Week 4

Week 4:

Before I start the development on my Degree Project, I have decided that it would be a good idea to research some games first. Instead of the usual formula inspired by Call of Duty’s Zombie “Game Mode”, I have decided to base my game’s mechanics around puzzle-solving or item-collecting. For this reason, I’d like to base my game’s mechanics on Slender: The Eight Pages or Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

Slender: The Eight Pages and Slender: The Arrival:

Both games are based on the quasi-folklore meme figure known as the Slender Man. The character is known for the ominous (although fictitious) abduction of countless children in dark mysterious settings, such as deep forests and abandoned buildings. The game is played from a first-person perspective with the player's objective to collect all eight pages located in various areas of the forest while avoiding the Slender Man. As the player collects pages, the fog in the forest grows thicker, and Slender Man appears closer to the player's character. The player's character has the ability to "jog", which will eventually tire out the player and cause them wheeze if forced to go on for too long. Even if the player's character successfully collects all the eight pages, the Slender Man will continue to chase them. Once all the pages are collected, one is allowed to walk around for a couple of seconds in total silence until Slender Man finally appears behind the player and ends the game.

The game is very much inspired by Marble Hornets, the web video series that popularized The Slender Man Mythos, flawlessly recreating its most terrifying moments as you scamper through the forest looking for pages and praying you aren’t caught. The first game was released in 2012 and the second game was released in 2013. In the first game, you play the role of Kate as she avoids the Slender Man, while in the second game game, you take control as Lauren, a friend of Kate's (the protagonist of the original game), who visits the latter's house just after the Slender Man attacked. She traverses through the scenery (which was remastered quite epically), finding notes of Kate and her friend CR, all the while avoiding the Slender Man and his proxy, a hooded, masked chaser.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent:

Amnesia is an exploration-based horror adventure game played from a first-person perspective. The player is able to interact with the environment in a wide variety of ways, such as picking up and moving objects, opening doors and lighting up areas. There are no weapons and no combat mechanics in the game, making the player unable to fight the different monsters that he encounters. Thus, the only way to get past the creatures is by running away and hiding from them. Amnesia makes use of a “Insanity” bar, Being in darkness too long, witnessing unsettling events, or staring at monsters will reduce the player’s sanity. Light sources and completing objectives help restore sanity.

The game, set in 1839, casts the player in the role of Daniel, a young man from London, who awakens in the dark halls of Prussian Brennenburg Castle with little to no memory about himself or his past. The first thing he finds is a note to himself, which informs him that he has been deliberately self-inflicted with amnesia so that he can make a dark descent into the heart of the castle and kill the proprietor, Baron Alexander. As he journeys further within the bowels of the Prussian estate, Daniel comes across his own diary entries, hinting at otherworldly influences, particularly the dangerous living 'Shadow' that pursues him for something he did in his past, killing everyone it comes across. He also finds notes left by an assortment of castle-dwellers that elaborate on the sinister events that have taken place there.