Game Concept: Extraction / Rescue Me / VIP

Video Game Concept: Persistent Hostage Rescue

In most games, rescuing a captured character is totally scripted and the player cannot affect the character’s rescue in any way. Some games that do allow the player to influence the outcome, usually do so in an escort type sequence where the hostage follows the player around and the player must keep them alive by eliminating enemies.

These scripted scenarios can be very frustrating narrative wise, especially when the player gets so close to the target, only to have them snatched away, or separated by a pane of indestructible glass while they are tortured, executed or dragged away. However, in the flow of these scenarios if the player were able to reach the hostage at any time or upon failing to reach them by a certain time would result in an early end to the game’s scenario or eliminate a large chunk of play time.

This concept explores the idea of a game that would focus on these situations and allow the player the option of recovering or losing the hostage by their own active decisions and strategies. Over the coarse of the game, the player/s will have too make decisions that affect the quality of the final outcome, not so much pass or fail.

Modern-ish Setting (non-specific)

Multiple Hostages

Real Time Actions

Timed Missions

Random generation of hostages, enemies, and/or transport routes, locations

Player Character Customization

Player Budget

Multiplayer Co-op 2-4

Bot Support

Information gathering

Environmental Interaction

Health  + Stamina + Armor + Skill + Equipment

The Setup

The Player/s are part of a law enforcement group (assume to highly trained and well funded) who are currently on a mission to recover a group of VIP hostages before they can be executed or moved to the enemy Headquarters.

The enemy is assumed to be a well funded black market equipped group with plans to cause destruction on a global or continental scale. They need the hostages alive for the information or expertise they carry and are not likely to kill them, even to keep them from being rescued, at least until they have served the enemy’s purpose.

Each hostage is being held and moved separately so the player/s must rescue them one at a time, or they can split up (online multiplayer only) to attempt separate missions with a greatly decreased chance of success.

Rescue a Hostage: If the player can free a VIP from their captors and remove them alive (injured or not) to a safe zone (chopper, armored car, safe house, etc) then they will receive clues as to the nature of the enemy objective and how they might forestall it.

Dead Hostage: Failing to recover a hostage alive gets you nothing.

Capture an Agent: Each hostage is being held by an enemy agent with unique appearance and abilities. To capture that agent alive gets you no information but access to new equipment and/or monetary bonuses

Kill an Agent: Killing an enemy gets you cash/experience rewards. Killing an agent gets you larger rewards, the same reward as capturing them alive, but without the bonus.

Capture a Minion: Enemy troops can be captured or subdued alive. Doing so gives a small cash/exp bonus and may reward the player with a key, code, map or some other tidbit of information about the immediate area that will help the player/s survive and complete their mission successfully.

Kill a minion: Killing an enemy troop will give the same cash/exp bonus as if they were captured, but no bonus information. Physical keys and intel must be recovered by searching their bodies while digital or verbal information are lost.

Player Injury: If a player character is damaged, their body armor may negate it, resulting in a temporary slight blurring to vision. Damage not stopped by armor results in loss to Life Points that cannot be recovered without using a first aid skill or medkit.

Player Wounded: If a player character receives an injury to a critical location or with a sufficiently powerful weapon they are wounded and begin to bleed out along with taking normal damage. If that player or another player/character cannot stop the bleedout before their life reaches zero they character is dead. After stabilizing the character, they can be healed normally. While a character is bleeding out they are considered to be crawling with their vision blurring more and more.

Player Dead: If a player character dies, then they are dead for the remainder of that mission. They will respawn as a new character at the beginning of the next mission. Alternatively they may respawn as or with reinforcements at random/scripted locations. A dead player character may then be moved to an NPC ally on the map or take command of an information monitoring scree, where they use limited data to help direct and coordinate the other players with similar skills and abilities they had earlier.

Character Budget

Player/s start each mission with a cash budget. The amount of that budget may be influenced by multiple factors (each mission set is treated as part of one campaign, not as drop in missions). At the beginning of the campaign (or very beginning of the game introduction) players are allowed a limited amount of funds to purchase weapons, equipment and training to define their character. At the beginning of each mission they are allowed to use any additional funds they have acquired to restock or upgrade.

Character experience

All player’s start with the same stat line and access to the same equipment. As they complete missions, gather information, get kills, etc they earn XP. XP gets them new ranks. New ranks gets them a point to boost one of their stats and access to more equipment to purchase. It also makes older equipment cheaper to purchase the higher the level they are (10% per level?).

Character Customization

Stats – All characters start with the same stats. They can upgrade their stats at each level. They can also augment those stats with Skills and Training.

Health: A character’s hit points, toughness, etc. How much damage they can take until they are dead.

Stamina: How long a character can run without stopping or slowing down for breath. Also how long a character can focus on a difficult task like defusing a bomb or administering first aid to themselves before passing out. As a character is injured and their health depletes, so does their maximum stamina until they are healed. If a character is wounded and bleeding out, their stamina also slowly depletes.

Strength: How physically strong a character is. This influences their ability to carry more equipment without slowing down, their melee damage, and their ability to access certain areas by lifting doors or bending bars. Also influences throwing distance and recoil control.

Intelligence: How smart a character is influences their firing accuracy, ability to hack computers, pick locks, administer first aid more quickly and ability to use intel.

So first you choose if you want to build a strong character or a smart character. The player can create multiple characters (say limit 4) that they can create at the beginning of a new campaign and swap between each mission.

Strong characters can carry more equipment and more powerful weapons and excel in dealing damage.

Smart characters have better first shot accuracy and boost their ability to use skills and equipment, making them very focused in their abilities.

Skills – Skills and training are a group of passive abilities that the character earns or purchases that augments their stats and actions.

Skills vs Training – Training can be purchased with cash or are unlocked as the character ranks up, meanwhile skills are earned as the character completes specific actions, like stopping an ally from bleeding out 10 times may unlock a Medic Skill which reduces the amount of stamina/time it takes to stop a character from bleeding out (including themselves).

How many Skills can a character have activated at once? 2-4 skills. Some skills can be upgraded over time for better results, others may stack together for even greater effect.

Ignore Pain – Vision blur from injury is reduced by half.

Tough Hide – Bleed out time is extended

Second Wind – A character’s Stamina Recovery is reduced by half.

Sprinter – A character runs faster but at increased stamina drain

Get to Cover – Crawling while bleeding out doesn’t drain stamina.

Clear Headed – While bleeding out, vision does not blur.

Pack Training – character is allowed to carry heavy loads but suffers from increased stamina drain

Fireman – Allows the character to move another character at full movement speed

Stealth – Reduces the sound the character makes while moving

Stunt Man – Reduces the damage a character takes from falling, swinging, jumping, sliding or other such movement hazards.

First Aid – reduces time it takes heal damage with a medkit

Medic – Reduces time it takes to stop bleedout with a medkit

Doctor – Character can heal and stop bleedout without a medkit

Hacker – Reduces the time it takes to hack a device

Cracker – Reduces the time it takes to pick a lock or open a combination

Defuser – Reduces the time it takes to defuse a bomb

Sniper Training – Reduces aiming sway

Spotter Training – Improves the chances of critical hits on marked targets.

Martial arts – Melee attacks can be combed

Wrestler – Melee takedowns are faster and quieter

Driver – increases the response of ground vehicles

Pilot – increases the response of air vehicles

Mariner – Increases the response of water vehicles

Roles – A player’s role determines their resources and how they impact the mission. Any player can take any role and they can abandon their position at any time. If a role is needed and a player cannot fill it then it is occupied by an NPC.

Pointman – The primary player position, the soldier on the ground. The primary combat role and the one most responsible for handling the VIPs. All 4 players can take this role.

Marksman – Sometimes a mission can benefit from having a sniper or gunner outside the mission zone to aid in entry or cover a retreat. @ players can be support as a sniper with a spotter, a pair of snipers, a pair of gunners or a heavy gunner with loader.

Support – Mission support comes from information control. The support role operates from a station that gives them access to anything from internal security systems of a building, satellite imagery, drones and airstrikes. A station may be on the ground or in a vehicle. Support characters are typically non-combat or indirect combat and help the rest of the team by placing beacons and identifying points of interest. Only one character can be support.

Driver – In many missions vehicles will be available one way or another, having a dedicated driver or pilot on hand to keep the engine running or to swoop in with fire support, give chase or escape with the VIP. Only one character can be the driver but depending on the mission and the vehicle, support and marksman  or even the entire team may start or spend the whole mission on board.

Equipment – A character brings all kinds of devices to aid their mission outside of regular combat. Some equipment like breaching charges can be used like weapons but are not designed for active combat.

Kits – Reconnaissance, Medic, Disguise/Infiltration, Demolition, Electronic Warfare

Purchased Vehicles – At the beginning of a mission one or more players may spend cash to requisition a vehicle for that mission only. These vehicles tend to be high performance with bulletproof glass, panels, tires and some may come with built in weapons or Support stations.

Stolen Vehicles – Players may need immediate transportation, doing so requires hotwiring a vehicle on hand. These vehicles tend to have lower performance than purchased vehicles and may prompt the local police to give chase.

Customizing vehicles – Each player spends cash to modify and upgrade their own fleet of vehicles. Players must then again spend or share cash to bring them into a mission. Only the Driver can bring a vehicle otherwise transport must be stolen.

Motorcycle – Two person vehicle that may include forward machineguns. Passengers can fire one handed weapons. Not good for VIP evacuations but they are highly maneuverable with superb acceleration.

Sportscar – Two person vehicle with light armor, may include dual machineguns and the passenger can fire any weapons. Good for escapes and pursuits with high acceleration.

Sedan – 4 person armored car good for most situations. Passengers can fire all weapons.

Jeep – 4 person vehicle with high off road performance

Truck – A two person vehicle with a bed that can be configured to carry 3 more people or a mounted weapon, machinegun, rocket launcher or cannon.

Van – An armored 5 person vehicle with low performance that may include Support stations.

Armored Truck – A heavily armored 5 person vehicle with low performance but incredibly difficult to stop.

Chopper – A 5 person helicopter loaded with a support station, machinegun and rocket pods.

Boat – An armored jet boat that seats 5 people, comes with dual machineguns and grenade launcher with a support station.

Other Upgrades – GPS tracking, night vision, oil slick/caltrops, auto-inflate tires, radar, turbo boost, Self-destruct, Smoke Screen

Weapons – Weapons are any tool used to damage, kill or incapacitate a target aside from bare hands. It is very easy to get a hostage killed with heavy firepower so use discretion.

Modular weapons – One idea is that all players start with the same pistol and rifle and can be modified through various kits and attachments rather than acquiring totally different weapons.

Pistol – One handed gun. Standard, High power, rapid fire, high accuracy, Stun/tranq gun

SMG – one or two handed guns with a high rate of fire and deep magazine. Standard, high power, high accuracy

Assault Rifle – Two handed guns for medium range combat. Standard, high power, high accuracy, rapid fire

Machinegun – Powerful medium range weapons with large magazines. Made for defensive fire or mounted on vehicles/buildings.

Sniper Rifle – Powerful and accurate long range gun given to snipers.

Shotgun – Powerful close range weapon generally carried by enemies as a defensive weapon

Grenades – One time use thrown weapons with various effects. Frag, Concussion, Smoke, tear, chaff, incendiary

Bombs – Explosives that are planted in buildings or on vehicles that explode with a timer or a remote detonator

Mines – Mines are another type of bomb that explodes either on contact or by proximity.

Launchers – A Ranged weapon that fires an explosive round like a grenade or rocket or missile. Only to be used against clusters of enemies or vehicles.

Tazer – a non-lethal melee knock out weapon.

Gloves – Gloves with knuckles improve the damage of melee strikes (non-lethal) while gloves with garrotes make assassinations silent.

Blades – A blade can be thrown in melee or make silent assassinations

Weapon Attachments – Some weapons can equip devices that may make them more efficient in combat or for a particular mission.

Scopes – Increase zoom and aiming accuracy

Laser – helps make accurate shots without aiming

Lamp – Good for seeing in the dark and blinding enemies

Silencers – Decreases the chance enemies will hear shots and be alerted.

Magazine – some weapons can carry larger magazines, increasing how many rounds they can carry and how long they can fire between reloads.

Ammo – Some weapons can use different kinds of ammunition like armor piercing, soft point, match grade, sub sonic, incendiary, explosive or rubber.

Dual Wield – One Handed weapons have the option of doubling up. This allows a player to fire twice as many rounds in the same amount of time but with reduced accuracy and longer reloads.

Launcher – Some Two-handed weapons can take advantage of a secondary launcher attachment. Examples include assault rifles with grenade launchers or shotguns and SMGs or Pistols with non-lethal stun-gun attachments.

Primary Weapon – Your main combat weapon, could be anything

Secondary Weapon – Your backup weapon, pulled from the melee or pistol/one-handed list. Support and Drivers may only have access to this weapon slot (and pick up other primary type weapons in the field if they abandon their position)

Rescue Scenarios/Missions

Scenarios by design must be scripted but what counts is what changes. Which hostage is which can influence who is taken on first. Which Agent is guarding them can alter the difficulty of the mission and the types of special enemies that appear. Also how long the hostage is in their transport makes them harder to rescue as they get further away from the players.

Depending on how and how well players complete their missions, more options may become available for future missions.

Small/Medium/Large – The size of the building indicates how many levels, rooms and enemies it has to search through.

Rural – Indicates a spot out in the woods or the water removed from access to things like other buildings, vehicles or anything else of use.

Urban – a City or settlement where multiple buildings can be found and vehicles are available for use. A great abundance of options can be found here, just be careful not to attract too much attention or players may have local authorities after them as well.

Bunker – An industrial or military installation that is very difficult to get in to and even harder to enter undetected. Players can expect heavy combat, and difficult challenges. The final mission area would be a bunker and there may be other smaller bunkers to crack if the players fail to recover a VIP too many times or in enough time.

Foot – A VIP being run from room to room or building to vehicle is being dragged or carried by enemies that will trail and try to stall the players. Be careful about shooting because they will use the hostage as a human shield.

Car – A VIP being moved by car is at a high risk of death just by being there. A traffic accident from shooting out tires at high speed or being forced off the road could kill everyone inside. Cars also come with a few lightly armed enemies that fire upon the players, making it even more dangerous. The car must safely be brought to a stop then the VIP can be moved on foot.

Truck – A VIP being moved by large truck comes with a heavily armed group of protectors that will fire on the players. This makes it very difficult to neutralize the enemies without harming or killing the VIP. The vehicle must be stopped and the enemies forced out and eliminated, then the VIP can be moved on foot.

Armored Truck – A VIP in an armored truck is about as safe as they can be from harm. The players must stop the vehicle, secure the driver and force open the compartment then the VIP can be moved on foot and then evacuated in whatever way is handy at the time.

Jet – A VIP being transported on a small private plane is impossible to intercept. Players may get lucky enough to keep them from getting on the plane or catch them right after they land, but once they’re in the air, bringing the plane down kills everyone. However moving them by large passenger or cargo plane offers a few possibilities. Players might be able to board the plane quietly in disguise as normal passengers. If that’s not possible they might stow away in crates or under tarps. It becomes absolutely imperative that the plane stay in the air until it can be safely landed, otherwise a whole lot of people could die. Evacuating the VIP is best handled by landing the plane, however in a pinch they might escape by parachute.

Chopper – A VIP being transported by chopper is extremely difficult to recover as stopping the chopper without killing the VIP is nearly impossible. However if the chopper is planning on making a landing, then it is best to head off the chopper at its landing zone before the VIP can be moved to a building or different vehicle.

Train – A train can be boarded at a station by characters in disguise, by jumping on from another train, car, chopper. If the player’s can go undetected they may be able to quietly get control of the engine or separate the VIP car from the rest of the train (random car). If they are detected then they must race as enemies uncouple the rear cars, leaving the players behind.  The only way to stop the train is from the engine. The tracks may be broken by the enemy, an accident or events from a previous mission, but if the train hits broken tracks, everyone dies.

Jet Boat – VIP is being transported by a speed boat. Intercepting the target before hand from a car is difficult and picking them up after the boat lands may be even more difficult. Boarding such a small boat would be near impossible without another boat alongside or a chopper and lots of luck. Firing on or from the boat accurately enough to disable it or incapacitate the pilot is difficult and dangerous as there is a moderate chance of causing the boat to explode or sink. The enemy may have support from other boats, a chopper or even cars firing from on land.

Yacht – A large vessel out in the open water. Players need to swim, boat or drop onto the boat from a chopper. If the vessel begins moving after they are aboard, falling off may make it impossible to stay on mission. Players must search multiple levels and the chase may persist on a jet boat. The VIP must be recovered by another boat, chopper or taking complete control of the yacht. Beware of self-destruct, otherwise the ship can be damaged but not blown up or sunk by normal combat damage.

Pre-empt – Players may have a chance to intercept a hostage before they can be moved from a building to a vehicle. This would be a final resort of a building rescue mission.

Head off – Players may have a chance to intercept a hostage as they are being transported from a vehicle to a building. This would logically come if the players were unable to board a vehicle and therefore wait for it to stop. Like waiting for an airplane to land.

Enemies

Boss – The final boss, leader of the evil organization. The game is not over until they are captured or killed. The final fight with them depends on the player’s performance in the previous campaign.

Agents – 4-6 sub bosses with their own unique equipment, appearance and abilities. There’s one for each VIP and must be captured or killed to recover their VIP.

Minions – regular nonspecific enemies with standardized equipment and abilities.

Sniper – A minion that uses a sniper rifle, spawns on the periphery of the mission map or predefined high points

Gunner – A minion with a machinegun, spawns rarely on vehicles or in buildings

Launcher – A minion with a rocket, grenade, or missile launcher depending on the type of vehicle the players have.

Driver/Pilot – A minion that commands vehicles. Killing the driver/pilot brings the vehicle to a stop

Juggernaut – A rare armored minion that only appears in bunkers.

Spy – An uncommon minion that appears in buildings monitoring security systems. Neutralizing one of these can allow access to security systems without causing alerts or opening paths that could be accessed no other way.

Agents

Melee – A fast and dodgy enemy that likes to get in close with punches and stabs. Does best in close quarters.

Sniper – Equipped with a semi-automatic sniper rifle and high power ammo. Can kill or cripple a player in one shot and punch through most cover.

Gunner – Equipped with a heavy machinegun and fills an area with fire. Devastating against vehicles and players in the open.

Launcher – Equipped with various launchers to drop explosive damage on players and quickly eliminate vehicles. Does best out in the open during vehicle chases.

Spy – A relatively weak agent that can lock down a building tight as possible. In open combat they hide and control multiple drones that fire bullets and rockets from the air.

Juggernaut – The most heavily armored enemy in the game. Can’t be damaged by anything but well placed/aimed explosives. Equipped with a full-auto shotgun with different ammo types. Is devastating in confined spaces.

Missions

Cabin in the Woods + Country Chase

City High Rise + City chase

Yacht + River/Coast/Open water chase + Port and Jet Boat

Airport + Passenger Jet

Warehouse + Highway chase

Mansion

Island

Ghetto

Final Bunker