Event02 - 'Mother Issues' - Progress

This event has had me troubled quite a bit due too the amount of complex changes required within the environment. First I have been manipulating sound to play, more in-depth than my last event. This has been an enjoyable yet timely task. As for changing the roof - this has become difficult for one main reason - lighting. I am going to have to create some mroe lights that fit in with the asylum style, place them in the scene and turn them on as I turn off and delete the other lights. I may add more effects into this such as flickering etc but for now I need to sort the basis.

Where I am at so far

Playing with sound: I have been messing around with sounds. I wanted to incorporate a creepy laughter as this next scene involves a padded cell. I found this clip of my friend laughing and simply reversed it for a really terrifying effect. The two sounds below are 1 - his laugh normal, 2 - it played in reverse:

Test01 - Laughing - Original

Test02 - Laughing - Reversed

Working with the sounds has been fantastic. It has really enticed the gameplay. Here is a video of where I am at with this event:

Personal Notes

What I plan to do now is create the lights for the asylum roof and have the lighting work correctly for each set of lights. I can then go on and improve the textures and more of the story elements associated with this scene

Two Similar Experiments Looking Into 'Affective State' To Drive Horror Games

Experiment 01:

An analysis of affective state transitions in survival horror game with the aid of player self-reports and physiological signals - Review

Vanus Vachiratamporn, Paul Inventado, Roberto Legaspi, Koichi Moriyama, Masayuki Numao The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Osaka University

 https://kaigi.org/jsai/webprogram/2013/pdf/987.pdf

It is a very interesting read and has given some insight to a new prospect of survival horror games. Using the player's affective state to decipher what happens in a game would be extremely useful for a horror game. This article has provided me with some useful quotes and reference points.

Quotes

These two games have showed that, by including some randomness into the main horror approach of the games, it can extend the replayability of the game and can create an endless amount of memorable horror scene to any players.

- Referencing the games; 'Slender: The Eight Pages' and SCP: Containment Breach

Common emotions that have been mentioned across horror fiction, movies and games are anxiety, suspense and fear [Falsafi 11, Perron 04, Prieto-Pablos 98]. Although some research considers anxiety and suspense as part of a fear experience [Garner 11], these three emotions can be distinguished by the concreteness of how a threat is perceived. Fear is an emotional response to a specific threat or an attempt to cope with threatening events that have already been seen [Öhman 07]. On the other hand, anxiety and suspense occur due to the uncertainty of an upcoming dangerous situation. Anxiety is usually caused by the uncertainty towards an enigmatic or unspecific threat [Falsafi 11, Öhman 07], while suspense is usually caused by the uncertainty of an expected outcome from a threat confrontation [Prieto-Pablos 98]. Fear and anxiety are considered to be different emotions while suspense overlaps between the other emotions [Toprac 11].

- Description of anxiety, suspense and fear - common emotions in horror games/films

Result Table - Rating system = 1 to 5 - 5 being Very scary

- This was part of the results after the experiment

This result also supports the study of Perron [Perron 04] that showed many successful examples of forewarning techniques used in horror movies and horror games, suggesting that long anticipation of a harmful confrontation (suspense) is more disturbing than short anticipation (surprise).

- A useful horror technique that can be applied to my game

Experiment 02:

Please Biofeed the Zombies: Enhancing the Gameplay and Display of a Horror Game Using Biofeedback - Review

Andrew Dekker & Erik Champion

http://www.cs.tufts.edu/~jacob/250pbi/Please_biofeed_the_zombies.pdf

This was a similar report but instead of using the players affective state to alter the gameplay, it was looking into using it to enhance the gameplay - via 'dynamic changes in the game shaders, screen shake, and the creation of new spawning points for the game's non-playing characters'.

This was another interesting read - not much was useful directly too my project but it is fascinating to see what research is out there and imagine what games could potentially be like in the future.

Personal Notes

It might be worth looking into the 'study of Perron' as this shows the techniques of horror movies and games which will definately apply to my project.

Event02 - 'Mother Issues'

Even though I would like to make this a non-linear story at the end, I am still approaching it in a linear sense, just in case I run out of time. This next event is entitled: 'Mother Issues'. This makes reference to the book from Roseanne McNulty's memory of her disturbed mother.

• Roseanne's Mother is a little disturbed and never says much (is sanctioned in a mental hospital later in the story). In this part, she strikes herself with a shovel and later, purchases a clock and prior to smashing it on the floor, mutters some nonsense.

This is going to be the event that really emphasis' the mental asylum scene. It is going to take place in a padded cell (replaces a typical hotel bedroom) and is going to incorporate so hysterical laughter and creepy sound cues.

What Happens

1. Laughter can be heard down the hall - loud and reckless
2. Approaching the door, user see's it's an unusual type of door - laughter is more quiet and reserved.
3. Player enters and see's padded cell, with blood writing on the wall - mentions of clocks/'tick-tock'
4. upon leaving the room, the roof of hallway has slowly changed to an old mental asylum style roof.
5. Whispers of 'tick-tock' echo through the hallway

I had begun this event in a very rough manner - I will now continue with it and give myself a day or so to enhance it.

Event02 - 'Mother Issues'

Personal Notes

This requires a lot more work as I am creating a new room as well as changing the ceiling. So far I have completed this roughly. I will give myself a little more time to polish it before moving on with event 03 next week.

Alone In The Dark Retrospective - Review

Upon my readings I discovered a quote that defined fear in a very unique way:

It isn't what you see, but what you don't see. It's the suggestion; the subtle teasing of the subconscious; the lonely creaking of the floorboards resonating throughout an empty hallway; the slow advance around the corner; the swelling sense of dread as the ever-present evil that looms near refuses to reveal itself. Fear is not an adrenaline rush. It's that helpless feeling of being alone in the dark. - Travis Fahs

 I tracked this down to another IGN article which can be found here:

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2008/06/23/alone-in-the-dark-restrospective?page=1

With such a wonderful introduction, I decided to read further.

Rather than imitating other media and explicitly telling a story using movie-like devices such as dialog, cut-scenes, and narration, Alone in the Dark would allow players to discover the story as investigators, piecing it together from books, journals, and environmental clues.

- This technique is what I will be using in my game to immerse the user into the story



This article focused heavily on the history of Alone In The Dark. After reading it, I am tempted to purchase the newest game and see what techniques are used and how well they are applied.

IGN Presents The History Of Survival Horror - Review

Taking a much more closer look at horror in games, I found this article that 'presents the history of survival horror'.

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2009/10/30/ign-presents-the-history-of-survival-horror?page=1

This is a huge article however here are a few interesting segments from it:

The music, triggered whenever an enemy drew near, soon became enough to inspire panic even before the monster appeared on screen.

- Shows the importance of sound/audio - especially in a horror game

Project Firestart may have pioneered the survival horror formula, but it did not inspire imitators, and it wasn't until years later that the lone game would become part of a genre, and others would make the same discoveries that Dynamix did. Alone in the Dark is forever remembered as the game that brought the genre to a mass audience and inspired countless imitators, and Project Firestart is one of many similar stories of games that were simply too far ahead of their time.

- The beginning of survival horror - worth looking at 'Alone In The Dark'

"Almost 20 years ago, graphics couldn't make monsters scary, so I used several methods," Raynal says. "First the player should be more scared of what he doesn't see than what he sees. That was a goal of having texts to read, that could tell a story you can't display." This device allowed the game to slowly reveal a story without compromising the oppressive isolation needed for the game's story. Large amounts of dialog were simply not an option if the player was to feel like he was alone in the dark.

- The limitations of graphics etc are what enhanced the importance of developing a scary game

Music was equally important. Like Jeff Tunnell, Raynal had music triggered by the presence of enemies, but Alone in the Dark took it a step further. Noticing the sense of dread the music inspired, Raynal recalls composer Philippe Vachey's breakthrough: "He said 'Why not launch it randomly sometimes? That was very efficient!" The occasional false alarm kept players fearing what lurked around the corner.

- Relating again to the music

The oppressive fog and darkness may have been used to mask the system's limitations, but once again survival horror plays by different rules. Where not being able to see would be considered a game-wrecking flaw otherwise, the fear of the unknown is a powerful tool of terror.

- This relates to the importance of lighting, sometimes an ambiguous scene can be the most terrifying.

when faced with the challenge of making a truly scary game, they came to the same conclusion. They identified two main elements, isolation and vulnerability, as being the key themes in the story and gameplay that contribute to fear.

- These seem to be the keey elements of story - isolation and vulnerability

Immersive and sometimes deceptive use of sound and lighting helped to reinforce the sense of dread with a strong audiovisual component.

 - Brings us back to the importance of light and sound to enhance player experience

Personal Notes

This has been a very interesting read. It has provided me with a well informed history of survival horror. Reading this I have come to understand various techniques required to make a game scary. I have numerous different articles that I have found relating to th subject so aim to get all these looked over today and tomorrow.

Visual Dissertation Doc - refined

I was going to save this for later (after I played P.T. (Silent Hill) but I thought it was best to do it now as to not end up wasting time looking at stuff that may become unnecessary to my research. As a reminder here is my previous Visual Dissertation doc:

Visual Dissertation 01

Since then I have come across some different terms and ideas and have now refined it to:

Visual Dissertation 02

This change has helped a lot in understanding what I am doing. I was starting to feel a bit lost and getting sidetracked in my research. I am hoping this will help me to get back on the right track and continue with the amount of work I have been doing so far.

Personal Notes

Having already looked at environmental design techniques already, I am going to focus these next few days on horror techniques and storytelling techniques (with regards to horror).

Game Study - P.T. (Silent Hill)

P.T. Kojima

As mentioned in my previous post, that Half-Life 2 is becoming an out-dated example of what I am looking to achieve. Last year, a demo/teaser game was released - P.T. This demo/ game (related to the Silent Hill developers/franchise is much closer to the type of project I want to complete.

In this 'interactive horror teaser' you wonder down a hallway which is located in a house. When you exit at the end through a door, you come out into the beginning of the hallway again. You keep doing this and as you loop through the environment, it begins to subtly change. Get's darker and a lot more scarier. There are a lot of puzzles within it which are very advanced for a typical game. So much so that many advanced gamers have been struggling to figure it out.

I have only watched play-throughs of the game online as I do not own a PS4. I am currently getting a friend to download it so I can play it for myself. From watching the play-throughs, I could understand the terror behind it and how much more it would be scarier if I was playing it. There are plenty of reviews online - here are a few:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/feature/a591627/is-silent-hills-teaser-pt-the-scariest-game-ever.html#~p5kzSlTaR7gud3

http://uk.businessinsider.com/silent-hills-pt-2014-11

http://www.polygon.com/2014/8/18/6033001/silent-hills-pt-horror-films

Once I have played P.T. I will come back to this post and right up my experience:

Review Of P.T. (Silent Hill) - Now That I Have Played It


*coming soon*

Personal Notes

Looking at this game, I have realised how similar my project is and I should use this game to my advantage. The horror element is perfect in what I want to achieve. As for the puzzles, I intend only to communicate a story through triggered events, but not in a puzzle form. This is not that different from P.T. Especially in the timescale I have. After playing this game I want to re-look at my 'Visual Dissertation' doc and overall project question and make some amends as I have noticed over the past few weeks my idea of my project gradually changing or more specifically, becoming much more defined.

Half-Life 2 - Game Study

Half-Life 2, VALVE

Upon recent readings I have picked up on how well the story is told in Half-Life 1 & 2. I went back and played Half-Life 2 to remind myself of the beginning and how it introduced the story, and felt amazed at how well and how quickly you become immersed into the game and it's story.

Notes On Playing The Game

I have played and completed this game before, but as part of my research I decided to play the start of it again to refresh my memory. The reason for choosing this game is due to how it famously begins with no back story/cut scene explaining where you are or what is happening. This technique is worth noting as I plan on having no cut-scenes or back story introductions in my piece.

What I first noticed was how quickly you become immersed and tied to the game. As soon as I arrived via train to this mysterious place I felt intrigued to learn more. When interacting with characters there is a lot of ambiguity in what is said, which again, leaves the user to imagine and decipher for themselves. Within a very short time you are already being whisked away and on the run. This all happens so fast that you don't even realize you are playing a game. You become absorbed in the characters motive to just run and do what other people are telling you to do.
-This is something that I really want to accomplish in my piece. Like Half-Life 2, there will be no explanation to where you are or who you are. Upon exploring the environment and discovering certain items, the truth will become clear.

Another interesting thing I noticed was how your character (Gordon Freeman) does not talk. This made all the dialogue in the game even more interesting as the other characters, would speak to you but not receive a response. This technique allows the player to feel even more immersed with the character/game as the character is not saying things that perhaps, the player would disagree with - which would ruin all immersive play.


Notes from Gamasutra Article

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JakeShapiro/20121025/180169/quotPICK_UP_THAT_CANquot_Storytelling_in_HalfLife_2.php

As L.B. Jeffries writes in “Half-Life 2: Giant Ants, Head Crabs and Barnacle Creatures,” the fact that Freeman never talks “makes it so that identity is still highly malleable in the player’s mind… the game is not just giving the player a role to assume, they’re giving you space to make your own tweaks to the identity by having it be a broad one.”

- I noticed this while playing and felt it was a fantastic technique. The dialogue used by other characters has been cleverly developed so that you hardly notice that you do not say anything back to them.

No one tells you what to do. No text appears on the screen to tell you what to do. There’s no music, no direction, nothing; apart from short monologues at the very beginning and end of the game, there are no cutscenes. You’re just placed into the gameworld, and must figure everything out for yourself.

 - This relates to the beginning of the game. By immediately placing you into the game with no introduction/cut scene helps enhance the immersion as it lets you explroe and discover who you are and where you are by yourself.

You see some people being beaten by the police, but unlike a regular FPS where you can blast these bad cops to kingdom come, you can only watch or walk away. The story unfolds around you in realtime. From overhearing the people around you, you deduce there’s been an alien invasion of Earth, and humans are all slaves...there’s no epic cutscene to depict this. No flashback. Everything is presented as the protagonist sees it. The story is told through the gameplay.

- The idea of everything happening in real-time, with cues as oppose to flashbacks/cut-scenes again helps immerse the player as it does not disrupt the game play with a cinematic. This means you are on constant alert to hear what is going on around you and to see what is going on.

HL2 teaches you basic gameplay mechanics through the story. This “pick up that can” moment is the crux of Valve’s technique. The storytelling is human storytelling.

- Again, teaching the game mechanics within the game helps to maintain the story whilst teaching the user how to play. Without even realizing it, they discover they know how to carry out different skills.

Although the game is very linear, the player feels like it’s not. There are no arrows pointing you in the right direction, and instead the player’s observations of the gameworld encourage them to go where Valve wants them to go.

- This is the strength of environmental storytelling. A linear game can be manipulated so it is not obvious that there is only one way. More importantly, it must be designed so it does not appear that the game is forcing you in a direction. This is something I wish to apply to my piece, however I am also looking to make it a non-linear story.

Personal Notes

Linking the techniques from Half-Life 2 into my interactive story will have some variations. I want to accomplish telling a story through the environment, whilst enhancing player experience. I want to - like Half-Life 2, have the user discover the story as they explore in hope that it will immerse them more into the story.

My supervisor mentioned that as Half-Life 2 may be a great piece to explore and study, it is perhaps a little outdated. He suggested that I look into Silent Hill P.T. as it is much more suited to my project - especially with the horror element attached to it.

Supervisor Meeting - 06

Student Name: Christy McLaughlin
Supervisor: Ryan Locke
Date: 23.02.15

Agenda

• Show Journal Findings
• Look at 'Visualize Dissertation' Doc
• Discuss Practical Stuff

Progress Report

• Journals I had found were very good. He was pleased to see that they are leading me into different paths associated with my project. He stated that it is important that sometime down the line, I start to cut what I do not need and focus on the topics/information that is suitable for my project.
• He was pleased to see my first draft of my 'Visual Dissertation' Doc. He mentioned that this will change quite a bit and I should update it regularly. I have found it very useful for when it comes to researching. 
• Again, he was pleased with the amount of work carried out this week. A few tweaks are needed for my newest scene (feathers too big) (audio). - For audio, he suggested grammarphones or adding more 'low quality' e.g crackling/echo too the recording. A lot of interesting things can be done with sound.

Agreed Action Plan

• A more in-depth look at Silent Hill - puzzle element (the cleverness of these puzzles relate to film elements
• Look at player agency and the importance of manipulating agency
• Start looking into audio - techniques/styles for horror

Personal Notes

Once again I have had another very good session. He is pleased with the level of work I am completing each work and how it has become more professionally done. He is liking how my journal research already looks like literature reviews. This is pleasing me a lot and I aim to keep up this amount of weekly work. As the weeks go by, I will find myself having more time to put into studying and hope to increase the work load.

For Next Week

• Game Reviews - Half Life 2 - Silent Hill
• Journals on Player Agency
• Complete Event02 - 'Mother Issues'
• Look into more horror elements - audio/lighting etc

I have now got a rough plan of action in my head in regards to my project. I want to create an event in my scene each week. With 5 events and 1 completed already. This gives me to the second last week in March. I will round it up to the end of March to have a complete game that works and is pretty good. I will then use April to polish this up as much as possible, going through every aspect and making sure it is as good as can be.

As for the dissertation/research - I will continue with the amount of research I am gathering at the moment. When it comes to March, I will be dedicating ever weekend to research/dissertation writing - using the week to focus on practical and possibly some research/game studies. I will re-asses this big plan at end of March.

Textuality In Video Games - In-Depth Look

I came across this term 'Textuality In Horror' when researching online. I found it mentioned in this article by Ewan Kirkland:

http://irishgothichorrorjournal.homestead.com/Kirkland.html

The title of this article is drawn from Philip Brophy’s 1983 essay which coins the neologism ‘horrality’, a merging of horror, textuality, morality and hilarity...Textuality examines the aesthetic qualities of survival horror, including the games’ use of narrative, their visual design and structuring of virtual spaces.

I have yet too look at this article in depth but the term textuality did jump out at me and I went on to look at more articles using this term. That's when I discovered 'Textuality In Video Games'.

http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/05163.10260.pdf

This particular article is a summary of the investigation that took place. It address' questions relating to interactivity, narrative and role-play.

When discussing the narrative theory in 'Baldur's Gate' the article gives a nice meaning of narrative and the 'pleasures associated' with it:

it manages to offer pleasures associated with narrative, such as plotted twists and revelations, resolution and characterisation, even as it breaks with existing accounts of narrative structure. - (p147)

 They also looked into film narrative:

We found Seymour Chatman’s work on film narrative pertinent because of his insistence that in a visual medium the differentiation between story-space and discourse space, and the arrangement of object (existents) in that space, are just as important as the discursive arrangement of events in time. - (p147)

 Agency was mentioned in this article which my supervisor has mentioned to me before in the context of player agency. Here is a nice description of different types of agencies:

Personal agency was found in examples of how users pause and take full advantage of the interactive environment that has been created, rather than seeing it as a means to an end. Whilst proxy agency, refers to instances in which users actively defer responsibility and utilise cultural tools to obtain problem-solving solutions, enlightenment on aspects of the narrative background, or deeper understanding of the fan-created knowledge base of character orientation and history. Lastly, collective agency refers to the fans’ extension of Oddworld through art, literature and games. - (p150)

 As mentioned, this was a short summerized article. There final outcome will be a book entitled 'Computer Games; Text, Narrative and Play.

Personal Notes

This article spoke of some interesting terms which I will look into more closly - player agency etc

Narrative Structures in Computer and Video Games: Part 2: Emotions, Structures, and Archetypes - In-Depth Look

Here is a more in-depth look at this article by Barry Ip:

http://gac.sagepub.com/content/6/3/203.full.pdf

This article is focusing on emotions, structures and archetypes relating to narrative of a game. In relation to my project which is focusing on environmental storytelling, the initial part of this article (emotions) was not all too important too me as that was dealing with characters.

When discussing the structure of the games Ip relates to the 'Twelve Stages of The Hero's Journey':

Twelve Stages of The Hero's Journey

At this stage in the article, he has noted whether or not each game use's all 12 stages. Some miss a few stages:

With regard to omissions, the most frequently excluded are Stage 3 (Refusal of the Call, absent in seven titles), Stage 10 (The Road Back, absent in four), and Stage 12 (The Return with the Reward, absent in five). Interestingly, although this finding is not beyond expectation in interactive games where the Refusal of the Call cannot, in practice, be maintained for there to be game progression, the lack of its presence is surprising, especially because it can add greater depth and complexity to games that place a heavy emphasis on narrative (Rollings & Adams, 2003, p. 102). - (p214)

However in some cases, this can be justified:

The omission of Stages 10 and 12 is justified by the explanation that it is often desirable to maintain suspense or uncertainty in the conclusion of a story to raise the audience’s anticipation for further game sequels (Rollings & Adams, 2003, p. 109) - (p214)

 Summary

The article then goes on to summarize the 2 articles rising some interesting points:

The omission of Stages 10 and 12 is justified by the explanation that it is often desirable to maintain suspense or uncertainty in the conclusion of a story to raise the audience’s anticipation for further game sequels (Rollings & Adams, 2003, p. 109) - (p233)

Despite the emphasis on cut scenes, variety was observed in other methods of narrative delivery where a total of 12 techniques were found, including onscreen text, audio cues, and the combination of gameplay, cut scene, and on screen text. In addition, it was discovered that the total time of actual narrative (devoted to aspects such as character development and story progression) was further eroded by the use of simple game prompts used to help guide the player through specific parts of gameplay. In some instances, this amounted to between 19% and 29% of total narrative: percentages largely attributable to the rising complexity of modern games, which necessitate the use of prompts to clarify gaming objectives and/or instructions for play. - (p233/234)

Although the literature reports for the need for more advanced game structures, the observations in this study point toward the sustained prevalence of the linear game structure. The use of the branching structure was observed but only as an adjunct to provide a greater sense of freedom in confined sections. - (p234)

A good level of uniformity could be seen in terms of the ordering of the chapters in The Hero’s Journey, with only minor deviations from the standard structure being observed. - (p234)

 There is a very long in-depth conclusion in this article which highlights a lot of key aspects and findings.

Personal Notes

Things To Look At

• Twelve stages of the heros journey

Narrative Structures in Computer and Video Games: Part 1: Context, Definitions, and Initial Findings - In-depth Look

Here is a more in-depth look at this article by Barry Ip:

http://gac.sagepub.com/content/6/2/103.full.pdf

Introduction

The introduction is fantastic. Explains clearly what this article is looking at and what it will be considering. It gives plenty of examples and keeps a level head.

Story, Plot and Narrative

It then goes on to explain the different meanings of story, plot and narrative. This is a highly interesting section as when reading it, I can't help but link everything to my project - hence it being an interactive story more so than a game. These 3 terms have been defined - (p106):

A story is defined as:
... a sequence of events involving entities. A story is bound by the laws of time; it goes in one direction, starting at the beginning, moving through the middle, and arriving at the end ... the only time involved is the time it takes to read [the story], and the only order is that of the structure of the essay (Abbott, 2002, p. 195).

Linked closely to this is the plot that is distinct from story and narrative. Aristotle defines this as:
... the organisation of events. The events, i.e., the plot, are what tragedy [serious dramas] is there for, and that is the most important thing of all (Heath, 1996, p. 11).

Cobley (2001, pp. 4-6) corroborates with this but extends the definition to include a more explicit link between events: 
The chain of causation which dictates that these events [in the story] are somehow linked and that they are therefore to be depicted in relation to each other.

While a narrative is defined as:
... the representation of an event or a series of events. ... when we read a narrative, we are aware of, on the one hand, the time of reading and the order in which things are read, and on the other hand, the time the story events are supposed to take and the order in which they are supposed to occur (Abbott, 2002, pp. 13-14).

And similarly: 
A narrative recounts a story, a series of events in a temporal sequence. Narratives give expression to feelings, but within the framework of a story and its telling (Cohan & Shires, 1988, p. 1).

These a some very nice explanations of these 3 closely related terms. Summing all this up, Ip states:

Hence, the story is the information about an event or sequence of events (typically linear), the plot being the causation and links between events, whereas the narrative is the unique way in which story is being presented to the audience. - (p107)

 Narrative Techniques in Computer and Video Games

When discussing a cut scene within a game to tell a story, Ip makes a valid point of how this can sometimes be disruptive for the player and break any kind of immersion the player may have:

However, despite the apparent necessity and ubiquity of cut scenes, they are often criticized as being a passive mode of narrative, which in some cases can disrupt and antagonize the interactive experience when sown into a game’s core fabric of interactivity (Falstein, 2005, pp. 92-95; Glassner, 2004, pp. 286-288; O’Luanaigh, 2006). - (p108)

Going further, Ip discusses the use of cut scenes in linear and/or non-linear games which again, links to what I am looking to accomplish:

The principal advantage offered by a nonlinear approach is greater freedom, where the player is given the impression that a greater degree of control may be exerted over the progression of the game’s story than what is actually possible in terms of interaction - (p109)

...although linear and branching structures may have fulfilled audiences’ expectations a decade or so ago (i.e., in the dawn of 32-, 64-, and 128-bit platforms during the mid to late 1990s such as Sony’s PlayStation and PlayStation2, Nintendo’s N-64 and Gamecube, and Microsoft’s Xbox), the rising power and capability of the current and future generations of gaming hardware require extra efforts to be directed toward more dynamic, natural, and convincing game narrative. - (p109)

...the common techniques for narrative delivery found in interactive games are thusly:

• back stories;

• cut scenes (including interactive cut scenes);  

•  game structures, for example, linear and branching;

•  the portrayal of emotion and/or reactive environments; and

• narrative structures: for example, monomyth, three-act plot, archetypes, kernels, satellites. 

- (p113/114)

Method

Summing up Ip's method on analysis, he picked 10 different games that ranged in age/platform in order to compare how and if narrative has improved over the years. All games that were picked had some form of storyline/narrative. Each game that was selected was played from start to end by a single player (the same player for each game). This player had never played any of the games before but is still a regular gamer and so understood the fundamentals of most of the games. All the narrative from each game was recorded via transcripts/video etc in a chronological order to help link similarities between games and their narrative styles.


Results

There was some very interesting results, when measuring the amount of 'time allocated to prescribed narrative in the form of cut scenes, on-screen text, and other in-game prompts.' The Secret Of Monkey Island, Shenmue 2 and Final Fantasy X all had between 20 and 30 percent of game time dedicated to the various forms of narrative where as The Legend Of Zelda and Half-Life 2 had about 1 percent. This is a very interesting difference considering the games. It was made aware that Half-Life 2 uses more audio cues and textual cues.

When discussing back stories, it was noticed that only one title didn't have a 'self-contained back story - Half-Life 2. This is very interesting and is almost very like my project.

One of the most interesting techniques used by four of the more contemporary titles (Half-Life 2, Fable, The Godfather, and Halo 3) is the delivery of narrative and/or prompts via the simultaneous use of gameplay, sound, and textual cues. This technique begins to demonstrate the use of reactive environments as discussed in section on Narrative Techniques in Computer and Video Games, which rather than using interventions that interrupt play, more seamless forms of narrative and/or prompting are provided during play. - (p121)

Personal Notes

Things too look at:

• Atkins (2003, p. 55-84) provides an in-depth examination of the audio and environmental techniques used in Half-Life to create a more dynamic and believable experience, - (p110)
• exception of Half-Life 2, where most of its narrative is presented as an integral part of gameplay (see Atkins (2003, pp. 63-78) for further theoretical discussion) - (p122)

•  Half Life 2

Event01 - Laws of Gravity - Progress

So I have been carrying out work on my first even which involves feathers floatign about an open hallway. Upon entering this hallway - music will play and feathers will slowly fall from the ceiling. Hammers will also start appearing on the floor before fading out. In the middle of the hall on the wall will be two sheets of paper - explaining the memory that is being portrayed.

Where I Am At

So far I have managed to get a lot of this sequence complete. I had to change a few ideas around in order to make it work but here is the progress of triggering of the music and feathers:

Triggering The Music

Adding In A Few Feathers

End Result (So Far)

Using The Matinee

Personal Notes

The rest of this week will be dedicated towards research and journal finding. I am pleased with my progress and was just unfortunate with time not to get a little further. I will give myself all of Monday to finish of this event as much as possible before moving on to the next. My idea is to have all events completed within March to a standard level. I can then use April to polish everythign ready for my final submission.

Journal Research

I have started to carry out my research in preparation for my dissertation and have been looking at various different journals. I have also created a Google document to store all my findings (links etc) in order for an easy to find/navigate document that I can use when writing out my dissertation.

So far I have managed to find two that stand out too me:

http://gac.sagepub.com/content/6/2/103.full.pdf+html

http://gac.sagepub.com/content/6/3/203.full.pdf+html

These are titled:

• 'Narrative Structures in Computer and Video Games: Part 1: Context, Definitions, and Initial Findings'
• 'Narrative Structures in Computer and Video Games: Part 2: Emotions, Structures, and Archetypes'

The reason these two have stuck out to me is because after reading only a small part in the first article I realized that my project was somewhat different to what I had originally thought it was.

'A story is defined as:
 ... a sequence of events involving entities. A story is bound by the laws of time; it goes in one direction, starting at the beginning, moving through the middle, and arriving at the end ... the only time involved is the time it takes to read [the story], and the only order is that of the structure of the essay (Abbott, 2002, p. 195).'


'While a narrative is defined as:
 ... the representation of an event or a series of events. ... when we read a narrative, we are aware of, on the one hand, the time of reading and the order in which things are read, and on the other hand, the time the story events are supposed to take and the order in which they are supposed to occur (Abbott, 2002, pp. 13-14).'

Upon reading this I felt they my game was not essentially a game but more a narrative story. Further progression in the article (and others I read) discussed games at a level that involved characters, emotions, gameplay etc which my project will not really be consisting of. Now that I have read this I am more confident to call my final piece an interactive story with a well thought narrative as oppose to a game.

Personal Notes

These two articles have been a great find in my beginning stages of lookign at journals. Over the next few days I will continue looking at these two journal articles as well as looking at others

To Look For

• Textuality of Horror
• Creating Suspense
• Pacing an interactive story
• Horror Techniques

Event01 - Laws of Gravity

The first major event that is going to happen in my story is entitled: 'Laws of Gravity'. This even makes reference to the book from two different memories:

•  Dr. William Grene's mother Roseanne McNulty - reminiscing the time her father attempted to show her the laws of gravity by dropping feathers and hammers at the same time from a great height in a tower in the graveyard at which he worked.
•  Fr. Gaunt's rendition of a similar incident, when he seen a group of men take Roseanne's father too the top of the tower in the graveyard and beat him in with hammers.

I want to use this even to create a subtle change in atmosphere and to help develop an uneasiness in the player as the environment begins to change and odd things happen.

What Happens

1. Music is played
2. Environment de-saturates
3. Feathers fall from the ceiling
4. followed by clanging hammers
5. Two pieces of parchment are left at either end of the hall - emphasizing story

I am still toying with the idea of having the parchment information also read out loud in some distant creepy voice. I can toy with this later. For now I will be doing my best too accomplish this first event.

Event01 - Laws of Gravity

Personal Notes

This should be relatively simple as I only need to create two objects; feather and hammer. I already have the de-saturation working and music should be very easy. I hope to nearly have this complete by the end of the week.

Visualizing Dissertation

Here is a more improved version of my dissertation. I have started using Google Docs for this and has proved very helpful:

Visualizing Dissertation

Personal Notes

This is my first version of this. It is something I will be iterating over the next coming weeks as I start to carry out a lot more research. The 'Environmental Design Techniques' are based on Don Carson's article in gamusutra:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3186/environmental_storytelling_.php

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131593/environmental_storytelling_part_.php

Supervisor Meeting - 05

Student Name: Christy McLaughlin
Supervisor: Ryan Locke
Date: 16.02.15

Agenda

• Discuss Last years blogs
• Mention my new hallway idea
• Question about using textures via cgtextures.com etc

Progress Report

• My concern with the blogs is that I found some of last years blogs, quite short and some a bit too personal. When I brought this up Ryan told me not too worry - that my blogs were going very nicely. I am keeping them up-to-date and showing exactly what I need to be showing.
• I wanted to ask about using the likes of cgtextures.com as I have been creating my own textures in fear of copyright and not looking as good an artist as those who do their own work. He told me that I was not being graded on my texture creation but I was being graded on how effective I communicated a horror story through the environment. So to save as much time as possible, by all means, I should use cgtextures.com and other similar resources. Of course I will be editing these textures and crediting the original picture in my dissertation.
• I never got to discuss my hallway idea due to a heavy discussion on research

Agreed Action Report

• Look at Journals - Journal of Gaming Worlds - Game Studies Online - Sage Journals
• Use Google Doc too - Visualize Dissertation - Log journals/references
• Use cgTextures to my advantage - credit where needed

Personal Notes

Another good session today. Ryan was pleased with my progress and just really wants too see my research move up a gear! So I will start looking into journals and using Google docs to store references. As well as the research I wish to test my environment so fr and progress with the rest of it.

For Next Week

• Using google docs - create a visual document for dissertation
• Research into a few journals - make use of storing references
• Start developing first event of story - 'Gravity Law'
• Get a few people to test my environment - initial level

I am now at the stage where everything is needing some form of attention so it is important for me to time manage efficiently. Tonight I am going to do my final polish of the bedroom scene. I will then leave this until around April until I finalize it for good. I will begin developing the rest of my environment. I want to test this room and get some constructive feedback that I can then apply to the room and the rest of the environment. Research is hugely important so starting tomorrow I am going to begin with that and get myself a good amount of research over this next week.

Drawing a Texture To The Screen

Now having finally got my 'story' assets in place in my environment, I needed to figure out a way for them to be looked at by the player (Magnified to the HUD). After lots of researching online I figured out I was going to have to somehow use the 'drawTexture' node function. I discovered this tutorial that helped a lot with this. This tutorial uses the 'drawText' node but I was able to adapt it to my needs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWVUr-i5zaM

With this I managed to get the picture to appear once you entered a trigger box and pressed the 'E' key. Unfortunately even when you left the box trigger, pressing the 'E' key would still display the image:

I then fiddled about with the blueprint and managed to achieve my desired result. This next video was meant to show off the blueprint itself - as it displays what is happening (useful for debugging). Unfortunately the screen capture software I used did not capture this. So in this next video, I am pressing the 'E' key quite often, and as desired, the picture only displays when I am in the trigger box.

I then went ahead and used the same technique, for the other pieces in my environment. At the moment, the images are still rough but at least the functionality works! At first this did not work until I used a 'sequence' node to allow the 'eventDrawHUD' node to connect to multiple outputs. The good thing with this is I can add to it very easily which should help, later on in my project.

Using Trigger Boxes

Blueprint For 'DrawTexture' Function

I am very pleased with the outcome so far. It takes an irritating amount of time to figure these sorts of things out but once they are complete, it helps a lot. I am spending one more day on this bedroom before moving on with my environment. I will definitely be coming back to this but I'd like to move on so I feel more comfortable that my overall environment is nearer completion. What I will look to do in this one day is really make these textures that appear to the user look fantastic as they are a high focus point. I will also fine tune other features of the room.

Personal Notes

Ignoring completing my own lighting, sound and perfecting each asset in the room, I am pretty much finished this part of my environment. As I progress with rest of environment, I can apply the skills learnt so far and when learning new skills - sound etc - I can come back to this part and edit it. This next week I will be asking testing participants to play the environment and see what they think. I will be mainly looking to see if they engaged with each interactive piece in the environment as well as understand who they are and why they are there.

One major thing I still need to look over (which is for my hallway) is the changing of meshes. I noticed an idea of making a wall opaque and therefore having another one appear in it's place. i will be looking at options for this as I think it will really enhance my environment.

Last Year's Blogs

I have been looking at last years blogs - as recommended by my supervisor - and I have noticed a few things:

• They are very personal - much more personal than I would of expected (in terms of writing)
• They seem surprisingly short - not as much posts as I had imagined

I want too check that my blog is going down the right line. I am a little worried I have too much posts however I was told to blog as much research and practical stuff I could. I have seen my blog improve over the year as at the beginning, it lacked in direction and structure. I have managed to have more of a structure and for the rest of the semester I would like to improve on the information I write and try and be much more 'professionally' critical when looking at other pieces as well as my own.

I feel that one thing I am lacking in blogging is when I look at other media pieces. I have looked at games and some films but I never seem too blog about them. I know this is important and I look to catch up on the ones I have not done and make sure I blog about future practices.

Visualizing My Dissertation

Even though I feel it's early days (for dissertation) I was recommend to visualize it and put it on paper. I am a bit unsure as to whether I have done this correctly but I have still given it a shot. It has helped me link and relate certain features of my project that will be useful when writing out my dissertation. As this is a huge writing piece, it is critical to plan out how it is going to be tackled and I feel this (iterated a bit more) will help a lot:

Visualizing Dissertation

Environmental Storytelling

• Using Environment To Tell Story
• Suspenseful Horror
• Pacing The Player
• Encourage The Players Interest
• Immersing The Player

I want to double check that I am on the write lines with this task as I feel I may bit a bit of tangent with it. As for my dissertation, I plan on beginning it on the weekends in March. By this time a comfortable amount of practical work will have been achieved and I can start to split my workload onto the dissertation. Keeping it only for weekends and then in April, I can re-assess my current status and apply myself to wherever is needed in time for final hand-ins.

Progress Report - Creating the Starting Bedroom

This week I wanted to complete the bedroom scene which is where the player starts. It is here that they have the chance to discover who they are and why they are there. There will also be a subtle hint into what may lay ahead.

Using NCloth - Maya

Bedroom Progress - UE4

Story Items

Personal Notes

My next plan of action is:

• Complete some tasks that were set out by supervisor
• look into 'drawTexture' Node
• Look into changing mesh during game play - using opaqueness
• Polish Room

I am wanting to use techniques learnt from previous research to help entice and encourage the player to play the game - do a little, receive a lot, add some hidden items etc

Supervisor Meeting - 04

Student Name: Christy McLaughlin
Supervisor Name: Ryan Locke
Date: 09.02.15


Agenda

• Show working Dynamic Materials
• Discuss changing mesh issues - new potential idea
• Discuss getting the bedroom near complete for next week

Progress Report

• Supervisor was pleased too see I had manage to accomplish the dynamic materials in Unreal 4. He was also pleased to see how my environment had improved over the weak through a couple of little changes.
• Suggested I look more into 'replacing mesh' as oppose to 'dynamic mesh'. But understood my idea of using a plane and just changing the material although a really good normal map would be required to enhance the 3D effect.
• Never got this far due to in depth discussion about various other topics (See next section)

Agreed Action Report

• Look at last year's class' Honours Project blogs - can be a good help
• Perhaps look at the link in my last blog post to help set up a structure criteria
• Look at bookmark/reference managing - can be extremely helpful for dissertation
• Create a document that 'visualizes' my project dissertation questions etc

Personal Notes

This meeting went much better than expected and has definetely perked me up ready for the week ahead. I felt that I hadn't accomplished much in this last week, but my supervisor thought that I had done lots. He was pleased with the research carried out and the practical skills I had developed. What also was a huge relief for me was how he praised the development of my piece - which I hadn't intended to develop. I just added a few things and it immediately looked much better.

For Next Week

• Create bedroom and intro story alongside it to a satisfactory level
• Look once more into 'replacing actors' in game time in my environment
• Create a visual document of my project dissertation
• Carry out some more specific research - via journals e.g gamestudies.com

With all this in action I hope to begin looking at and perhaps developing the Asylum parts of the environment next week. I hope to have a lot of the environment complete by March and then I will begin to use the weekends in March to develop my dissertation and research.

How To Make A Game Engaging

Very interesting article found on www.gamusutra.com. Goes into a lot of depth about emotionally engaging a player in a game.

Link: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/EvanHill/20130808/197951/The_New_Dramaturgy_Pt_1_Introduction_to_Gamic_Dramaturgy.php

Horror Techniques for Games

Continuing with my research, I am relating horror techniques too my project and what I intend to do. I recently came across this article from Gamasutra.com entitled, 'Four Ways To Make Better Horror Games'.

Link: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/173350/Four_ways_to_make_better_horror_games.php

The four features discussed are ambiguity, strong sense of place, relationship with protagonist and subtle changes in atmosphere.

Ambiguity

It is important for the player to understand what they are supposed to do and why. However at the same time, being vague in these points can be effective in a horror genre. This helps as it leaves a lot too the player's imagination which can be a powerful too in the horror genre.

For my game I intend on effectively telling the story as subtly as possible. At the beginning there will be some obvious items that introduce the character and story and from there, the events that happen will not be completely obvious to the player until a few more clues are dropped.

Strong Sense Of Place

If a player does not have any idea of where they are, they will loose interest in the game. It is important to keep them engaged and help them believe what is happening. This helps by clearly conveying the location and setting of the environment. Starting of in a hotel room which then leads on to a hotel hallway helps convince the user they are in a hotel. This will be obvious due to the design of assets and standard style of environment typically associated with hotels. With regards to the asylum, this is now cliched and not original however, that is why I have developed my story/environment in the way it is now. It is a completely different method of having an asylum as an environment in a horror game. In my game you are not fully aware of the hotel's history until you begin to explore. This is when the hotel deteriorates into the asylum leaving you exploring the halls of an asylum. I really focused on making it as interesting as possible as I knew it was cliched however I feel my technique, is highly original and shall prove successful.

Relationship With Protagonist

This is important as it also helps with immersing the player into the game. If the player has no concern or interest in the character/story then it looses all effect. With my project, I am not looking so much into character design/creation - it is the environment of games I am studying however, in order to convey a realistic story, the character in it must be believable and be understood. This is wh yI will be taking care to make sure the user is aware of who they are and why they are there. This will help give them a purpose and reasoning behind every Acton they take.

Subtle Changes In Atmosphere

This is highly important - especially to convey a horror atmosphere. I will be subtly changing the atmosphere through slowly de-saturating the environment and making the whole level darker. As this is happening it will also be slowly turning into an Asylum. This requires a lot of practice to perfect but I am getting the hang on Unreal Engine 4 and all the technical aspects I need to know.

Environmental Storytelling - Part 2: Bringing Theme Park Environment Design Techniques to the Virtual World

I discovered part one of Don Carson's article near the start of first semester. I had no idea there was a part two and part three! I will be looking through his article and making note of features that can be and should be applied to my game.

Link: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131593/environmental_storytelling_part_.php

Architectural Archetypes

Carson uses this example to highlight a very interesting and key point, which can be effectively used in my game:

'Imagine you have a pair of columns side by side, like our two trees, and have placed them in an open field. It is easy to predict that any passing hikers would find the sight of the two columns intriguing and potentially walk over to them. In the process of examining them, they might even walk around them several times. Now, Imagine that you add a lintel bridging the two columns, making an archway. Now the sight becomes more intriguing, and worthy of further investigation. Add a threshold stone to the base of the archway and you have created an irresistible mystery. With the addition of the threshold, you have created a door, and I defy any passersby to continue on without passing through it.... and once passing through, somehow feeling as though they have left one place behind and entered a new place all together. This occurs with the knowledge that they have not left or entered anywhere. They are still in the same field as before. If a passing person were to have the will power to avoid walking through the threshold, they might forever wonder what might have happened if they had.'

This example is pointing out the idea that a simple piece of architectural design can help suggest or directly point out, some aspect of a story. In this example, Carson makes reference that this mysterious piece of architecture could easily be some sort of doorway/gateway.

When it comes to fictional and perhaps, fantasy style stories - that become apparent in what initially seemed like a realistic story, needs some sort of doorway/gateway that separates the two worlds. This gateway can be anything. If it is a clear separation from one 'world' of the story to another 'world' within the story, then the audience can believe that it could potential make sense and be happy to continue with the story.

Example

A perfect example of this 'portal' between two worlds in a story is in Alice In Wonderland. This story begins in a normal real life environment, of Alice sitting in the grass daydreaming. She then spots a white rabbit wearing a waist coat, and follows it into a rabbits hole, eventually taking her to the magical land of Wonderland. This odd 'doorway' suggests too the audience that it could be a dream, imagination or perhaps, some sort of other realm in life. This type of doorway drives the story from the intro sequence, into the main story. Other examples of this include; The Chronicles Of Narnia, where in this case, the doorway/portal is a wardrobe, which leads into a fantasy land.

A perfect example in games is Among The Sleep, where you stumble down to the basement and from there, enter some sort of dream state/world. 

Using This Technique In My Game

My game will have certain events which, logically, are unrealistic and most would say impossible, however, in order to immerse the player into my world and believe what is happening around them, I need to create some sort of gateway/portal, from real life to nightmare.

My game begins in the room of a hotel. In this room will be items that include who you are and why you are there. It will also give some history to the character. More information will be discovered upon exploring the hotel. However, the events that occur are going to be events that occur from the characters memory and so I need to set this tone upon leaving the hotel room.

I am looking to approach this in a different method. The player will not be able to unlock the door until they have explored the room a little bit. After a while the door will creak open and some music will be played. This will immediately set the tone and add suspense for what could be ahead. This start also helps contribute to the type of 'horror' events coming ahead.

Illusion Of Complexity

'One of the problems facing most game and theme park designers is how to coax your audience through your story and still give them the feeling they are on a unique journey. A quest that is theirs alone, and one worth retelling once the adventure is over.'

The idea of pushing the player through the story without it being to obvious or boring is something I have been working on and looking too achieve. In a sense, this comes down to linear and non-linear storytelling. A lot of times, a game may appear non-linear but is in fact, quite linear. This can be accomplished through multiple paths - all leading to the same and final end point.

Using This Technique In My Game

To make sure my game seems non-linear, I have designed the level to have many optional routes. The events will occur in different rooms throughout the hotel hallway. These will be randomly scattered and so there is no one direction for the user to take to each room. This allows the user to roam the halls until discovering an open room. I will look to lead them to that room through music being 'apparently' played from the room that has recently opened. This technique is especially useful to help immerse the player into the environment as the environment is telling/leading the story as oppose to the level design pushing the player in one forceful direction.

Environmental Storytelling's Bag of Tricks

This technique is used in novels, films and books but is highly important to help maintain the player's interest:

'Tell them where they're going,
Tell them where they are, and
Tell them where they've been.'

With the player understanding these fundamentals in a game, it helps them understand the character and why they are in the situation they are in.

Using This Technique In My Game

In order to tell the story and explain these aspects through the environment, I will be using objects to tell the story. In the hotel room at the beginning, I will have a range of objects set to help the player understand who they are and why they are there. Throughout the game I will set small reminders of why they are there in order for them to keep engaged with the story and it's path. 

Media Test - Dynamic Materials

I successfully managed to alter the saturation levels in my previous test however, then next step was actually changing the materials. Once again, this was quite a daunting task however I knew I would be able to find away. In my supervisor meeting, two techniques were mentioned - Vertex Painting and Lerping. I had already come across lerping and so began with that. I eventuially stumbled onto this tutorial which worked perfectly for what I wanted to achieve:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mikG9ZuM2gY

Like with my last media test, I decided to take it one step at a time. I began with create a sphere - like in the tutorial, and used that as my test:

After achieving this, I went on to doing the same but for one of my own materials:

This process is simply consisting of using the blueprint and the matinee. The blueprint is basically the code, programming what is happening and the matinee is where you set up the animation with time and value settings. After testing it on a couple of tiles, I then applied it to all of the 'FloorMain' tiles.

Media Test - Dynamic Materials

Finished Result

Personal Notes

Again, I am very happy with my result. The next step I wish to take in this process is figuring out a way to make the change over more random/interesting - perhaps with particle effects. Almost as if the hotel pieces burn away into the asylum pieces. I also need to figure out what too do with meshes as for example, the wall mesh will need to completely change. This is one step further from materials but it is something I need to look into.

Supervisor Meeting - 03

Student Name: Christy McLaughlin
Supervisor Name: Ryan Locke
Date: 02.02.15

Agenda

• Show progress/ receive feedback
• Pitch level deterioration technique idea
• Maybe discuss research

Progress Report

• Supervisor was pleased to see my progress and how I had developed a good understanding and knowledge of Unreal Engine 4. The technical skills I have learned and tested were a great achievement with plenty room to enhance and improve.
• Really liked the deterioration idea. This change was due to feedback received in my last progress presentation. Much research and practice has gone into figuring out whether this will be possible or not.
• Research was not fully discussed but he made it clear that next week, he wants to see and hear what research I have been carrying out.

Agreed Action Report

• Look into how to create suspense - whilst still telling a story and use this suspense to tell the story.
• For the deterioration, look into 'lerping' and perhaps vertex painting.
• Look into 'player agency'
• Develop a thumbnail comic strip of the story that shows; events, why they happen, how they happen etc.
• Think about the order of the story - building on intensity

Personal Notes

This was a very in depth discussion. I was pleased how much my supervisor liked my deterioration idea and the potential that could go with it. One thing that has got me a little anxious is that he feels my models/textures a not that good. This was a little disheartening as I thought they were better than that. However I do see his point. I have the chance to create something fantastic, I may as well spend a lot of time on the texturing etc. This is my weakest aspect I feel - especially when trying to make them look as real as possible.

For Next Week

• I plan on figuring out how to change from one material to another within the game
• Develop story through a thumbnail comic strip style animatic
• Lots of research - Player agency, changing/revealing stuff to enhance horror, building suspense in story, Silent Hill PT
• Maybe look into developing better textures

My idea is that next week, I will build the first room you start in and look at introducing the story through that room. If I can have that completed by the end of the week, I can then start on the asylum aspects of my game.