Design Change due to iterations

Iteration Document

Base Mechanics before iterations

Player

Players will use the WASD keys and the mouse to move the avatar. It is important for players to walk at a slow speed as they will need to take their time moving around the level to avoid the AI. Players will also have the ability to run.  This gives them a chance when they are spotted by the AI to get away quickly as the AI will begin to chase them.  

There are 3 different types of objects the player can interact with in the game. The first is a puzzle object which the player must click on to access the puzzle they need to complete, in order to progress. The second is a cupboard object; these are the objects the player can hide within to keep out of sight of the wolf.  The third are door objects. Players will be responsible of opening and closing doors themselves in the game. This is so that they can choose to leave a door open for a quick escape from the wolf or close the door to put space between them and the wolf.
The player has no health and no way to defend themselves against an attack. The only chance they have is to avoid the AI. If they are caught by the wolf they die instantly. There will be a checkpoint in each of the puzzle rooms so that the players’ progress through the game is not lost.   
AI
The AI will chase the player. This will force the player to move through the level and into the puzzle rooms. The most AIs in the level at one time will be two.  This is so that the player will not become overwhelmed and trapped in a part of the level with no way to safely get past.
AIs attack with a charge. Once the player has been spotted they will howl and begin to sprint towards them, this is the charge attack. The AI will roam the hallways in search of the player moving slowly from room to room. Once the player is spotted they begin the charge attack.   





Progression mechanics 
In the level there will be 3 chess based puzzles. Players must solve these puzzles to unlock the door that leads to the next section of the level.

‘Chess puzzle in ‘Alice Madness Returns’

The puzzle will be set on a chess board. The player will control one piece on the board. Two types of AI pieces will also be on the board. One AI piece will simply take up a square blocking the player’s path. The other will move across the board after the player has made their move. If the player is on a square the AI is about to move on and the two pieces collide the puzzle will reset.  Players will have a limited amount of steps they can use to get from the start position to the goal position marked on the board

Scare mechanics
To create the atmosphere needed for a horror game I am going to use two things to my advantage. The first thing that I am going to use is creepy bass heavy music track that will build the suspense in the level. I will use sounds such as wolf howls, stormy winds and crashes every now and then to make the player jump.
The second thing that I am going to use is trigger events. An example of this used within the game would be:

1.      Player is in a long corridor

2.      At the end of the corridor is a light that is slightly flickering

3.      Once the player is a few feet away the light quickly flickers off

4.      After a few moments the light turns back on and a shadow that wasn’t on the wall before is now on the wall.

5.      The shadow quickly darts around the corner.

Iterations

As development began on the game, it became abundantly clear that mechanics that worked well on paper wasn’t quite as successful in game. Major iterations include:

1.      No more chess based puzzles – Although I fully coded and created all assets for the chess based puzzle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19UuQGMDScA) I decided that I needed to take this form of puzzle away. This was because it took the player completely out of the environment I had worked so hard to create. Players became a lot more at ease after the puzzle and this affected the immersive atmosphere a great deal.  I need a puzzle that that can be completed in the same environment where the rest of the game takes place. 

The puzzle element is now in the fact that players must work out that they have to turn on light in order to unlock the door. This encourages a player to explore and keeps them in the same eerie environment.

'Old Level Design'

2.      Level Design Change - With the change of the puzzle element in the game I needed to change the level slightly. This was due to the fact I had spent all my allocated time coding the chess based puzzle and on top of that had to code and source assets for the new puzzle system. This meant I needed to cut the size of the level in order to fit in with my schedule and make the project manageable again. A level downsize wouldn’t affect the quality of the game for the player, but would decrease my workload drastically without a negative consequence, allowing time to make the changes needed to improve the game experience. I keep the basic structure that the level needed i.e. long corridors with rooms branching off them so that the atmosphere wouldn’t be affected. The major change I made was to make room fewer and smaller.

   

'New Level Design'

3.      Examine Mechanic – I really wanted the environment to tell a story. I have created old decaying textures on all assets that show the history and abandonment in the level. I felt that this factor could be amplified slightly to encourage players to embrace the atmosphere more and turned into a game feature. I have created a new mechanic in which players may examine certain assets and details in the game. The crosshair changes when a player rollovers certain objects letting them known that on a mouse click they may learn more about the object really allowing the environment to tell a story as well as driving the narrative of the game forward.    

4.      EXAMINE MECHANIC UPDATE – I have now fully implemented the new examine feature in the game. It work wells however due to my lack of coding experience, it isn’t as effective as it should be. I have been able to code it so that if a players crosshair rolls over an object that can be examined, the crosshair changes to the ‘examine icon’. However the issue I am having is setting the crosshair so that it only changes a certain distance from an object. Right now, players can be standing across the room from an examinable object and not even have it in eyesight yet; despite this the crosshair would still change if it detected the rollover. This has become quite an eyesore with the crosshair changing every second as a player explores the environment. What I have decided to do is to condense down what a player can examine, limiting it to writings on the wall. This mechanic works a lot better like this with the game in its current state as I can place examinable text in places where the crosshair changing wouldn’t become a nuisance.

Final mechanics after iterations

Player

Players will use the WASD keys and the mouse to move the avatar. It is important for players to walk at a slow speed as they will need to take their time moving around the level to avoid the AI. Players will also have the ability to run.  This gives them a chance when they are spotted by the AI to get away quickly as the AI will begin to chase them.  

Players have the ability to examine certain details within the level such as writing scribbled across the walls. This not only allows the narrative to unfold, but also is a key way of guiding a player on what they must do in order to progress. For example the player is in a locked room, writing on the wall informs the player that ‘light is the key’, once the player turns on the lights in the room the door unlocks. 

Players can interact with doors in the game. By clicking on a door they are able to open and close it. Certain doors will be locked in the level; to unlock them players must find a set number of lights and turn them on. The crosshair changes within the game to let and player known if they can interact or examine an object.  Players will be responsible of opening and closing doors themselves in the game. This is so that they can choose to leave a door open for a quick escape from the wolf or close the door to put space between them and the wolf.

The player has no health and no way to defend themselves against an attack. The only chance they have is to avoid the AI. If they are caught by the wolf they die instantly. There will be checkpoints placed throughout the level so if a player does die and chooses to retry they won’t have to constantly start at the beginning of the level. This will encourage players to try again with the peace of mind that not all their progress has been lost.
AI
The AI will chase the player. This will force the player to move through the level and into the puzzle rooms. The most AIs in the level at one time will be two.  This is so that the player will not become overwhelmed and trapped in a part of the level with no way to safely get past.

AIs attack with a charge. Once the player has been spotted they will begin to sprint towards them, this is the charge attack. The AI will roam the hallways in search of the player moving slowly from room to room. Once the player is spotted they begin the charge attack.