So I’m making this new survival horror game with my friend, and thought, that we are at the stage where I can actually show something, so thats why I’m writing this thread right now.
Story
Our game would play in a hospital or a asylum, which have lived better times. As you progress in the story, you find out that people used this building as some kind of shelter. I don’t want to write too much about the story, since it takes away the joy
Game Mechanics
We are trying our best to keep the fear in the player as he goes trough level after level. But this doesnt mean it’s going to be full with jumpscares. Actually I want to use the least amount of jumpscares possible.
Of course we would have the Big-Bad-Monster which haunts you through the game, like in Amnesia. We also take some other game elements from the said game, like the sanity meter, and hiding, since the only weapon you are going to have is a flashlight (probably)
Our Team
As you probably already guessed it, we are a two-man team at the moment.
We are working on the game every day if we can, and we hope to deliver a great experience for you guys
Prove that we actually have something
Your Idea?
Any ideas are welcome as long as you stay within the reasonable borders. You might see your own ideas in the game! Think about what scares you the most, or how would YOU scare someone else?
Thanks for reading this thread and spending some thoughts for our game.
Looks really good! Only thing I would change is to remove the left hand; it seems a little out of place constantly flexing there. But other than that, this is looking good, keep up the good work.
Thanks for the reply and compliment
About the hand, other people mentioned this too, and it really looks funny, so I’m pretty sure that I’m going to remove that.
Derf, thats a good idea, however I’m not sure that I understand what you mean? I mean if it would display all the avaible items, it would look really nasty
Btw guys, I really meant that “Your Idea” seriously, so if you post any usefull ideas, it has a great potential that we are going to use it
Not all of your useable items of course, but door keys would be a good example. Something that is small and would be used to interact with objects in your game like placing a small statue on a pedestal. First ready the statue by selecting it from an inventory screen and it appears in the left hand, now you can “place” the statue on the pedestal to complete a puzzle task or something. Basically whenever you hit the “action key” on your keyboard, and you have specific items in the left hand and met other criteria for the scene than something happens. This can give a better illusion of player interaction with the environment (like having to bash down a door by pressing and holding a key), instead of simply highlighting an item sprite in a GUI inventory system and pressing an action key.
Looks good, I like the atmosphere so far. One thing though, the footsteps sound a little artificial. Your walking on tile floors right? Right now it sounds like your lightly tapping your heel on concrete. Just a little pet peeve of mine. Good luck!
Okay guys, I thought it’s time to release a new update
So sadly I didn’t manage to fix the hands animation mainly because I accidently overwrote the blender file, so I have to make all the animations again…And I didnt change the walking sound, because i didnt find any usefull and nice sounding audio for it. If any of you have a nice marble-walking sound I would like to use it and see how it works
But I have good news too. The first map isnt far from finishing it, maybe one or two more weeks. However I’m not going to be home for a long time now, at least a week, so the development will slow down on my part. But anyway, enough from the boring speak, let’s see a new video
I really like the environment and graphics so far… looks faithful to something like Amnesia. Therein lies the problem with horror games like this though, the formula has been repeated and mimicked so much lately that it is a bit boring… which is weird because there is so much you can do with horror.
My idea for the game would be to make the whole asylum open world on an island like the movie “Shutter Island” with a day/night cycle. This would give some hope/despair contrast. Game-play sees you setting traps and barricading doors, whilst attempting to progress further into the asylum (find key, extinguish fire…etc), as you progress you learn more about the things tormenting you and new ways to keep them at bay based upon their past case files. Finally you find a way off the island - insert plot twist here.
Thats funny because we have something completly different in our heads XD . And a open world horror game would take much more work than we can do at the moment sadly, however I’ll try to implement some free roaming on the maps, like scavenging…we’ll see. Anyway thanks for the kind compliment and critic
Looken really good.
I like that the atmoshere is creepy but at the same time somewhat calm. I also like the idea that you wont be filling it with jumpscares all over the game. Good move imo. I think this keeps the player more on the edge because they would be expecting a jumpscare but dont get it when expected so when you do use a jumpscare its more surprising. Level is looking great so far to.
Just some small things, I know someone else said it but the character is flexing that hand to much. Just an idea, but maybe you can use the hand as the insanity meter for your game? What I mean is, maybe start the player out calm but the more scared the character gets the more aggressively he begins flexing his hand? (Because he wants to look stronger, haha jk) No but to show that the character is more stressed/frightened.
The vending machine is a nice little touch to. But I would suggest editing the machine and just change the name on it to something made up instead of an actual Coke machine just to be on the safe side.
anyway, good job and keep it up. its turning out great so far
Thanks for the long and fulfilling comment snowconesolid. I read quiet a lot about what makes a great horror etc, so I’m hoping to achieve that effect you were talking about.
About the hand flexing thing, I think I’m going to do what derf said, so like show keys and stuff if i manage When the sanity drains I’ll try to use some screen effects, like Fisheye and stuff like that
The vending was just a fun thing to add, but yes, I’ll probably change the texture of it, just didnt have time for it yet.
Let me a personal comment on my side: I’m so glad that people actually like what they see, it’s a huge boost for me Thank You to everybody who shares his/her ideas with me, or just simply keeps an eye on the project
Graphics are smooth and gameplay looks pretty good. It doesn’t really feel scary, eerie wuld be more accurate for the time being.
Remember to make use of the top fear factors, and I see you are using a few so far.
Fear of the Unknown
Fear of the Uncertain - Being unarmed adds a nice touch,
Soundtrack
Audio Effects - The recurring monster noises add a nice touch. - 3D Sounds are the best(e.g. behind you).
Visual - A fast moving shadow at the end of the hallway, lights going out, body parts falling from a hole in the ceiling,
Terrifying example: You see the monster at the end of a long hallway, and it sees you. It charges in your direction and you must run away with the fear of it chasing you. (of course, it is not chasing you, and there is no real danger in the effect, but it keeps you on your toes)
Story - Who are you and why are you there, and what is your mission
There isnt too much to fear from in this early stage of course, and this is going to be the first level of the game, so it’s more about catching the feeling of the game and not about actually scare the living sh*t out of the player
Thanks for the link, I’ll surely read it through carefully, and steal some ideas
Looking good so far! Hope everything turns out well.
With the hand, i’d remove it. Think about it, if you were holding a flash light,would both your hands be up at the same time? You should make it so if you’re holding something should the hand show, its more realistic that way.
Also with the coke machine…You might wanna change the texture, you don’t want the game getting removed for copy-right reasons.
I really REALLY like what you’ve done so far. It’s not much, but I love it! I enjoy good survival horror games! But there is one thing really annoying the fu*k out of me. I have no problem with the hand, but you should really do something about the flashlight. I just feel that it should be centered, and even if it isn’t, it doesn’t do much for lighting. This is good in some ways, but bad too. When you’re running around I can’t tell what’s in the scene where as you already know from developing it. I can’t explore with the flashlight all too well because I would have to look off to the side of the screen kinda in the small little circle. I’m not saying make a giant vision of light in the center of the screen where ever you point. But a little more would be nice. I don’t know, it just bothers me. But other than that, awesome work!
Thank You guys for the comments, they are highly appriciated. As for the hand, I’ll have to redo the whole animation anyway, so things will change
The coke-machine will be cenzured of course, just didnt have time for it yet.
A lot of people had problem with the flashlight too, so I’ll tweak that too. It’s on the side only because of the hand animation.
So anyway thank You for the kind compliments, it means a lot. I’m on vacation now, so the next update will take a while, but in the meantime my friend is working on the next levels
Btw guys, which is easier or more efficient? Making the level in Unity or in a 3d modelling software?
With the level, it may vary in the end.
I think designing in a 3D modelling program is easier, sometimes. It all depends on your model though.
I think the two programs should collide though.
Terrain/world itself should be done using Unity’s terrain engine, this allows for the trees to be placed,grass,hills, anything you want.
Houses and such should be done in a 3D modelling program.
Though it very much depends on what you’re making, if you want a more complex terrain/world, you may want to model it by hand for more freedom. Its what you find easier to do.
