Research.docx.docx

Personal Project

For my personal project, I have decided to develop a first person horror video game as I have a keen interest in doing so. Before doing so, I must plan and research exactly what I’m going to do. I will be researching a range of first person horror games so that I can expand on my ideas.

First Person Horror Games

For this project I will be researching different video games in the first person horror genre. There is a huge range of first person horror games but I am going to be analysing the most notable ones.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a survival first person horror video game, developed by Frictional Games, with the support of Nordon, a Nordic Game program and is considered to be one of the most successful horror games of this time earning two awards from the Independent Games Festival and numerous positive reviews. The game introduces the main character named Daniel venturing a dark and mysterious castle, while trying to avoid dangerous monsters and solve puzzles in order to progress through the game.

Gameplay

Amnesia is played in a first-person perspective. The game allows physical object interaction, allowing for physics-based puzzles and interactions such as opening doors and repairing mechanics. A few objects are managed by toggle; to open a door, for example, the player has to hold down the left-mouse button and then push or pull with the mouse. This gives the player a sense of stealth, to let them glance out an almost fully closed door or open it very slowly to creep away. This also adds to the player’s feeling of powerlessness as it’s possible to push open a “pull” whilst a threat advances from behind.

The game doesn’t feature a health bar although the player can still be hurt. The player has a certain level of sanity which must be maintained. The player mustn’t stay in the darkness for too long or else his/her sanity levels will drop to a dangerous level, causing them to experience auditory and visual hallucinations which will draw the attention of monsters. In order to restore the player’s sanity, they must find or create light sources, or ultimately stay in the shadows so that their sanity gets restored until they pass out, but in turn causes him to be extremely defenceless to any nearby enemies. The player is able to equip an oil-burning lantern which can be found near the start of the game and may also find tinderboxes lying around that can be used to light up candles and candelabras. However, resources are limited as there is a finite amount oil to use and a fixed amount of tinderboxes in the game.

If a monster notices the player, it will run for them until they are out of sight. If spotted, the player has no choice but to run for his life as there are no equippable weapons in the game to use for defence. In order to get away from the monster, the player must locate hiding places or block doors with obstacles; however, monsters are able to tear through doors and knock obstacles away. Monsters are also capable of sprinting tremendously fast once they have spotted the player. If the player slips away from the monster’s sight then the monsters will search for the player for a while, but will gradually leave and disappear.

Figure 1 - Amnesia: The Dark Descent gameplay screenshot

The screenshot shown above represents the gameplay of the game. Hints will be displayed at the top of the screen for first time players. The game generally has a very dark tone to it and has an eerie soundtrack to induce the feeling of the fear of the unknown.

Figure 2 - Screenshot of mouse button hovering over tinderbox

Outlast

As with Amnesia, Outlast is a first person survival horror game developed by Red Barrels. Outlast too has won lots of awards, including Best Horror Game of 2013, Best PC game, and Best Indie title.

The story is about a journalist, Miles Upshur, who receives and anonymous message asking him to break into Mount Asylum, an abandoned mental hospital for the mentally ill, recently opened by the “research and charity” branch of the Murkoff Corporation and Miles discovers a terrifying line between science and religion, nature and something else totally unknown. Once inside, his only way to escape is to uncover the truth of Mount Asylum that lies within.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Outlast quite similar to that of Amnesia, being in a first person perspective, having the ability to pick up items, and involves real-time physics such as opening doors and turning valves. One key difference is that Outlast also features a camcorder which acts as a light source and the player must collect batteries in order to maintain its use. This is similar to the lantern that Amnesia uses and follows the same basic principles. However, one feature of the recorder is that when the player is using it, and records something significant, the player receives a note, possibly being either a clue to progress the game or a side story within the game. Another feature of the camcorder is its ability to turn night vision on as it allows the player to see more clearly in the darkness, however in doing so drains the battery life in which the player must look for more batteries but batteries are hard to find in a harsh environment.

Figure 3- Outlast Gameplay

The screenshot above shows the player encountering an event triggered by the player. When the player activates night vision mode with the camcorder, the player is able to see more clearly in the darkness, and valuable items that are beneficial to the player glow while in the darkness so that the player can locate it easily.

Penumbra: Overture

Penumbra: Overture is the first in a series of episodic survival horror games developed by the developers of Amnesia, Frictional Games. Frictional Games developed this game before Amnesia and garnered many awards like Amnesia. The story of Penumbra: Overture is about a person called Phillip whose mum recently died and he receives a strange letter from his supposedly dead dad. The letter leads him to an uninhibited mysterious location in northern Greenland. The harsh cold forces him to go into an abandoned mine but the mines entrance collapses as he enters. While in the mine he discovers scraps of paper which seem to have text written on them from a scientist. The player plays as him and must venture deeper into the mine to uncover hidden secrets.

Gameplay

With Amnesia and Outlast, it is a first-person horror game with a few notable features. It uses the Newton Game Dynamics physics engine which allows it to use physics-based combat and emphasizes physics-based puzzles. In order to engage in combat the player

Figure 4 - Penumbra: Overture gameplay

In the screenshot above, the player is holding a glowstick and a hammer, ready to engage into combat, with small crosshairs in the middle of the screen to indicate where the player is aiming.

Conclusion

After researching a range of horror games I have decided to develop a first-person horror survival game with basic item interaction, flashlight mechanics, and a good storyline.