Hi!
This article is about the core features of euthanasia.
I started designing the first Level Parts of Euthanasia as an interactive tutorial for other Developers. It should show how to use several easy techniques to make an athmospheric, scary game, but then I had a few ideas and Euthanasia came out.
([Please note: I'm not english, so typographical mistakes are possible])
Main Concept
The Main Idea of Euthanasia is kicking the player into a short, but intense horror game. It takes place in a nightmarish asylum, the levels are filled with dark corners, blood, body parts and the surreal, scary architecture and lightmapping gives it a special and kinda unique touch. I wanted it to be a vivid gameing experience, with loads of enemies you're never sure of where they will attack from and what will be next, thats why I took the "Nightmare, Dying Experience" Story Concept...to have freedom with doing whatever I want without being bound to realism.
Story Design
Euthanasia tells the spiritual path of the soul to the eternal light or whatever you' re believing in. It is the last dream you experience while dying. The Nightmares the euthanised maincharacter has to face in his last dream on his way to death. You' ll experience all this ingame. And I try to have loads of links to that in the leveldesign. While playing you hear voices and whispering that are keeping you in track of the story. And you' ll find a taperecorder with a message of the same shrink that euthanised you in which he tells you, you died...in your dream of death of course...the shrink doesnt know whats happening with you... Other than that, I have some additional sequences where Randall is facing failures and regrets from his lost life. Its kind of a dialectic between live and death.
Video Game Visual Dark Poetry ...doesn' t that sound good? ...guess not...
Graphics
Well...some insiders wonder how I did such graphics with the FPSC Engine? Well, first of, I gave the engine a change without saying "Oh, Source is sooo much better, this is crap!" and I' m not pumping the game full of shaders so it looks like everthing is made of plastic in it.
The Real Secret of the good optics is in the textures. I really like my high contrast textureing style and its effects on lowpoly models.
Second thing: the lightning. Even though I' m useing static lightning, the level seams "alive" thats pretty much because I' m useing dark colors that do match the athmosphere I want to create and leave some dark corners, so the player never knows if he' s really alone...or if the next enemys already waiting for him.
Enemies
Most of the Enemy Models are modelled by the incredible 3d Artist Bond 1. Thats why, they have a decent quality, even uneditted. The corrections I added to them and the sounds etc. made them the perfect breed for this kind of game.
We have:
Lobotomy:
In Randalls Dream, the Memories of the screaming and weeping in the asylum he heared the last days of his life have found a manifestation in his dreams. A straitjacket wearing, deadly, fast and creepy manifestation. The Main Enemy in Euthanasia.
The Infected:
Skinny, humanoid shadow beings, that may pop out of nowhere. Essentials for a good nightmare. There body is covered with a greenish, toxic skin, so you should avoid contact.
The Pale:
Blueish shaded version of the infected... stronger, harder to kill and way faster than the original infected. These two characters use Bond 1' s mummy chars as a base.
The Angor:
A giant, strong and damn hard to kill creature that' s yearning for fresh blood. Running IS an option!
The Nameless:
Ghostlike Creatures that seem to glow without any real shape. They are easy to kill but like to appear in larger groups
The Soulless:
Zombies... Memories of Persons you met in your life. persons that somehow hurted you and found their way as degenerated monsters in your eternal nightmare.
The Heartless:
Surreal Nightmareish Creature without a real face and a giant scar on its body that tells you, that his heart was ripped out of his chest once... his left arm was replaced by a terrible blade.
More Enemies might be added.
The Weapons
Well... this game is playing in the sixties, so it has a few classy weapons in it. Not the usual stuff like "Knife, Pistol, Shotgun and AK" but:
Meat Cleaver:
A melee weapon that seems to fit the game concept. Use it only if youre out of ammo since it doesnt do much damage.
The Colt 1911 US1:
One word: Oldschool. This stylish Pistol holds 8 rounds (including chambered round) is reloaded kinda fast, is accurate, does moderate damage and a fast semi automatic. The Mainweapon of Euthanasia.
The Remington 700 Bolt Action Rifle:
Deadly but Slow. The Rifle does most damage of all weapons in the game, but you have to bolt up every singe bullet and reloading bullet per bullet takes some time. Shouldering and aiming takes moderate time and the weapon has the highest accuracy. Remember that switching the weapon is faster as relaoding.
Scorpion Vz68 MPi:
Every Gamer loves fully automatic weapons. And I love weapons with some wood on it...thats why I added this old Machine Pistol to the game. Its magazine holds 21 bullets (with chambered round), its a fully automatic weapon and it is reloaded kinda fast. Therefore, it does inflict not much damage, has a pretty low stopping effect, and it has a strong recoil if youre not aiming. Aiming takes some time, because you have to fold out the shoulder support.
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Okay, this doesnt cover up every part of euthanasia, but it gives you some more info...hope you enjoyed reading!
-Wolf (Serygala)
