Far Frontier

Sihan Ma’s Game Design Document

Week 1 & Week 2

Project Direction

I chose to develop the off-road driving concept and named the game Far Frontier. The design goal is for players to drive across a map, explore and collect supplies, then bring those resources back to upgrade their vehicle and base. This establishes the intended progression loop: explore, gather, return and upgrade.

Vehicle Control and Suspension

I first created the vehicle models and set them up in Unity so that players could drive them, including simulated suspension behaviour. This provided a foundation for exploring how the vehicles respond to different surfaces and obstacles.

Terrain Physics

I created three surface types—hard ground, grass and mud—with different physical properties. Each surface has its own sinking depth, affecting the vehicle’s ability to move through it and its fuel consumption. These differences are intended to make terrain conditions part of the player’s driving decisions.

Vehicle wheels on hard ground during early terrain testing — Hard ground

Vehicle wheels leaving shallow ruts on grass — Grass

Vehicle wheels sinking into deeper muddy ruts — Mud

A Dedicated Test Scene

I built a flat test scene with separate terrain areas and simple obstacles to test the surface physics and vehicle functions. This gave me a controlled space to compare ground conditions and check the suspension before developing a more complex map.

Flat prototype test scene with grass and mud areas, suspension obstacles and driving UI — Test scene for terrain physics, suspension and vehicle functions.

Driving UI and Fuel Systems

I added a speed display and vehicle controls showing systems such as all-wheel drive, the differential lock and the handbrake. These give players clearer information about the vehicle and more ways to manage driving across the map. I also implemented fuel consumption and refuelling systems, introducing fuel management into the prototype.