Under Deconstruction — this is a third-person beat 'em up game where the player, controlling an excavator, must fight against reanimated Khrushchyovka vampires. Due to their regeneration, the only way to defeat such a terrifying enemy is to burn them alive. Attacks do no damage, but they push the Khrushchyovkas around—so the player must group them up and shove them into the furnace.
Khrushchyovka References:
Imagine dirty, abandoned, old panel buildings—scattered into separate cubic single-story blocks, aimlessly wandering in search of living flesh for scrap metal on numerous centipede legs. You just want to send them to the furnace. And they’ll even pay you for it.
Plot
The Excavator works for his family. Kids—they are expensive, but he knows what he’s working for. Only the kids offer a chance to save construction machinery from the decline of humanity. From extinction due to demographic crisis.
But like a real man, the Excavator tries to control and decide everything himself. Instead of trusting his wife, who is certainly more competent when it comes to children and their needs.
And then a Khrushchevka vampire bit him—they came to life, sprouted centipede legs, and started attacking.
Work became harder and more dangerous. And even if he burns the Khrushchevkas in groups, it’s less profitable.
And only the Excavator manages all of this. Because of this, more work has piled up on him. Conversely, many bulldozers were laid off.
Theme: Masculinity
The idea is to attract men with a strong sense of masculinity, and within the game itself, to create a situation that prompts them to question whether this behavioral archetype can be harmful. Whether it spoils not only the lives of those around them but also their own.
In the gameplay, this situation is created through control over family finances.
In the narrative—through the difficulties and problems that arise from the protagonist’s drive to be in charge.
Target Audience Profile:
Married Seryoga, age 28–55.
He belongs to European culture, works manual labor, and does not have a university degree.
His highest value is family. He considers himself a «man» and is generally influenced by patriarchal values.
He might be interested in cars and machinery, but not to the extent that he would nitpick unreliable technical details. However, he will understand what a throttle body, fuel injector, or transmission means.
If he weren’t playing games, he would likely spend time watching B-movie action films. He wants games that are cool, feature exciting fights, and have a dash of humor.
Pillars:
Push enemies at a distance—this groups them up so you can send them into the furnace.
Anyone can clear the level, but only a true excavator can achieve the maximum score.
When developing a project, it must be for people, not people for a project.
Plot:
Gameplay:
The gameplay idea is to develop and deepen crowd control in the Beat 'em Up genre:
Usually, the player only manages crowd positioning, but here, they also control them with attacks.
Typically, you need to control the crowd just to prevent being surrounded—but here, it’s the only way to fight.
One is iconic, the other is funereal!
You can throw Khrushchev-era apartment blocks in two ways:
~~Royal~~ Wide Strike pushes enemies over a large area, but not far enough to push them all into the oven in one hit.
~~Burial~~ Long Strike, conversely, pushes a narrow line of enemies but very far. It is useful for shoving a line of enemies into the oven.
In combination, for instance, you can push a group of enemies into a wall, causing them to spread into a line. Then, use a Long Strike to push them into the oven.
Combo
Because the blocks burned directly during production yield little profit, the Excavator has to dump excess fuel oil and sell it under the table.
This means players benefit from conserving fuel. The more energy-efficiently it burns the Khrushchev-era buildings, the more money you will earn:
To achieve this, you must send large groups of Khrushchev-era buildings into the furnaces. The larger the group, the more money you make per block.
Also, send them more frequently. If there are three or fewer hits between groups, there is an additional cumulative multiplier.
However, if you gather a cluster of more than nine Khrushchyovkas, you can no longer push it.
To burn such a group, you must first divide it. For example, insert an obstacle so that the Khrushchev-era buildings begin to navigate around it from different sides.
Cycle:
The levels in the game are small, all designed to encourage replayability for achieving the best score. A reference for these levels is Neon White.
