I’m beginning to learn Unity so I can get started on working on this survival horror game I’ve been
brewing in my noggin for a long time and I want to really share it out and see what people think.
Introduction
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Narrative is split between two stories…
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The Present Day, in which you, the player, wake up in an abandoned panopticon prison complex with no memory of your identity or how you came here.
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You are mysteriously fitted into an overall suit with a camera-mounted helmet adding to the mystery behind your appearance and identity.
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This story is presented entirely in first-person, viewed through the camera in a deliberately low-resolution, bad quality presentation.
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Your goal is to find a way to escape the Complex while discovering video tapes that uncover its dark past and, possibly, your own.
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A non-chronological story of the Complex’s past when it was controlled by a twisted bible-based cult, as told through the perspectives of several characters
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Viewed through the many security cameras installed across the Complex, serving as fixed camera angles akin to horror games of old.
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Each character has his/her own goals which may entwine or conflict with each other. Their fates are determined by choices the player makes during this story.
Presentation
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As the game is viewed entirely through cameras (the players visor and the Complex’s security cameras), everything takes on a low-resolution quality presentation with a complete lack of anti-aliasing, a noticeably low frame rate and VHS-like static and screen tearing.
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This was inspired from what I found about old school horror games of the PS1 era, notably Resident Evil and Silent Hill, is that they use their hardware limitations to their advantage by instilling anxiety in the player from the lack of crisp visual details. They fill in the gaps with their imagination.
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The player’s story is viewed entirely in first person whereas the flashback sections use third person fixed camera angles.
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There is no HUD.
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Stamina (used for running and melee attacks) is represented by the players breathing and the head bobbing growing progressively heavier. The louder and heavier his/her breaths, the more exhausted he/she is.
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Health is represented by blood and wounds on the player characters body.
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When the player character is killed by tangible enemies, the camera lens crack, followed by the screen being taken over by loud TV static - Game over!
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No ammunition counter!
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No aiming reticle for guns either! When aiming at an enemy, the steadying of your aim is represented by the player gradually bringing the gun closer to the middle of his/her sight and the sights more in line with the target (but close enough for a perfect iron sight view).
Gameplay: Item Management and Interaction
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The player interacts with the environment with two spare hands - can grab and hold virtually anything
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Use hands for physical tasks like throwing switches, opening doors, climbing ladders and ledges, etc.
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Whenever your hands touch anything, either side of the controller (representing the left and right hands) will vibrate.
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Most small items are stored in a utility belt, whereas larger and heavier items can be only be held by hand and may need to be left behind at certain points
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Most items can be dropped and thrown (depending on mass and weight)
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Small items can be dual-wielded (i.e. flashlight/gun, gun/knife, gun/spare magazine)
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Reloading firearms is performed manually by unloading the old mag then taking a new mag in your spare hand and combining the held items (gun and magazine) together
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Some heavy items requiring the use of two hands can be held with one hand but will be unusable in that state
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Stored items add up weight that slow down the player (i.e. running and melee attacks)
Gameplay: Melee Combat
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Melee attacks are performed with either quick light attacks that are relatively fast, deal low damage and recover quickly; or heavy charged attacks that deal significantly more damage, are more likely to stun enemies but take longer to recover from.
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Each weapon has its own attack speed, damage output and recover time between strikes.
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Emphasis on timing your attacks as opposed to dealing damage with multi-hit combos.
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Attacks can be used to parry enemy attacks. No blocking per se.
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Any light one-handed weapons can be held with both hands for a bonus in attack and recovery speed and damage
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Most melee attacks will wear out and break apart from excessive use
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Melee attacks expend stamina which is also needed for running.
Gameplay: Firearm Combat
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There is no manual aiming with firearms.
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When readying a weapon, you lock on to the closest enemy and gradually steady your aim.
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The speed of which is influenced by the distance between you and your target and the level of illumination it is in - the closer the monster is and the more visible it is, the quicker you can zero in for a perfect shot!
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Gunshots will alert nearby enemies
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Similarly to melee weapons, holding one-handed guns (i.e. pistols) will benefit aiming accuracy.
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Thankfully, firearms don’t break down. You just have to worry about conserving ammo.
Gameplay: Stealth
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You can crouch and go prone, particularly to access enclosed areas like air vents or under a bed.
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Even when crouch-walking, enemies can still hear your footsteps up close depending on how slow you move so the closer you get, the slower you need to creep up to make that stealth kill count - just like in Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (and hope they don’t turn around before you do so).
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You can throw items to serve as a distraction
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You can access security cameras across the Complex to survey enemy patrols
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As you expend stamina, your players exhausted breaths can be heard by monsters so you can hold your breath to keep yourself quiet while sacrificing stamina recovery speed.
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Holding your breath for too long will cause your movements to sway uncontrollably and you will begin to hear your own heartbeats as the sounds of everything else drowns out.
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Gradually release the “Hold Breath” button to slowly regain your breath, otherwise you let out a huge and loud gasp that will give away your position.
Gameplay: Flashback Segments
- When you bring a videotape to the security room, you will take on the role of any of a range of characters in segments taking place in the Complex’s past(?) as viewed through security cameras serving as the fixed camera angles
- Gameplay is more akin to an interactive point and click adventure in which you speak to NPC’s, select dialogue choices, solve puzzles and sneak past enemies.
Monsters and NPC’s
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You don’t encounter any hostiles for the first hour of the game, although you begin to catch glimpses of ghosts roaming the Complex but they don’t notice you or pose any threat for the time being.
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Once you get used to them about an hour into the game, they begin to notice you and will patrol the Complex looking for you.
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Ghosts cannot be killed and will coordinate as a team to flank you, block off escape routes and search rooms for you.
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They will detect you by sight as well as sound. They will even notice any light sources and investigate them, so keep your flashlight off!
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Ghosts are completely invisible in the light, so it pays to turn it off in order to see them.
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Ghosts don’t inflict permanent wounds but rather gradually “kill” you by filling your screen with static the closer they get to you.
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Eventually you will come across NPC’s that each express (rather disturbed) views of the world and events transpiring within it. Some are somewhat friendly, others either more neutral or outright hostile but you don’t know whether you can trust even those apparently friendly to your cause.
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You can injure and kill any NPC you come across and they may each retaliate in their own way.
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Hostile NPC’s will utilize melee weapons and firearms and can use the same methods of hunting you down as the ghosts will.
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You will also occasionally encounter other paranormal entities such as poltergeists that manipulate objects and throw them at you.
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And finally, grotesque demonic entities that are completely censored with a mosaic filter in your camera visor and are difficult to defeat in combat so only fight them as a last resort. They can only be incapacitated for a limited time and will get back up eventually.
I’ve always wanted to create my own survival horror game. I haven’t played all the classics but the ones I did play include System Shock 2, Afraid of Monsters: Directors Cut, Cry of Fear and these hidden gems Echo Night: Beyond (PS2) and Hellnight (PS1).
While I’ve only given away the surface of what the story is about, how I envision it is that it starts out as a deceptively straight forward plot of regaining your memory and somehow finding it connected with a mysterious cult and discovering which of the characters YOU are. But I plan to throw in some curve balls that gradually blur the boundaries between the present and past storylines, causing you to question how much of the story is actually set in the present day, how much of it is either real, metaphorical or a figment of the players fracturing psyche.
As for the cult, while most video games have you an outsider to an evil cult that is trying to kill you, I wanted to go into unfamiliar territory by having you play as members within the cult and experience their brainwashing methods and spiritual abuse firsthand.
Some of the characters you play as, depending on your choices, may try to resist the cults control and plan a way to escape. However, one glaring problem I am aware of is: How are you going to try and escape this Orwellian-style cult when you’re being watched by cameras all the time?!
Yeah, I could just have them be playable from a first person perspective but I am adamant in having it all presented in through fixed camera angles (again the security cameras) which are being viewed as recorded footage by the player, whose eye- ahem! Camera you are looking through. You are searching through all these video archives, witnessing the struggles of other people you may or may not be directly connected to and switching to view through their eyes would break that - if you understand what I mean.
Plus, there would be areas that the characters enter that aren’t covered by cameras, leaving you to investigate them firsthand.
So does anyone here think this idea’s got legs? Any solutions to the problem I just described?
Thanks.
