thomas--w

[thomas--w]

Final Outcome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZyTvcy8Frg&t=14s

this is the link to the final outcome of my FMP. It is a full showcase/walkthrough of the game.

[thomas--w]

Built Project problems

After I had built the project there was a problem that I encountered which was that the game only ran at a maximum of 10 FPS (Frames per second). After doing some digging we found that it was as simple as a rendering issue which was causing the mass lag.

[thomas--w]

Coding the AI

This the code for when the player steps through the safe door. The camera will freeze and pan round to see the AI charging towards the player.

This shows a little trick that happens when the safe door closes behind the player. In that instant when the AI collides with the door, it will delete itself and spawn a duplicate AI that has been stripped of every function except for the animation of its death.

[thomas--w]

What makes a good horror game?

This is a question that I had been struggling with for some time. this is due to the reason that I don't personally play horror games, so stepping into this field of design and development had to include some R&D.

when I went searching for answers I came across this quote by the website Xbox Tavern, which reads: 

“Good survival horror games should always achieve three vital pillar points; player isolation, making the player feel under-powered and making the player feel overwhelmed.”

this felt like a solid basis for me to start planning out how to flesh out my as of the time, Game idea. The first thing I did was to research the different kind of enemies that you would encounter in these sorts of games (see above slide). Making the player feel isolated was an easy enough task, as I had devised a level idea that consisted of long, dark and twisting corridors. this was to leave the player confused as to where they were and where they came from.

The next step was to make the player feel Under-powered. I decided to do this by making the character physically limited by taking away their ability to jump and imposing a limited stamina bar, as well as making the Enemy a lot taller than the player, so as to intimidate the player.

Making the player seem overwhelmed was a combination of the previous two efforts with a small tweak to each. I decided to further constrict the corridors width and increase their height. I also opted to have a heartbeat sound emit from the enemy to alert the player to its presence. both of these factors would start the mentally overwhelm the player with its visual and auditory tweaks within the game.

[thomas--w]

Growl problem

I have fixed the growl problem, the problem lay in the fact that the enemy was constantly seeing the player when chasing, and when the player escaped it still registered as it saw the player, so when it spotted the player again it had already been registered and did not growl. but I fixed it by resetting the noise after the code for not seeing the player takes over again

[thomas--w]

Basic game walkthrough

Below i have attached a basic walkthrough of the game and how to beat it:

https://youtu.be/9ynpsN-zGTE

 if you have watched it then you know that there are a few bugs that need fixing, the main one being that the monster will not make a growl sound when it sees the player after the first time, the second is not a bug but a miscalculation. i have given the player too much stamina, which allows them to easily outrun the monster. i will combat this buy decreasing the rate at which stamina recharges and increasing the rate that it drains

[thomas--w]

map interior/keycards

today i finished off some more rooms in the map so it did not just feel like empty box rooms and more like actual research rooms

these are the only screengrabs i will post so as to not ruin the experience for anyone who would like to play the game, this is also the reason i have not shown where i have placed the keycards that you need to collect to escape.

[thomas--w]

game ending

i have made a system for when the player has entered the safe room after collecting the keycards. when they are in the room they will trigger an vent that will teleport the ai to right before the door, the camera will then become focused on the door frame and the door will close just before the ai can get inside the room

[thomas--w]

Decorating

i started to decorate the inside of the map so as to not lave it completely blank, this room i turned into sleeping quarters for general staff, this is the room without the lighting being shown so it is a lot brighter for the sake of seeing what is in the room

[thomas--w]

My stalker enemy design

This is what my current enemy looks like in game. the 1st reason why I chose this look is because the character model has a very large frame, which allows it to tower over the player character. This is an important factor for my character which has been explained in the previous “Stalker enemies” blog post where I identify key characteristics and similarities between enemies of the stalker type. My other reasons for choosing this character also border on the same characteristics that were identified in that post, such as the humanoid shape and the mutated bipedal character. This all adds to the perception of fear when faced with the enemy. The human-like shape also alludes to the creature being intelligent.  

[thomas--w]

Stalker Enemies

Stalker enemies are vey popular among the horror genre, and while they can look either similar or vastly different, you can notice some key features that the examples I will share all have. Of the 3 i have selected, we will start with “Subject 23″ From the game “White Noise”:

subject 23, to quote from the FanWiki; “Subject 23 is a white, faceless, humanoid creature. It has human-like teeth and ears while also having long arms and legs. It is a very tall creature and distinctly lacks eyes”. 

Our next example is a classic stalker enemy, Slenderman:

Slender man is described as ; “ The SlenderMan is a supernatural creature that is described as appearing as a normal human being but he as tall as 8 feet tall, he has vectors or extra appendages that are described to be as sharp as swords.” you may have also noticed that slenderman also appears with no face. 

The next example comes from Resident Evil 8, Alcina Dimitrescu:

Lady D (for short) is a tall imposing woman that stands at an impressive 9 feet and 6 inches, which towers over the games protagonist who is an average 5 feet and 11 inches, she is clad in a white dress and is also adorned in a black wide-brim hat. Lady D also has the ability the turn her hands into long sword like fingers.

Similarities and differences:

Similarities:

All of these characters can easily tower over the player character

All of these characters have a predominantly white color scheme

Most of these characters are faceless

All of these characters are humanoid in shape

All of these characters appear to be mutated to perform certain actions (Lady D with her hands, Slenderman with his sharp appendages and subject 23 with.

Differences:

Lady D has a modelled face

Subject 23 is the only one to wear no clothes

Slenderman is the only one set in an outside area.

What can we Infer?

We can infer that stalker type enemies tend to stay as a bipedal humanoid, this may be due to the fact that humanoids can remind the player of another person, which may give off an aura of intelligence. We also know that these enemies are tall, which helps them to tower over the player and help the image of being powerless when facing the enemy which so clearly dominates you in stature. 

The significance of white:

The enemies also stay with a predominantly white color scheme. this is because of the color denotations of the white ghost that has been around for centuries. when you think of a ghost or spirit, your mind immediately paints a picture of a white bedsheet figure. this is because even back in the 1300′s, the dead were buried in burial shrouds, or in the case of poorer families, bedsheets. This is what has led to the gothic white pallet of the supernatural that has evolved within our modern society. as well as being a sharp contrast against dark rooms.

[thomas--w]

monster hunting time

this small test was just to see if the AI behaved while it began at the opposite end of the map from the player, out of curiosity I timed how long it would take to reach the player, which resulted in the time of:

[thomas--w]

additional sounds to the enemy

while play testing to see how the enemy reacts around the player, i thought that the moment it spots you did not carry enough of an impact to perceive any danger, so i decided to add another sound called a “Stab” which is as described below:

“In music, a stab is a single staccato note or chord that adds dramatic punctuation to a composition” - Wikipedia

[thomas--w]

opening vault door

since completing my keycards i decided to start work on the door which will only open after collecting all the keycards. i am not very used to the program that i used (Maya) but i was satisfied with the product i had made 

i had some problems with the handles, the main one being that the handles did not want to rotate properly on an axis so i had to manually place each handle on the door, which took longer than i would have liked.

[thomas--w]

most/all of the walls are finally textured

now i need to finish the floor material and then i can start with placing the props and furnish the facility

[thomas--w]

keycard appearance

so as you have seen i have started work on the keycards, they will be pretty much the same with some minor changes to save time, such as colour, occupation and of course, name.

[thomas--w]

keycards pt 2

i have managed to create a keycard in relatively short amount of time. i have luckily managed to have a friend of mine send me her photo to convey some more realism (thank you Amy)!