Project Reflection
In this post I am reflecting on my past two projects. In a later post I will share my best piece of work from a group project I worked on.
Introduction:
As part of my Learning Agreement, I intended to investigate how a Horror game can be made eschewing the gore and jump-scares common to the genre in place of more psychological Horror. This would be achieved through using familiar Architectural forms (e.g. the Stairs, the Hallway .etc) as well as Liminal Space. I determined that using realism would yield greater results in an achieving this. I also hoped to experiment with Atmospheric Ambiguity and Environmental Story-Telling.
Project 1: 'Night Security'
'Night Security' was a game that put the Player in control of a lone Night Security Guard as they patrolled the empty rooms and corridors of a run-down Shopping Centre. I approached this project with the intention of creating a full game, but in the end this proved too much and the scope/ideas were too ambitious from the start. As such some parts of the map were unfinished, others were more empty than intended and features such as Sound Design (e.g. ambience and the voice over the phone from a guard stationed outside the Shopping Centre .etc) and Mechanics (e.g. charging the Torch, a checklist of things to do and investigating objects on the map .etc) ended up unimplemented due to time constraints and lack of familiarity with Blueprinting.
Despite being incomplete, I had enough content to achieve my primary goals; through creating long hallways and dark, spiralling stairs, I used Architecture that the Players would be familiar with to make a reasonably realistic Environment and made use of Liminal Space to create uncanniness. The three Play-Testers (some of my colleagues in studio) I had play my prototype reported of feeling discomfort as they explored and showed signs of trepidation when traversing hallways and turning around corners. This suggests two things; firstly, that I have successfully created an Environment that has it's own Atmosphere and secondly, that it has a sense of Atmospheric Ambiguity wherein they could not determine their avatars safety. I feel that the realism played a part in achieving this and I have achieved my primary goals of creating a psychologically-impactful game-space. In terms of Environmental Story-Telling, I did create some scenes with an inkling of backstory, such as the Security Office with it's corkboard of missing people and the bloodied knife secreted in the Long Lobby. I do however feel that I could have done a better job with this as I feel I could have had a determined a backstory/stories for a bunch of assets in each room.
Conclusion:
Overall, with this project I successfully met my goals by curating an Environment with Atmospheric Ambiguity that made use of Liminal Space and familiar Architecture to create effective psychological Horror; even if I did not make the product I had initially intended. I also experimented a little with Environmental Story-Telling.
Project 2: 'Vivus-Nix-Mundi' or 'The Rover Game'
'Vivus-Nix-Mundi' was another game that was never completed due to scope and the other commitments of a colleague I worked on this product with. Translating from Latin as "The Living Snow of the World", the Rover Game put the Player alone on a planetary exploration rover on a strange and snowy alien planet. The game was to feature a few minigames (unimplemented) to simulate certain tasks such as repairing the Engine, maintaining the Heater, researching the planet and looking through the camera system. It was intended that as the Player made progress with the tasks, their external Environment, the snowy plains visible from the rover's cockpit and cameras, would gradually begin to get stranger as large shapes and figures would emerge from the snow as if it was coming alive as the planet grew more hostile to the Player. There was also the plan for three possible endings (one Lose Condition and two Win Conditions) with the former being a 'Freezing' Mechanic whereby if the player gets too cold, they would lose and the latter ones were for winning by repairing the rover or repairing the rover and learning that the planet is alive.
As this game was very much based off the 'Iron Lung' formula of confining the Player and limiting their interactions with their immediate Environment to allow for more focus on the narrative and outer Environment, this games Environmental Design was completed fairly easily, although the game feels like a shell without the necessary Mechanics. Although it is merely an Environment, I feel confident that it would lend itself to a more psychological approach to Horror, although it admittedly does not feature what I would define as familiar Architecture or Liminal Space per se. That said, I feel that there is a real sense of Atmosphere created by the Environments within and without as well as there being a fair bit of Environmental Story-Telling form the sense of 'Place' created.
Conclusion:
There is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer. The Environment is there, but without further content, it cannot be determined if it will produce Atmospheric Ambiguity other than maybe the Player not knowing what could happen to them. I did not make use of Liminal Space and familiar Architecture but could still create effective psychological Horror. I feel so far that there is sufficient Environmental Story-Telling, but the game needs actual Story-Telling to further the narrative. To sum up, I would say this is neither a success or a failure to achieve the primary goals, as for that, time will tell when the project is further developed.
Commentary:
For these two projects, I feel I have learned a lot about creating effective psychological Horror, game Environments and Atmosphere. I have also determined that it is in Environmental Design in which my interest lies and I shall therefore refrain from delving too deep into Level Design and will focus my effort towards learning skill necessary for Environmental Design, such as modelling/sculpting, creating textures and curating scenes. I will also be sure to maintain the discipline necessary to avoid scope-creep and over-ambitiousness in my future endeavours.
- Tim
