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Project Overview

The main premise of the game is that the player is being interrogated by aliens in the distant future. Because of this, the entire world takes place in the mind of the character. The aliens have constructed a futuristic world in the character’s mind but his own mind has constructed an alternate world to protect him. The world created by his own mind is set in 1850’s Victorian London. These two realities fight for dominance in the character’s mind and as his mind deteriorates from the interrogation, there is a crossover between the two worlds.

Third Degree is a 3-dimensional puzzling sidescroller. This means that although the player can only move in two dimensions, the environment is rendered in three dimensions and involves complex physics interactions. The physics are currently being handled by the Bullet Physics Engine. The player can move from side to side as well as jump and shoot. The puzzling aspect has to do with the environment layout. The player must be able to navigate through various physics based puzzles that require timing and control. Examples of these puzzles are things such as swinging platforms, trapdoors, and dangerous spiked pendulums. The player is equipped with a gun that allows them to fight off other ranged enemies.

In addition to these basic controls, the core game mechanic is called Mental Deterioration (MD). This is the vital statistic of the game rather than the more traditional health. The MD bar slowly increases over time as well as increasing when the player takes damage. As MD increases, although the player comes closer to death, they also gain access to an additional ability that has been dubbed “Fire Legs.” This ability allows the player to launch in a direction and the force of the launch is proportional to the amount of mental deterioration. If the players MD reaches 100%, they are sent back to the beginning of the level and must start over. The player can control their MD level through an ability called “Focus.” Focus allows the player to slowly reduce the MD and prevent them from dying. Graphically, as the MD increases, elements from the futuristic world replace those of the historical world.