Hi! 

I know I haven't updated this blog in a couple of weeks, but things have been pretty crazy. Nevertheless, I have been working vigilantly at completing my game! Night one is now complete, and I am proud to announce the title of the game:

"Are You With Me?"

What could it mean?! I guess you'll have to play it to find out ;)

Today I wanted to talk a little about my design philosophy with the game, and how I am planning on creating a cohesive story and experience with very little resources and budget. 

My first point is: This game is being built largely through paid assets. I am not a great modeller by any stretch of the imagination, so many elements are drawn from assets. Everything surrounding these assets is designed purely by me! My philosophy in designing Day 1 was essentially building levels and corridors, and then evolving gameplay from the flow of the map. I've also found success in combining elements from different assets, and placing my own spin on them to create a new 'thing'. My biggest example of this is by adapting an existing enemy into a new one through a few small design changes: placing something over their heads, giving them a weapon, new animations and sounds. It greatly reduces my workload, while still making an original creation. Writing these different enemy variants into the story is a whole different thing though. I'll definitely be working on this in the future. 

Originally, the game was to be much more open-ended, with players being able to traverse in any direction from the starting point, however through development I have worked on creating a more linear experience. This makes it much easier for me to tailor events, sounds, and scares with the knowledge of where the player will be drawn to. I also think it works well for drip-feeding story points. 

I'm quite a fan of how Corpse Party delivers horror through it's 2D format, using notes and sounds to make the player uncomfortable, while combining it with character interactions and dialogue. I'm trying to implement that concept through a notes system - players can read notes to gain context on other character's perspectives and events.

My second point is: Reusing the map between nights. The map between night 1 and 2 is built from the same basis - this massively cuts down on development time. The difficulty then comes from creating a fresh experience for the player. A lot of simple changes can create a great difference in tone and feeling when designing these levels. I found a simple change of lighting, light colour, or wall textures can completely change the tone of a scene, as does adjusting the sounds and music! Jumping on this idea, I don't think developers should be afraid of using unnatural lighting or colours in surreal/horror videogames. Bold lighting pops, it stands out! And can help draw players attention. Employing a little colour theory goes a long way with these things. 

I have also adjusted the player start position, so their sense of direction is completely skewed from previous nights. Combining this with new pathways/blocking off old pathways, the map becomes a completely different beast to traverse. I actually have scared myself a few times playtesting this second night!

My final point is based on music and sound: This is where my background and area of expertise is. I'm a strong advocate for horror videogames having a definitive soundtrack. I also think it is where many games in the genre fail. Just because you need to built tension, it doesn't mean you have to resort to dissonance or dramatic staccato strings for every track. The moments of levity often stand out more than the horror in these games, purely due to their rarity. Silent Hill is the gold standard for iconic music in a horror game. Sure, there is many atmospherics, but there is just as many instrumental tracks, pulling from the alt-rock and grunge era of the 90s. It fits the vibe very well. You can't be afraid to get a little abstract and weird, but just as much so, you can draw from influences and tropes of other genres. In my opinion, having that melting pot of influence and sounds is the key to creating a memorable soundtrack. 

That's all from me for this week! I'd love it if you could like, share, and follow my blogs as I am aiming to continue releasing them, and also release my game this year! It will be completely free on Itch.io (and maybe even Steam if I can get funding), so of this sounds interesting to you, look forward to it! 

Cheers,

Rohan