Senior Design | Recycled
Getting Started
Recycled is a first-person PC game prototype where the player must sort garbage into the proper channels to maintain the appearance of working while secretly finding a means of escape. If the player fails to keep up with a quota, the robots will think of the player as defective and eliminate them. The game is an exaggerated cautionary tale on the dangers of pollution, offering insight into the basics of recycling.
Story
Although this version is just a prototype, the final game storyline will go as follow: You are Jacob, a man that was recently captured and is being tasked by the robots to sort garbage. While receiving your instructions, someone interrupts the signal and says that they are from a resistance group, they need your help to free everyone in the facility. The room you were given has a unique feature in that a vent occupies one of the walls. They say that if you can get into the ventilation system you could reach a power switch that would temporarily disable the robots giving the resistance enough time to free everyone. Not all goes according to plan as the path to the power room is blocked and you must find another way to reach it.
Gameplay
The main gameplay of Recycled is to sort the recyclable garbage that drops from a tube in the ceiling. Each time the enemy robot comes to check on you, it will give you a new quota to reach for each type of recycle bin. If you fail to meet this quota before the robot checks on you again you will lose.
Winning and Losing
There are two main ways of losing Recycled. First, as stated before, you must reach your recycle quota for each bin every time the robot comes to check on you. This quota is a random amount each time for each bin and is represented on the sliders in the UI (Not Pictured). The second way to lose is by getting caught prying open the vent when the robot checks on you. In order to win recycled you must pry open the vent, however, it takes quite a while so you will need to be sneaky about it and keep the robot happy in the meantime.
Conclusion
Recycled was my senior project for my CGT program and I could not be more proud of the result. Although this was just a prototype, it includes all the major elements that make up the beginning of the game as well as highlights pollution as a global issue and recycling as a solution.