Purpose:
Emotional state is often disregarded in the process of level design and balancing (add reference here). Manipulating and quantifying player emotion should be considered as important as the distribution and placement of antagonistic entities, environmental hazards, and puzzles. As the player’s emotional state will alter how they perceive and react to the challenges at hand, it must be accounted for in the design process. The player’s emotional state can be manipulated by the designer, by the calculated placement of appropriate stimuli (add reference here). Doing so will greatly enhance the options available to the designer with regard to controlling and/or predicting how the player acts in a given situation.
Statement:
The goal of this game is to allow the player to experience a wide variety of fearful emotions, and encounter various levels of challenge, altered by the emotions they are currently feeling. In doing so, the player will have a more fulfilling gameplay experience, as both the logical and emotional sides of their mind will be utilized.
Proposed plan:
First person suspense/survival horror game.
3D graphics.
Low combat, high puzzle, moderate textual feedback.
Minimal user interface elements.
Production method:
3D assets modeled/rigged/animated in Maya
Texture painting done in Mudbox
Additional 2D assets as required, created in Illustrator and/or Photoshop
Assets collated and game built using Unity 3D
Scripting done in C# [requires learning syntax] with Javascript as fallback language
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Task list and Schedule:
Week 02-02: Research horror genre
Week 02-02: Research existing horror games of various types
Week 02-03: Create style sheet
Week 03-03: Establish plot specifics
Week 03-03: Establish game progression flowchart
Week 03-03: Tabulate required assets
Week 03-04: Plan level layout(s)
Week 04-04: Plan level challenges, puzzles, etc.
Week 04-04: Write textual feedback to be received by player over the course of the game
Week 04-05: Model level geometry
Week 05-05: Model game objects
Week 05-05: Model game actors
Week 05-05: Texture models
Week 05-06: Create 2D art assets
Week 06-06: Import all assets into Unity 3D, assemble level prefabs and set collision and walkable areas
Week 06-06: Program movement controls and basic player character functionality
Week 06-07: Program object interaction and scripted events
Week 07-07: Program enemy AI
Week 07-08: Program puzzles
Week 08-08: Balance game variables
Week 08-10: Proceed until completion
Game Design Blog - Kevin Sun Chee Wong 