – equipped with a carbine service rifle

- Team Leader – equipped with a service rifle with close-range sight

- Rifleman – equipped with a service rifle fitted with a medium range scope (such as ACOG)

- Grenadier – equipped with a service rifle fitted with a standard under-barrel grenade launcher, as well as a 20 or 25mm grenade launcher (such as the one fitted on the OICW)

- Automatic Rifleman – equipped with a Squad Automatic Weapon firing the standard service ammunition.

Platoon

The platoon consists of 4 squads for a total of 40, which includes non-combat personnel.

- 3 squads are standard Rifleman Squads

- 1 squad is designated Weapons Squad (carries heavy weapons such as anti-tank missiles)

Company

The company consists of 4 platoons, for a total of 175, which includes non-combat personnel.

Weapons List:

Realistically designed futuristic weapons will be included as well as real-world designs with various improvements. The weapons are projectile based.

Note: Submachine guns are not included, as carbine rifles are issued in their place with greater lethality with minimal weight disadvantage.

Small Arms

- Sidearm. The main sidearm is the pistol. One model fires a smaller rifle-based cartridge (such as the 4.5mm and 5.7mm). The other model fires subsonic ammunition (such as .45 ACP) and can be equipped with a suppressor that almost completely eliminates noise and muzzle flash.

- Assault Rifle. The main service rifle is a modular rail-based assault rifle firing the intermediate 6.5mm Grendel cartridge.

- Battle Rifle. Secondary service rifle mainly issued for long range engagements or when more firepower is needed than the assault rifle provides. It fires full-sized rifle ammunition. Mainly employed in the Designated Marksman position.

- Light Machine Gun. Main squad level support weapon. Fires standard service ammunition. Belt-fed, air-cooled, quick change barrel, high rate of fire.

- Medium Machine Gun. Main squad/platoon level support weapon. Fires full-sized rifle ammunition. Belt-fed, air-cooled, quick change barrel, high rate of fire. Longer and heavier barrel than LMG. Serves in both a mounted and dismounted role.

- Sniper Rifle. High powered rifle firing the .338 Lapua cartridge.

- Anti-Material Rifle. Extremely high powered rifle. Fires either 14.5mm or 20mm cartridges.

Heavy Weaponry (mounted only)

- Heavy Machine Gun. Standard M2HBQCB .50 caliber. Good chance of newly designed weapons used in place of the M2.

- Grenade Machine Gun. Standard grenade launcher.

- Autocannon. 20, 25, or 30mm ammunition.

- Tank mounted gun. Fires rounds in excess of 100mm.

Vehicle List:

Vehicles will be limited to Infantry Fighting Vehicles and lighter. Some air transport such as light helicopters will be available.

Like Armed Assault, vehicles carry supplies for dismounted infantry, and proper maintenance is required in case of random breakdowns, such as a tire/tread blowout.

- Light Reconnaissance. Light tracked vehicle designed for speed to carry out reconnaissance missions. Very light construction, not able to resist bullets.

- Armoured Personnel Carrier. M113 MTVL (Mobile Tactical Vehicle Light). Essentially a stretched and improved version of the M113. Only armament is either 7.62mm MG or .50 caliber HMG, mounted on a turret.

- Infantry Fighting Vehicle. Armament includes 20, 25, or 30mm autocannon, coaxial MG, hull MG.

- Light Tank. Armament includes a cannon in the 100mm range, coaxial MG, hull MG. (such as M8 AGS)(very few will be provided)

Character List:

Scene List:

Design Notes:

- This mod is designed with efficiency in mind; it does not aim to be a total conversion. Much of the original game will be left intact, and assets will be drawn from the original game wherever possible.