The itch.io link of Scopophobia:

I have packaged the game, compressed the folder and uploaded it to the itch.io website. Click on the link provided above to visit the game’s page, where you can download the playable files and give the game a go.

Gameplay Video：

Vertical Slice：

Scopophobia has now completed a fairly comprehensive level. Players can experience the game’s full gameplay flow. The current Vertical Slice of Scopophobia showcases the core game loop, mini-game mechanics, player dialogue, player interactions, art style, character designs, level design and sound design. For new players, a complete playthrough of this level takes approximately 10–20 minutes (as shown in the video).

• Core game loop: Once the dialogue is complete, the player enters the supermarket, where they must collect all the items on the shopping list. Whilst collecting the items, the player must avoid other customers in the supermarket to prevent their anxiety level from rising. If the player’s anxiety level becomes too high, they can choose to go to a safe house to complete a jigsaw puzzle and reduce it. If the player’s anxiety level reaches its maximum, they are forced to return home and must restart the game. Once the player has collected all the items, they place them on the self-checkout machine; if they are successfully scanned, the player can leave the supermarket through the sliding doors and return to their room. Upon successful completion, special items from the shopping list will appear in the player’s room, which can be used to decorate it.
• Mini Game：A simple mini-game that can be completed in under a minute, is easy to play and requires no saving. For example: jigsaw puzzles, connect-the-dots, and object sorting games.
• Player Dialogue：Dialogue in a player’s soliloquy style
• Art Style: 2D characters set against 3D backgrounds. The backgrounds are rendered in a realistic style, whilst the characters are in an anime style.
• Character designs: The characters are rendered in an anime style, with the NPCs’ eyes being particularly prominent, which heightens the sense of dread conveyed by their appearance and serves to visualise the player’s fear of strangers.
• Level design：The game draws inspiration from the types of equipment (refrigerators, shelving units, etc.) and layouts found in real-life supermarkets. However, the supermarket layout has been made more complex in the game to enhance playability.
• Sound design：There is no background music in the player’s room, to help soothe the player’s nerves. The background music in the supermarket consists of instrumental tracks. The style is sombre, repetitive and jarring, designed to heighten the player’s sense of fear. The player’s own footsteps are audible and louder than the background music, intensifying the psychological pressure.

Planning for full game:

The overall plan for the game is to introduce different difficulty levels for the levels, ensuring that the challenge increases gradually. Additionally, options will be added to the dialogue before each level begins, allowing players to choose between the ‘Large Supermarket’ (high difficulty, with special items) and the ‘Small Supermarket’ (low difficulty, without special items).

Regarding the plan to increase the difficulty of the levels:

• Increased number of NPCs
• Increase in the number of items
• The layout of the supermarket is more complex, and the players’ routes are more circuitous
• A wider variety of mini-games

How to portray scopophobia in a game：

People with scopophobia are afraid of eye contact and are highly vigilant of their surroundings. They constantly feel as though others are watching them (Verywell Mind., n.d.).

1.Caricatured NPCs：

Every NPC has been designed with exceptionally large, prominent eyes. We have made the NPCs’ gazes visually striking and exaggerated. This exaggerated design is intended to convey a sense of fear through their gaze, allowing players to truly empathise with the experience.

2.Nervous Bar：

Players with scopophobia feel threatened when others are watching them. I have therefore designed a visual ‘nervous bar’ that allows players to see clearly and intuitively whether their anxiety level is about to reach its limit. The anxiety level rises as NPCs approach the player. Together, these two mechanisms transform the player’s anxiety about failing the game into the sense of threat experienced by someone with scopophobia.

3.Environment and Sound：

People with scopophobia are highly alert to their surroundings. That is why I designed the supermarket environment to be dimly lit and shrouded in a light mist, so that players can only vaguely make out the distance. This uncertainty causes players to heighten their awareness of their surroundings. Furthermore, I have chosen repetitive background music that creates a sensation of ringing in the ears; combined with very distinct footsteps, this heightens the player’s sense of tension. This combination allows players to experience what it feels like to have scopophobia.

References：

Verywell Mind. (n.d.). How the Fear of Being Stared at Can Limit Your Life. [online] Available at: https://www.verywellmind.com/scoptophobia-2671835.

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