Introduction – In this blog post I will be covering a breakdown on the ideas that I created In the “game ideas” blog post previous to this one.
Sections –
Old Idea
Revising the idea
Old Idea
(My original idea)
“Inspiration –
Luigi’s mansion (this game is a third person adventure about going round a mansion and clearing the mansion of ghosts)
Fatal Frame (This game is a third person horror story based game where you defeat enemies by capturing them in pictures)
Bongcheon-dong ghost (web comic)- https://comic.naver.com/webtoon/detail.nhn?titleId=350217&no=31&weekday=tue
Outlast – (mechanism for the flashlight and batteries)
Grave encounters (Film)
Name of the game –
Spirit Catch or Lucid Dreams (ill decide as time goes on)
Purpose of the game – To enter different houses and capture the ghosts that are inside with a vacuum to beat the game.
Items in game –
Flashlight- expose the ghost and make visible
Vacuum- to capture ghost (undecided)
How to find the ghosts, a story will be read at the start of the game which will give ideas where the ghost could be.
How to find the ghosts, a story will be read at the start of the game which will give ideas where the ghost could be.
Or another purpose of the game could be all you have a flashlight and to keep the flashlight running you need batteries which are located around the map, the idea is to navigate around the map without any real threat as all the ghosts are ugly looking but just sad, eventually you stumble onto the area where the evil ghost is and it kills you
What’s important to be able to execute this idea:
This is based on world building and setting on things that are going to happen. The atmosphere will be set through seeing the ghosts and finding the notes building up the story to where things get worse. I feel like much more level design and planning needs to be put into the game before”
Breakdown on original idea –
In my original idea I wanted to make the game like luigi’s mansion where you capture the ghosts into a vacuum but that is copying the game too much and takes the element of surprise and fear (also luigi mansion levels are complex). I want the player to feel comfortable in the game and not scared at first, it’s the ending scene that I want the player to get scared like the scary maze game and the comic Bongcheon-dong ghost(ref 1). I want the suspense to build up though the notes that you find from exorcising the ghosts.
Ref 1 (Pewdiepie(youtube)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vI0Wmxc2cY) (2:22 – 2:24)
In this video I am focusing on the head snapping round which looks very strange and unnatural which surprised and freaked me out
Revising the idea
How will the game look?
Choice 1 – Block Colours (Firewatch)
https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/1a4e8466788554ceeabcd14c68aa26755a9e6737/83_0_2111_1265/master/2111.jpg?width=700&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=c0832fb1d731dbb93cadb2f67cb74da8
Firewatch uses cartoony block colours for its art style and that is very beautiful and fun to explore. However I feel like this takes some of the seriousness to the game is taken away. This still captures the mystery in the game and gives it an element of surprise/creepyness in scenarios but its not set for straight horror.
Choice 2 – Realistic textures (Resident Evil 2)
Resident Evil 2 has a more serious tone to the game and is scarier because of the realistic textures alongside the terrifying gameplay. The high detail of textures adds to the gameplay and also makes it feel more life like. Arguably creates a eerie feeling and more suspense than the firewatch style of game because it will be taken more serious.
I’m going to make the firewatch style of game because the idea of the game that i want to bulid becasue its in lucid dream i think it will be effective to make the style of the game to get more realistic as time goes on
Enviroment and setting?
The game is based on the player being in a lucid dream, I don’t want the player to know that he is in a dream at first though, I want that to build up through the notes. So I want the player to be in rooms that he will recognise or will follow the scenario of the player and will tell some enviromental storytelling.
What is the story of the player?
The player is lucid dreaming where he needs to exercise the ghosts that are in his flat, the ghosts that are exercised will leave a note that is a little bit of story that is relevant to the player. With each note that is collected the story will be told and if the player pays attention he will be able to piece the game together. The story is about the players mental health and series of old problems that haunt him in his dreams, the starting problems that are revealed are small (ie he loses he job, his girlfriend his dies, he looks after his mom after his stepdad beat her but she still defends him) and they build up the dark scerets even the player has surpressed (going to a hypnotist to stop the player from remembering the dark secret and finally the dark secret is that he was molested by his dad).
Purpose of the Game?
Go through the dream exercising the ghosts, find each note and find out the mystery
Type of game?
Mystery with horror elements
Items in my game?
Flashlight
I am going to explain the mechanics and create a storyboard in a seperate blog post to explain how the game will mpve forward
Thank you for reading,
Many Thanks,
James Lacey
ShonenBurst Game Design 
Leave a comment