Posted October 19, 2025 by Abyssalarrg
When we were given the theme for this assignment (stealth) I instantly contemplated escaping from a location unseen. Even this simple prompt produced so many questions. Where was I? Why am i trying to escape? What am I hiding from? I eventually settled on an idea that we were a prisoner locked away in an underground prison and with no gear we needed to escape undetected from the guards.
THE GDD
TAKE A BREAK!
BE CREATIVE
Even though the game outlines and favors an intended behavior from players, they are not locked into just this method of playing. Some during testing found it more fun to try and challenge themselves to escape without freeing the prisoners. While this was a much harder path it was fun seeing different playstyles emerge. This emphasis on a "speed run" encouraged me to implement a quick save/load every time you die so players did not have to quit/relaunch the game every time they were caught. Whenever start the game it will save your place at the start location and when you are caught it will disable your inputs temporarily and then load you back at the beginning to try again. Players choosing to ignore the pleas of help from their fellow prisoners are not entirely empty handed. Also included are some pickup distractable items that can be used to lure guards away from their location so they can slip by.
POTENTIAL FUTURE UPDATES
A few things I would be looking to add
>Art outside of the block out level. Navigating the twists and turns of the prison can be confusing so I would like to add features that players can readily identify with to keep their bearing aside form the sea of orange blocks
>Voices for not just prisoners but guards. As much as the guards can hear the players it should only be fair that the players can hear the guards as well. That way they don't need to face check every corner blind but can listen for things like footsteps and grumbles.
>Better materials for the characters. I tried looking on the marketplace for some assets but i couldn't find anything i really liked for the project. I altered the materials by hand so players could tell guards from prisoners as well as changed the materials on the various doors so players could tell those apart as well but some good assets will go a long way towards making the game feel finished.
You can see from the original 2D map layout that the overall design of the prison did not change much. We added an extra guard at the end since the game felt empty between where you start and where you end. We also added in an extra optional key that allowed players to release the guards if they wanted help reaching the end.
CURRENT UPDATES:
Player: Can now pick up keys and unlock specific doors, movement makes noise that is detectable by the enemy AI