Game Concept Design Document

UNDER THE WOOL

The Human Beneath the Fleece

Your survival depends less on the meat you sell than on the integrity of your costume, your scent and your movements. But the real goal lies elsewhere: Homotopia.

🎮 Co-op Psychological Horror
🏪 Endless Shift & Black Market Sim
🌙 Night Facility Exploration (Stealth)
❤️ Emotional Bond & Medicine Mechanic
🏙️ Motivation: The Journey to Homotopia
👥 1 - 4 Players

The Radio Signal: The Homotopia Pact

The game opens with a cinematic intro told through manga-style comic panels: on a silent night, the player hears a signal from an old radio in the hut. The signal tells of the pact signed between humans and animals long ago: HOMOTOPIA — a city belonging to humans, where animals will never set foot. From this, the player’s true goal is born: build the farm and market, earn money from the market, and reach Homotopia.

📻

🔊 The Radio Signal

In the dead of night, while silence rules the facility and the hut, a crackle rises from the radio. The voice behind the static whispers the last hope of the world: Homotopia.

🤝 The Human & Animal Pact

Years ago, both sides signed a pact: animals will never enter the city, and humans will live within it. In this world animals now stand upright — they talk, trade and feed on human flesh, while we hide beneath sheep fleece. The name of this pact is HOMOTOPIA (working title: Homospein).

🎯 Our Gameplay Goal

Build the farm and the market, sell your goods, save every coin. Long-term goal: earn the right to pass through the gates of Homotopia. Every shift is one step closer to that gate.

UNDER THE WOOL giriş storyboard paneli
CHAPTER 01 / 06 THE SIGNAL
Panel 1
CHAPTER 01 — THE SIGNAL

📻 Radio Static

On a silent night, the radio in the hut in the middle of the field suddenly begins to crackle. One word cuts through the static: “Homotopia…”

Panel 2
CHAPTER 02 — THE PACT

🤝 Human & Animal Pact

“Years ago, humans and animals signed a pact: HOMOTOPIA.” The voice on the radio begins to tell of the world’s last hope.

Panel 3
CHAPTER 03 — HOMOTOPIA

🏙️ The City of Humans

“By the pact, animals will never set foot in the city. Homotopia will be a city belonging only to humans.” The city lies far away, sacred.

Panel 4
CHAPTER 04 — FARM & MARKET

🏡 Farm & Market

“Our story begins there too: first a farm… then a small market. We built it with our bare hands.”

Panel 5
CHAPTER 05 — EARNINGS

💰 Market Sales

“Every coin we earn from the market brings us one step closer to that city. Every sale is an installment on a dream.”

Panel 6
CHAPTER 06 — THE GOAL

🛤️ The Journey

“Our goal is clear: to pass through the gates of Homotopia. That is why we work, that is why we endure. Everyone who hears the signal sets out.”

📜

THE HOMOTOPIA PACT — Official Terms

DOCUMENT NO: HT-001
Article 1 — The BorderAnimal entry into the city is strictly forbidden. Identity and scent checks are conducted at the border gate.
Article 2 — Living SpaceHumans live inside the city, animals outside. The separation is the guarantee of peace.
Article 3 — TradeAll trade takes place only in the market zone at the border gate. That is exactly where our market stands.
Article 4 — MembershipThe side that breaks the pact forfeits its right to city membership. Trust is the only and most valuable currency.

The Sheep Mask — 5-Form Breakdown Model

The mask that hides the human beneath the fleece wears down over time and splits into 5 distinct breakdown forms. The technical sheet is drawn in alignment: top row FRONT VIEW, bottom row BACK VIEW. Each form represents the mask’s damage level and the corresponding threat stage in the game system.

Kuzu maskesi 5 form kırılma modeli — ön yüz üstte, arka yüz altta, aynı hizada
FRONT VIEWF1 → F5BREAKDOWN MODEL
BACK VIEWTOP: FRONT | BOTTOM: BACK — aligned
Maske formu — ön üstte, arka altta, aynı hizada
TOP: FRONT | BOTTOM: BACK — aligned
FORM 01 / 05 — BREAKDOWN MODEL

🟢 INTACT / NEW

The mask is freshly sewn; the wool surface is glossy and dense. Stitches are pristine; scent leakage is zero. Customers greet you as “sheep sibling” without a trace of suspicion.

COSTUME HEALTH%100 – %80
0%25%50%75%100%
1. STABLE
  • Scent Leak: None — zero leakage
  • Customer Behavior: Calm shopping
  • Dialogue: “Your fleece looks lovely today, sheep sibling.”
  • Repair Needed: None
💡 Technical Note: In the modeling file, the front and back faces are aligned on the same UV plane — back face below, front face on top. This way the in-game damage system (Damage Point + Scent Leak) updates both faces together; a single form change swaps both faces to the new form simultaneously. A player reaching Form 5 falls into the “PREY” stage.

Why “Under the Wool”?

Under the Wool

Metaphorical & Psychological Depth: “Under the Wool” inverts the English idiom “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” It symbolizes the “helpless human” hiding beneath a sheep’s fleece to survive among monsters.

Mechanical Emphasis: It directly references the mechanics of wearing the costume, stitching it, masking your scent, and keeping human body language hidden beneath the fleece.

A New Layer of Meaning: The human beneath the fleece is, in fact, a traveler trying to reach Homotopia — every stitch, every shift is a part of the road to that city.

Core Concept & The Endless Loop

☠️ The World & Our Goal

You live in a world ruled by mutant creatures that feed on human flesh. Animals stand upright, walk and talk like humans — and you are the last humans hiding beneath sheep fleece.

There Is No Escape in This Game! The goal is not to flee the facility; it is to survive the endless shift loop by filling quotas, raiding the night black market for medicine and gear, and moving the shop into ever harsher sub-sectors — until you save enough for the gates of Homotopia.

🎭 Core Rules

  • The Mask Is Life: A torn costume means your scent leaks out.
  • Watch the Wind: The ventilation fans can blow the scent of blood and humans toward the customers.
  • Body Language: Running like a human raises suspicion; match the rhythm of the herd.
  • Protect the One in the Shelter: Never miss your sibling’s medicine in the back room!

The Dynamic Shift Loop

Phase 01 // Day
Butchering & Preparation

Process the shipments, prepare the meat. Sew up costume tears and set up the air-cleaning spray systems.

Cargo ProcessingCostume RepairHygiene
Phase 02 // Work Hours
Market & Sales

Open the shutters! Sell meat to the animals at the counter — your customers are sheep, goats and members of the herd. Don't make noise into the mic, hold your breath, and do the "Sheep Act." Every coin earned goes into the Homotopia fund.

OrdersBreath HoldingRhythm Mimicry
Phase 03 // Night Exploration
Black Market & Medicine Hunt

After the shutters close, sneak through the facility. Hide from the patrol robots and gather medicine and contraband gear for your sibling.

Stealth ExplorationBlack Market NPCGene Serum
Phase 04 // End of Day
Quota & Crisis Management

Meet the weekly sales quota. Balance the money between shop upgrades, your sibling’s medicine, and the Homotopia passage right.

BookkeepingMedicine InjectionSector Jump

Deepened Gameplay Systems

💨 Ventilation & Wind Direction

The airflow inside the facility is unpredictable. Scent from a torn costume drifts toward whichever customers lie downwind. Manually adjusting the fan ducts is vital.

🎙️ Proximity Voice & Breath Holding

Your microphone is integrated into the game. When a customer approaches the counter, hold a key to trigger the “Hold Breath” mechanic. Wait too long and your character suddenly coughs, drawing suspicion!

🐑 Body Language & Rhythm (The Sheep Act)

Customers notice players who walk or hop too much like a human. In moments of suspicion, hit the rhythm keys to nod like an animal and mimic the herd’s mindless movements.

🌙 Night Shift: Black Market & Contraband Hunt

When the shutters close you can sleep in your safe room — or sneak into the facility at night. The night run isn’t about escaping; it’s about passing through the hidden vents without being caught by the patrolling “Cleaning Robots,” finding the Black Market NPC, and buying the contraband sprays, silenced nail guns, and Gene Suppressor Serums for your sibling. The black marketeer is also the only source of the Homotopia passage permit.

Costume Integrity & Scent Meter

🧪 Live Costume & Scent Simulator

Use the slider to change your costume’s wear level and test how NPC customers react, along with the scent leakage status:

COSTUME HEALTH (DURABILITY)100%
THREAT STAGE
1. STABLE
SCENT LEAK
None (Zero Leakage)
CUSTOMER REACTION
They shop calmly; there is no suspicion at all.
💬 Customer Entity: “Your fleece looks lovely today, sheep sibling — give me 2 kilos of steak.”
StageCostume HealthScent LeakCustomer Behavior & Sample Dialogue
badge1 %80 - %100 None (Zero Leakage) Normal shopping. “Your fleece looks lovely today.”
badge2 %50 - %80 Light Leak Approaches the counter and sniffs. “There’s a strange smell here… you don’t smell like a sheep…”
badge3 %20 - %50 Heavy Dangerous Leak Turns aggressive and threatens. “What’s under that costume? You’re even wilder than us!”
badge4 %0 - %20 Irresistible Human Scent! Instant mass attack! Customers leap over the counter to eat you alive.
🐐 Co-op Betrayal: “The Scapegoat”

A player whose costume is completely torn and reeking of human scent can be shoved outside the shutters and fed to the customers by the other 3 players to save the shop! While the customers are busy with them, the shutters are closed.

Progression & Black Market Upgrades

🌀 Steerable Powerful Fans

Redirects blood and human scent away from the customer counter and into the ventilation.

🛡️ Steel Hydraulic Shutters

Instantly seals the shop against customer attacks and buys you time.

🧪 Automatic Decontamination Booth

Instantly neutralizes the scent of blood on a player leaving the slaughterhouse.

🧵 Invisible Steel Threads

Special threads from the black market make repair stitching 100% faster.

💨 Night Ventilation Keys

Lets you slip into hidden areas at night without being caught by patrol robots.

😷 Chemical Scent Bomb

Thrown onto the counter in an emergency; suppresses all human scent in the area for 30 seconds.

🪡 Acrobatic Tailor

Can stitch the tears on teammates’ backs even while moving.

🫁 Deep Lungs (Breath Control)

Doubles breath-holding time when customers approach the counter.

🎭 Herd Mimicry Master

Lowers suspicion much faster while performing sheep/animal mimicry moves.

Personal Shelter & Sibling Mechanic

❤️ The Humanity Beneath the Fleece: The Child in the Shared Shelter

The child hidden in the secret shelter behind the shop is a shared responsibility the 4-player team must protect. To avoid breaking the gameplay rhythm, players are kept from constantly going back and forth to the room; tracking and interaction are built entirely around “End-of-Shift Decisions” and “Remote Bio-Observation.” Taking good care of the child is the only path of conscience that leads to Homotopia.

🖥️ In-Counter Bio-Monitor

During work hours, players track the child’s pulse and mutation level (100%–0%) in real time on the small digital screen by the counter. No need to enter the room mid-shift.

⏳ End-of-Shift Medicine Decision

The room is only entered at the end of the day (when the shutters close). The team decides whether to spend its shared earnings on the expensive high-quality dose from the black market or the cheap temporary one.

⚡ Audible Warning & Ventilation Crisis

If the medicine is late, the door won’t open; the child starts coughing through the vents. This fills the suspicion bar of the customers at the counter and forces the players to end the shift quickly.

⚙️ Technical & Optimization Architecture (Network & Performance):

Occlusion Culling: The child and the shelter room are only rendered when the door opens at the end of the day — no CPU/GPU load otherwise.
State-Based Sync: Only the child’s status percentage (float) and crisis state (enum) are sent from server to clients. It never burdens network bandwidth.