In light of my recent attempt at a game jam, I've realized one thing: I need to actually make games in order to be good at making games. Seems obvious right? Practice makes perfect? Well turns out people were on to something with that one. That being said, its time to move on to bigger and better things. What better to practice making games than to start making a game? 

This is an idea I've had for a while now, based on my personal experience working in a restaurant, I wanted to encapsulate that feeling I get every time I have to do my job: Pure utter dread and that feeling of "oh my god one day I'll be a corpse in the ground" and I can't think of a better genre to bring those feelings to light other than horror. I don't currently have a name in mind for this project, but that will come soon.

While I have plenty of experience being scared, being scary is one challenge I have yet to face, and I believe the results of this project will help me grow in that direction. 

So how do I start? 

For me, I've started with Unreal Engine 5. I have minimal experience in intense coding, and what experience I do have was from a few years ago, so to ease myself back into thinking like a programmer, I've decided to use Unreal's blueprints. 

Blueprints to some might seem like a cop-out on programming, but for me it is both a time saver and saves me the effort of having to relearn C++ (for now) and in the interests of this game, I don't really see a need for any code more complicated than those blocks can handle, I don't see horror as necessarily a very code intensive genre, though I might be mistaken. 

My first step is to create a game design document, I've drafted a basic layout of the environment the game takes place in. I've also drafted various things that I want to be a part of the game, monsters, mechanics, and even UI elements. These are basic sketches but they will give me a sense of direction as well as a sense of completion, IE, if it looks how I wanted it originally then I'm on the right track. 

It's important when starting a project like this that you don't get too caught up in what you originally wanted, and to be open to changes that might improve the end product. It's striking the balance between what you want and what is good for the game. 

What's Next?

For now, I'll be working on the basics of the environment, textures and materials can come later, but getting the shape of the level down is the first step in learning how the game will play. This game will be based in a singular location, and as such that means I have to pay close attention to how the environment feels to walk around in. 

After that, It's a simple matter of making a character controller to walk around with. When you make a horror game, it's important for the player to feel like they don't have enough control (don't make them literally not have enough control, that makes for only frustration) therefore your walking ability should feel slightly subpar but just enough to make it through the game completely untouched if a player is good enough. 

Art and Design

For 3D models, I'll be working in Maya (blender is an equally good choice, too) It will be used both for 3D model generation as well as exporting animation data into Unreal, as the two have a good working relationship. 

For all 2D art (textures, logos, etc.), I will be using GIMP and a digital drawing pad to create those assets. 

TLDR

I'm making a new horror video game, inspired by my experience in the restaurant industry. It will be made in the unreal engine, I've made the game design document and will be working on the basic layout of the main level and the character controller's feel until the next update on this project.

I expect to be busy for the foreseeable future, but I do intend to work on this game weekly, I will provide updates on the progress of the project as I continue to make it!

- Zachary Urbina (Nutshad) 9 / 11 / 24