Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
extremelyimportantobjective.Theshipmustbeinperfectorder;eachsystemshould
work like clockwork. Since everyday an army of engineers exits into open space for
maintenance, they are using special space suits with small engines to fly over the
ship. From some distance, it may look like a hive surrounded with bees.
The protagonist is one such bee. He needs to check the communication module situ-
ated at the starboard. Now, the ship is in a dangerous environment. There are lots
of asteroids and meteors around the ship. Each of them can easily detect important
nodes and components. Besides, there are many artificial objects such as old satel-
lites, fragments of ships crushed against minor planets, and cargo containers. The
engineers have a double shift. This is a dark territory; space pilots do not like this
part of the journey because the space junk is an ideal way for space pirates to create
an ambush.
Suddenly, the Danube is assaulted. Dozens of small ships painted in dark colors
start a firefight. The communication module is hit; it explodes massively, and a big
fragment of the casing hits the protagonist directly on the helmet. The astronaut is
thrown away from the ship. He crashes his back into a rock; a new explosion pushes
him away. He is senseless because of the impact, being unable to control his suit in
space.
Moreover, many systems are now broken. The
head-up-display
(
HUD
) alerted that
the suit is completely out of order. Only the support system is still working normally,
and the level of oxygen is satisfactory. The blast wave carries the protagonist away
from the ship. He moves farther away every second; the stars mirrored in the hel-
met's glass disappear. Soon the astronaut will be gone, and this is the code name of
the game: Astronaut is Gone.
Soon the protagonist will wake up; he will be okay, only having a very bad headache.
He will be totally alone, and there will be no Danube on the horizon. His main ob-
jective will be returning to the ship. The communication module has gone; so, he will
have no opportunity to communicate with the bridge. His only chance will be to find a
