summary

A horror co-op extraction shooter with examples of:

- Story development

- Fragmented narrative

project overview

Following on from Rough Justice ‘84, I continued my work for Gamma Minus in the early stages of production. With a broad concept/genre in place, I was tasked with developing the lore/setting and the overall storyline.

story development

In Gamma Strain, we are a group of elite soldiers sent to a small town that is infected by an aggressive biological organism. We are tasked with entering various “zones” and completing dynamic objectives, eventually unlocking new zones closer to the epicentre of the disaster.

Below are three story pitches, and the final story pitch (an amalgamation of elements from each).

Gamma Strain Story Pitch 1 – The Saviour And Sacrifice

Gamma Strain Story Pitch 2 – Vyal Of The Void

Gamma Strain Story Pitch 3 – Project Virtus

Gamma Strain Narrative Pitch - Echoes of Humanity

fragmented narrative

Gamma Strain’s mix of procedural maps and missions, along with its focus on replayability, were key considerations in developing the narrative. I examined Souls-like titles as a potential approach to storytelling, as I believed the fragmented nature of this delivery would lend itself well to the repetitive nature of the gameplay loop.

We wanted players to reach the game’s climax with enough information to feel satisfied, but not necessarily know every detail of events. This is where “Memories” come in. During each mission, there is a chance that “Memories” will spawn. These are bespoke objects that trigger cutscenes, revealing various plot elements. These can occur out of order, but to control exposition and story pacing, some items will only spawn in specific biomes/maps later in a playthrough.

Below is some documentation I created as a first-pass/high-level concept for how the memories could function in-game:

Memory Concept Documentation