PSYCHO STORY IDEA                          STRICTLY COPYRIGHTED BY CARL ANDREWS

The beginning of my story will have a Cinematic at the start of the game as soon as you press NEW GAME. The main character hears voices as he lies on a table tied down with scientists arguing. While your characters vision is blurry, opening and closing his eyes your character is breathing heavily waking up in parts of the conversation then passing out. Before you pass out one of  the scientists shout "Your going to kill him! You need to stop this immediately!" one of the scientists argues back "We are so close we can't afford to let this experiment go to waste!" "But you can't gamble with human life!" "Do you want to save thousands of peoples lives with this research?!" "....Yes sir" "Then pass me that needle and and scalpel we are almost done".

The screen blacks out and you begin to gain consciousness in a dark cell with a flickering light. You manage to break one arm free from the table in your cell and try to open the door "Hmm the door seems to be locked tight..." You search around the room for something to open the door with and you find a Chisel and bobby pin. You attempt to pick lock the door and the unlock the door. You walk along a very narrow hallway with lights flickering with scary build up music then a loud sound effect (Horror sound effect) is played after a rat scurries across the floor into a vent on the side of the wall on the ground. You carry on walking down the hall way and turn left you check a few of the rooms to loot and find a torch. You use the torch to brighten up the area as it is now very dark and  you walk around another corner. The music starts to build up louder and your characters heartbeat races faster. The character continues to walk with the heart beat racing and a vent behind you falls down, (You can turn around if you wish) nothing behind you. You carry on walking down the hall and search other rooms and find a knife "Hmm a rusty knife, guess I can use this to defend myself" as you search the rooms for loot you turn right and the hallway light go out. You turn on your flashlight and continue down the hall way. While the lights are off you notice in the background as you shine your torch a human like figure on all fours in a crab like position with its head in a 180 degree angle walking on arms and legs with its stomach in the air (Gymnastic crab position) (LOUD horror noise to scare player) scurries off down the hallway. You look on the ground and find a note on the floor covered in blood and you read the note. "DONT TRUST THE WHITE COATS!!!" You continue your way down the hallway and approach the door that needs a card key. You go back in search of the card key searching the rooms and a dead body falls from the vents right near the character with a LOUD horror noise. You search the room and find a card key, You look back and you notice the body is gone but with a blood trail on the floor. Following the blood trail it leads to the door that you needed to use the card key in. As you open the door you follow the blood trail and the blood trail stops in the middle of the wide room filled with desks and computers (working office) the office is trashed and destroyed. As you inspect the blood trail the lights flicker and go out after a LOUD bang and hear screeches. You turn behind you and notice a monster on all floors running towards you in the gymnastic crab position screaming hysterically at you and you have no choice but to run (Monster cant yet die) you run around the room looking for a place to hide and head towards a room and barricade yourself inside using a bookcase to use to block the door. As the creature stops banging against the door your characters heart beat stops pace and you continue to walk around the next room. When you walk a few yards away from the door the creature comes out of the vents after you making you run away from it into another room being a boiler room and locking it inside to burn it.

Engine & System Requirements

The game will use Unreal Technology to power the game. This will enable all the graphics and objects to load smoothly and look realistic. I will push the games engine to run as much objects and graphic particles as much as it can possibly go without crashing the engine.

If I was to release the game to PC the requirements would be :

PC REQUIREMENTS

RAM : 4GB
OS : WIN 7 64BIT
DIRECT X : 10+
HDD SPACE : 4GB
2.4 GHZ X 2 - DUAL CORE PROCESSOR

Game Controls

The Game is console designed so the game will not be made for PC. The game will have tutorials on the controls so the player will become familiar with the controls through out the gameplay. The image below will show you the controls in detail.

The Game will be XBOX360 Exclusive ONLY

Game Spawn Generation

GAME GENERATION

The game is randomly generated with spawns and has various floors making the game harder to escape. Once you escape the Asylum you have completed the game. The game will not be simple, it will have other AI in the game stopping you from reaching certain areas and could possibly block your path, so using strategies is key for survival. Weapons such as shivs, hammers, knives and other sharp objects can be found and used to defend yourself but weapons are limited because I want this game to be realistic and i don't want a weapon round every corner as the game will take the fear factor away if you know you are well equipped with a good arsenal of weaponry. The weapons are spawned at random and in random locations so in your next play through the weapon could not possibly be there or a new weapons is spawned in the location you last found your previous weapon.

MAP SPAWNS

The game is randomly generated as mentioned before but only for certain areas. The game map below is just an example on where the AI, Weapons, Audio diary's and character spawn locations are on the map. (REMEMBER: This is just an example)

YELLOW DOT : Playable character spawn point.

RED DOT : Enemy AI is spawned and can move around the map.

BLUE DOT : Points of interest (Points of interest being a weapon or a audio tape which is a collectable item to unlock Achievements) Achievements will be explained later. 

WHITE DOT : Asylum exit is located on the map. In order to complete the game the character must reached this location. (Remember this is just a test map and is not the final idea of the game).

IN DEAPTH MAP

Further in game Details

LIGHTING 

Psycho will have realistic light source used in the game to get the most out of the game being more realistic. Lighting in dark rooms such as using a flashlight will cast a shadow on walls making the game more scary and jumpier for the player.


GAME COLLISION MECHANIC

The game will have collision mechanic stopping the player from walking through objects, walls and enemies. In some game if a character is blocked you can walk through a person but in this game collision is added to stop that from happening. The game is soposed to be realistic and not able to pass through characters like a ghost. If a character was to bump into an enemy you will loose health also rise the BPM meter (Beats Per Minute meter) and can cause death. When your character is dead it is game over and will have to restart the whole game. The game can be saved at any point and a player can resume the save in the same place he or she left the game at. When a character is dead you will be prompted with a game over title screen.

SECRETS

My game will also include secrets and achievements through out the game. You will encounter audio logs, documents, diaries and other secrets around the game giving you a back story on what happened in the Asylum. 

ACHIEVEMENTS

The game will have 12 achievements to achieve in the game to collect a 100% play through. Achieving a 100% play through will unlock a new cinematic at the end of the game. Below is a picture of the achievements being locked and unlocked.

HUD - BPM

Now I will discuss in more detail about the HUD (Heads Up Display) in my game. In the game you will have your BPM in the bottom left corner. This is your Beats Per Min and when your character becomes Scared, Runs, Hurt the BPM will rise. When the BPM hits a certain level the character will die of shock and the heart will stop beating. When the characters BPM is rising find a place to hide or stop running in order for it to drop down to normal.

HUD - HP

 The Bar on the right is your HP (Hit Points) Your character will come across enemies and obstacles that will cause you damage but can be avoided. Using a health pack/kit when found can heal your character to a percentage of health depending on the health kit used and how much health you have remaining.

HUD - INTERACTION

 When encountering an object or obstacle you will be prompted with the "Press X" button. This will allow you to open/close doors, push objects, pull objects, use ladder ect. Below is a picture of the HUD.

Game Mechanics

HD SOUND MECHANICS

The in game Mechanics will have HD sound giving the game a realistic approach to the gameplay. The games sound will be recorded from real life sounds rather than a typical soundboard or royalty free sound from websites. The game will have a vibrating system on the controller making the controller vibrate in time with the BPM. The faster the BPM the controller will match the heart beat on the controller making the game more intense.

SOUND EFFECTS

When your character encounters an enemy a very quick horror scare sound effect will trigger adding more of a jump for a player. When approaching a corner or close to a monster a soundtrack will begin to play and the BPM will slightly rise but not a lot. This will then make the player pay attention to the BPM rather than the screen and this could give a perfect time for the monster to walk around the corner and jump the player.

CONTROLER MECHANICS

The game will have a vibrating system on the controller making the controller vibrate in time with the BPM. The faster the BPM the controller will match the heart beat on the controller making the game more intense.

AI CONTROLS

The AI controls are slow moving, the AI will walk around the map till encountered or alerted by the player. If the enemy has spotted you a chase will be triggered until you find a place to hide. Some enemies can run but not all so pay attention to the enemies appearance.

AI are always HOSTILE and will attack on sight so either play stealthily or attack. Do NOT always attack the enemies as weapons can break and are very hard to find. So play the game as you would in real life. Hide, Run and Tactics are KEY to survival in this game.

Number of NPCs on a floor is around 3-6 but can change per floor.


WEAPONS

The game will have limited weapons around 0-2 weapons on each floor.
Below is a picture showing a list of weapons you can acquire through out the game (Only some of the weapons are shown as an example)

Target Audience and Health Warnings

TARGET AUDIENCE

The target audience is for older teens age 18 and over. The reason the game is for 18 is due to strong Language, Gore and Realistic Scares. The game comes with a health warning advising people with heart conditions to not play due to the high graphic detail and sound system. The graphics and sound CAN be toggled to play with less detail for less game detail and experience for the weak hearted players.

No child should play this game due to horrific death scenes, strong language, realistic lighting and sound.

HEALTH ISSUES

If you are un sure of your Health conditions please contact your Doctor or GP.
If you feel faint or experience any un normal feeling or dizziness stop playing immediately.
Avoid sitting to close to your TV incase of flinching, knocking others or objects around you.

Game Research

Games have advanced over the years. Starting with Pong this game was very simple and was the first game used with AI.

Modern games today reflect back to pong by its use of AI and how the AI responds to the player and also keeps track of score. Like Call of Duty and Battlefield games like this keep track of score as does Pong.

Pong has influenced other games by point scoring and use of the AI.

Pong was the first successful commercial video game that kick started the video game industry.

Sonic was released in 1991 and became viral on the SEGA MEGA DRIVE. The game had a point scoring system and it is a side scroller 2D game.

 The Game had an AI system where the AI would shoot little balls of fire at you if you were to close but had a fixed path for the AI to walk left and right.

 Sonic the Hedgehog could have been influenced by Pong the way it uses its point score system and the way the AI interacts with the play.

Research

During my game design I had to think very hard on what kind of game I wish to be influenced by. Seeings my game is a horror survival game i had to research into what makes a horror game scary and what key elements I will need to create the fear into players as a whole.

After looking up a few games I came across some big scary titles such as Amnesia, Silent Hill and even Resident Evil.

Below I will attach some pictures of what these game titles are.

SILENT HILL HOME COMING

Silent Hill has always had a rivalry with Resident Evil since 1998 as both games were released in the same year and also having the same plot. Crazy monsters let loose in the city and its your job to solve whats going on, Very similar to the Resident Evil story.

Though Silent Hill has made the same amount of games as Resident Evil, Silent Hill has not taken any direction in terms of change. What I mean by this is the fixed camera angles, same town, same monsters and nothing really new except different playable characters. Though the graphics are different and the story is slightly different dont get me wrong this game is still terrifying even when you know the monster is about to jump on you from  around the corner.

RESIDENT EVIL 6

Resident Evil 6 game play from their previous games has taken a different direction in terms of gameplay. This being said it does not have the fixed camera angles it once did in the following 3 games. This game focuses on action and button mashing than the previous slow paced Resident Evil games. This is a different gameplay experience and does still make you jump from time to time again but I still get more of a fear factor from slow paced games with a guy walking towards you taking ridiculous amount of ammunition rounds to the chest than a running man waving a baseball bat around.

AMNESIA THE DARK DESCENT 

A horror game to escape a house with objectives along the way to escape the house unlocking puzzles and watching out for trap doors.

All games mentioned above are big game titles that capture the emotion of the character and have the element of surprise round every single corner and sends your heart racing.

The game wants the player to feel terrified and to take their time walking round corners to add to the fear and suspense of the game. After looking and playing these games in my own time to understand the way the game feels and plays gave me ideas on how to display my game.

In my game I do not wish to have light flares, UV lights everywhere I want a realistic game where weapons are hard to come by as they would in real life.

My game will not give you weapons to start with or a gun but just a simple bobby pin to open up your cell door. From then on the game is up to you where you start and how you play.