Progress Update

 Environment Research and Work So Far:

Environment Research:

Killing Floor 2 – Realistic, Apocalyptic, High Tech, Over-the-top.

Element TD2 – Fixed camera-point, Decorative Scenery.

WarThunder – Realistic, Large-scale Battle Environments.

PayDay2 – Semi-Realistic, Environments for Stealth.

Zombie Army Trilogy – Atmospheric, Dark, Horror.

For The King – Hex-based, Map-based, Scenery as Terrain.

Team Fortress 2 – Large-scale Battle Maps, Stylised, Outlandish, Over-the-top.

Risk of Rain 2 – Varying Size Maps, Map for Exploration.

Dawn of War Soulstorm – RTS, Environment as Terrain, Environment as Cover, Different Environment Heights.

Mech Warriors 5 – Realistic, Sci-Fi, Varying-size maps/Relatively smaller Environment Features.

Vermintide 2 – Fantasy, Interactable Environments, Environment as terrain, Dark.

Work So Far: 

Desert Scene: Large-scale Environment inspired by WarThunder and Mech Warriors 5.

Canyon Scene: Small-scale Environment inspired by WarThunder, Team Fortress 2, Mech Warriors 5 and Dawn of War Soulstorm.

Cave Scene: Small-scale Environment inspired by Elderscrolls IV: Oblivion and Vermintide 2.

Mech Game Planning:

Project Name: 'Project: MechGuard'

 

Core Concept: "Shadow of the Colossus, but with Mechs"

A game where teamwork and strategy blend with customisable gameplay.

Potential Game Modes:

Objective - Defence; 

Protect vital assets from waves of progressively harder waves of enemies.

Objective - Delay;

Hold a Zone and prevent too many/all enemies from reaching it. Survive for the indicated time and evacuate.

Objective - Elimination;

Traverse a perilous map whilst managing resources to reach a deadly giant monster and kill it.

Objective - Onslaught;

Survive as long as possible against an endless assault from waves of enemies.

Project Reflection

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

Learning Agreement

'Night Security' Update

 'Night Security' Update

In a previous post I showed the parts of the 'Night Security' that I had modelled, but I have since made some improvements.

For example, the T-Junction Hallway was rather barren previously, but I have since added more to it to bring it to life. 

Before: 

After: 

I have temporarily lit this scene up so the change is clearly visible. Although added in a prior update, the roof is also apparent in this scene in this screenshot. Below is a view of the scene in lighting more accurate to the game's atmosphere.

Rover Game Mechanic Moodboard

 

Mechanics Moodboard

The Rover Game's Game Design Document

Below is a copy of the Game Design Document I have created for the Rover Game me and Moin are working on:

Game Design Document

 

Working Title: ‘The Rover’ or ‘Vivus-Nix-Mundi’

 

Elevator Pitch

We are developing a game very similar to Iron Lung by David Szymanski, wherein the Player is trapped in a claustrophobic rover on a mysterious ice planet. The game is limited to four gameplay loops and a feeling of horror will be created through use of atmosphere and sound design. Taking advantage of the Player’s sense of isolation, we aim to create a sense of both mystery and oppression as the Player tries to survive and learn more about the Planet.

 

Concept:

Genre: First-Person Immersion Horror, Psychological Horror

Target Audience:

Age: 15-30

Gender: Male & Female

 

Theme and Setting:

The Rover is a Psychological Horror game that puts the Player in the role of a Scout Scientist for a Colony Ship, tasked with discovering whether the planet they are on is suitable for colonisation. However, after venturing from their scout ship in an exploration rover, it suffers an engine failure that leaves them stranded (almost) alone during a freak snowstorm. With the rover’s defective and  AI, Dave, as their only company, the Player must try to repair the engine whilst maintaining the rover’s heating system to keep it running and prevent Hypothermia. Additionally, they must monitor the changes outside through the camera feed to observe changes to the planet’s surface and keep an eye on the storm outside. Dave will tell the Player a little about the planet, but it will often be trivial, non-sensical or contradictory in nature, adding to the intrigue. All the while they are juggling these three tasks, the Player can do research to learn more about the mysterious, remote, and forbidding planet, Vivus-Nix-Mundi.

 

Location: The interior of a planetary exploration rover on a planet of ice and snow.

Antagonist/s: Vivus-Nix-Mundi, Dave the AI (to an extent).

 

 

Gameplay:

Gameplay Loop/s (Objectives):

The main gameplay loops will be related to keeping the Player Character alive by: 

Repairing the Engine

Maintaining the Heater

Monitoring the Cameras

There will be an optional side objective to Research Vivus-Nix-Mundi.

 

Game Progression:

The game will progress, with louder, more frequent odd SFX and gradually more bizarre visuals through the camera feeds with each successive repair of the Engine. The Engine must be repaired six times with a five-minute delay before repairing can be continued.

 

Mechanics

Dead By Daylight quick-time event mechanic followed by a “Simon’ Says” minigame to represent the Repair the Engine Objective. It is on a five minute-loop timer and gradually gets more difficult with each successful Engine repair.

     A decreasing bar with requires button-mashing to keep the bar filled as the Maintain the Heater Objective. Is on a 3 minute-loop timer.

     Five Nights at Freddy’s style Camera Feed mechanic

     Pony Island style Programming Minigame to represent the Research Optional Objective.

The game will have realistic Physics.

 

Game Elements:

Story: As outlined under Theme and Setting

Character/s: The Player Character, Dave the AI, and Vivus-Nix-Mundi.

Location: Vivus-Nix-Mundi, a planet of snow.

 

Assets:

·       Rover Components

·       The Engine

·       The Heater

·       The Cockpit Controls

·       The Desks

·       The Monitors

·       The Snow-things

·       Rocks & Mountains

·       Research Terminal Controls

·       Dave the AI

Overview

Project Scope

Budget: UndeterminedMonetisation: N/A

Timeline: N/A

 

Stakeholder

Moin Ahamed

     Tim Shaw

 

 

 

The Rover Game

The Rover Game

As mentioned in my previous update post, I am currently working on a game set inside a planetary exploration rover on a mysterious snowy planet. 

The game takes place on the inhospitable and unfathomable Vivus-Nix-Mundi, a planet of almost endless twilight and bitter cold. The game puts the Player in control of a Scout Scientist in charge of determining whether the planet is suitable for colonisation. They have departed from their Scout ship aboard the 'Warmth of Sol' exploration rover.

The unnamed protagonist however, finds themselves trapped in a snow storm when their Rover's Generator  (pictured below) breaks down, which the Player will have to try to repair through a series of minigames. 

Equally, the Player will have to keep manually maintaining the Heater (pictured below) through another minigame to prevent the cold from freezing them to death.

Another activity the Player must engage in is monitoring the cameras to study the outside environment to see whether the storm is showing signs of stopping.

There is a camera facing to the cockpit's Left (pictured below).

A camera facing to the cockpit's Right (pictured below).

And a camera facing to the cockpit's Rear (pictured below).

Additionally, they can do an optional objective to complete various minigames to research the planet and get more accurate information about it than what the rover's onboard AI, Dave, can provide.

The  Research Terminal (pictured below).

Dave the AI (pictured below/placeholder).

The Game Design Document will be included in my next post.

WORK UPDATE:

Work Update:

It has been a while since I have updated this blog as I have been very busy with numerous projects. I intend to post a more detailed documentation of my work in the next few days, but in this post I'll summarise what I've been doing. 

• Spirit In The Mask; As part of a Metroidvania Game Jam with a team of five people, I have done a lot of research, designed the map, written the narrative and dialogue as well as being responsible for the Environment Design and snagging (checking for faults through QA playtests and amending them).

• Night Security; Continuing on with my Horror game project, I have added decals to walls and populated more of the rooms I have previously modelled. After completing the Bathrooms and the Janitor Cupboard, my next goal is to include some more gameplay mechanics (such as the jobs list, the Investigate option .etc) as well as modelling the last few spaces and populate them. After doing this, I can incorporate ambience directly into the project (ambience has been external at this time) and start working on the rest of the gameplay aspects, such as the enemy mechanics and in-game events.

• The Rover Game; With my friend and Game Design colleague, Moin, I am creating a Sci-Fi Survival Horror game set entirely in a small Rover. The game will involve the Player trying to repair their Rover's generator whilst manually restarting the heater to prevent them from freezing to death. They can do a research minigame that will provide them more lore about the snowy planet they are on and will influence the ending of the game. The Player will also be able to look at their surroundings through the Rover's cockpit as well as the three cameras on the Rover's exterior (they may be panning cameras). Most of the Horror will come from sound design, but some visual Horror will be utilised. At the moment we have the outer Environment modelled and the rover itself is modelled, with its interior in the process of being finalised; Moin is modelling the internal assets that the Player will interact with.