Asylum Jam - Oct 2013

As mentioned in my last blog, Asylum Jam was intended to get game creators and fanatics to create some sort of horror game that divulged outside the usual spectrum of mental health stereotypes. The initial article that I found which discussed this can be found here:

http://indiestatik.com/2013/08/11/asylum-jam-towards-horror-games-without-negative-depictions-of-mental-illness/

It was the image (top of the page_ that caught my eye then rreadingthe subtitle beneath it really caught my attention. The reason for this is that i am well aware of how overused mental illness horror themed games are. What is annoying for me is that I really wish to create something like that - set in a Mental Asylum. It is for this reason I will explore options and have ideas that will truly make my creation unique in its own way.

I was interested to discover more on this game jam and this site directed me (and everyone who visited and wished to take part in) to a site containing examples of horror games that did not involve mental health.

http://asylumjam.tumblr.com/examples

One Late Night
I downloaded this and gave it a play. For being in an office setting it was very creepy and very well done. A little difficult to know what to do and sadly I do not have the time to play it extensively to complete it. It has however shown me insight into how you can make a generally friendly environment rather creepy and disturbing.

Among The Sleep
Just played the demo - WOW! This game looks fantastic. You play a two year old child who is wondering the house looking for the mother which leads you into some sort of new maybe dream world? As I said I have only played the demo but I was really tense and scared whilst playing this game and the originality of it is superb. I may look into buying this and playing it as it looks like it might be very helpful towards my project!

Slenderman
I have already downloaded and played this game before. It is terrifying. Horrible in a fun way! I really like this game as it truly uses atmosphere to create the ultimate scary game. In relation to this blog, in has nothing to do with mental illness; it is set in a forest and the villain is a mysterious spooky looking person and no details are given to who he is at all. This unknown factor helps let the players imagination take over.

SCP Containment Breach
This game sounded very interesting and is very bizarre - I am typing this as I am playing it! It is very difficult - I have died multiple times without getting very far. I am going to keep trying so I can get a little further in order for a better understanding.
Ok, I kept going but did not get much further that before. Contradictory to the annoyance of the difficulty of this game, I did like its approach and the story that went with it. It was an effective way of creating a different horror atmosphere and story compared to the usual we are given.

As for the Asylum Jam, it is apparent that there were loads of applicants and plenty of new games that were created within the 48 hour limit. Here is a link to the submissions (You may haev to sign up to view). I will take a look at some of these and see what comes up. There might be inspiration somewhere for something similar to what I want to achieve!

http://www.asylumjam.com/submissions