FEMA House Builder Outline
Draft
By Bryce Buchanan
Game Overview
FEMA House Builder is a game that will give people the chance to rebuild and maintain New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. The goal of this game is to last as long as possible in maintaining the community. Players will work hard to fight back floods, build and repair houses, and improve the area.
FEMA will be based on a miniature board which represents New Orleans. In Second Life it would be on a 10x10 meter(or smaller) board. It will be designed so players can easily walk around the board and view all areas easily. All models will be simple to keep the prim count low. The game area will be based on a grid where players can build structures and protect them from the floods with barriers.
Gameplay
The game progresses through timed rounds where players will race to protect their areas from floods and hurricanes. At the end of each round, money will be rewarded based on how well you performed during that round.
At the start of the game, there will be some houses, damaged and undamaged, on the board. They will also have some money to start with to begin repairing and building.
Each building and barrier has different attributes.
Houses are the basic building that can be built. They
Stores add the option to build cement barricades to stop floods. They can also allow houses to be upgraded with 'stilts.' This will help with flooding, but will make houses more susceptible to damage from hurricanes.
Barricades are built around houses and will prevent flood damage to the house. There are two versions of barricades: sandbags and cement barricades. Sandbags are cheap to build but do not last long. Cement barricades last much longer but are very expensive.
Shelters are larger buildings that will give players more money at the end of each round. Shelters can break down over time due to use, so they must be repaired periodically.
Gameplay proceeds through sets of three rounds. The rules for each round are the same, but the time limit increases by 15 seconds each round. Starting at 30 seconds in the first round, the third will be for a full minute.
After every third round a hurricane will come through and damage buildings and barriers randomly. This happens between rounds, after which players will have to repair any damage caused by the hurricane and stop any flooding during the 30 seconds of that round.
After the hurricane comes water forces will be stronger for the next rounds causing barricades to break more easily. As the game progresses players will have to take more precautions and build stronger barriers to keep the water out.
Interface
All parts of the user interface will be on a HUD attached to the player. The HUD will show all of the game information including:
Round number
Timer
Money
Buttons to Build/Repair/Upgrade
A visible grid will be on the board so players will know where to build.
Group Assignments
Group Leader: Dan DeFinis
Lead Designer: Bryce Buchanan
Builders/Artists: Chris Bos, Devon Winkler
Scripting: Robert Baxter, Randy Chap
