//(C) 2002 north-40 designs

The plot of the game is reasonably simple.  You and three other people wake up in a sterile hospital-like room.  None of them know where they are or how they got there.  They're dressed in identical white smocks, and have no supplies or tools or anything.  After some discussion, it's decided that you're going to try to find out what's going on.  You sneak quietly out of your room and find yourself in a very large building.  There are no people that you can see or hear, but you assume someone is out there.  But are they friendly or not?  And what the hell is going on, anyway?  You uneasily begin to explore your surroundings.

First off, there are four characters to choose from.  This is basically how you pick your difficulty level.  You could choose the physically strong guy who can climb and run and take a lot of damage, but can't figure out puzzles or operate technology, or you could choose the scrawny computer geek whose genius level IQ will get you through any puzzles -- if he lives long enough to find them.  That way the player can pick a character suited to their style.  A physical bralwer, a smart puzzle solver, or a well-rounded character who can do almost anything, but has mediocre stats.  Finally, there's a character who has NO skills, in order to add an extra challenge.

Four base charas (easy to hard difficulty):
1 - mid-range strength, fast, intellegent, agile
2 - Strong, slow, not intellegent, mid-range agility
3 - weak, mid-range speed, super-intellegent, not agile
4 - weak, fast, mid-range intellegence, not agile

Physical stats are easy to determine.  As in, either you're strong enough to move an object of a certain weight, or you're not.  Intellegence tests are a bit more difficult.  I was thinking that the smarter characters would automatically get hints when they find puzzles.  For instance, a smart character might say to the player, "Hmm, I think I could get through this door if I had a crowbar and some duct tape," while a less smart character would just stand there.

Stats are hidden from the player.  Instead of seeing that his or her avatar has a strength of 30 and an agility of 25, they'd just see that their character is relatively good at running, jumping, and climbing.  Surviving physical tasks raises physical skills, and coming up with creative ways to solve puzzles raises mental skills.

Attributes:
strength
speed
intellegence
agility
size
disposition
balance
charisma
dexterity (hands)
pain threshold (hp)
blood

Abilities (figured from attributes, means the percent chance you'll be able to do something)
disarm
knock unconscious
sneak
break in
hack/crack
identify
use tools
escape
directional sense
make map
persuade
hide
use weapon
improvise
repair
first-aid
safe-fall

Damage is based on whatever body part is injured.  So if you jump off a ledge and fall too far, you'll hurt your legs, while if you just fall off, you might injure your head or arms.  HP represents pain threshold.  If you exceed your pain threshold, you'll fall unconscious or die.  You also have an attribute for blood loss.  Lose too much blood, you die.  You can also die (or lose the game) if you fall a long distance, get captured, or get stuck somewhere.

Damage Breakdown:
Head: 1-10 hp
Injuries cause:  dizzy, unconscious, blind, deaf, mute
Torso: 1-25 hp
Injuries cause:  slow, paralyze, internal bleeding
Arms: 1-40 hp
Injuries cause:  loss of dexterity
Legs: 1-65 hp
Injuries cause:  slow, dizzy

The maps for the buildings are randomly generated, but include certain special locations.  For example, the game starts in a room somewhere between the 10th and 15th stories, and there are several story events between the starting room and the exit at the bottom of the building.  Adds to replayability and means you can't win with a weaker chara by memorizing the locations of important things.

The game also has cooperative multiplayer possibilities.  Change the plot so that more than one person leaves the room, and let them either work together, or strike off in different directions to cover more area.

I'm not sure how the play style of this game would work out...  Something like Metal Gear Solid would work well, since you'd be able to see all of your surroundings and things to interact with.  On the other hand, a first person or third-person-behind view would be more immersive.

--last updated 12-4-2001