Shadow Descent
Combining an entertaining, virtual
narrative experience with history
Serious games are more serious than they are fun.
Where does history fit in with games?
•The player doesn’t learn history because he
changes it. Why does he change it? Because
he can and wants to. The problem mainly lies
on who the hero is. He/she cannot be an
important historical figure. He/she must be
someone unknown. “Shadow Descent”
•Shadow Descent is a unique history-based
action-adventure game.
•The player interacts with important reference
points, such as timeline events, historical
dilemmas, and memorable historical
characters with the human weaknesses and
ambitions they possessed.
•In “Shadow Descent” you create your own
story without changing the broader history.
Project Aims:
1) To create an adventure game
with a strong historical
background.
2) To teach while entertaining.
3) To give players the
opportunity to participate in
history by following different
paths and interacting with
NPCs in different ways.
4) To appeal to a player’s
emotions by making
historical figures (such as
Rosa Luxemburg)
believable.
Stakeholder groups:
•High school and university students.
•Adventure fans who want to try
something new and innovative in the
genre.
•History enthusiasts.
Plot:
October 1918. Germany has lost the war. Revolution
reigns in the country. The Naval High command
decides to fight to the death and order the sailors at
the Kiel naval base to go out on a last, suicide
mission. Sailors revolt. They decide to head to Berlin
and take over the government instead. You are
Walter Scheller. You will either side with the mutiny,
take a neutral position, or go against it…
Protagonist:
The player assumes the role of Walter Scheller, a
German sailor who is soon pressed into either the
Communist Party or the Freikorps (according to
the player’s choices). He is sent to different areas
in Berlin to participate in operations. Taking part in
the Spartacist Revolt of 1919 he is the illegitimate
son of Friedrich Ebert, the socialist Chancellor of
Germany.
Main Characters:
1) Rosa Luxemburg
2) Karl Liebknecht
3) Karl Radek
4) Friedrich Ebert
5) Gustav Noske
6) Chief of Berlin Police, Emil
Eichorn
7) Dietrich Petersen (senior
sailor and revolutionary)
Gameplay:
•Camera:
First person. Players react to the environment through their avatar’s eyes.
•Interaction with other characters:
Cutscenes . Dialogue wheel.
•Interaction with the environment:
Bar on bottom half of the screen displaying the player’s inventory. Items used with hotkeys.
Inventory is also accessible with the press of a button in order to mix items.
Ex. The player acquires nitroglycerine from the revolutionaries but must also buy string from
a shopkeeper in order to assemble an explosive pack.
Action sequences:
•The game utilizes a set of mechanisms:
a) Inventory based puzzles.
b) Shooting NPCs players are sided against. Weapons are
acquired from gun stores found in Berlin.
c) A few stealth sequences. Players utilize shadows and the
ability to crouch. They are also able to shoot lights or
create a distraction for the enemy guards by breaking a
window or throwing a Molotov cocktail.
Enemies:
•Freikorps: Battle hardened veterans, they use rifles and submachine guns to assault a rebel position. Patrol in groups of
three.
•Spartacists: Mainly consisted of factory workers and sailors,
they lack training and weapons but not resolve. Mob –like
patrols.
Graphics:
•Our ambition is to create a 3D environment using darker colors and
shadows. We hope to achieve a film-noire aesthetic which represents the
city of Berlin in 1918. People after WWI were moving into a period of
pessimism and the burning city of Berlin was no exception.
•We hope to give special attention to the game’s art: buildings, roads,
costumes.
Dialogue tree implementation
•Ability to influence stance towards the characters.
•This also impacts the player’s standing or status in
relation to the two main political factions.
•It determines future support or opposition the player
receives.
Example
<Officers shout: “You bastards are going to pay for this!”>
<Sailor asks Walter: “You with us Walter?”>
•“We stand together and die together.” [agree] Result +1 relationship with Spartacists.
• “No, it’s too dangerous. If we mutiny, we’ll be executed!” [cautious] -1 relationship with Spartacists.
•“I’m not sure. I’ll do what the majority does.” [uncertain]
•“Yes, let’s kill all the bloody officers!” [aggressively agree] +2 relationship with Spartacists, -2 relationship
with Freikorps.
•“No. I am a soldier. I follow orders! We owe it to the Kaiser to go out into the North Sea and beat the
Brits!” [disagree]-2 relationship with Spartacists, +2 with Freikorps.
Result:
Short-term: Scheller is involved in a brawl
a) against the officers;
b) on the side of the officers against the other sailors;
c) does not participate in brawl and the new
objective is to head towards the train station.
Long-term:
a) goes with other sailors to make revolution in Berlin;
b) Is approached by right-wing officer and recruited
and sent to Berlin to stop revolution;
c) Is approached by right-wing officer, refuses to be
recruited, fights, runs away to Berlin.
Thank you!
Euelpidis Economakis
Petros –Ioannis Paraskevopoulos