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Who is that woman
In this project, players will have an exciting experience solving puzzles and finding the truth.
Players play the role of a private detectives. They are hired by a housewife who has just given birth to investigate her husband's infidelity. Their mission is to search for information, get actual results, and tell the lady what was happening.
Video walk through
Role
Platform
Genre
Solo Project
Unreal Engine 4
Horror, puzzle
Early Design Thoughts
It is the first game I've made with horror elements, mainly through clues to understand the main storyline. There will be some simple decryption.
I'm targeting people who have never tried horror games but are intrigued. I thought that if I use unity to make horror games, there will be some restrictions on the player's experience of the scene, so I chose to use the unreal engine. Through the 3D scene, players will be provided with a more immersive experience of their character.
The goal of the game is to find out what happened to the family in this dark villa and give the lady who hired the protagonist an answer.
Players might be distraught that it will be too scary to explore the following plot if they are exposed to this type of game for the first time. So I decided to design the house in a larger space to allow players to move around freely, instead of making the scene seem too cramped to escape.
Playtest & Refine
This is a two-week project I did in my Level Design class and my advisors Erich Meyer and Zachary Adam gave me very useful feedback. In the beginning, my scene was a bit too empty and didn't give the player enough pressure. So I made rooms smaller. I played with What Reminds of Edith Finch and got a lot of inspiration for the setting. If I have more time, I will put more effort into working with the texture in scenes.
Appropriate jump scares can give players a good frightening experience. So I also created some animations by making camera sequences and normal sequences to surprise the player with sudden item movements.
Level Walkthrough
Inside
When players first enter the house, they can feel the oppressive atmosphere brought by the dim and silent environment.
I think this kind of environment makes it easier for players to feel scared.
Theme
The whole building is an American country cottage with many sections. In many horror movies and games, scary things or ghost stories often occur in such buildings. So players can easily have associations because of the scenes they see.
Puzzles
There are three rooms in total on the second floor, and each room tells some stories of each character. When players piece together these bits and pieces, they can deduce a complete story. The clues between each room are connected.
Jump Scare
When it comes to horror games, jump scare is an important element that has to be mentioned. I think this is one of the easiest but most effective ways to intimidate players. When the player walks into a room unprepared, the sudden movement of an item deserves a scream from the player.
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