Scouts is a sci-fi exploration game in which the player takes control of a man-made robot with limited battery power, whilst you have energy it is your main goal to gather as much information possible to assist mankind.
After each exploration, the player will be scored based on how many different things get analysed, such as flora, fauna and other substances – this will be represented as percentages under each category, and depending on how low the values may be will result in a news feed, telling of the troubles that may have resulted in human deaths. Dying to any hostile life-forms will end the scouting prematurely sending even less information, almost making the humans go in blind when personally colonising the planet.
If a score is too low then the robot will get decommissioned or memory-wiped, ending their exploration spree – this is because scouts only run out of battery but can be recharged once humans set foot on the foreign terrain, therefore keeping the superior scouts.
A strong feature in this game will be the art direction, both a reward and a distraction as your limited-life requires quick movement, sacrificing important exploration time just to absorb the atmosphere and environment. A couple sources for inspiration are Hello Games' "No Man's Sky" and Thatgamecompany's Journey (PS3).
Features:
Intended for PC, Xbox One and Play Station 4
Reference Image: "Desert Ghosts" by Kurunya
Hereditary Hero (HEROditary) is a 3D open-world rogue-lite consisting of randomly generated tasks that a player must complete, dying at any point will cause you to take control of one of the next heroes in your bloodline. It shares this next-generation-after-death mechanic with the Infinity Blade series and Rogue Legacy – similarly inheriting the choice mechanic from the latter, player input alongside random power generation, deciding on which of your children to play as.
As the bloodline continues, the older powers (inherited for the most generations) become weaker until they're no longer present in the hero's abilities – the purpose of this is to not give the player too many skills that they become unable to keep track. Each new character will inherit or introduce flaws, that will limit the player in some aspects – this is to prevent the hero becoming overpowered and decreasing the overall difficulty of the game. Flaws can either be presented as weaknesses like Superman and kryptonite, or asthma reducing hero stamina.
After each death, one child will reveal a bonus ability, say for example 'Laser Vision', however they will in turn inherit more weaknesses, therefore adapting the player's gameplay further – in terms of balancing.
Features:
Intended for PC, Xbox One and Play Station 4
Reference image: Pixar's 'The Incredibles'
