A shadow descends. . .

So this is it!
Done.

All done.
It's quite an emotional moment really, it's not just finishing dissertation, but finishing UCS and my entire university experience, so I'll keep it brief and not too soppy.
It's been an amazing project, I've loved most of it. Apart from that time when I had to redesign the hotel 3 or 4 times. That was pure hell. But now that it has all come together I'm incredibly proud, of the work and of myself. I have learnt so much over this project; level design, new ways of scripting, art techniques, sound production, animation. . .the list goes on.
I feel so much richer as a games designer for this work and I'll carry it around with me forever.

The project was meant as an experiment in immersive gameplay and due to some time to spare at the end, has evolved the way I always wanted it too, into a game. The finished product offers an opening cutscene explaining the 'story' to the player, whilst giving them spacial bearings (allowing a mouse look function as they are transported to the hotel). On entering the hotel, the game begins.
The player starts in the reception area, decked out with dark ambient light, fog (to disturb long distance viewing and cause apprehension) and typical hotel props, cages, seating and dead plants to boot.
A glowing note on the desk entices the player over and without previous instruction, the player doesn't know how to pick up the note, but most will figure out correctly that simply clicking on it will do. A few things including controls are explained here, with a direction of 'room 41'. The player is now ready to enter the hotel, feel immersed, scared and explore what the hotel has to offer.
Playtesters seem to really enjoy the game and days before when the 'ending' hadn't been written, seemed genuinely gutted when they realised it hadn't been finished. This is proof enough for me to believe I have succeeded in my original aims to create an atmospheric, immersive level, with gameplay that gives the player reason to dig in deep and enjoy every second my game has to offer.
The game will be posted online soon enough, so I will be back to post links. Until then, I fear this is where we must part ways for the forseeable future. It's been a fun one folks. Maybe too fun.
Thank you.

Setting the mood. . .

So after some restless nights of solid ploughing on with dissertation, I have come along in a good way. The game is scarier than ever, with working game objectives, scares and some aesthetic design that will hopefully make the player as uneasy as possible.
Part of building this suspense is coming from the music. It's been a 'problem' since the project started, that I could find/make music tailored perfectly to how I imagined this game from the start. With a placeholder dark ambient track used until now (and played in the video in the last blog) it served well, but due to copyright issues etc was not feasible for the long term project. However, I can now proudly present my very own piece of dark ambient horror music, completely made by myself for use in the game. It can be found on my personal youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87grUoek6gk

Also, I'll throw in a couple of screen shots, seeing as quite a few minor changes have been added since my last blog!
Hope you enjoy! :)

Scares Imminent. . .

Hello everyone. . .again. So I've tweaked a few things and the game's a lot scarier now. First of all I changed the lighting somewhat. Instead of a flat white, (which didn't look bad by any means) I have adopted and incredibly pale blue. Down to power of colour and blue implying a subconscious 'cold' feeling, I also made and matched a background fog with the same colour. The atmosphere is a lot more unsettling just from the colour change. I have also finished modelling one of my 'enemies'. . .my good old friend "Slender Man". He he is to help keep you awake at night.

I've also been working on some more assets to pad the place out. . .as I know from my readings, 'Spacial presence' is the cognitive map players build up when exploring a game. Points of reference will help them make their way around and also help to serve the immersive feel of the game. Here are some screenshots of the reception area.

I will continue to build on this, and the scary encounters. More blogs of progress to come!

Last Haul. . .

I finally have a video upload of some of the progress of the Arcadian. Things are really coming together now with the notes, models, atmosphere etc. 

A few people who have seen the video commented that they would not like to play the game as they scare easily and are frightened by it. I suppose it is fair to say at this point that whilst the video simply involves walking, picking up a note and opening a door, that the atmosphere is evident players will feel apprehensive. The game elements will finish off the game and that is my next move. As soon as I have the game next to finished, I will upload it and link it straight to this blog. Until then, I'm off to work on it some more, here's the video! Enjoy :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XIyyqQhYrg

Regrets. . .

So I've only just noticed how long it's actually been since my last blog. . .

I guess it turns out I have trouble juggling modules. In a strange turn around in the group project module I put all my time and effort into making THAT work, knowing I was ahead of schedule in the dissertation project. But now that I'm on top of the group project work, I am now behind with the dissertation work. 

I'm working on fixing that and will aim to put up new screenshots and maybe even a video by the weekend, just thought this post should report the slowed progress of the project so far.

Justification. . .

So I was thinking about my floor plans of the ground floor of the Arcadian walking around, playtesting it when it occured to me that I haven't academically justified my decisions for the layout of the hotel. From playtesting and having playtesters seriously jump from some cheap jump scares I've put in is proof enough that my floor plans do indeed work as an immersive environment, but for everyone's benefit I'll slap in some quotes from my dissertation resources and let the 'experts' explain :P
First off, there's Gregory Trefry who explains about map design;
"Traps can work in both single and multiplayer gameplay and can add fun, or frustration, to the game. They are especially liked by more casual players. However, just as in single player games, keep it fair. Players should recognize the danger as soon as they see the trap - before they actually encounter it."
This is a reason why I have used lighting in certain areas. When the player first enters the hotel, the area is lit well, a 'safezone'. The notes that the player must collect are spaced out, gradually luring the player into darker areas. The final note is in the furthest of the hotel, in complete darkness in a single room away from other corridors and junctions. The player will only be armed with a flashlight and naturally enemies will be placed here. By this point in playing the game the player will be aware that this is a 'trap' and tension will rise whilst playing the game.
Brandon Jones says "Humans tend to naturally fear the unknown -- use that to your advantage. The fewer enemies that players, the better. Throughout the entirety of Amnesia there are about ten monsters."

This is why in the level I've only planned for 3 enemy encounters. Playtesting proves that the hotel makes players apprehensive as it is, the 'scare' factor is there. A couple of jumpscares will keep players on their toes, whilst the general atmosphere of the hotel does the rest of the work. The final encounter (mentioned before with the final note) will be a point where the player is in physical danger and maybe attacked or hurt by an encounter with an enemy.

Finally, Jamie Madigan says "Completeness of sensory information means that the fewer blanks about the mental model of the game world that the player has to fill in, the better."

This is why lighting, particle effects, sounds, good models and textures are all necessary. The player can clearly note everything about their surroundings in detail and experience the interaction with them. The doors squeak as they open, the player can hear their footsteps as they walk around on the grotty carpets, the lights flicker, indicating their age and state of broken-ness. I will also implement sounds of heavy breathing to enhance the first person aspect of the game and make it feel more 'personal'.

I will talk more about these kind of aspects in future posts, but for the time being I hope this clarifies my design choices so far!

Madigan, J., July 27^th 2010. “The Psychology Of Immersion In Video Games” URL: URL: http://www.psychologyofgames.com/2010/07/the-psychology-of-immersion-in-video-games/ last accessed 12^th March 2013

Jones, B., January 2^nd 2012. “The Do’s And Don’ts Of Scary Game”

URL: http://www.gamersnexus.net/features/gg/697-the-dos-and-donts-of-scary-games last accessed 12th March 2013

Trefry, G., 2010.Casual Game Design. Morgan Kauffman publications.

Almost there. . .

Hey everyone! The hotel is really coming along now :) Unfortunately I've been a bit pre-occupied with another module at the moment, but even when I've finished up decorating the hotel I'll still be ahead of schedule. This is just a short blog to inform you all, rather than falling off the radar completely. I have some ideas as well that I will share with you in the near future, along with some screens and hopefully a video of how the hotel is looking!