Take Care

Overview

Strategy/puzzle game based around the hacking minigame from Deus Ex Human Revolution 

Working Title 

Take Care 

Story 

The Lovelace is a generation colony ship bound for Alpha Centauri. It is meant to carry humans to the far-away star system to establish a new home for humanity. However the ship's AI, Caretaker, has gone rogue. It trapped the command staff in the bridge, and the crew in the underdeck. You are a member of said crew, a software technician. Your only hope is to hack into an access panel, make your way through the ship's systems, and shut down Caretaker remotely. Just don't get caught. 

Core Principles

 - Starting out as a slow, methodical game of strategic risk, switching to a panic-filled sequence of pressing shit quickly

 - Multiple options for how to approach a stage

 - Rewarding the taking of risks Core Mechanics Nodes and Paths

 - Each map/stage is made up of nodes, representing vulnerabilities or key files

 - Nodes are controlled by either you or the enemy

 - You have your home node, where you start from. This node is controlled by you. All other nodes are controlled by the enemy

 - The target node is the node that you must control to complete the stage

 - Each node is connected to at least one other node by a path

 - You may attempt to take over nodes controlled by the enemy if they connect to a node you control by a direct path. 

Hacking

 - Choose a node that the enemy controls connected to a node you control

 - Taking over the node takes a set period of time. Varies by node

 - After it has been hacked, there is a random chance of detection 

Two Modes of Gameplay

 - Mode 1: Strategic hacking. You take over nodes, with each node giving a chance of detection. If you are detected, the game switches to fast escape

 - Mode 2: fast escape. The security systems start to come after you, tracing back to your starting node. If they reach it before you hack the target node(s), you lose 

Style/Aesthetics

 - Futuristic

 - Black background, neon colours 

Sound Design

- Mainly digital, synth sounds

 - Calm, slow music before detection

 - Frantic, fast music after detection

 - Music cuts right as you pass a level with an "access granted" message 

Potential Extra Mechanics 

Types of Nodes

 - Regular - connect to over nodes

 - Target node - complete the level

 - Storage node - checkpoint to save the game

 - Chest - contains a one-use powerup

 - Shortcuts/jumps - high detection rate nodes that bypass long chains. More likely to finish the level if you are detected, but more likely to be detected

 - Firewall - blocks capture of any nodes connected to it

Neural Network Adaptation

- The game adapting to what you do, avoiding strategies that don't work and doubling down on ones that do 

Levels

- Each "level" represents a unique section of the ship, and gives you a unique benefit when you clear it 

Different Types of Hacking

- Choose which one you use at the start of the level?

 - Regular hack - middling speed, middling detection

 - Fast hack - fast speed, high detection

 - Slow hack - slow speed, low detection

One-Use Upgrades

- Trojan - instant, 0% detection chance

- DDoS - slows tracing when detected