Council recommendation

Neutral

Category

Game Content

TL;DR

What

Deep Sea Episode 2 is a new experience (1x2) with survival horror features inspired by Lovecraft’s universe and a NFT collection. It takes place right after the events of the first Deep Sea, where you follow one of the survivors that fled and crashed in the Arctic. Aim, shoot, explore and manage your resources to face the undead and the cold of the Arctic.

Why

We aim to produce a true survival horror game with weapons, craft, ammunition and resources management. We seek to create a new saga on TSB, with a reactivable NFT collection with NFTs expected to have an impact on the game: NFT pass for secret area access, playable equipment, wearables, Avatar.

How

With a team of mainly 5 people working full-time on the game for 3 months, we are requesting 80,000€ to help us fund Ep2 of the saga. The rest would be funded by the NFT sales.

When

This experience will be launched in April 25 (Deep Sea 1:-65, -119 Deep Sea: Chapter 0: -65, -120 Deep Sea 2: 1x2 TBC)

Who

Yobiké is an independent video game studio creating its own IPs on PC, VR and has developed an expertise in metaverses, notably The Sandbox. Deep Sea: Chapter 0, The Smurfs, Marcel Pagnol en Provence.

SIP Details

Background/Context

8 months ago, we self-published Deep Sea, an original license in The Sandbox, with the aim of offering the metaverse community a brand-new horror gaming experience.

We were convinced that it was possible to produce dense, mature and demanding content using The Sandbox tools, which is why we highlighted the most advanced features of Game Maker (GM 0.8 and 0.9), both in terms of visuals and gameplay.

As a result, as well as becoming a showcase for Game Maker’s capabilities, Deep Sea proved that there was a target audience within The Sandbox community who were passionate about this kind of experience.

On the strength of this reception, we accompanied Deep Sea with a complementary experience that we called Deep Sea: Chapter 0. Conceived as a prequel, this experience tells the story leading up to the events of the main Deep Sea experience.

Today, we want to continue to explore this license that we imagined and extend its lore by offering a new experience.

Game Concept

Deep Sea Episode 2 is the sequel to the first Sandbox experiment. It follows the adventures of the only known survivor of the crew of the Deep Sea oil rig (events of the first experience), who escaped on board a submarine and sank in the Arctic.

A team from a scientific base not far from the wreck rescues him and discovers traces of mutilation on his body, along with an ancient artifact. What do these mutilations mean, what is this artifact and why was he shipwrecked here? These are the questions these isolated scientists will try to answer.

The player takes on the role of one of the crew of scientists returning from a multi-week mission to explore a climatic phenomenon. On his return to base, he discovers the wrecked submarine, his base devastated and its crew mysteriously decimated.

The player must then investigate the scene in the hope of finding the missing members of his team, while a threat is about to awaken.

Game Key Features

We’re aiming to develop an even more intense experience than our previous episodes by offering a real Survival Horror thanks to the new Game Maker 0.10 features.

They give us the opportunity to build the experience around new gameplay mechanics that are key to the survival horror genre:

• Gun battles from a distance (enabled by Raycast functionality)
• Resource management (item collection coupled with the inventory system enabled by the Consumables feature)
• Environmental puzzles (based on observation and precision thanks to the Raycast function)
• Crafting system (objects collected can be combined to create new tools or consumables: ammunition, healing packs, etc.)
• Cold management (gauge equivalent to oxygen when the player is exposed to the cold, manageable via the various systems on display: items to craft, heat zone to activate, etc.) These different pillars will enable us to challenge players with gameplays that are more focused on survival, and to offer a more dynamic and immersive experience.

Deep Sea Episode 2 is the ideal opportunity for us to take full advantage of the technological evolution of Game Maker, but also to contribute to the diversity of gameplay experiences offered in The Sandbox.

Early prototype showcasing the gun made in Deep Sea.

The Saga

The objective is to make a game to interest gamers who are fans of the “horror” universe. So we need a game with a narrative, where the games are quite long. We're intentionally moving away from today's Speed Runs, in order to create an immersive, addictive universe.

Replayability is ensured by players' determination to succeed in all the quests that unlock access to hidden spaces. Saga's logic also encourages replayability, as certain elements of the new episodes will make reference to the old ones.

Deep Sea is a saga with many episodes (on average 3 per year).

SIP’s role is to finance the 2nd step of the Saga, which will then become self-financing with the sale of NFTs (NFT Pass and Utilities).

• Chapter 0 (March 24): the origins of evil => 6,300 players (12 min of play) - target 10,000 players
• Episode 1 (March 24): The oil station is hit by an unknown disease, investigate to find out what happened and try to save the crew members infected by a strange virus that has turned them into Zombies. => (in just 8 days in Alpha 4): + 12,400 players (17 min of play) - target 20,000 players
• Ep2 (April 25): A member of the oil station manages to leave this evil place thanks to the rescue submarine. Unfortunately, he unknowingly causes the downfall of a polar research center by introducing this unknown virus. => Target 25,000 players (+20 min playtime)
• Ep3 (estimated July 25): In the ruins of Teotihuacan, archaeologists discover a secret crypt containing an occult history of mankind. When they break an ancient seal, they unleash terrifying creatures that have lain dormant for millennia. As one of the archaeologists, the player must explore the ruins to restore the seal and prevent the awakening of the god Cthulhu.
• Ep4 (estimated Nov25): Set in the swampy depths of Louisiana, players take on the role of a private detective investigating a series of mysterious disappearances. When clues lead to the heart of the bayou, where ancient rituals are said to have awakened a terrifying creature that lives in the bodies of water, the player must find and stop the creature while confronting the few locals who are inexplicably hostile to the detective’s arrival. To be continued…

Promotion

Our goal is to reach out to a Gamer audience. As we did with one of our VR games (Oculus Quest and Pico), we could make a free game in Fortnite, with the aim of promoting DeepSea and encouraging people to come and discover the full version in TSB. This would be in addition to animating the community on Discord and buying traffic via specialized platforms/influencers.

Benefit to the ecosystem

The game production will mainly be supported by The Sandbox and it is up to you to choose what new kind of game you will play on the platform.

With Deep Sea Episode 2, the community will get a fresh new experience further developing the gaming aspects possible on The Sandbox in the popular genre of survival horrors.

A new NFT collection will be on sale on which you can invest your SAND. Here are some of the proposals:

• NFT Pass to access a part of the land (secret zone giving access to additional lore and/or numerous resources: ammunition, healing, etc.).
• NFT Wearable, which makes it easier to fight the cold.
• NFT Equipment, which lets you fire your weapon without having to search for ammunition.
• NFT Cosmetics, which allows you to buy symbolic assets for the game.
• Playable Avatar

NFTs will be available in various forms and some will give access to dedicated areas in the game, but also to certain Discord channels, and to specific advantages (beta tester, contribution to the scripting of future episodes, presence in the Credits...).

Revenue Sharing

30% of the net amount of NFT revenues will be transferred to the DAO to help finance other projects, and set up a virtuous circle.

Risk analysis

We want to work on highlighting and implementing the new features enabled by Game Maker 0.10. However, this work remains to be done and we may not be able to implement all the features we want to develop due to features evolution of the GM.

We have different anticipated production levels with a MVP and 2 key features around which we first want to focus for the experience:

• Raycast, to simulate a firearm and enable remote confrontations
• Cold Management, with a gauge equivalent to the oxygen system on land

Zombies and limited ammunition, for example, are 2 other important features around which we want to build the experience but which we can just as easily remove from the scope if we don’t manage to develop and integrate the feature satisfactorily (without bugs and without worrying about optimisation).

Budget

Budget: 80,000€

Breakdown

Implementation Plan

3 months of development from December 24 to April 25: