#2 Game design

TODO: refactor doc into list of facts, not just thoughts around how world works. Current version sounds vague

An immersive-sim FPS co-op sandbox on a super-magnetic, metal-rich planet where civilization grows industrially and fades away already. You survive by driving a home-bunker cargo truckvehicle across an infinite-feeling world, looting and improvising with real physics. The signature is the isolated vehicle interior: while the vehicle is moving, players can still freely interact with items inside (storage, crafting, chaos) as if it’s a moving room.

Drive a moving home-bunker across a magnetic wasteland and survive by turning loot, physics, and curiosity into power.

The “first 5 minutes” promise (what players immediately experience)

• You spawn with almost nothing, spot a strange POI on the horizon, and head toward it.
• You find a box, start stuffing it with real guns and food, then toss the whole box into one inventory slot.
• You return to the vehicle interior, drop the box on the floor, open it, and realize the interior is a real playable space even while driving.
• Drive away to explore the wasteland, find another POI, and repeat.

Hooks

• The moving home-bunker: drive while your friend reorganizes the interior with full physics.
• Hoarding as gameplay: boxes can hold real objects by bounds; one hotbar slot can represent an entire messy “kit” if you pack smart.
• Minimal HUD, maximal world: tiny crosshair + 12-slot hotbar; the world is the interface.
• Cozy surface / grim depth: warm orange grass hills above; cold factories, mines, and caves below.
• Investigate → understand → act: solve what a place is/was, then decide how to use it (steal, fight, hack, salvage, upgrade).

Design pillars (non-negotiables)

• Clarity of interaction
  • Instantly readable difference between grabbable/interactable vs static set-dressing.
  • On hover: outline + simple icon + stack count (plus audio cues).
• Instant response
  • Input feels sharp; actions have immediate feedback (sound, animation, physics reaction).
• Fun > realism (but consistent rules)
  • Physics and immersion support creativity; we don’t simulate “real life,” we simulate fun on chaotic foreign planet.
• The world is the UI
  • Avoid “pretend” UI panels for actions that should happen physically.
  • Prefer levers, switches, terminals, devices, containers, light/sound cues.

The planet (tone + world logic)

• Super magnetic dusty wasteland
  • Rich in metals and magnetism; poor on “humanity” (culture, safety, stable institutions).
  • Orange is the emotional anchor color: warm, saturated, slightly overtuned.
• Biomes as a story
  • Center: cozy wastelandy grassy hills (warm/orange).
  • North: extreme cold.
  • South: extreme heat.
  • Sky: clean, safe, high-tech “rich layer” (rare/aspirational).
  • Underground: factories/mines/caves — gritty, cold, occasionally horror/gore.

Current scope notes (pragmatic constraints)

• Minimal UI by design (immersive), but interaction readability is mandatory.
• 60fps feel is a priority; avoid heavy temporal rendering tricks.
• Narrative is mostly environmental + terminals (no voice budget).