Here is some work I’ve done on the game over Christmas break.

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Room Layout:

I want to decide what the level will look like, the room the player will play in.

Here was my first layout, me and Joe had the idea to create this room as if it were meant for two people. This would explain why the gameplay will be so stressful and difficult, since controlling the rover originally took two people. The door to exist the bunker will also be reinforced with a bloody handprint on the window to hint that the original companion was locked out.

I changed the layout a bit, the main rooms still remains the same still containing the same bedroom and door. The biggest changes to this layout are more details of a previous companion like a desk, and also the placement of the desk being far away from the window. I was thinking of iron lung when deciding to have the window behind the players main controls. I want to create a tension of something being behind them.

I then wanted to get my visual ideas out with some rough sketches, this is the top half of the drawing including the bunker entrance and the main controls desk.

This is the bottom part of the layout drawing including the window and another vault door, Im thinking that this vault door can be the door in which the rover connects to and hands you the package, this will allow you to see the rover out the window in one of the ending scenes.

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Level Prototype

I had the idea to do a prototype for the level, I didnt want it to be detailed, I just wanted something to help get my idea across and possibly change the arrangment later on.

I began this prototype taking inspiration from theses cozy isometric rooms made on blender. These type of projects are normally very common for beginners. Although its for beginners i really like the simplisity of it and it reminds me of a vignette which is perfect for showcasing an environment.

I made the walls using the layouts I drew, earlier this break, as reference. Imideatly whilst doing this i realised that I didnt really have a wall I could collapse to show the inside of it. At the moment I’m just carry on making the whole thing and I’ll worry about showcasing it later.

I next started working on the bedroom, this is an unaccassible location which will only be seen through a door window. The point of this room is to tell the player more about the handler and also the absent crewmate which is missing.

I modelled the beds after the image on the left which is a bed which slides into the wall in a submarine. I found this look to fit with what I had in mind and also looked into some more submarine sleeping quartters, to see what other inspiration I could get.

I was thinking that the bunker could be in a crater of land. Im taking inspiration from a tv show called Silo. The player won’t be able to see much of the outside only the inside of the crater.

Above is a collection of reference images I have been using for reference and inspiration.

Here is the layout with most of the objects in it. I will use this prototype to help me and my temate finalise the positioning of certain objects we can also really easily move things around and experiment with it.

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Sound Design

Although I know its still really early to think about game design I thought I would note down some of the ideas I’ve been having lately.

I recently had the chance to go watch the new Avatar: Fire and Ash. One of my favourite parts I enjoy about the cinema is the sound quality and surround sound. In this movie there are these big creatures which make some awesome deep sounds as a form of communication.

This actually reminded me of Jörmungandr the world serpent in God of War. I wanted to recreate this low, sub-bass resonance that felt more than heard.

Although my game isn’t going to have any creatures like the listed examples I still want to include the felt sound. I was thinking that it could be added through distanced bombs going off, this also led to the idea of having delayed shockwaves which will benefit the gameplay and also create events the player will have to navigate through, such as a power shortage. This could become and environmental sub-bass used as a systematic signal, not just ambience.