Concept
This game is going to be a third person action/horror game with some puzzle/investigation elements. The game will be themed after the weird fiction writings of H.P. Lovecraft and the expanded Cthulhu mythos and lore created around some of his more famous stories. Following this, the game will feature various mechanics to do with hallucinations and mental illnesses. Furthermore, the game will feature other more dark and uncomfortable themes such as ritualistic murder and suicide; for this reason, the game will be aimed at audiences aged 18 and over as younger audiences may find this content disturbing and many would deem it inappropriate.
Lovecraftian themes are becoming more popular in modern gaming with the release of titles such as Call of Cthulhu from developers Cyanide in late October 2018 as well as Sinking City developed by Frogwares in mid-September 2019. Whilst these games were not blockbuster productions, they have begun to generate new interest to a style and mythos that hasn’t been as widely explored and saturated in any media industry which is why it has the potential to pique an audience’s interest and curiosity; this also makes it a great universe in which to base a new action/horror game. As this game is heavily inspired by Lovecraft, the working title for the game that I have settled on is ‘Wrath of Cthulhu.’
Story
The player wakes up on the steps of a deserted townhouse with no memory of how they got there. On the ground next to them is a note written in their own handwriting; reading the note, the player discovers that they were previously investigating alleged occult meetings and rituals taking place in the building and they decide to investigate further – to get to the bottom of these claims and also to ascertain what happened to the player to cause their mysterious memory loss.
Progressing through the abandoned house, the player comes across signs of a struggle; blood spatters, bullet holes and broken furniture. Along the way, the player also finds more notes littered throughout the chaotic scene, the last of these notes being attached to a closed door. Once the player reads this note, they open the door and find a final note in the clutches of a dead body, mangled almost beyond recognition – ALMOST being the operative word.
Upon further examination of the body, the sight before the player seems impossible; when they lift the hat from the corpses head, the player finds themselves staring into their own cold, dead eyes. Utter shock and terror falls over the players face as they stumble back, but before they have time to process the scene before them, an invisible monster snatches the player by the leg. As the player scrambles on the floor, they spot a gun by the foot of the corpse
Acting on instinct alone, the player scrambles to grab the gun and shoots into the unknown hoping to hit whatever is attacking them. After firing off a few good shots, the creature finally lets go and flees, and now the player must play a game of cat and mouse across the floors of the townhouse with a monster they cannot see in order to escape with their life. However, along the way, the players gradual loss of sanity will cause wild hallucinations and visions of unimaginable horrors.
Future Story Changes
The initial story for this game focused more on the lore and mythology behind the game and left a lot to be desired in terms of how engaging and fun the actual game itself would be. The original story started much the same with the player waking up with no memory and progressing towards a house, however it also would have had to manifest as a more on-rails experience rather than a game with interesting and organic narrative. To get more input on this, I went on to Reddit and asked people who were interested in this type of game, as well as Lovecraft themes, to comment on the story idea; one such person replied that the story brushed over too many points and that the potential gameplay loop was confusing and not engaging. Reflecting on this feedback, I plan to revise and rewrite the story for my game.
Target Audience
As stated before, the target audience for this game is for more mature players as it will deal with some dark and taboo/controversial topics. This is also inherent from the inspirations for this game which also deal with these themes. Taking all of that into account, this game will be aimed at audiences 18+ with an affinity for psychological thriller/horror as well as the weird fiction genre popularized by H.P. Lovecraft.
Inspirations
As stated before, the general story for this game is heavily inspired by H.P. Lovecraft. To familiarise myself with his work, I periodically listen to audio books of his work as well as watching shows and YouTube videos based around similar themes. In addition to this, I’ve played various games and watched various TV shows that take place in the same kind of era and setting as my game.
For example, the Netflix Series The Alienist, which takes place in late 19th century New York, and Vampyr which is a game that takes place in early 20th Century London. In combining themes from these various media, I hope to create a game with an intriguing story. As well as this, I hope to create an environment that is atmospheric and plays into the psychological thriller/horror whilst also immersing the player in the time period in which the game is set.
Mechanics & Systems
Clues & Notes
As there is an element of mystery and investigation behind the story of this game, the gameplay will be designed to reflect that so that the player can uncover more of the story diegetically as opposed to them being ‘spoon-fed’ the story and breaking the immersion. To achieve this, the player will have to find clues and notes in order to piece together the story similar to the mechanics in Amnesia and other similar indie horror games. As well as this, the immersion will be further reinforced by the fact that the main character will know as much as the player does, which is to say that they will know nothing; this will allow the player to experience the game through the characters eyes and further the ludo-narrative consistency as well as the players connection to the character.
Journal
As well as discovering clues, the character will record notes in a journal – this journal will allow players to draw connections between clues, similar to the deduction system in the Sherlock Holmes games from developer Frogwares.*
Deductions
*Due to my limited knowledge of Unity and programming, the deduction system will function more like a multiple choice Quiz as opposed to the branching story format of the Sherlock Holmes games; Answers will be unlocked based on which notes the player has in their inventory and if the player arrives at the correct solution, then the character will remember something and will say a line that reflects that. However, if the player is incorrect, the character will say something along the lines of ‘no, that’s not right’ and the player will have to try again.
Puzzles
In order to find more clues and progress, the player will have to solve puzzels, find keys and unlock doors,chests in a metroidvania-style level layout with the player going back and forth to the same locations and discovering and unlocking new pathways. The idea behind this system is inspired by Resident Evil 2 (remake) and how the player has to traverse a single location and solve puzzels whilst also facing enemies.
Combat
Its still not 100 percent dewcided on weather this will be a 3rd person or 1st person game; If the game is 3rd person, the combat system will operate similar to action-adventure games like Mass Effect and Uncharted. This style has proven to be extremely user friendly and contains very little that could potentially go wrong which has probably contributed to its success. If, on the other hand, the game takes the direction of a 1st person game, then it will function similar to games like Call of Duty and Battlefield.
Extra Features
Whilst it is outside of my skill set at the moment, in the future I would like to add branching story lines based off of how accurate the player was when solving mysteries in a similar way to how the Sherlock Holmes games operate. However, unlike those games I would like it to have more of an effect on the outcome of the story much like how Telltale games operate.
Gameplay Flow
Top Down Level Layout
Toby Ridley Games Development 