Final Game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S17G-laArKw
(i have no Mic and at the time of recording the sounds were never picked up)
In my game there are no enemies or threats to you however the constant darkness and the limited visibility i believe makes for an interesting and fun game. The objective is to collect four fallen relics from the Killer clown spaceship. By retrieving all four you will be able to progress to the next level and area in the game. The glowing beacons are used to highlight the return to the main area and within that area i added a regeneration area which would serve to replenish your health however due to time constraints and the fact that i have implemented nothing into the game which well take away your health it is just a useless feature. I wanted to make a damaging area out side of the safe zone which would slowly deplete your health until you were dead, giving the game another challenge as well as trying to find objects in dim conditions. I decided to not add any physical enemies into the game because i wanted the player to feel a slight twinge of terror from nothing more than the Ambient sounds which consisted of menacing laughter (although faded and with an echo effect), the sound of a child crying (which will deactivate once you get into a certain distance of the trigger) and more. The gun doesn't have a appropriate use now however i wanted to make it use flares which will disappear after a set time. I never figured out how to do that so it is just a rather useless object on the screen. In my game there is a lot of emphasis on lighting, the objectives would glow slightly, marking the appearance. I intended to randomize the spawn location but sometimes it would appear in impossible places to reach or they'd appear somewhere very easy to discover that it takes away the whole feeling of searching and could ruin some of the more fun features on the map. So instead i placed them in some moderately well hidden places or hard to get to places.
Limitations and how/if i overcame them
My first problem came from the fact that i could not work from home so whilst i was at home i spent more time creating models which were all a wasted effort as i could not import them unto Unreal. My original concept for this game was to have 10 enemies chase you and would gradually get faster the longer you taken and the lights would be able to regenerate your health if you are stood within a certain distance of them. There would be no way to kill the enemies so you had to avoid them in dismal lighting conditions and the only way you could determine where you were would be the beacons near the safe point.
Evaluation
I believe that the lack of illumination within the majority of the map and the lack of lighting in all but a few select ares, mixed with the fog and sinister sounds can give it a chilling atmosphere. Although there is no challenge to be found in this game (other than the time it takes to find the objectives). If i could of done anything different it would've been sticking with my original plan and that is to have a single enemy follow you which could/would harm you and it would be your objective to survive him as well as find the objectives. Like the Slender man games.
