Embedded Files
• Game Plan
• Overview
My game is going to be a escape the room based game with moderate horror aspects, its going to have light and sanity based mechanics that will play into each other to provide a sense of urgency. I have three idea of where to set the game, in a mansion, a school and an abstract nightmare. For this vertical slice the game will be over if the character get caught by the entity, but in the full release it would have more intricate way of causing a game over. Also instead of creating a whole mansion for this example, a smaller house layout will be implemented instead.
• Game setting/Colour palette
• Mansion Idea
The mansion idea would allow for a variety of rooms that would be able to challenge the player while still being somewhat grounded in reality. It would also allow for the implementation of "flashbacks" based on the character home life and family, it could also be an excuse to have "important lore" items distributed through each room. The demon could also take advantage of "bad memories" associated with home (abandonment, bad parent(s), punishments ext.).
As for the the colour palette of said choice, I have a couple below, I would prefer the more colourful and stylized themes colours of "set A" compeered to "Set B". The reason for this being the age rating I'm going for is PEGI 7, I believe having a more vibrant and varied colour scheme would be more appropriate and eye catching.
• School Idea
The idea of setting it in a school could allow the demon to take advantage of the "negative memory's" associated with a school (bullying, feeling left out, falling behind ext.) This environment also allows for the implementation of things based on other characters and there relation to the main character, without it feeling forced.
• Abstract Nightmare Idea
The idea of an abstract nightmare lets the game merge what would normally be several different environments, this also prevents the multiple environments breaking immersion as dreams aren't meant to be cohesive. This would also allow the entity to randomly switch between "maps" to disorient the player, not only that but progression could require this happening as to give it more emphasis in the game.
• Chosen idea
The chosen idea will be the Mansion idea as the fear of the dark works more in the setting of a home, however for this example it will probably be scaled back to a small house for time reasons. It also is more in theme with what I have planned for the game in the long run, with several ideas that would feel out of place otherwise. I could have chosen the "abstract nightmare" idea but couldn't think of any way to do that justice in the limited time we have.
• Game map
• Overview
The games vertical slice will take place over two floor of a house, and will involve finding two keys, a flashlight and several batteries. the house layout will be a basic version of a house but much smaller then the final result and contain much less interactive elements. Several doors will be available but only a couple will actually open to the player, this is to make the map seem bigger as it could be expanded on into a full game later down the line.
• Map Layout
The following are a layout for the map I am planning on using for the game for the vertical slice, it might not be the same size as the end game but it contains everything required to give a feeling for the actual game.
This map contains several doors that aren't openable in the current build this is to make the level more believable as a house but I don't have enough time to build the base for a whole house in the time given.
• Ground floor.
The ground floor contains several areas of interest, most importantly the lounge, dining room and office. The lounge and dining room and lounge might contain batteries to help power the flashlight are more there to give the player areas to get distance between them and the entity allowing them to out run it. The office on the other hand contains one of the games "key items", being the key for the guest room on the first floor as well as batteries for the flashlight hidden elsewhere in the room.
• First Floor
The first floor contains the rooms "your bedroom", the guest bedroom and a unnamed hallway. "Your bedroom" contains its own key, this is where the game starts and the door is locked until you get the key. The guest bedroom also starts locked and need to be entered to get the flashlight.
• Design Ideas for main room
Following are a couple had drawn images of the concept I had for the layout of the lounge on the first floor, was fully intending to make a concept art with actual models in place of the "placeholders". But with how little time we actually got to do this unit (we only got given the unit several months after it was supposed to start) compared to how much there was to do, some things had to be cut or I wouldn't have anything to show for the "end" result....
The following images where made to give rough idea what the "blueprints" in the lounge where meant to be, my skills are not in 2D design so I'm not used to making concepts this way.
• Vertical slice gameplay
• Primary gameplay idea (game mechanics)
The game will start with you in "your room" on the first floor, you will have to find the key to exit. The game will then let you explore the house freely, noting that the other doors on the floor are locked. you will also note that the other rooms are named "mums and dads room" and "guest room". The only area available to go will be downstairs, most doors will be locked except for the office door (ground floor) inside will be the key to the guest bedroom on the first floor. Once you get the key this will cause the entity to spawn and the lights to go out. The aim will then shift to getting the flashlight from the guest bedroom and using it on the entity, this along with the batteries will be necessary to beat it.
• Game loops involved
A gameplay loop is usually defined as a set of actions required in a game to move the plot and/or gameplay along, these can either be one off loops such as the games main story loop or repeatable events such as finding key items. For this version of the game the main loop will be avoiding getting caught by an entity while finding a light to fight it. There is also secondary loops of finding batteries for the flashlight and keys to unlock doors. There will also be a game over screen if caught, this will be explained below along with the "keys" and "lights".
• Light
In my game (demo/vertical slice) there will be several main light sources in the house, after a while they will go out when the main entity shows up. The main entity will show up in the office once you get the spare bedroom key, you will then have to leave and find the key to the guest bedroom where the flashlight is. You would have to get the monster git by the flash light to stun it, and if hit multiple times to get rind of it. (there would be a more creative/involved way to get rid of it in the full game.)
• Keys and locks.
There will be two locked doors in the vertical slice, there would be more in the actual game but again this is due to limited time. The first will be when you start in the game, you will start locked in your room and have to find the key on the table to exit. The next key will be hidden downstairs and in the office and will be used in the spare bedroom upstairs.
• Game Over screen
There will be a game over screen that appears if you are caught by the entity in the game, this will only be for the vertical slice of the game and would be sanity related in the full release. The game over screen will have a restart and exit button and a basic background of one of the rooms in the house with a flashlight on the floor aimed at the game over sign.
https://gamecloud.net.au/featured/luigis-mansion-retrospective-review
https://www.giantbomb.com/luigis-mansion/3030-10996/images/
https://residentevil.fandom.com/wiki/Spencer_Mansion
https://monster.fandom.com/wiki/Spencer_Mansion#
https://www.silenthillmemories.net/sh1/walkthrough_02_midwich_elementary_school_en.htm
https://phasmophobia.fandom.com/wiki/Brownstone_High_School?file=Bone_brownstone_classroom.png
https://silenthill.fandom.com/wiki/Midwich_Elementary_School?file=HeatherClassroom.jpg
https://www.aroged.com/2023/08/24/gylt-im-test-ps5/
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/nights-journey-of-dreams-update/1100-6183300/
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/have-you-played-among-the-sleep
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