Synopsis
EDGERUNNERS is a live service free to play third-person extraction shooter. Players will explore the dangerous "Terminal Zone", a star system ravaged by the rogue black hole "Z99". Players must inject into The Terminal Zone and complete contracts for the four crews before they become lost in time.
Defining Market Potential
Gameplay Progression & Systems
Synopsis
EDGERUNNERS is a live service free to play third-person extraction shooter. Players will explore the dangerous "Terminal Zone", a star system ravaged by the rogue black hole "Z99". Players must inject into The Terminal Zone and complete contracts for the four crews before they become lost in time.
Project Details
EDGERUNNERS is a semester-long pitch deck created for my Business in Games class at USC. The deck was created as something a AA studio would pitch to a publisher. We needed to create a deck that illustrated an understanding in market dynamics, revenue drivers, marketing strategies, product communication, and much more! Creation started in September and ended in December. All art is not original.
My Process
When incubating ideas in September, I wanted to create an action game that was based around dynamic gameplay and long-term progression. I looked at Death Standing's world evolution through player activity and used it as reference material for the level of change I wanted my world to endure. This eventually became a dynamic world that's composed of modular maps that rotate in and out of the play-space during gameplay, providing a new landscape each time.
Seeing as this is an extraction game, I knew progression was very important, but I wanted to take a different approach. As outlined in the pitch deck, EDGERUNNERS is a product that appeals to a younger, more casual audience. Knowing this, I landed on a system that allowed players to pursue objective-based progression (as opposed to traditional loot-based) while also rewarding players for long-term character investment.
I also wanted to incorporate social features as a core gameplay element players can actively engage with. Games like Destiny 2 have taught me that playing multiplayer games is always better with friends, so I wanted to design the game to make it as easy as possible to do just that. Designing clan/guild-like features that had a real impact on the way you play the game was important for creating that first incentive to engage with these systems. This way, players who maybe otherwise wouldn't dip their toes into the social scene would be more inclined to, thus providing an opportunity for these players to join communities they can resonate with. All of this to further the goal of creating a strong community for a live service product.
Full Pitch Deck
Slide 2
Slide 3
Slide 5
Slide 6
Slide 7
Slide 8
Slide 9
Slide 10
Slide 11
Slide 12
Slide 13
Slide 14
Slide 15
Slide 16
Slide 17
Slide 18
