SHORT HORROR GAME
Work in Progress
SUMMARY
Inspired by the game September 1999, an extremely simple horror game that captures the feeling of unease with no gameplay mechanics what so ever, and relies solely on visuals and audio.
I decided to start this small personal project and create a game from start to finish, the basis of the game aims to capture the feeling of unease with added simple game mechanics such as picking up/inspecting items, small puzzles and present a disturbing plot.
Currently everything created within the project is done by myself, working from a design document and creating the fundamentals of the game.
DESIGN
To ensure I know what I want to create and keep track of the goal, I created a design document for the project which can be downloaded here.
The gameplay elements involved are:
Player will be in two states: Interactive menu (static movement with clamped rotation and interaction limited to point and click) and watching a tape (in-game, player will control movement). Rigged animation sequence for transitions in between.
Interactive Menu in world that links to in-game interactions.
The player will access this on launch or when pausing the game.
This can deliver some form of notes to keep track of what has occurred, clues to puzzles/plot and other elements. Examples would be like newspapers appearing on the desk in the menu, sticky notes, letters etc. Below is an example with a notebook where player has picked up a key in-game and when pausing, the notebook has added an entry.
Opening doors.
Basic viewing out of windows (very likely with no interaction/transitions as windows will be masked with heavy rain)
Opening drawers etc
Closing doors – subject to change.
Flashlight – subject to change.
Sprint – subject to change.
Timed exploration/interaction. As player is “watching a tape”, there will be a hidden time element and at the end, the tape will cut and place the player in a different location in the house with changes to environment, date/time stamps and out come of their previous actions.
LEVEL BLOCKOUT
For the level layout, I created the base structure of a ground floor flat apartment and then added the planned interactive items such as doors, drawers, etc.
To ensure an easier workflow, I applied different materials to the blockout meshes for differentiation between assets.
As I plan to have the player placed in different environments during the game depending on their actions, I'm utilizing sub levels then eventually a method of level streaming. The menu environment and critical interactive items are placed in the persistent level, whilst designed areas will have their own sub level.
