Posted November 08, 2022 by Jason Quinn
Welcome back, Jason here with our sixth devlog.
Today I will discuss the progress of conceptualising the enemies that will populate our game world, but first I will speak about the name of our game.
Depths Of Dread
Previously our game was named Sunken Shadows, we were stuck for quite a bit on the naming of our game, trying to find a set of words that could encapsulate the identity and themes that make our game what it is, while also being unique, catchy and memorable. We went through a few titles and Sunken Shadows was suggested, we kept it as that for a while and had (Title Pending) accompanying it as we still weren't sure.
Today in a meeting, we had some fellow college classmates with us and during a discussion on our game, the title was brought up. I then suggested Depths Of Dread, something I had been toying with in the back of my head for a while, the response was pretty unanimous and we had great feedback from fellow classmates, teammates and our project supervisor. I think it captures the game quite well, you are exploring the depths of the ocean, encountering dreadful foes, while also exploring the very depths of dread itself, through the player's journey.
The Enemies
After I modeled the biter enemy to be ready for our vertical slice, I returned to working on the game design document and made further progress on the game story, but also some progress on our enemies. The enemies the player will encounter will increase in horror and difficulty the more they travel. We currently have several concepts for enemies, a few of which have been worked on more than others. I'll share these with you today, accompanied by some concept art.
The Biter
Pursuer
Banshee
The Banshee is a creature unlike any you'll encounter, it's the most alien, the one you'll most want to avoid. Its appearance is unsightly, disgusting yet alluring, it is so mysterious and unusual that it is meant to attract prey. It just hangs there, floating, the top half of its body appears humanoid in shape, tentacles protruding from the front of its head and all across its body. The tentacles on its head give it a beard-like appearance, but no eyes can be seen. From a certain angle it looks like a hunched-over bearded old man, from another it looks like a woman bent over with her hair down and it seems gentle and peaceful, alone, slowly patrolling above, this all adds to the attraction, the trap.
Crawler
This creature is native to the Crystal Caverns, a small and sneaky crab/spidery monster that blends in with the crystalline environment by appearing as a crystal rock. When idle, the Crawler appears as a regular crystal, but if you're in its radius, it will rise on its long thick legs and quickly rush towards you, moving spiderly across the floor. But where there is one Crawler, there are more. So if you see one moving then beware there are more nearby. The Crawlers move creepily across the floor and if they reach you they will pile onto the legs of the mech and keep it in place, preventing any lower-body movement. This will be quite detrimental if you're also in danger of Biters and Pursuers attacking you. You must kill the Crawlers before they reach you, if not you'll be stuck in place and will have to kill them quickly or force your way out of their hold before you're overwhelmed by other monsters.
These are some of the enemies we have come up with, I hope you can see the potential we can for some interesting gameplay. The rest of the team is continuing to put their heart and soul into this project, Jack will be working further on the AI and polishing it for the vertical slice, Kayne is texturing the mech and bringing it to life (I've seen him working on it in substance painter and its every bit as awesome as you'd expect it to be), Conor and the programming team will also be working on polishing the player movement thanks to vital feedback and we will also be planning the opening section for the vertical slice. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for our next devlog!
- Jason