MIDNIGHT ZONE 

(Minimum Viable Product)

Midnight Zone is a 2D vertical scrolling deep sea exploration game.

An ocean exploration team has launched their deep sea exploration project, "Project SNAILFISH" in efforts to document the animal species of the ocean depths. The team's recently developed robotic submarine they've called "Stethie" is an underwater drone fixed with a 360 degree camera that can withstand the extreme pressures of the abyss.

Control Stethie through the ocean depth zones and uncover the cryptic species of the eternal night! Use Stethie's sonar to track down animals, take photographs of the species you find and log their behaviors in your team's deep sea encyclopedia on your way to the sea floor.

TUTORIAL

CONTROLS:

W / UP ARROW - Ascend
S / DOWN ARROW - Descend
A / RIGHT ARROW - Move Right
D / LEFT ARROW - Move Left
CURSOR - Direct the spotlight
SPACEBAR - Take a photograph
SCROLL WHEEL - Zoom In/Out

TRACKING ANIMALS:

Stethie's sonar can detect creatures lurking in the dark waters. 
Stethie emits sonar pings automatically if an animal is within her range.
Three different sonar pings will sound depending on how far away the animal is.

WEAK SIGNAL:

A dull, slow and deep sounding sonar ping.
Sounds when an animal is detected within 50 meters.

MODERATE SIGNAL:

A higher pitched sonar ping that rings in between the week signal.
Sounds when an animal is detected within 25 meters.

STRONG SIGNAL:

A high pitched ping that rings frantically on top of the weaker signals.
Sounds when an animal is detected within 10 meters.

Once an animal has been photographed for the first time,
their depth location can be found on their log page inside the Deep Sea Encyclopedia.

PHOTOGRAPHING ANIMALS:

To identify an animal species and log its information in your Encyclopedia,
aim Stethie's spotlight at the animal and press SPACEBAR to take a photograph.
The species' information will then be updated in your deep sea encyclopedia.

DEEP SEA ENCYCLOPEDIA:

Your deep sea exploration team's encyclopedia holds all of the information
about the species you've discovered on Stethie's dive.

To access the encyclopedia,  click on the book in the bottom left hand corner of the screen.

Information regarding a species' name, ocean zone, depth and behavior
will be logged in your encyclopedia after you've found and photographed a species.

DEVELOPMENT PLANS:

Midnight Zone was a college class project with a short time constraint. I plan to continue expanding the project in my free time. I have many ideas for game mechanics and animal species that I would like to implement. :)

CREDITS:

GAME DESIGN & ARTWORK - Danielle Tyler

AUDIO:

MUSIC TRACK - Satie: Gnossiennes - No. 3 - Lent
UNDER WATER SFX -  Robinhood76 @freesound.org
SONAR SFX - MATRIXXX_ @ freesound.org