RISE

FROM
RUIN

Rise from ruin

Rise from Ruin is a 2D with 3D elements, Sidescroller Action
Adventure Platformer with some Survival elements. The
game is intended to release on consoles (PS4 and Xbox One)
and PC on a not yet known release date, the game is
targeted at mature people, both man and woman 17 years
or older.

Rise from Ruin is a very violent game, both language and

physical violence will be witnessed, its about a man trying
to protect his family in a world that they dont know
anymore. The game will feature 11 complete unique levels
with a dark atmosphere for the player to experience, he
will encounter different types of enemies that he can either
decide to avoid or fight and epic boss battles that he will
have to face.
The objective of the game is to protect and escort the protagonists family as they try
to reach safety, a new city that has been founded in a world that no longer has any
kind of laws, and this city is the last hope for survivors. The player will assume the role
of John, a father trying to get his wife Ashley and daughter Emily to safety on a world
devastated by nuclear war. Throughout the game the player will face different kinds of
enemies, two different factions, the Mutants and the Scavengers and their respective
leaders.
To make this a compelling experience the game will feature several brand new
mechanics, most noticeably:

The Reputation system which depending on the actions the player takes and the
choices he makes will influence the outcome of the story.
The Hunger system, this mechanic will give the player the option to find food
and manage it so he can feed his family and himself.
The command system which will allow the player to give commands to their
family in order to keep them safe but also keep them moving towards the
objective.
The stealth system that will allow the player to hide from sight in areas that are
not part of the level.

All this mechanics and systems will be explained further on in this document.

plot
The year is 2079 the world's population lives under the shadow of an unstable
peace between the United States and Russia for years now, natural resources are
starting to run low all over the world. In 2086 Russia starts a war with China over
resources, the US uses this situation to step in and settle unfinished business with
Russia, taking advantage of this war, North Korea tries to invade the US, a
worldwide conflict starts over the domination of the remaining natural resources,
namely petrol and uranium.
The conflict is still happening 30 years later, its the year 2116 a nuclear
missile is launched by Russia aimed at the United States, the US answers with more
nuclear missiles, eventually the world's countries with the most firepower join the
fight, a free for all nuclear war starts.
The game's protagonist, John, is a successful businessman, he is at his home in
San Francisco, California enjoying his well-deserved vacation along with his family,
his wife Ashley and his 8 year old daughter Emily, he is watching the news when he
hears an explosion, suddenly the emergency broadcast system interrupts the news,
the protagonist hears an explosion in the distance and goes to the window.
He can see a massive explosion far away, it's Las Vegas, without much time to
react John picks up his little girl while she is playing with her teddy bear, calls his
wife, together they gather all the food they can and run to their underground
shelter.
Not everyone could afford an underground shelter during those hard times,
John could provide his family with certain things that others could not. Terrified
they lock themselves inside, a couple minutes later they hear people screaming and
knocking on their door, but knowing the food won't be enough for everyone he keeps
the door locked, suddenly the family hears a huge explosion and then everything
quiets down, to complete silence. Knowing what happened John says to his wife
"We'll be safe here", but deep inside he knows that won't last long.
One and a half month as passed, John starts to hear movement outside,
sometimes he hears cars and people talking, other times he ears growling and
running, scared of what might be outside he barricades the door and they wait.
Almost three months now passed, food is running out, the surroundings have been
silent for two weeks now, forced to make a decision because of the lack of food John
chooses to leave the shelter and try their luck on the outside world.
Once outside John knows things will never again be the same as they witness
the destruction of San Francisco while walking on the ruins of their house.

The game starts with the family getting out of their shelter and emerging
into the ruins of their destroyed house, the protagonist helps his family through
the ruins of the city, until they find an outpost with dead military inside, and a
radio broadcasting something about a city. The protagonist clears the transmission
and learns of a new city founded by a former Judge, believing that this city might
be their only chance of survival John decides that they should make their way to
the city. While in the outpost John ears a noise and spots a creature, the creature
sees john and attacks him, to defend himself he picks up a hammer from the
ground and kills the mutant.
The family now makes its way towards the city through the ruins of San
Francisco, John continues to sight creatures in the distance, he knows he will have
to fight and tells his family to wait for his commands. John will now escort his
family through a ruined city filled with mutants. John orders his family to stop
when he sees an open-field with a lot of enemies, he spots a sewer hatch and he
believes they may be able to cross the field through the sewers safely.
John and his family enters the sewers, not knowing that the mutants like
the dark, everything is quiet for a while until he is attacked, they now have to
escape the sewers that are filled with poisonous water a very dangerous
environment with a permanent threat to their lives. They are being followed by a
dozen mutants, they climb up the sewer hatch into daylight, the mutants dont
follow them into the open and stay underground, and they were able to escape the
sewers.
With no clue where they are John decides to take shelter inside an old
hospital, surprisingly still standing after the bombing. But all they find inside are
dead bodies. John manages to find a map and learn where they are, the plan is to
keep moving in the morning. But in the middle of the night he starts hearing steps
and noises, the monsters are inside the hospital, worried they may be found John
decides to move on and leave the building. But when coming out they are found
and overrun by mutants, the protagonist ears a terrible roar and spots a huge
Armored Mutant that he will have to defeat.

Once again in the middle of the ruins of San Francisco they make their
way towards the city that they heard of on the radio. John hears gunshots and
decides to investigate, he spots a group of people fighting mutants. They kill the
mutants but not knowing who they are John decides to follow them and further
investigate. The group of people comes across a man and a woman hiding, they
drag them into the open, take whatever supplies they had and rape the woman
one at a time while forcing her husband to watch. When their done they kill the
woman and leave the man bleeding to death. John saw the whole thing, he
approaches the dying man in suffering and asks if he wants a quick death, the
man says yes, John doesnt let his daughter see it, John promises the man that
he will find those responsible and pierces his hearth with a knife.
John follows their trail and finds their camp, he tells his family to wait for him
and goes ahead. John can only see three men but he knows there were four in
total. Suddenly he hears his wife and daughter screaming, he runs to them but
its too late, they got captured by the missing bandit.
John must now rescue his family from them, he sees the bandit taking them to a
tent, and he knows he is going to hurt them but he also knows he cant be
spotted or he risks them killing his family. John will have to quietly kill his
enemies, he then enters the tent and grabs the bandit, brings him outside and
executes him.

Worried someone could have heard the gunshot John runs away with his family,
he spots another group of enemies running towards the camp, and hears
someone scream YOU KILLED MY SON?! I WILL FIND YOU! I WILL KILL YOUR
FAMILY AND MAKE YOU WATCH. From there on John knows they will be hunted.
He knows it isnt safe there, he decides to leave and they end up in a
forest, still intact which surprises him, the bombs didnt hit that place, they
make their way through the forest peacefully until his wife falls on a trap set by
hunters to catch animals, the hunters show up and john fights them but some of
them run off with his wife and daughter.

John follows them infiltrating through enemy lines and eventually finds the
camp where is family is being held, he tries to get to them but is interrupted by
an unknown figure, turns out he is the one that threatened John and his family,
and he is the Scavengers Leader known as King of the Wasteland John fights
him but he runs away, the protagonist eventually gets to his family and they
leave the forest.

They end up on a huge abandoned military base that turns out is not abandoned
and was in fact taken over by the scavengers, this base is the last obstacle
between them and the city, the family will venture inside and pass through
enemy lines to try and reach their objective.
Almost out of the military base the family is interrupted once again by the
Scavengers Leader, now covered in armor to cover the wounds he suffered in
their previous encounter, and with a different weapon he steps in Johns way.
The protagonist will once again have to face the King of the Wasteland in order
to reach the city and keep his family safe.

ending
There are four different endings, how the story ends depends on the players
reputation, which is affected by his actions and decisions throughout the game

Ending 1, Everyone Survives

John, his wife Ashley and daughter Emily survive the journey and find the city they
heard of in the beginning of the game, the game ends with a cinematic that shows
the family together walking towards the city.

Ending 2, Ashley Dies

After the fight between John and the King of the Wasteland they start running
away, but amidst the confusion one of the thugs appears and grabs Emily, Ashley
tries to attack the thug and ends up being killed, the protagonist kills the thug and
holds Ashley in his arms, she tells him to go and get Emily to safety.
John knows he can't do anything for his wife he picks up Emily, and runs away. Now
walking on the street towards the citys gates Emily asks her father when her
mother is coming back, he replies by saying that she will always be watching from
up there, while pointing to the sky.

Ending 3, Emily Dies

During the fight with the King of the Wasteland John loses sight of his daughter,
when he sees her he starts running towards her to pick her up and run away, but
she gets scared of her own father who is covered in blood and starts running away
from him. In the middle of the crossfire she is shot and instantly killed while her
father is watching.
He kills every living enemy. He picks up Emilys corpse, and takes it to the forest
where they burry her. The game ends with John and Ashley on the road making
their way towards the city.

Ending 3, Everyone Dies

John falls on the ground besides his family corpses. He sees the city in the distance
but now that he has lost everything he doesnt have any reason to live.
The game ends with the protagonist raising a revolver towards his head and a
gunshot in the background.

characters
John, the father

John, 38 years old born and raised in San Francisco, the man of the family, he is trying
to get his family to safety in this devastated world.
He met Ashley when he was 26 years old and they married four years later. He and
Ashley have a daughter, Emily, who is 8 years old.
Before all this happened he was a Successful businessman in the construction industry.
He did pretty good and was able to provide his family with things that were once
expensive, and now worthless. Due to his profession he had built an underground
shelter, he was always scared of some kind of catastrophe could occur.
"When I heard the bombs and saw the explosions on the distance, I picked up my
girl and ran with my wife to our shelter, we were down there for almost three months
before we ran out of food. We were lucky, not everyone had a shelter back then

Ashley, the wife

Ashley recently had her 36th birthday, born and
raised in Los Angeles, Canada. She was raised by her
parents, and always was very attached to them, she
was 18 years old when they moved to San Francisco.
She met John when she was 24, four years later she
got pregnant and they decided to get married.
Before this war she used to work with her husband,
she helped him in various aspects of the company
like people and resource management, they made a
great team.
Now all she wants is to be safe with her family, she
has always been over-protective of her daughter.

emily, the daughter

Emily, born in San Francisco in 2108, her
parents are John and Ashley. She lives with her
parents in San Francisco, thats where she goes
to school and has friends.
Now after the war she is always sad, she
doesnt know this new world, she sees people
do terrible things but she doesnt understand
why.
People used to say she was a copy of her
mother, and she would like to hear that, she
used to say When I grow up I want to be like
my mother
She always keeps her teddy bear around, it was
a gift from his father and she never left it
behind.

Gameplay
Rise from Ruin Is a sidescroller action/adventure survival platformer
game played on a 2D plane with 3D elements, in which the player
character can explore an entire level freely but is only able to move
from the left-to-right and right-to-left but is also able to enter small
sections outside of the aligned path. The camera will follow the
protagonist, who is always in the center of the screen, with a
perspective from the side.
The main objective of the game is to survive each level along with the
protagonists family which the player will have to escort and defend
from different enemies. There will be a total of 11 levels each one with
a different setting and environment.
There will be two distinct play styles, the player can either try to sneak
their way past the enemies, or fight them head on to open a path for his
family. The player may also mix those two play styles together in the
best way he can to suit him.
Since this world was devastated by war, supplies are also running low,
the player will have to find and manage food for him and his family.
The player may also issue commands to his family, with these commands
the player can tell them to hide, stop, follow etc. in order to keep them
safe from harm.
The fighting in this game is mostly optional as the player can decide to
sneak his way past his enemies, but if he chooses to fight he will require
weapons, there will be a vast arsenal at his disposal throughout the
game, and each weapon will have different damages, attack speeds, and
stamina depletion.

Character controls
Keyboard and mouse
Up

Down

Left

Right

Interact/drop

Sprint

Left Shift

Reload

Crouch

Left Control

Combat Roll

First Aid Kit

Status Screen

Tab

Pause

Escape

Commands:

Wait
Follow
Hide
Go there

Attack LMB
Aim RMB

1
2
3
4

Playstation 4

Status Screen

Pause Menu

Wait
First Aid Kit
Melee Attack

Go There Commands Follow

Interact/drop

Hide

Sprint (hold) /
Combat Roll (tap)

Move

Aim control

Crouch

Reload

Aim

Fire

Pause Menu

Xbox one

First Aid Kit

Melee Attack
Interact/drop

Move

Sprint (hold) /
Combat Roll (tap)

Aim control
Wait
Go There Commands Follow
Hide

Reload
Fire

Crouch
Aim

Game world

Note: Images seen below are not representations of a complete level, but only a
parcel of one.

Level one - rise from ruin

The first level will serve as an introduction and tutorial to the player so he can get
used to the mechanics and controls of the game.
Environment: City Ruins
Time of day: Morning
Estimated Play Time: 15-30 Minutes
Enemies: Mutant Grunt
Hazards: Poisonous Water
Weapons: Hammer
Bonus Material: Collectibles, 2 Photos and 1 Diary
Story elements: The family gets out of their shelter, Protagonist finds a working
radio, learns about the existence of a new city founded by a judge and fights his first
mutant.

Level two - ruins of san Francisco

Environment: City Ruins
Time of day: Afternoon
Estimated Play Time: 15-30 Minutes
Enemies- Mutant Grunt, Dagger Thrower
Hazards: Poisonous Water, Radiation
Weapons: Hammer, Baseball Bat
Bonus Material: Collectibles, 2 Photos and 1 Diary

Level three - the sewers

Environment: Sewers
Time of day: Dusk
Estimated Play Time: 15-25 Minutes
Enemies- Mutant Grunt, Dagger Thrower
Hazards: Poisonous Water, Electrified water
Weapons: Hammer, Baseball Bat, Fire Axe
Bonus Material: Collectibles, 2 Photos and 1 Diary

Level four - a night at the hospital

Environment: Hospital Ruins
Time of day: Night
Estimated Play Time: 15-35 Minutes
Enemies- Mutant Grunt, Dagger Thrower, Tentacle Mutant
Hazards: Radiation Spots, Electrified water
Weapons: Hammer, Baseball Bat, Fire Axe, Sledgehammer
Bonus Material: Collectibles, 2 Photos and 1 Diary

Level five - the scavengers

Environment: City Ruins
Time of day: Morning
Estimated Play Time: 15-40 Minutes
Enemies- Mutant Grunt, Dagger Thrower, Tentacle Mutant, Armored Mutant (Boss)
Non-fightable enemies: Scavenger Grunt and Sentry.
Hazards: Poisonous Water, Radiation Spots
Weapons: Hammer, Baseball Bat, Fire axe, Sledgehammer,
Bonus Material: Collectibles, 2 Photos and 1 Diary
Story Elements: When leaving the hospital John goes face to face with an Armored
Mutant, and learns about the scavengers and what they are capable off.

Level six - the kings son

Environment: Deserted Country Side
Time of day: Afternoon
Estimated Play Time: 15-30 Minutes
Enemies- Scavenger Grunt, Sentry
Hazards: Poisonous Water, Fires
Weapons: Hammer, Baseball Bat, Fire Axe, Sledgehammer, Katana, Revolver
Bonus Material: Collectibles, 2 Photos and 1 Diary
Story Elements: John follows the scavengers but his family is captured, he
rescues them and kills the scavenger that was going to hurt his wife and daughter.
Turns out that scavenger was the son of their Leader and he makes a promise to
John, he will kill his whole family and make him watch.

Level seven - trapped

Environment: Forest
Time of day: Afternoon
Estimated Play Time: 15-30 Minutes
Enemies- Scavenger Grunt, Sentry, Hunter
Hazards: Poisonous Water, Fires
Weapons: Hammer, Baseball Bat, Fire Axe, Sledgehammer, Katana, Revolver, Bow
Bonus Material: Collectibles, 2 Photos and 1 Diary
Story Elements: The family enters a forest and Ashley falls on a trap, they are
attacked by hunters and they kidnap his wife and daughter.

Level eight - bloody forest

Environment: Forest
Time of day: Dusk
Estimated Play Time: 15-40 Minutes
Enemies- Scavenger Grunt, Sentry, Hunter, King of the Wasteland (boss)
Hazards: Poisonous Water, Fires
Weapons: Hammer, Baseball Bat, Fire Axe, Sledgehammer, Katana, Revolver,
Bow, Rifle
Bonus Material: Collectibles, 2 Photos and 1 Diary
Story Elements: John finds the camp where his family is being held, he tries to
rescue them but is interrupted by the Scavenger Leader, they fight, eventually
the leader runs away, John rescues his family and they leave the forest.

Level nine - military base

Environment: Military Base
Time of day: Night
Estimated Play Time: 15-30 Minutes
Enemies- Scavenger Grunt, Sentry, Hunter
Hazards: Poisonous Water, Fires, Electrified Water
Weapons: Hammer, Baseball Bat, Fire Axe, Sledgehammer, Katana, Revolver,
Bow, Rifle
Bonus Material: Collectibles, 2 Photos and 1 Diary
Story Elements: They end up on a huge abandoned military base that turns out is
not abandoned and was in fact taken over by the scavengers, this base is the last
obstacle between them and the city

Level ten - king of the wasteland

Environment: Military Base
Time of day: Night
Estimated Play Time: 15-40 Minutes
Enemies- Scavenger Grunt, Sentry, Hunter, King of the Wasteland (boss)
Hazards: Poisonous Water, Fires, Electrified Water
Weapons: Hammer, Baseball Bat, Fire Axe, Sledgehammer, Katana, Revolver,
Bow, Rifle
Bonus Material: Collectibles, 2 Photos and 1 Diary
Story Elements: When almost out of the military base the family is interrupted
once again by the King of the Wasteland, John will have to face him once again to
reach the city.
The ending of the game depends on the Protagonists Reputation, one of
four different outcomes will be selected.

Level eleven - the end

Environment: Ruins and Roads
Time of day: Morning
Estimated Play Time: 5 Minutes
Enemies- None
Hazards: None
Weapons: None
Bonus Material: None
Story Elements: This level will only be playable if all the main characters survive.
There is no fighting, only the Protagonist helping his family through ruins and
debris, the game ends with a cinematic with them on the road towards the city.

Game experience
In Rise from Ruin we intend to make the player experience a dark and sad story with a
shadowy atmosphere around the player at every time, but also experience a great and
fun gameplay, to make all of this come together it will have a number of innovative
mechanics that will make this a realistic experience.

Starting screen
The starting screen will have a background image with the games logo and the protagonist
on the right side of the screen and his family besides him. The first screen will display the
auto save icon and will automatically redirect to the second screen which says Press any
key to continue.
When the player presses a key this will redirect him to the main menu, which will include a
variety of tabs where the player can check everything from Game Options, Extras, Campaign,
Mission Selection etc. These tabs will open on the right side of the screen once the player
clicks the respective button.
All the different tabs and buttons:

Continue
Select Mission
Extras
Settings
Credits
Exit Game

Continues the Campaign where the player left off

Allows the player to select and replay one of the 10 missions
Contains the Collectibles, Leaderboards and Achievements tabs
Contains the Display, Game and Audio settings tabs.
Displays the Games Credits
Closes the game

Rise from Ruin

Continue
Select Mission
Extras
Settings
Credits
Exit game

Display Settings Screen:

Resolution
Gamma
Fullscreen
VSYNC
Graphics Quality
Brightness

Select from drop down menu

Slider from low to high
ON / OFF
ON / OFF
Low / Medium / High
Slider from low to high

Audio Settings Screen:

Music
SFX
Dialogue
Subtitles

Slider from low to high

Slider from low to high
Slider from low to high
ON / OFF

Game Settings Screen:

Controls
Mouse Sensivity
Cursor Speed
Object Highlighting
Hints
Vibration

Where the player can re-bind every key. (Pc Only)

Slider from low to high (Pc Only)
Slider from low to high (Consoles only)
ON / OFF
ON / OFF
ON / OFF (works for controllers only)

Rise from Ruin

Continue
Select Mission
Extras
Settings
Credits
Exit game

Display
Audio
Game

Resolution
Gamma
Fullscreen
VSYNC
Graphics Quality
Brightness

1920 x 1080

Low Medium High

Cinematics
Cinematics will only appear in crucial moments of the game, like beginning, ending,
boss fights and other key moments of the story. All these cinematics will have a dark
atmosphere around them as they explain whats happening in the story.

Beginning Cinematic:
In this cinematic we can see a small introduction with the protagonist narrating a
summary of the plot up until the war. This connects to the cinematic on the beginning
of the first level which will show the family emerging from their shelter and walking on
the ruins of their house.

Armored Mutant Cinematic:

A small cinematic where we can see the mutant emerge from the ruins of an old
building and stepping in front of the family, and then John steps forward to face the
mutant.
When he is defeated another small cinematic shows the end of the fight and the
mutant being crushed by a wall.

King of the Wasteland cinematic:

In the first encounter there will be a short cinematic where can see that he kidnapped
Emily and Ashley and screams I made you a promise didnt I ?! and John steps in
between him and his family.
In the second cinematic we see the king stepping once again in Johns way, now with
armor and a different weapon from before.

Ending One, Everyone Survives:

We see the protagonist on the road with Emily in his arms and Ashley by his side and
the citys walls in front of them, all together making their way towards the city.

Ending Two, Ashley Dies:

While running one of the thugs appears and grabs Emily, Ashley tries to attack the
thug which results in her getting killed before the protagonist can get to her, The
protagonist kills the thug and holds Ashley in his arms, she tells him- "Go, get her out
of here, keep her safe", before dying.
Knowing he can't do anything for her he picks up Emily and runs towards the city. Now
walking on the street towards the citys gates Emily asks her father "Is mummy coming
back?" he replies "She will always be watching you from up there" while pointing to the
sky.

Ending Three, Emily Dies:

In this cinematic we see the aftermath of the battle with the Scavenger Leader,
during the fight John loses sight of his daughter, when he sees her he starts running
towards her to pick her up and make a run for it, but she gets scared of her own
father who is covered in blood and starts running away from him. In the middle of the
crossfire she is shot and instantly killed while her father is watching.
He is consumed by hunger and kills every living enemy. Meanwhile the morning rises,
he and his wife are besides their daughter's corpse, she is crying he is frozen in
despair. They look back and see the City in the distance, he looks at his wife and
knows he must get her to safety,
He picks up Emilys corpse, and takes it to the forest where they burry her. Ashley
says "She would like it here", John- "Yes she would", while placing her teddy bear on
the grave. The cinematic ends with the two of them on the road making their way
towards the city.

Ending four, everyone dies:

In this cinematic we see John falling on the ground besides his family corpses. He can
see the city in the distance but now that he has lost everything he doesn't think he has
any reason to live.
The cinematic ends with the protagonist raising a revolver towards his head, and it
goes to a black screen with a gunshot sound.

Music and sound design

There will be background music with a dark, sinister tone to it to provide the
game with a dark and sad atmosphere.
Sound Effects are to be created for everything that occurs in the world, weapon
noises, gunshot sounds, explosions, opening doors, destructible environment,
enemy voices etc.
Dialogue sound to be used in cinematics, conversations that occur in game
between the protagonist and his family.

Loading screens
Loading screens will be necessary between levels to load them properly, in those
loading screens the background will be an image related to the level that is being
loaded and the respective progress bar showing how much still needs to be
loaded.
In the loading screens there will also be monologues by the members of the
Family, for example we might hear Ashley saying I still hear their voices,
screaming at us to open the door, but we couldn't... We just couldn't. Or Emily
saying something like I see Dad do bad things, but he only does it to protect me
and mummy. I think
Those monologues can be spoken by any member of the family, John, Ashley and
even Emily.

User interface
User interface will be minimal and have all the information necessary to the
player.

Health
Stamina
First Aid Kits
Hunger (must press tab)

While holding Tab the hunger bars

are displayed for all three characters

Gameplay mechanics
World interaction

Doors and windows that can be opened

Barricaded Doors and Windows that can be destroyed
Cables that the player can use to traverse gaps
Ladders, ropes and pipes that can be climbed up and down
Gas cans, explosive barrels, hanging objects, these items will be in the
world and the player may use them to his advantage

hazzards

Radiation Spots, when the player starts getting close to this spots he will
start hearing sound effects of a Geiger counter, this will serve as a warning.
If the player gets extremely close to those spots the Geiger counter sound
effects will be more intense and louder and the player will start taking
damage.
Fires
Electrified water pools on the ground, the player can sometimes turn off
the energy in the generator to stop the current from reaching the water.
Poisonous Water, these deep water pools are contamined and long exposure
to them will damage the protagonist,

Game mechanics
reputation
This is the most important system in the game, this will affect
everything, from the familys actions, their interaction towards the
protagonist and even the ending of the game.
Reputation stands for what the family thinks about the protagonist,
everything you do will affect your Reputation with your wife and
daughter.
Throughout the game there will be multiple occasions where the player
may make decisions, these can either lower his reputation or improve
it.
Such actions that will affect Reputation are,
Fighting, if your family sees you killing other people they might
start felling fear towards the protagonist;
Decisions, the decisions you do will affect reputation, at a
certain point in the story the player may choose between running
after the boss to finish him off or save his family and run;
Food management will also affect reputation, if you leave the
family starving your reputation will decrease.
Hunting, if the daughter watches her father killing animals his
reputation with her will lower.
The player can see his reputation with the family at any time, by
pressing TAB, a status screen will be displayed where the player can
see two bars each one representing the reputation with Ashley and
Emily.
Reputation will determine the ending of the story, if the reputation is
very low some members of the family may die.

Hunger
Each character of the family will have their own hunger meter, food for the family
will be found throughout the game sometimes hidden, sometimes in plain sight,
its up to the player to either pick it up or ignore it.
Food will affect the gameplay a lot, a percentage of the hunger meter will deplete
on a briefing screen between levels, on that screen the player can choose what
member of the family to feed if he has the required supplies.
This will affect

Reputation with wife and daughter

Familys actions
How they act when given commands
Protagonists health
Protagonists damage
Protagonists aim
Protagonists stamina

This system will force the player to make hard decisions, for example if the player
chooses to keep food for himself he will have bonus health, damage and stamina
on the next level, but this will have consequences, his reputation with the family
might lower, the family will become weaker and this will affect how they perform
when given commands, for example the player might order them to hide but if
they havent eaten for a while they might pass out leaving them vulnerable to
enemies, this will force the player to carry them to the end of the level which will
reduce his movement speed.
Food is very limited in this world and there will only be 3 food items (in some
cases 4) per level, and even if the player manages to find them all he will have to
make hard decisions because 1 piece of food might be enough to feed the
daughter for a while, but if the player wishes to become stronger he will need to
eat 2-3 pieces which wont leave much for the family.
Each point of hunger past 80% the player will gain 1 point of bonus health and
stamina to a total of 20 extra points, adding up to the default health and stamina
pool of 100 so it goes up to a total of 120 health and stamina points.
The player's melee damage is also augmented by 1% for each point of hunger past
80% for a total of 20% more damage. For ranged weapons the aim will be more
stable therefore he will be more accurate with ranged weapons.

Hunger Management Chart

Daughter

Wife

Father

0%

10%
Actions

20%

30%

Depletion per level

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Hunger restored per piece

On the above chart we can see how hungry each member of the family will be after
each level and how much hunger they will recover when given 1 piece of food.
In the fathers case depending on his actions (stealth or fight) his hunger may vary,
if he fights everyone on the level he will be much hungrier than if he had avoided
fights.

stealth system
Stealth is a viable option to avoid fighting, when in stealth mode the protagonist will
walk while crouched which will make his footsteps make less noise and less likely to be
spotted by enemies.
This mechanic will also allow the player to make the protagonist hide in certain areas
that are out of the aligned path. For example the player can choose to hide in a small
alley between two buildings that are part of the background, this alley is not a playable
area, the player cannot go into the alley and walk around, but he can hide in the corner
of the building without moving, this will make him be out of enemy sight.
This system opens up creative ways of avoiding fights and sneaking past enemies.

COMMANDS
There are multiple ways to complete a level, whatever the player decides to do he
will want the family to follow accordingly, for that matter there will be a command
system that will allow the player to give commands to the family. This way the player
might avoid fighting by telling the family what to do, or he can tell them to stay back
while he opens a path.
Such commands are:

Wait
Follow
Hide
Go there

(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

The AI will determine the best route so that the family actually does what the
player wants them to, and not something else.
These commands can be given very easily by the player, he just needs to hover the
cursor on the place he wants the family to interact with and press the respective
hotkey (1, 2, 3, and 4).
For example if the player presses 3 in between two buildings that are in the
background the family will hide between those buildings which will put them out
of enemy sight.

hunting
Some levels will have a sustainable environment for animals like a Forest, this means
that in those levels there will be an animal that the player may try to hunt down
(only one animal on certain levels).
If the player successfully hunts down the animal without being spotted by it, he will
receive an extra piece of food for him or his family, but if he fails to kill the animal
without being seen, the animal will run and vanish leaving the player empty handed.
These levels that provide hunting will be placed before a level with an important
story moment, like a boss level, since those levels will be harder and an extra piece
of food may be crucial for the player.

combat
Combat in this game is very optional, most times the
player can pass through enemies unseen, but for
those looking for a fight, combat in this game is
dangerous and if the player is careless he will most
likely die. Combat has a lot of violence, players will
be using realistic weapons frequently to kill their
enemies, and graphically there will be blood and
implicit violence.
How you do in a fight is very based on your characters
physical strength, to improve the protagonists
strength the player will have to find food and eat
(hunger system).
If the protagonists hunger is maxed out he will deal
1% more damage per hunger point past 80%, to a total
of 20% more damage.
If the player chooses to be sneaky he might need to incapacitate a few enemies, for
that he wont require any weapons, he will strangle them until they fall on the
ground unconscious, he can make his way past his enemies without killing them.
On the other hand If the player chooses to fight his enemies head on he will need
weapons, these weapons can be encountered in every level, both melee and ranged
weapons including firearms and bows.
In order to avoid being hit the player can also combat roll, this will move him 12meters away from the enemy to give the player time to act.
The player may only carry 1 weapon at a time, be it ranged or melee the player is
not able to carry more than 1 weapon, if the player wishes to change weapon he will
need to drop his current weapon to pick up another one.

health
The protagonist will have a base health pool of 100HP, this can be improved
depending on the players hunger, each point of hunger past 80% the player will
gain 1 point of bonus health to a total of 20 extra points, these when added on the
base health pool will make a total of 120HP.
When the protagonist is hit by enemy attacks or falls down he will lose a portion of
his health, this portion depends on the enemy that attacked the protagonist. If the
protagonists health reaches 0 he will die, this means that the player will fail the
level and will have to either restart it or load a checkpoint.
Health can be gained by finding First Aid Kits, there will be 3 kits placed randomly
on each level on certain levels there might be 4. One kit always spawns at the
beginning of the level so the player can recover from the injuries he had on the
previous level and another kit always spawns before a boss fight. It takes 5 seconds
to use the First Aid Kit to heal yourself, during which you cannot defend yourself in
anyway.
When the player completes a level the protagonists health will be the same as it
was on the end of the previous level.
These kits will restore 50% of his health pool when used and the player can carry a
maximum of 2 Health Kits with him,

stamina

Stamina is a resource that the player will require to fuel his actions, the
protagonist will have a base stamina pool of 100, this can be improved depending
on the players hunger, each point of hunger past 80% the player will gain 1 point
of bonus stamina to a total of 20 extra points, these when added on the base
stamina pool will make a total of 120 stamina points.
If the player runs out of stamina he should fall back and give it time to regenerate
as it will start regenerating automatically when out of combat, this means that
unlike health the protagonist does not need an item to recover stamina.
The stamina bar will appear on the bottom-middle of the screen when it depletes,
if the player is not moving and stamina not being depleted the bar vanishes.
Actions that require stamina are:

Using melee weapons

Shoving enemies back
Jumping
Sprinting
Dodging (combat roll)

MELEE WEAPONS
Each weapon will have its own attack speed and damage, which
can be boosted depending on the protagonists physical strength.
Attack animations will be different for each weapon, and the
swing will be towards the side that the player is facing, if the
player attacks repeatedly he will start a chain of swings each one
with a different animation

To attack with a melee weapon the player will need stamina, stamina is a resource
thats used to fuel the protagonists actions including close-quarters melee combat,
and will use a different amount of stamina depending on the weapon he is currently
wielding. If the player runs out of stamina he should fall back and give it time to
regenerate as it will start regenerating automatically when out of combat.
A list of close range melee weapons to be implemented in the game follows.

Hammer
An improvised hammer with Slow attack Speed and
low damage.
Each swing with this weapon requires 20 stamina.
Can sometimes be found on Mutant Grunts and
Scavengers Guards.

Damage

45

50
Full Hunger

55

60
Default

65

Baseball bat

A Baseball Bat with barbed wire around it.

Medium attack Speed and low damage.
Each swing with this weapon requires 33
stamina.
Can be used by Scavenger Guards.

Damage

50

55

60
Full Hunger

Fire axe
A fire axe, because some things never change.
Fast attack speed and medium damage.
Each swing with this weapon requires 33
stamina.
Can be used by Scavenger Guards.

Damage

60

65

70

Full Hunger

75

80

Default

85

90

65
Default

70

75

Sledgehammer
A sledgehammer, good for smashing things,
people too.
Very slow Attack Speed, Medium-High Damage
Each swing with this weapon requires 50
stamina.
Can be used by Scavenger Guards.

Damage

70

75

80
Full Hunger

katana

85

90

95

100

Default

A katana with Fast Attack speed and

High Damage.
Each swing with this weapon requires 25
stamina.
Can be used by Scavenger Guards.

Damage

80

85

90
Full Hunger

95

100
Default

105

110

chainsaw
The chainsaw is an extremely rare weapon with very high damage and very fast
attack speed but its weak point is that it runs out of fuel really fast. If the
players manages to find one of these he should use it wisely.
Doesnt require stamina to attack.

Damage

90

95

100

105

Full Hunger

110

115

Default

Ranged weapons
There will be multiple types of ranged weapons that some
enemies will drop, these weapons do a decent amount of
damage and the player can keep his distance from his
enemies while using them.
However ammunition will be necessary to use them, ammo
is very scarce throughout the game and will be most
commonly found in enemies that also use these weapons,
and this means that the player wont be able to finish an
entire level by only using these weapons.
After emptying a magazine the player will need to reload,
the size of the magazine and the reload time depend on
All ranged
weapons will have a 40% to kill instantly on Headshots (except the hunting
the
weapon.
bow), if a headshot fails to kill the enemy then it will deal twice the damage of a
normal body-shot.
When using ranged weapons if an enemy gets in close-range of the player, instead of
shooting the weapon the character will shove the enemy away, this will knock the
enemy back by 1 or 2 meters, this will happen when using Revolvers, Rifles and Bows.
Shoving back an enemy will deplete 25 points of stamina.

120

125

To aim the weapon at a target the player needs to press a

button which will show the aim reticle on the screen which
will allow the player to carefully make aim and hit his target.
A list of ranged weapons to be implemented in the game
follows.

Aim Reticle

Revolver
An old revolver but still functional,
has low damage, 50 damage on a
normal hit, but the medium fire rate
makes it a reliable weapon.
Magazine size is 9 bullets.
Damage

Revolvers will be used by Scavenger

sentries and uses 9mm pistol ammo,
this ammo can only be found on
sentrys corpses in batches of 5-6 at
a time.

20

40

60

Headshot

Rifle

80

100

120

Damage

The rifle is a very accurate weapon

with medium-high damage, 75 damage
on a normal hit, and medium fire rate,
this makes it one of the most reliable
weapons on the game. Magazine size
is 15 bullets.
Hunting rifles will be used by
Scavenger sentries, the rifle uses .558
rifle ammo, which is very scarce and
can only be found on sentrys corpses,
3-5 bullets at a time.

Damage

50
Headshot

100
Damage

150

Hunting bow

The hunting bow is a powerful weapon yet it is hard to

master, there will be bullet drop on the arrow, how much
will depend on the travel time, this makes it hard to hit
the target if he is far away. But it is a very powerful
weapon and has a 100% chance to instantly kill the enemy
if it is a headshot.
Bows will be used by Scavenger hunters, the ammo for the
bow are arrows that can only be found on hunters corpses
1-2 at a time.

Damage

20

40

60
Damage

Daggers
Throwing Daggers used by some Mutants, they are fairly
common and will drop in batch (3-5) from their corpses.
Dagger throwing is difficult to master as they dont have
much attack range due to the bullet drop,
Daggers have a very fast attack speed but they dont do
much damage, 35 damage as a normal body-hit.
Daggers can also be used as melee weapons, damage
remains the same and the protagonist must be very close
to his enemies in order to hit them.

Damage

20
Headshot

40
Damage

60

80

80

100

120

enemies
Enemies will be an obstacle that the player will have
to overcome, how he does it however is up to him.
The player may choose to fight them head on or
might choose to sneak his way past his enemies
unseen along with the protagonists family.
There will be two main factions of enemies that the
player will encounter, the mutants and the
scavengers, both factions will attack the protagonist
and his family on sight. Both factions will have
multiple types of enemies that use different weapons
and behave differently, and a boss.

mutants
Mutants will be the first enemy the player will have to
face, they can be mostly encountered in ruins of old
cities, underground tunnels, sewers, etc.
The mutants were once normal human beings, but due
to long exposure to radiation their body started to
mutate and their mind to forget. They are now
mindless animals that hunger for flesh.
There will be three types of mutants, the Grunt, the
Dagger Thrower, and the Tentacle Mutant, they will
all attack the player on sight but how they attack the
player will vary depending on their type.

grunt
The grunts are the normal type of mutant that
will attack the player with melee attacks, their
movements make them challenging enemies as
they can leap and dodge. They are human-sized
and will wield makeshift weapons such as metal
rods, license plates, clubs, hammers, etc.

One grunt on his own might not be very

dangerous but if a group of grunts comes
after the player he must act carefully if he
wishes to survive.
Grunts have 200 health points.
Their attacks do 20 to 25 damage to the
player.

Dagger thrower
Similar to the Grunts in appearance however
they attack differently, they stay away from
the player usually in higher ground and throw
daggers at the player.
When the protagonist gets close they will try
to regain distance to resume attacking.
These daggers dont do much damage but if
the player fails to close the gap and kill these
enemies they will keep attacking the player at
range, and this can be deadly.
Dagger throwers have 100 health points.
Their attacks do 10-15 damage.

tentacle Mutant
The Tentacle Mutant is the biggest and
toughest of all three types of mutants,
this mutant grew a tentacle to replace his
missing arm and uses some pieces of
armor made of scrap metal.
This enemy is uncommon and the player
will only find him on a few levels.
They are very dangerous, very tough and
do a large amount of damage.
Tentacle Mutants have 300 health points.
Their attacks do 40-50 damage.

scavengers
The scavengers are a group of people
that emerged after the nuclear war to a
world without law and civilization. Most
people turned to treachery and anarchy
in order to survive. Killing, Robbing,
Raping are some hobbies of these people.
They are like nomads, they roam from
place to place to loot whatever they find
and rob whoever is unlucky enough to be
in their way.
They are ruled by their leader, he calls
himself King of the Wasteland, no one
knows who he was before the war, all
that is known about him is that he has a
Son. His son is horrible and cruel, rumor
is that he killed entire families and feels
no remorse. A rumor that the protagonist
and his family will witness and discover
that he is a chip of the old block.

guardsman
This is the melee oriented Scavenger, its a
common enemy that the player will encounter on
ground level throughout the game
They rush the protagonist almost mindlessly
without any kind of coordination, without caring
about their ranged colleagues, they can obstruct
the line of sight of the Sentries which can result
in them being shot by their own team-mates.
They may wield a variety of melee weapons that
the protagonist can also wield and pick up, like
baseball bats, fire axes, katanas etc.
Guardsman have 250 health points.
Their attacks do between 20 to 30 damage
depending on the weapon their wielding.

sentries

Sentries are the responsible of keeping

watch for intruders, this is the ranged
enemy that the protagonist will commonly
encounter.
They prefer to keep their distance from
the protagonist and stay on higher ground,
they attack from a far and try to damage
the protagonist as much as possible before
he can reach them.
They may wield revolvers or rifles, which
they drop on death and the player can pick
up.
Sentries have 150 health points.
Their attacks do between 15 to 20 damage
depending on which gun their wielding.

hunter
Hunters are a special type of enemy that the
player will rarely encounter. They hide in the
shadows, both on ground level and higher
ground and when they spot the protagonist
they will hunt him down. They are a vicious
enemy and wont give up on their prey.
They prefer to keep their distance but when
faced in close quarters combat they prove to
be experienced fighters both in movement
and speed, they are very agile and can dodge
attacks, and in close quarters they will attack
the protagonist with their bow which can
knockback him back.
They use a bow and arrows to kill their
enemies from a far.
Hunters have 200 health points.
Their ranged attacks do 30 to 40 damage,
their melee attacks dont damage the
protagonist instead only knock him back.

Bosses
Bosses are super unique enemies that the player will only encounter once in pre-determined
levels. They are much stronger than their partners and will require strategy and use of his
surrounding environment to defeat, which is necessary in order to continue advancing through
the game.
In Rise from Ruin there is a total of three boss fights
There will be two bosses on the entire game, each one belonging to one of the two factions in
the game as their respective Leaders.

Armored mutant
The Armored Mutant is a mutant much larger and tougher than
any other, the player will encounter him in level 5. He uses some
pieces of armor made of scrap metal, he has a huge mutated hand
that he uses as a weapon and will follow the player and try to
melee-attack him, all the different attacks he does have different
animations which give the player a clue about whats about to
happen and a chance to dodge his attacks.
Armored Mutants different attacks:

Normal Attack A normal melee attack, the mutant

swings his hand at the protagonist. Low damage (20
damage)

Triple Hit Charge When far from the protagonist the

mutant charges in the players direction and does a chain
of attacks, in total he strikes 3 times, he roars before this
attack to give the player time to get out of the way.
Deadly High Damage (80 damage) Must be avoided

Stomp When he is very close to the protagonist the

mutant will roar and rear up and then smash the ground
with his leg which creates a small shockwave around him.
Medium Damage (40 damage)

The armored mutant is immune to the players attacks, to defeat

him the player must lure him to four pre-designated spots and
force him to use Stomp, the shockwave that results from his
stomp will cause a nearby wall to fall on the Boss which will
damage him for 25% of his total health and stun him for 5
seconds. The player may then use those 5 seconds to heal himself
with a First Aid Kit.
When a wall is destroyed there is a 30% chance to reveal a First
Aid Kit, which means that during the boss fight at least 2 Kits will
be revealed.

King of the Wasteland

The King of the Wasteland is the Leader of the scavengers, the
player will face him in two distinct levels, level 8 and 10
respectively. The second time the protagonist faces him he will be
different and have different attacks.
He made a promise to the protagonist when he found out hes son
had died, he promised that he would kill his entirely family and
make him watch. Now he is hunting the protagonist and his family,
how it ends is up to the player.
The first time the player meets this boss he will be a weaker version
than in the second fight, during the first encounter he wont have
armor but he will be extremely agile and will evade the players
attacks, instead of a shotgun he will use melee weapons and tries to
attack the protagonist in close quarters combat.
Attacks:

Normal attack a normal melee attack with his weapon

low damage (20 damage)
Leap the boss rushes and jumps at the protagonist and
tries to slash him repeatedly Medium Damage (35 damage)

The boss will keep dodging and evading the players attacks, in
order to defeat him the player will need to lure the boss and blow
up Gas cans and explosive barrels around him in order to stun him
for a few seconds, while he is stunned the player can get close and
attack the boss or heal himself with a first aid kit.
When his health gets low he will run away and the player may
choose to run away with his family or chase after the boss.

During the second fight he will use a set of armor that protects his
body from attacks, he has a sawed off shotgun that he uses and
incendiary grenades that he throws which sets the land on fire, all
the different attacks he does have different animations which give
the player a clue about whats about to happen and a chance to
prevent damage.
Attacks:

Shotgun Shot the boss tries to get close in order to hit the
protagonist with a shot from his sawed-off-shotgun
medium damage (50 damage)
Molotov He will throw Molotovs at the player which will
start a fire that will damage the player, he can be seen
setting the Molotov on fire before he throws it 10 damage
per second

In order to defeat him the player must dodge

his attacks and stun him with different
environment pieces (broken walls, explosive
barrels, hanging objects), while stunned the
player can attack the boss which will remove
a piece of armor at a time. After all pieces
off armor are removed (chest, helm, legs,
harms) the player can stun him one last time
and finish off the boss.

bonus
COLLECTIBLES
Collectibles are meta-goals outsider of the games
parameters, they do not define the goal of the game nor
have direct effect on gameplay. The goal with collectibles
is to extend the titles longevity and provide the player
with extra content.
All collectibles that were unlocked by the player can be
found on the Extras tab in the main menu.

photos
In each level there will be 2 hidden photos for the player
to find, these will be randomly placed on pre-determined
spots, so there might be 10 different places that the
photo could be at. These photos once belonged to people
that were friends of the protagonists family.
Count towards achievements.

diary
In each level there will be 1 diary for the
player to find, these can be found on a
pre-determined spot and will always be
there in every game. These diaries once
belonged to other survivors, they will
contain their stories and the player can
read them.
Count towards achievements.

achievements
Some achievements to be implemented into the game, more may be added in the future.
Never Forget Find all the photos
Stories Find all the Diaries
Knockin on Heavens Door Tackle a door
Holding out for a Hero Reunite with your family
Scavenging Reach scavenger Territory
Everything you need Use a first aid kit
Goodbye Kill an enemy with fall damage
R.I.P Kill an enemy with a headshot
Swingin all day long Perform a full attack chain on an enemy
Dodger Evade an enemy attack with a combat roll
Mutawhat? Kill the Armored Mutant
Whose king? Kill the King of the Wasteland
Go back to hell Kill your first enemy
Picky Get a kill with every weapon in the game
Family First - Save your family after theyve been spotted
Legend Get 100% completion on Rise from Ruin
Fighter kill 50 enemies
Executioner Kill 50 enemies
Mowing them down kill 100 enemies
Rekt Kill 200 enemies
Humanitarian Kill 50 Scavengers
Mutant Fest Kill 50 Mutants
Opportunist - Kill 25 unaware enemies.
Shadow Sneak through 35 enemies
Hunted Kill 10 enemies with a bow
13Jason Find the Chainsaw
Shes always watching Get the ending where the wife dies
Happy Ending Get the ending where everyone survives
Never Forget Get the ending where the daughter dies.
Get the ending where everyone dies.
Rise from Ruin Veteran Get all four different endings.

monetization
The game will be available for purchase on Steam for PC, PlayStation Store for Ps4,
and Xbox Marketplace Xbox One. The game will be priced at 15 for Europe,
15$ for the United States, 15 for the United Kingdom and equivalent price in
other countries.
Other merchandise may be available for purchase (clothing, action figures, etc.)

By Luis Miguel Cardoso Monteiro

Concept art taken from games Deadlight and Rage