The morality test - Development start.

The development stages of the morality test has begun. In this blog post i will outline the overall development pipeline along with the overall concept of the game, as the overall concept has changed quite alot during planning.

Basic Development pipeline:

• Basic mechanics being implemented.

• Prototype 1.

• Publishing and playtesting prototype.

• Futher development and polish.

• Continue creating prototypes and polishing until a vertical slice has been created.

• Spend more time play-testing and bug-fixing.

• Continue development until entire gameplay loop and all mechanics have been implemented.

• Publish pre-release/demo of most finished build on Itch.

• Final polish and bug-fixing before publishing final version on steam and Itch.io.

This is the basic pipeline i am going to be using for the development of this project. I am using the Agile development model for this project as i believe it is the best method to use when being a solo developer working on a small game.

Project overview and changes:

During planning i changed what i aimed to do with this project mulitple times. Originally this project was going to be a psychological horror. However, I believe with the gameplay loop i have in mind, a more open-ended branching-path game would be the best possible route to take. The game i believe will be closest in terms of gameplay loop will be The Stanley Parable.

The basic premise of the game, is that you are a man going to an institute that specialises in mental health and psychology. The player has issues with their mental health, however those issues are never directly stated towards the player, but should be inferred by gameplay, encouraging players to look more into the game and narrative, while also making them question the legitimacy of the protagonists point-of-view. A narrator will be present throughout the game, with the narrator providing insight into the questions along with helping the player move through the game. I am for the general feel of the narrator to be quite comedic and comforting. However, depending on the route the player takes, the narrator can change his tone and the way he speaks towards the player.

The player will progress through the game by interacting with the world around them, specifically through buttons and sometimes objects. Questions will sometimes be in the form of written questions, but can also be images and scenarios, in which the player is given multiple choices. The player can also choose not to answer, however, no answer will count towards the default route.

The route the player goes on is based on the answers the player gives, each answer will give points towards certain routes, if certain thresholds are met, the route will become avaliable, the player can sometimes still avoid the route if they wish, such as the space and time route, however, others will be locked into place.

The current gameplay routes the player can take:

• Default - this is the normal route for the player to take if they do everything "Correctly, such as follow the instructions and not take any other paths." The default route will also be the only route avaliable in the first playthrough, once the player completes the default route the other routes unlock, this is so the player can get a basic idea on what they must do, in the first playthrough, no matter the answers the player provides, they will only get the default ending. The default route is still possible, however the answers the player picks will now matter.

• Psychological horror - The original  and only route i planned on having in the game. This will be a complete 180 in terms of atmosphere compared to the default route, with audio, narrator and choices the player will have to make becoming much darker and psychological. The overall aim though, will be to create a lasting impression on the player, both in terms of effective horror, and the philisopical and psychological questions it may cause.

• Space and time - The space and time route will occur when the player answers specific questions that causes a door to arrive randomly and out of place in a specific room when they get their. This route has not been fully planned, however, it will cause the world you entire to be different, with breaks in reality and strange and absurd visuals and places for the player to explore. This route will give a sense of existential dread/Awe.

• Philisophical - This route will be similar in apperance to the default route, however the narrator and the questions/scenarios given towards the player will be different. The aims of this route is to make the player want to ask questions, question their own thoughts and beliefs and create a long-lasting experience.

• Insanity - This will be one of the most difficult routes for the player to achieve, it will only occur if the player picks the worst possible answer at every outcome. 

• Lost - This route will occur if the player doesn't do what the narrator wants them to do, this may not be implemented, depending on how i fully implement the gameplay loop.

• Leave - This route will occur when the player leaves, instead of going through the door that starts the game.

Changes in planning.

While i have outlined the main changes in the gameplay loop above, another major change i made was in how the level was going to be formed. Originally i was planning on only ever having 2 rooms, the question room and the corridor. However, this will be extremely difficult and time-consuming to get it to work, it may also cause major performance issues having to constantly change meshes and load in new objects. So i've decided to change it to rooms connected through door teleportation.

Another method i was thinking of using, and haven't fully ruled-out is the use of room generation, for example if the player has the points for the pychological horror route, the next room spawning in will be the psychological horror room 1, however, this could cause issues with objects spawning, the player falling, performance and could be extremely time-consuming. However, if development goes smoothly i may try implementing it on a small-scale to test the feasability of it.

Logo creation

I have decided to create a logo for the game to get the overall colour scheme and feel i want the game to portray. It is also useful for both in-engine when testing builds and for blogs posts to differentiate them. The logo is visible below and on the link to the blog-post.

Next post

The next post will likely be when the basic gameplay loop has been developed, however, this may change depending on speed of development and if any changes occur.