Farm the Future: Game Strategy
Hook: Become more knowledgeable on the topic of sustainable farming and ranching and how to corn-water-ethanol-beef system can reduce its current large environmental footprint through a simulated story-based game.
Length of game: Farm the Future goes day-by-day; one hour in the game is equivalent to three minutes real time; 12 hours in the game becomes 36 minutes of gameplay. This allows the player sufficient time to complete the tasks assigned to them while keeping the game moving.
When the sun sets, the screen will fade out and a menu will pop-up, when the player clicks the “next day” button on the menu, the screen will fade back in to show the break of dawn beginning the next day.
The game begins on January 1, 2017 and ends on January 1, 2050.
Quests/Tasks: Due to time constraints not all of the specific tasks I wish to include can be listed
- Running equipment
- Problem solving
- Equipment maintenance
- Meeting characters to increase skills and knowledge
- Plowing
- Planting
- Harvesting (forage and crops)
- Buy seed/equipment/cattle
- Selling crops/cattle
- Buying land/selling land
- Cattle: weaning cow/calf, backgrounding, finishing, vaccinating, send to packing plant
- General farm maintenance
- Trading with NPCs
Story Summary:
By 2050 the population of the United States will no longer have enough resources to survive and the Government has sent a call for help to farmers and ranchers in the Midwest. When your father suffers a spine injury that leaves him paralyzed from the waist down, the 600 acre family farm, that holds your most beloved childhood memories, is signed over to you. Your mother has been learning about sustainable farming, but her knowledge of it is limited and much of her time is now spent helping your father to heal. Now you must learn sustainable farming practices by completing tasks and creating and nourishing relationships with various characters including neighbors, other farmers, ethanol plant managers, etc. Throughout the game you will encounter realistic scenarios with decisions and consequences that affect your character in both positive and negative ways. Buy, sell, and trade cattle, crops, equipment, and a variety of other items throughout the game to gain wealth and land, and ultimately learn real-life skills needed to become a sustainable farmer. The outcome of the game depends on the choices the player makes regarding to field preparation, irrigation, chosen crops, chosen cattle breeds, feed type, completion of tasks, responses to natural disasters and the like, budgeting, attention paid to sustainability prompts and stats, etc.
Locations Involved:
Family farm, neighbors lands, ethanol plant
NPCs:
Mother and father, neighbors (at least 5), ethanol plant manager(s), farm hands (later in the game), experts in specific fields presented as government employees sent to the farms and ranches contacted in letter.
Items:
- Corn Seed
- Soybean Seed
- Cover Crop Seed
- Forage
- Central Pivot
- Drip
- Manure
- Chemical fertilizer
- Pesticide
- Herbicide
- Fungicide
- Corn
- Soybeans
- Distillers grains (wet/dry)
- Corn feed
- Cattle: Angus, Hereford
- House
- Equipment Barn
- Crop Storage Bins
- Truck
- Tractor
- Plow
- Harrow
- Seeder
- Fencing
- Squeeze chute
- Alley gates and frames
- Holding pens
- Cattle Feeders
- Water Tanks
- Manure Scraper
Look and Feel:
The graphics will be similar to “Skyrim” or “Farming Simulator 17”; realistic graphics that are 3D modelled.
Sounds effects will include: walking (grass, gravel, dirt, barn, field), tractors and equipment, dialogue/voices, cows, machinery, other (nature, birds, trees, wind, storms, etc)
Music will have an adjustable volume/mute option. The music will be strictly instrumental as to not be the focus of the game. A future goal for this game will be to include a custom music option that plays pandora/spotify/etc.
The visuals will be enhanced by creating a feel of the player playing through the eyes of the character. For example; when large machinery or trucks are turned on and the character is sitting in them, the image will shake. To try to explain this better, the camera will adapt to how eyes would see real life movements, considering that the keyboard of a PC can’t vibrate like a controller for a console; this will help to make the player feel more immersed in the game.
Basic Game Controls (PC)
- W key: move forward
- S key: move backward
- A key: move left
- D key: move right
- Shift key: run
- Alt/option key: sprint
- Space key: jump
- T key: opens task book, shortcut alternative to the on-screen button
- Ctrl: show/hide outer edge buttons
- E key: interactive
- get into equipment
- get on four wheeler or horse
- talk to visible characters (upon walking up to them)
- answer the phone when standing by it
- etc
- Q key: opening things
- letters
- doors
- gates
- boxes
- tool box
- etc
- Esc: pause game/resume game
Special content:
- Throughout the game the player will be challenged with different things such as: sickness/death of cows, lack/loss of money and crops, natural disasters (drought, tornados, blizzards, flooding, etc), loss of land, etc. These shall gradually become more frequent/more detrimental as the game progresses.
- Each day there will be different tasks to complete in order to keep their sustainability on an upwards curve.
- The player is also in charge of buying, selling and trading a variety of things
- Optional things to purchase may include (but not limited to): new equipment, extra land.
- They can create a budget if they desire, this will be laid out as a small notebook icon they can click on and type in.
- The player is in charge of maintaining positive relationships with suppliers, buyers, neighbors, and family/employees helping on ranch.
- “Night” menu features will include: a chance to change their character’s hair and clothing, a shortcut to the marketplace, sustainability stats on their previous day, what tasks they did/didn’t complete for the day, skills/skill points gained the previous day, and a list of tasks to complete the next day (can be seen during the day as well with a button located on edge of screen).
- Dialogue is a critical part of Farm the Future. By communicating with characters in the game players will learn valuable information and feel more connected to the game
- If a player fails in any way (runs out of money, crops, revenue, etc) they will be sent back to retry the task.
Marketing Strategy:
You are now the owner of the 600 acre farm that you grew up on, signed over to you after your father has a tragic accident that leaves him paralyzed from the waist down, and the United States Government needs your help to save the population before the resources that keep us alive are gone by 2050.
Immerse yourself in the life of a young farmer as you explore the future of sustainable farming in this open-world simulation role-playing game. Customize your character and take care of your cattle and crops. Strive to increase and improve your land, equipment, and products while experiencing real-world challenges that impact you both positively and negatively. Each of your decisions makes a difference and the clock is ticking! So work hard. Work smart. Save the population of the United States as you farm the future!
Opening Screens:
Change depending on time of day that you are playing.
In-Game Screens:
Interaction Prompt
Night Menu
Talk Prompt
Talk Conversation
Day Scene Example