As we get towards the final product of our game, we feel the need to reflect on the process and how we have developed our game throughout the entire year.
Our concept started out very different from our final concept. The original idea was going to be a 2D or a 2.5D isometric multiplayer horror game, where one character chased the other. Think Don’t Starve meets The Clocktower series meets Dead by Daylight. This is how we started out, while the base of being a horror game and multiplayer, the entire game play beyond that changed week to week as we headed into development.
As we began to recruit more and more people, the story and narrative became more defined, sparking our earlier concept art. We defined an 80s hospital theme for the level we created, to do an homage towards old body horror classics like The Fly and The Thing. Going light being a part of the game play, our concept artist went with a Moth based monster, so all designs went from there and expanded outwards.
The idea for the game play was a risk and reward system for the protagonist ,non-mutant character, where they could risk learning more at the expense of a non ai monster that could taunt and attack them at any moment. While the antagonist had larvae which could track the player when entering into the vicinity, giving them an advantage to catching the player.
Our first in game screenshots, it was not as in depth and the level for the prototype was half the size of the plan we had. As part of the level design one of the features we wanted to focus on was a sense of confusion and feeling lost and afraid. Through multiple rooms and winding corridors, any new players would find the level confusing and intimidating, giving a sense of fear and confusion, not know what was around any corner. As we have expanded the level, this has been achieved.
The more prominent feature of our game was and still is the VR vs VR. One of the main parts of ensuring this was completely VR game, was to make all interaction with objects only possible with actually looking at the object. Due to using controllers instead of handsets, we looked into how to ensure the player really tried to interact and view the world around them.
From the prototype, we began to work towards the final version of our game. Due to time restraints, a lot of content was cut down but hopefully people will enjoy our game and appreciate what we tried to achieve.
