coming up behind you!” In some cases, the AI agents will be able to use their own
attacks or projectiles to help defeat an enemy before it gets too close to Sam, though in
any given situation the agents will be far less successful than Sam. It is important that
the player will still have to fight robots on his own and will not be able to just sit back
and let the friends take care of everything for him.
Providing Advice
Similarly, the friends inAtomic Samwill be able to provide the player with advice about
different enemies as they arrive: “That one looks like trouble!” or “I don’t think water
balloons will work on that one!” In certain situations in the levels, the friends will be
able to point out secret areas or show Sam a cache of projectiles he might otherwise
have overlooked. The player will be able to navigate Sam close to a given friend and
then press the Action key, to which the friend will always provide an answer. Some-
times the answers will not be useful: “I’m glad I met you, Sam” or “You really showed
that last robot!” Other times, having Sam talk to the friend will provoke them to provide
a hint: “Take the fork to the left; that will get us there faster” or “The best way to take
care of these climbing robots is to throw something sticky at them. Do you have any-
thing like that?”
Storytelling
In addition to the snippets of advice the friends can provide, they will also be key in
communicating elements of the story to the player. When Sam reaches a certain part of
a level, friends may start talking about the history of the area or about their own past.
This provides additional story content to the game in a non cut-scene format, since Sam
is still navigating the world while hearing about the story. The friends will be smart
enough to only talk in “safe” situations when Sam is not actively being threatened by an
enemy.
IV. Game Elements .............................
Items
Sam’s Projectiles
As Sam flies through the levels, he will be able to pick up a variety of different projec-
tiles he can use in defeating his enemies. Different projectiles will work better or worse
against different specific adversaries in different situations, and as such the player will
have to constantly be selecting the most effective projectile for any given moment. The
different projectiles are as follows:
- Goo-Balls:Greenish balls of a sticky substance, which make ground-based or
wall-crawling monsters stick to their surface. Depending on the strength of the
creature, it may end up stuck there just briefly or forever. - Water Balloons:Able to disable robots with exposed wiring by causing them to
short-circuit. Robots with protective coverings may require multiple hits to
short-circuit. - Magneto-Mass:A powerful magnet attached to a heavy weight, which will stick
to metallic flying robots and drag them down to the ground.
Appendix A: Sample Design Document:Atomic Sam 561