At BLKOUT Studios we have finally set on our game for jamfuzer. We plan on using the theme to show off our own skills in game design and development rather than the player. We chose this as we all want to get into the industry and showing off what we can do is the best way. I am keen to do some combat so I will be co-designing the gameplay which includes combat but little to no melee for the most part. Therefore I will most likely work on a melee combat prototype alongside the jam if I have time as I really enjoy designing and developing combat. I will be designing enemy AI and behaviour for the combat but unqiue, fast, chunky, melee sword fighting is something else I want to try out.
OUR GAME:
The plan for our game derived from my love of “Supernatural”, mixed with the success/emergence of “phasmophobia” and the horror and asymmetric gameplay of “dead by daylight”.
The game is being made for a multiplayer experience with one supernatural creature VS 4 hunters. The jam however asks for single player so the creature will be a simplified AI and the player will attack the enemy alone. The premise is that the players arrive at a destination with little to no knowledge of the creature but clear evidence of supernatural activity. The players will need to find clues to identify the creature and ultimately exterminate the threat. Each monster will need to be exterminated in its own way (by fire, silver bullet, salt and burn corpse etc). The players will have a trunk with weapons/items to help them and the creature possess abilities to protect themselves and or slaughter the hunters.
Many details need to be worked out to balance the power between the players since it needs to be scary, but giving the players weapons and the potential to kill the enemy drives the fear down considerably. Other details about overlapping clues (so enemies arent distinguishable instantly), levels (so each area can have a multitude/all enemies so again its not obvious straight away) , delaying the creature (so it cant instantly wipe out the hunters before they prepare/set traps etc)
We also plan to use Unity since we are all comfortable with it and already have many asset packs in the asset store which will prove useful. We are using realistic graphics which may prove to be a challenge when wanting an array of enemies and animations and unique levels (as we are all designers) but if we take the game further we will hire artists. We have also never made a game this scale together or with realistic graphics so we will learn alot about optimisation techniques to keep frame rate high with higher quality assets.
We are aware our game is large in scope with realistic assets and complex AI behaviours but we are all commited and determined to persevere. Even if we do not succeed in polishing the game as much as needed for the jam, we still aim to take the game further in the future.
Thanks for reading!