System Design - Overworld Hub

1702728 - Jordan Cordina

Brief one storyworld accessible here.

The Over-world Hub
The Over-world Hub is an area located at the centre of Elysium that is largely closed-off to the public, and to the player serves as a strategic rest and resource gathering point between missions and story segments of the game.

Centrum Court
The largest section of this is space is known as Centrum Court, a seven-sided public space located at heart of the city. This public space itself serves as a neutral ground for diplomats and workers for each of the six main houses, but in spite of its well-maintained appearance these grounds are rarely used as a communal area due to the high tensions between each of the houses. Whilst one of the Court's sides leads to the governance control point, a gated facility that filters the affluent from the plebeians, the other sides leading to sectors owned by the most prominent houses: The diplomatic quarters of houses Agris, Apex, Argent, Ferrus, Legius and Siren. Each sector would be marked by a different aesthetic theme, such as heavy production and colonisation efforts with house Ferrus, and large-scale bio-medical facilities with House Agris. Located inside each of these areas are several non-player characters (NPCs) who can be interacted with to manage inter-house relations, explore house-specific missions, and to purchase house-exclusive items and upgrades (though many of these features are restricted based on the Player Character's reputation with a specific faction).

The Gridmarket
The Gridmarket (or the Grid, as the locals call it) is a section of Elysium built atop a derelict part of the city, housing the most exhaustive range of technological wares in the system. Taking advantage of cheap plebian labour of the worker hives below, various off-world merchants and aspiring lords from neighbouring satellite clusters gather here to manufacture and sell their wares to the city's high society, displaying marvels of technology for all purposes. However, many of these independent salesfolks' efforts are dwarfed by the presence of House Gladius and their headquarters. Despite being a considered lesser house compared to those at Centrum Court, House Gladius' wealth and affluence are highly notable. Here, their quarters can be found, and though relegated to a smaller area inside their building, this house is flourishing just as much as any of the main houses.

The Subforum
Hidden beneath the construction of the Gridmarket lies an expansive space, built with whatever cobbled-together metal scraps its creators' could get their hands on. The subforum is a multi-leveled structure affixed to and supported by the various hive-like structures many of the city's labourers and plebians call home, spanning across several floors in the underworld few affluent people dare to tread. It is here that the majority of Elysium's criminal underworld operates, and is the very place that House Vagrant resides - though whispers suggest House Umbra has operatives here as well. House Vagrant - a house of organised crime and smuggling - command a lot of weight both at the Subforum and the Gridmarket, though their presence is much more subtle in the latter. Here fencing services can be found for selling stolen goods, and highly illegal equipment can be purchased for equally high prices. Though house Vagrant have their own floor reserved for them, House Umbra have no such section - instead, their agents tail the player character with the potential to confront, or even kidnap them, triggering a special mission.

House Interactions
From the beginning of the game, the player character's position in House Apex puts them in a unique position amongst the many billions of people inhabiting the many planets of the game world. As part of the player character's plot to ascend to the top of their house, they can become involved to varying degrees with the seven other houses and as a result can alter the course of their inter-planetary civilisation Though this is not explicitly stated at the beginning of the game the player's actions during game-play, the Reputation the player has with the various houses will change in response to their actions during the three mission types and their interactions in the Over-world hub.

House Reputation
The outcome of every interaction within a house-owned area depends on the player’s ‘Reputation’ with that house. The player’s reputation with a house is tracked by a value which can alter over the course of the game dependent on their actions, with the player’s reputation with each house being tracked separately.

The reputation value can range between -100 to +100, with most houses starting with a default reputation of 0. When reputation with a house reaches certain thresholds, a house's interactions will change. There are 7 of these thresholds:

The tiers of reputation level can be split into positive and negative reputations, with all levels of each altering interactions with each house.

Effects of a Positive House Reputation:

 * House reduces prices for items they sell
 * Certain house-exclusive items can become available
 * House-specific missions can be unlocked
 * Additional areas of a House's sector may allow entry
 * The higher the player's positive reputation score, the greater the effects of negative actions to the reputation.
 * For example - If a player with a reputation of +15 with House Gladius accepts a trade deal with a house that Gladius is opposed to, the player's reputation with House Gladius may take a -5 reduction. However, if the player has a reputation of +75 with House Gladius and accepts the same deal, the player's reputation with the house may take a -20 reduction.


 * Special events can be triggered when certain houses catch word that the player has allied with one of their enemy houses

Effects of a Negative House Reputation:

 * House increases prices for items they sell
 * House restricts available sales items
 * House-specific missions can be unlocked
 * Certain areas of a house's sector may disallow entry
 * The lower the player's positive reputation score, the greater the effects of positive actions to the reputation.
 * For example - If a player with a reputation of -15 with House Gladius accepts a trade deal with a house that Gladius is allied to, the player's reputation with House Gladius may make a +5 increase. However, if the player has a reputation of -75 with House Gladius and accepts the same deal, the player's reputation with the house may make a +20 increase.

Effects of Bloodline
As the protagonist is associated with House Apex through their bloodline, the player begins the game with set reputation levels with each faction, listed below.

House Umbra: -20

House Gladius: +40

Examples of actions that can affect the player’s reputation with a specific house are: ''' Depending on the player’s reputation, certain opportunities may arise or be denied to the player. If the player has a positive relationship with a house, they may be granted access to additional resources or side-missions, accessed through an additional area in the faction’s hub area becoming accessible to the player.'''
 * Completing of house-specific missions.
 * Allying with houses friendly to said house.
 * Entering feuds with houses feuding with said house.
 * The player’s choices throughout the story.

Vendor Interactions
Vendors spread about the hub, in addition to those found in faction areas, can be interacted with to allow the purchasing of additional items, weapons and resources for use during the game’s various missions. Interacting with a vendor would cause the player to enter a shop view - an interactive menu displaying the various elements for trade.

The vast majority of transactions utilise a resource called ‘Credits’ that can be earned during gameplay. Examples of scenarios when the player may acquire credits are:
 * Claiming mission rewards
 * Selling items to a vendor
 * Stealing Credits from enemies
 * Reaching specific House Apex ranks
 * Gaining specific levels of reputation with allied houses