Introduction

Seize the Day is a fantastic, ambitious, adventurous role-playing game that takes the player on a journey
of them forging their own destiny, as they discover who they are along the way. The world of Seize the
Day is stuck in an unpredictable and troubling political climate, and there’s room for a powerful, influential
figure to rise to the top and re-shape society into their dreams and visions.

Gameplay Features
I. Seize the Day will introduce an unprecedented gameplay mechanic in the form of a Parliamentary system,
situated in a renaissance-style, technologically-advanced era, whereby the player can become a member of
Parliament or influence Parliament in some way. It will feature heavily in the main story of the game. In
Parliament, the player can debate on laws that either benefit or burden the world that they live in. The decisions
made will affect different people in different locations for either good or bad – they will also affect different
questlines.

II. Seize the Day will be vastly open-world, separated by regions that feature extensive weather and environmental
systems, unique in each region. A large part of the world is woodland and forests. The world will also be densely
populated with a beautiful and active ecosystem and bustling, technologically-advanced metropoles.

III. Seize the Day shall include a vast array of spectacular monsters, all with unique characteristics that are adapted
to their environments – this will be reflected by their appearances and their traits and abilities.

IV. Seize the Day will have a unique and developed landlord system where the player can purchase, maintain, rent
out, sell or keep properties. Over time, the player can benefit or lose from the ever-growing, ever-expanding
real-time market.

V. Seize the Day shall include detailed weaponry, armoury and accessories that the player can equip their
character. Most items can be purchased, some can be given by completing quests or even discovered.
Purchasing items will only become available when the player reaches a certain level. Some items will have
special traits attached – these items are rarer and will not be available for purchase.

VI. Seize the Day will feature a thought-out looting system whereby the character can benefit from mostly
consumables, with rare drops of weapons, armour and accessories.

VII. Seize the Day will feature jails, prisons and courts for whenever the player breaks the law and is caught.

VIII. Seize the Day will feature a lockpicking system and thieving system that can be improved on by the player over
time by levelling their abilities.

IX. Seize the Day will feature a dynamic 24-hour day and night cycle – some quests and activities will fit around a
specific time of day.

X. Seize the Day will feature an unprecedented gameplay mechanic in the form of a taxing and general upkeep
system, where the player must pay rent, taxes, upgrades to weapons, armours, accessories; maintenance on
weapons, armours and accessories.

XI. Seize the Day will feature the ability to work jobs to earn in-game currency. Each job will have a levelling system
so the player can earn money for completing harder tasks over time.

XII. Seize the Day will feature the ability to marry one or multiple adults of different genders and sexual orientation,
in one or more towns and cities.

XIII. Seize the Day will feature the ability to have children with a partner – adoption and fostering is also an option.

XIV. Seize the Day will feature a form of family management. Good family management will provide buffs for the
player, conversely bad family management will provide debuffs.

XV. Seize the Day will include the ability for the player to create their own character’s appearance and starter traits
– making the experience for the player unique and meaningful.
Player Motivation
• Throughout the entire game, the player will be making decisions that affect their character and the
world around them – the game presents choices that ultimately have varied consequences. This
aspect gives the player a sense of control and responsibility, a desirable feeling within role-playing
games. The parliamentary system gameplay mechanic will be one of the main aspects of making
decisions.

• There is a substantial amount of customisability within the game, allowing the player to create their
own character, equip their preferred weapons, armour and accessories, choosing how they level up
their skills and abilities, as well as choosing their preferred playstyle.

• The game’s core focus is on the story – a story that will be enthralling and captivating from the get-go
and continue to be so throughout. The player will be tested not only with their level of skill, but also
emotionally, as the story will take the player on a journey like no other.

• Exploration plays a big part within the game, giving the player freedom to “go anywhere, do anything”.

• The player will be able to level up their skills and abilities throughout their playthrough, greatly
improving their skillsets in various areas of their character and taking upon more difficult and
challenging quests.

Genre
Seize the Day will be marketed as a Single-Player, Open-World, Action-Adventure Role-Playing game. This
description is justified as the game incorporates combat, story, exploration, customisation, looting and
inventory systems, questing, experience and levelling, character traits and abilities, etc.

Target Customer
Seize the Day is aimed at fans of Role-Playing Games, most notably fans of popular and successful
franchises in that genre, specifically The Elder Scrolls, Fable and Final Fantasy. The game will be primarily
targeted at ages 18-35, and secondarily target ages 35-55. To appeal to both audiences, we will include
adult themes in the game and traditional RPG elements. For our primary audience target and focus, where
we allocate most of our budget, we will market the game through popular social media, specific printed
media (like Game Informer magazine and PC Gamer magazine), specific digital media (like Kotaku, IGN and
Rooster Teeth) and internet gaming personalities.

For our secondary audience target and focus, we will market the game through general billboard media
and general printed media, in gaming stores and general supermarket stores. There may be some older
audiences who interact with other types of media, and vice-versa, but this strategy aims to reach most of
our target customers.

Competition
The current competitors include the aforementioned Elder Scrolls, Fable and Final Fantasy series. It’s
known that there will be a new edition to the Elder Scrolls series, currently titled ‘The Elder Scrolls VI’
which will be made sometime in the near future. There is a rumour that there is a new Fable instalment
coming sometime in the near future too – these will be our direct competitors.

Drawing from current games similar to Seize the Day:

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (TES:V) is one of the most successful games of this generation, with a gripping
and lengthy story rich with lore; a beautiful environment and scenery, as well as a world with a plethora of
unique, interesting content, however – Whilst drawing inspiration from this game, Seize the Day will have
a more robust, fluid combat system that includes melee, weaponry and magic, whereas TES:V’s combat
system sometimes feels slow, groggy and repetitive, despite being expansive with the amount of
weapons, armour and magic the player can use. Furthermore, Seize the Day will have a large variety of
loot and other items and collectibles; something that TES:V lacks in greatly.

Final Fantasy XV (FFXV) is the most recent main instalment in the Final Fantasy series, a series that
focuses deeply on its incredible stories, fun and exhilarating combat systems and scenic, mesmerising
worlds inhabited with a spectacular array of monsters, however – Seize the Day’s environment shall be
more populated with cities, towns, monsters, NPC’s, collectibles and loot. In FFXV, whilst it being open-
world, features only a handful of cities and small outposts across the map. Furthermore, in FFXV, the
story becomes linear in the late-end of its main story. Seize the Day will continually be open-world: “go
anywhere, do anything”.

Fable II is one of the best, if not the best game from the Fable series, known for its quirky British humour,
real-life gameplay mechanics and a fun storyline filled with choices and consequences, however – Seize
the Day will draw from its inspiration and embed a better combat system. Similar to TES:V, Fable II’s
combat system is limited, often repetitive and slow. Seize the Day will be far superior with players able to
establish a fleshed-out playstyle suited to them, something that is hard to do with other titles.
Additionally, Seize the Day will also feature a landlord system, but unlike Fable II’s landlord system, Seize
the Day will be more in-depth with a real-time market so that the player be challenged in managing
properties over a period of time. In Fable II, the character can engage and marry one or more partners, as
well as the ability to produce one or more children. Seize the Day will expand on this by introducing buffs
and debuffs to family management, making it an opportunity for the player to benefit or burden their
gameplay experience. Furthermore, the player will be able to adopt or foster children.

Unique Selling Points

• Seize the Day will be aimed at setting up a dedicated fanbase, so that Seize the Day can be turned
into a series. We will create enough lore to assist in establishing its own gaming universe.
• Seize the Day draws inspiration from the best-selling RPG’s in the market. By fusing popular
gameplay mechanics, Seize the Day will improve on them and modify them to not only suit the world
that we create, but to drastically enhance the player’s experience.
• Seize the Day introduces unprecedented gameplay mechanics centred around politics, coupled with
the player having choices over political and societal situations and scenarios.

Target Hardware
We anticipate that this game will be released on next-gen platforms and PC. It’s understood that new
mainstream consoles will be released in the first three years of the next decade.

Design Goals
• A Stunning, Dynamic World: The player should feel engrossed and riveted when traversing the
environment and always be discovering something new. The player should feel wholly invested into the
stories that will unravel throughout their adventure; and be in awe of the magnificent, fearsome monsters
that stroll across the lands. Every discovery should bring excitement and curiosity.
• Challenge: The player should feel they are being challenged from every aspect of their playthrough,
particularly in the form of combat and player choices. It should remain fun and engaging but have the
player constantly feeling they are in reaching distance of their aims and goals.
• Political Fairness and Balance: The game must ultimately accommodate fair and balanced opinions to both
sides to really challenge the player. Political situations and scenarios cannot be ‘black and white’ per se,
nor can it be ‘good vs bad’. All decisions made in the game must have varied consequences, in the sense
that whatever decision is chosen, there are benefits and burdens. This would always make the player think
and question themselves when reaching significant events during their playthrough. (For example, should
the player vote for an increase of funds for killing dangerous monsters at the expense of cutting the
budget on the military? Well, if the player chooses the former, and it passes through Parliament, then
monster slayers will keep travellers safe, but an invasion could take place from a foreign power, and
because money was stripped from the military, it will make the war significantly more difficult.)
Backstory and Prologue
Synopsis
Seize the Day is set in a renaissance-style, technologically-advanced world that has adopted a
constitutional democracy-esque political system as a means of governing an Empire that has grown
immeasurably from when it just used to be just a Kingdom. The Parliament of the Empire sits in the
Empire’s capital. Despite one thousand years of democracy, it’s quickly being eroded. It’s time for
someone to change the course of history in their own, unique way.
Prologue
In the Britannic Empire, all had seemed calm and seldom. Peace was instilled following the reign of King
Astorian I, where he sought to introduce a new style of ruling: democracy. During this transformative
period, rumours spread of an unknown phenomenon of magic being used, following the Empire’s invasion
of the neighbouring country Griesheim when King Astorian I came to power.

The King’s entourage which led the invasion comprised of the King’s Guild, which he chairs, and
comprises five incredibly powerful people who possess magical capabilities. They are known as ‘The
Founders’. It is these five who assisted the King in the invasion and winning the war with ease. Post-
invasion, His Majesty unveiled them to the general population, presenting them as if they were God-like.
These five individuals were worshipped. Within a year, their statues were erected in the Empire’s capital.

The Founders controlled one state each that was previously owned by Griesheim before it was
conquered. This was their reward for defeating them. King Historian I declared only magic users can
control these five states from there onwards. The Founders’ legacies live on after one thousand years, as
they were best known for representing their people in the Empire’s Parliament, assisting in the building of
a bustling and prosperous Empire, using their magic to increase technological advancement and help
take down monsters and human threats, as well as maintain peace within the realm. Every three years,
elections in each state would occur. Overall, there’s twelve states across the Empire. The general
population would elect fifteen members to represent them alongside the Lord/Lady of the State.

In the Empire, there were twelve lords and ladies, with one hundred and eighty members elected to the
Empire’s Parliament. Parliament is split into ‘The Common House’ where members sit, and ‘The Noble
House’ where lords and ladies sit. The chair of Parliament was the Monarch, and only the Monarch had the
power to approve legislation or scrap the proposed legislation. It was rare for any monarch to reject a Bill.

Democracy flourished as power was slowly being withdrawn from the King’s seat and to the People that
he so serves, but this doesn’t escape the acknowledgement by some that these specially gifted people
have used their powers unethically.

Politics one thousand years later sees a different landscape. Though democracy is still active and
respected, the amount of gossip surrounding improper use of magic has spread through the Empire.
There are several magic guilds, created by the descendants of the King’s Guild; there is unrest in parts of
the Empire, particularly in the five states under the governance of magic users. It’s becoming increasingly
difficult for the people’s voices to be exercised as more and more members neglect democracy and
pursue their own agendas. The current Monarch, King Brandt I, is quite passive when it comes to state
affairs and to please his subjects, he keeps to a quite lenient position.

Additionally, over the past one thousand years, the Royal Family have seen a rapid decline in heirs with
King Brandt I, despite being relatively young, is unable to have children due to a horse-riding incident
when he was younger.

The Parliament must find a new heir soon and they must be a descendant of the Royal Family and able to
harness magic – hopefully, if a new future monarch is found, they can restore the democracy that was
once created over one thousand years ago.