Michael L'Abbe

Great Emu War

Shooter designed to parody the grittiness found in most first person shooters by applying it to a ridiculous overarching plot which has its roots in historical accuracy.

By: Mac L’Abbè

• Platform: PC

• Controls:

  • WASD-Move

  • Left Mouse Button-Fire weapon/attack

  • Shift-Sprint

  • Left Ctrl-Crouch

  • R-Reload

  • 1, 2, 3-Switch weapon

  • Space-Jump

• Setting: Western Australia 1932, encompassing the time of the Great Emu War

• Historical Background (actual history):

  • Great depression effecting the whole world

  • Many British and Australians who severed in the WWI ended up living in Australia after WWI as farmers

  • Farmers were encouraged by the government to grow wheat in exchange for financial help

  • Around harvest time 20,000 Emus migrated into the area. They destroyed crops and the rabbit proof fences, allowing rabbits to eat the remaining crops

  • The Farmers met with the Minister of defense to request their deployment against the Emus convinced that the effectiveness of the machine guns they had used in WWI would transfer to Emus. The Minister seeing is as a way to aid the veterans agreed.

  • Major G. P. W. Meredith of the seventh Heavy Battery of Royal Australian Artillery was in command

  • “The machine gunner’s dreams of point blank fire into a serried masses of emus were soon dissipated. The emu command had evidently ordered guerrilla tactics, and its unwieldly army soon split up innumerable small units that made use of the military equipment uneconomic. A crestfallen force, their force withdrew from the combat area after a month.”

  • After the army was recalled a bounty remained for people to kill the emus on their own

  • Despite pleas from the people the army was not sent in again

• At key points, such as the introduction and between levels, there will be narration. The narration will be in a grizzled macho voice

• Introduction (at first over a map of Australia, then to a landscape of the emptiness, finally to a farmers field of wheat close to harvest): After the Great War many soldiers longing for quiet lives headed for the emptiness of Australia’s plans to take up farming. It wasn’t easy at first but they adapted enjoying the peace and making a life for themselves. They did well enough, until the effects of the world economic downturn that would later become known as the Great Depression hit Australia. In exchange for financial help many farmers agreed to plant wheat in the growing season of 1932.

• Once the introduction has finished the player takes control on the farm that was the last visual in the introduction. This will act as a movement tutorial for the player as he will walk around the farm checking his crops. Once the familiarity with the controls has been established a rising dust cloud will be seen from the distance. Obvious alarm will be heard from the player as the game has him run to the house and grab his rifle, pistol, and knife. This will allow the play to experience a combat tutorial. The emus will arrive on the property and begin destroying fences and eating the wheat. The player will run outside and fire the rifle from the porch, then, when his ammo is exhausted, the player will have to run closer and start firing with his pistol, once the player is, again, out of ammo he’ll advance with his knife. At this point attention will be drawn to the health bar and after a few knife kills the player will be knocked unconscious by an emu. The screen will go dark and come back up for a moment to see the destruction before another voice over section.

• Narration (starting with images of the destruction wrought by the emus eventually moving to the Minister of defense’s office and finally to the location of the first level): And then all hell broke loose. Right before the harvest thousands of emus migrated into the area. Destroying the livelihood of most farmers by destroying the crops themselves or by destroying fences to let rabbits eat the crops. The veterans had no choice. The picked up their weapons and Went to speak with the minister of defense. “Send us against the emus” they’d say. After the Minister conceded those who were willing were sent to prepare for the campaign under the command of G. P. W. Meredith of the Seventh Heavy Battery of the Royal Australian Artillery. In addition to the soldiers personal arms two Lewis Automatic Machine guns were brought due to the belief that the effectiveness of the Machine gun during the first Great War would translate to the Campaign against the Emus.

• The level will open in the Australian wilds. The Commander barking orders at the player to set up the machine gun and prepare for the Emu’s attack. After the gun is set up the player is tasked with manning the machine gun while the emus attack. It soon becomes clear that the emus can take multiple rounds without dying. This in addition to the fact that the Emus are swift and operate in small groups forces the player to leave the less maneuverable machine gun in favor of the maneuverability of their other weapons. Eventually the order will come to retreat and the player will have to retreat while trying not to be killed by the oncoming emus

• Narration (Starting with images of the retreat, shift to the advancing emus in small groups, and eventually switch to the forest where the next level will take place): “The machine gunner’s dreams of point blank fire into a serried masses of emus were soon dissipated. The emu command had evidently ordered guerrilla tactics, and its unwieldly army soon split up innumerable small units that made use of the military equipment uneconomic.”

• The level will start in a forest where the player will hear the commander state that the emus have proved too agile for the machine gunners to keep up with. Thus the machine guns will definitely not be used in the heavily wooded forest. The commander will also say brief the player that emus make their homes in wooded areas, that this will be a strike at the emus homes be prepared for heavy resistance. The player will have to fight through the forest looking for Emu nests. Once found they will destroy the nest and any eggs inside.

• Narration (Starting on the view of destroyed nests in the forests, moving to angry people in the street, and finishing on an area similar to the farm in the first level but lacking the actual farm): A successful push against the emu menace came too late. The campaign had grown unpopular with the people seeing our efforts as a drain on the governments funding. Even our own media correspondent could not sway the public opinion. The Australian authorities ended our charge against the emus choosing instead to pay a bounty for every emu killed. Many still hunt thru the Australian wilderness, with the crops gone this is the only way to make a living.

• There will be there final stages. One in the plains, one in the woods and one on the farm. In each of the stages the player will have only one health bar (life). In the first two stages each emu killed will add to a counter of money. This money will be used at the beginning of the final stage to improve the player’s farm, weapons, and purchase some previsions. These can be fences and barricades around the house, upgrades to the player’s weapons to make emu killing more efficient, and extra ammo or health that can be placed around the property to use during the fight. Once the player finishes their fortifications the last level will start. There will be waves of emus to attack the farm and can break the player’s fortifications. Any death will trigger the final narration. However clearing the fifth wave will unlock an endless mode.

• Final Narration (over credits): just because the troops were withdrawn doesn’t mean that the emus stopped coming over the next months and even years people would band together to try and persuade the government to send the troops back in, to no avail. The men who fought in the Great Emu war suffer the most humiliating defeat of their careers and to this day most of the world does not know of the this great war.

• Endless mode: the player may choose one of three maps with endless mode: the plains, forest or farm. The plains and forest will be a one life thing. However the farm will play similarly to the final level: the player will start with some money to make fortifications and purchase upgrades and supplies and after that the waves will start. The major difference will be that each emu killed will add money and the will be steadily decreasing time between rounds to use it (first round 30 seconds, second round 25… until the reach 5 seconds). The player can use money during the round but the game will not pause to upgrade.

• Levels can be replayed after the game is over. The levels are different chapters so after they are played through once they can be replayed. The three final levels are one chapter.

• There will be controls to jump and crouch as well as standard movement and shooting

• There are no controls dealing with cover you must be strategic enough to put barriers between yourself and opponents    

• Emus are very agile and quick moving and will take multiple shots to bring down. Head shots will do more damage