Campaign

Here is just an idea of an overall campaign we could attempt to make a start towards. This would obviously be a lot of work, so we would likely pick just a couple of districts (or even just one) to complete.

As the player moves further into the dominion of the Corrupt AI/Virus, each district must have a purpose in providing for the needs and desires of the villain. Each boss AI will communicate to the player throughout the levels within its district, broadcasting its voice through loudspeakers, or hacking into screens throughout the location.

Level Sequence:

District 1 - The City Outskirts: Colour Scheme: Green, grey and blue (This area is beyond the governance of the AI, but is still under the effects of its corruption, and is in a state of neglect).

• Here we will be able to introduce the basic mechanics to enemies without the threat of enemy attacks
• We can introduce enemies slowly as rogue bots that have strayed from their usual patrol routes
• The boss of this location could be Porter, a highly advanced elevator system, that the player could use throughout the rest of the levels.

The first few levels will use lighting at the end of each level, guiding the player character to walk off the screen to the next level. There will only be a small number of these levels, up until the player fights Porter, the elevator AI. Once the player has beaten this boss, Porter allies itself with the player, and acts as the entrance and exit point of most levels. At this stage, rays of light won't be necessary to indicate the ends of a level, which is important as it won't fit some of the level environments.
The levels will start with a player moving upwards through sewers and stormwater pipes. They will eventually reach the basement of a large multi-storied warehouse. They will have to move through the warehouse to the exit on the other side, making it through each room. There are several lifts used to ascend to the (blocked) higher floors and carry around crates in the area. Obstacles will mostly be dense shelves of crates, as well as brick and corrugated metal walls. The level should be somewhat overgrown.

District 2 - The Lumberfall District: Colour scheme: Brown, Grey and Green (Expansion and Fuel Production)

• Here the player will be introduced to more dangerous environmental hazards to avoid whilst solving puzzles
• Players can be introduced to the fact that enemies can be killed using environmental hazards
• The boss of this location could be Cleaver, a hovering drone with a huge inbuilt circular saw. The player will have to dodge it as it bounces around the level, setting up traps to lock it in place and shoot at it. Once it is defeated, the huge land-clearing robots between the Lumberfall and Forgelands districts will be powered down, allowing the player to pass through.

District 3 - The Forgelands: Colour Scheme: Dark Grey, Orange, Silver (Energy Production, Robot Production)

• Levels here have many mechanical elements and introduce players to power cells and banshees (laser robots)
• Moving through puzzles will have the time pressure of rising lava levels, and rotating clockwork gears.
• The heat will be used to power turbines (fans), and the robot manufacturing line, so expect ump puzzles and enemies between timing puzzles
• The boss of this location could be Vulcan, a lava-proof laser robot that lurks beneath a collection of platforms in a sea of lava, jumping out and firing lasers every now and then. The player must shoot at the enemy early on when they are out of the lava to damage them, but in a later phase of the fight, a wave of lava will rush from the left side of the screen and they will be forced to move right until they reach a valve of water. Completing an energy cell / laser puzzle to open it will cause water to pour in, freezing Vulcan in now unmolten rock, and causing steam to billow up with the effects of a fan, blasting the player out of the level.

District 4 - The Underside Colour Scheme: Black, Blue, Green (Connective network of underground magnetic trains and mining facilities)

• The player must navigate their way through a more maze-like level of purposefully built train tunnels and stations, as well as neglected areas that have collapsed into large chasms. Their overall goal will be to get a train in the depths of the Underside working to take them to the capital, beneath the Corruptions network of transport.
• You get the drill legs here as well and use them to dig deeper through the level.
• The player will have to platform through long stretches of the railway tunnel, using ledges and timing to avoid frequent trains leaving the capital to spread the Corruption's influence further.
• The final boss will be a sentient train, and the player will have to run along its roof, fighting enemies on the carriages and dodging low-hanging terrain to reach the front cabin, which will have its own automated weapon defences. Upon disabling these defences, the player can proceed.

District 5 - The Hydroplant Colour Scheme: Blue, Grey (Energy production and damaging wave management on the shores of the main city)

• Continuing on from the latest level, the player will start in the depths of the Hydropower plant, trying to reach the top. In the depths, the facility is slightly flooded.
• Here players will have to solve various puzzles to open flood gates or damage walls and increase the water level. Once they've done so, they can use the Sea Carver legs to continue up to the higher reaches of the facility and complete underwater enemy and hazard avoiding puzzles.
• The end boss is a robotic Kraken, that will look in through portholes and see them as they reach the top of the facility.
• It will attack with single arms, smashing sideways through walls (the walls telegraph a coming attack by buckling inwards 3 times, with the attack coming through on the third hit).
• The player must try to use doors to cut off the tentacles once they have smashed into the facility.
• The robotic Kraken ends up destroying the facility, and the player is carried by water currents, emerging on the surface, where they find themselves on a platform out at sea with an extended pier connecting them to the city.

District 6 - Skylines Colour Scheme: Purple (Dusk), Dark Grey, Yellow (The main city, patrolled by the possessed hordes of the AI)

• As the player enters the dominion of the Corruption, enemies roam the streets and lower floors of every building. They will have to quickly get to the rooftops (using Porter, their now friendly elevator who is in control of most residential elevators in the state).
• There will be a lot of puzzles and platforming challenges using cranes, and sneaking by spotlights and artillery bots that patrol the skylines for anti-air purposes
• Towards the end of the level, they will be moving along the arm of a crane that leads towards the space elevator, but it is shot down by the boss
• The boss is a walking fortress, containing a small level within itself. The player must avoid its cannon, laser and missile attacks to climb on board, and will have to then overload three power cores within it to destroy it. At intervals through the boss fight, it will jump up in the air, turning sideways at it climbs onto buildings, forcing the player to make sure that their positioning allows for the level to be rotated without them falling out and to their death.
• Defeating the boss will cause it to go haywire for a moment, firing off external missiles in every direction, destroying the otherwise impassable door to the space elevator and allowing the player to pass through.

District 7 - The Pillar of Ascension (space elevator) Colour Scheme: Silver, Dark Grey, Blue

• The space elevator called the Pillar of Ascension connects the AI on its orbital platform to the world it controls below
• As the player enters the space elevator, they will find that the AI has disabled power to it. The challenge will then be to platform around the elevator (which consistently remains in the centre of the level), reaching power cells to increase its speed and buttons to open doors that are blocking it
• Each of these goals may be right next to the elevator, or exist much further out on large platforms extending from the space elevator
• Each time they speed up the elevator (which is necessary, the elevator will require a certain number of power cells to reach the top), they will need to keep up with it, only being able to stop when it encounters a door.
• They will also have to face many enemies surrounding the elevator
• The boss of this location will be a hovering robot with missiles, lasers and cannon fire, that will attack the player in the upper reaches of the elevator. Here, the walls haven't been fully constructed, so the player will have to platform to and from areas of cover, whilst also using and keeping up with the elevator.
• They will be given several opportunities to use the Deflector Arms to destroy damaged parts of the walls with the boss' own lasers, causing chunks to swing out, still held to the structure by girders, and strike the boss. If they damage the boss enough, it's seals will not hold up well enough to maintain pressure and keep out the cold of the outer atmosphere, causing it to freeze and explode, just as the left returns to a more solid section of the elevator shaft, sealing the player back in a pressurised area.

District 8 - Zenith Colour Scheme: Black, Silver, Red The orbital platform on which the AI resides.

• The Corruption/Evil AI is the final boss, and it will try to infect the player with a virus, from the legs up. It is a central computer in the centre of the level with an enormous eye, surrounded by a forcefield of it's own creation, that will instantly corrupt the player on contact. The player will need to make use of the disconnect mechanic, swapping out parts to avoid the corruptions spread, and using each unique part throughout the fight to successfully complete a puzzle and activate a power cell. Once all power cells are operational, they will power a safeguard that traps the AI, disconnecting it from the world below that it had corrupted.