Survey Results:

The results from my survey somewhat influenced the structure of my prison, though I did not add any outside areas, mainly I just added the cafeteria area and the warden's office.

I only ended up adding keys and items to escape within my simulator, because I did not have much time to add additional items.

The results from this question helped a little, because I had planed for an escape already, and this fortified that idea.

I actually never managed to add sounds to my game, though I definitely considered it. It saved me a lot of time not having to go searching for sounds or making my own ones, though the suggestions were pretty good.

I ended up fusing horror and escape into one, though there is no real threats, the atmosphere is eerie for sure.

Techniques

For my game I will need to know how to make an inventory, and because of this I can look for tutorials on how to make an inventory. I ended up following a tutorial (Layley, 2022), but it wasn't very helpful. Overly complex, and added lots of unnecessary features which my game did not need.

I also looked at another tutorial (Layley, 2022), for a keypad door, however I did not like his version so I instead ended up making my own version. I did this via using widgets and 12 different buttons. The code for the buttons are very similar besides confirm and cancel. They use string and boolean variables, string for the numbers themselves and boolean to check if there is numbers inputted in the first place.

Target Audience

For my game I'd have a target audience of around 12+, since the Escapists (main inspiration) has the same age rating, and the tone is supposed to be rather suspenseful. The game is not too frightening for a young person as there is no real threats, but the feeling of a potential threat keeps the player on edge. Looking at a list of walking simulator games from the year 2015, I can see that Emily wants to play was the most popular amongst them all. It has a low price of $4.99, and made $157,319.73. Emily wants to play was a survival horror game, I've looked at it and used eerie lighting in order to make my game feel a little more suspenseful, however I know that the target audience for that game is a bit more mature.

I think if I were to release a full version of this game I would want to price it at around £4.99, since it's rather cheap but it's also enough to make some decent money if enough people buy it. Most people are willing to pay around £5 for a short game and my game would be like this.

I will need a pause menu for my game, it'd be nice for convenience and most games have a way to pause what you are doing so you can take breaks without having to turn the game off. I used the unreal engine website in order to do this. (Creating a Pause Menu, 2022) It was very useful to learn as it meant I could then use similar scripts for my other widgets, such as my endscreen.

Firewatch Study

What effects does the game experience have on you? What does it make you feel or think about?
Which techniques are used by the developers? In this case, think about any narrative and any imagery used.
Are there any aspects about the context that need to be considered? This could include who created the game, where it was created, when and under what circumstances, as well as your relationship with its context.
Ask yourself about the meaning of the walking simulator – what you think the game is about, and whether it might be trying to convey any messages.

At the start of the game, the player is presented with text, that describes a teenage romance which leads into a relationship developing. You're given a choice of text responses. While you do this, the text fades to black and cuts to gameplay, leading up to your first day at work. This lets you know who you are, and learn the basic controls of the game. Once the story takes a darker turn, the music changes to a more melancholy tone. You are given a radio, where a lot of extra story comes from, as well as the objects you find throughout the forest.

Firewatch is the first video game from Campo Santo and was created by Jake Rodkin and Sean Vadaman, who were the creative leads on The Walking Dead, as well as Nels Anderson, the lead designer of Mark of the Ninja, and artist Olly Moss. (Tach, 2022)

Mindmap of Plan

Here is a mindmap for my plan for my walking simulator, I made it with Mindmup. The plan focuses on the Prison Idea since it was my favourite and is the one I want to go with the most. I've shown mechanics which I would like to include, as well as assets that I'd need to include.

I have also got ideas for sequences and an order of events you need to participate in, in order to leave.

This is my Contingency Planning, for in-case anything goes wrong, I have solutions to keep things calmer and more manageable.

Game Plot

My initial plan:
The game will start with you waking up in a cell, one which you have woken up in many times, but something is off. Your inmate isn't there, nobody is there. Everything is quiet. You can explore your very small cell. On the desk in your cell, there is a note which you can read. "Find the red within the seas of knowledge" Several notes will be in here which can help you throughout the game. There's also doors which are boarded up, meaning that you can't explore too much of the area. You can go to the library, and the cafeteria next to it, which has a kitchen and storage room in it.

Theming

I would like for my prison to be cell shaded, like it were a manga or comic book, and have a slightly more toon aesthetic, to reflect my inspirations from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - Stone Ocean. The atmosphere I aspire to create is one which feels almost normal, with things being very subtly wrong. I also want to make my puzzles rather confusing, but solvable with all the information that is given. The puzzles would add to the theme of the prison feeling rather strange, as it'd make no sense for there to be puzzles in a real prison.

What ended up happening is that I did not have enough time to fulfil these aspirations, so I instead ended up making the prison dark and eerie, while keeping up the bizarre feel, it was a shame but it had to be done, maybe in future if I decide to pick aesthetics rather than mechanics I could have a theme which is more similar to my aspirations.

Strengths:

I can sketch out my ideas and plan them thoroughly.

I have motivation

I ask for help and respond to assistance

Weaknesses:

I can be as easily motivated as I am demotivated

When I lack an interest in something I don't feel

I don't like 3dsMax

Opportunities:

Improve 3dsMax skills
Improve Texturing skills

Improve Unreal Engine coding and level design

Threats:

Bank Holiday Monday = 6 hour loss
Feeling Anxious about things which are not related to work, putting me off of my work.

Not having enough time to be able to finish all the mechanics which I would like to implement.

Inspiration

JoJo's Bizzare Adventure - Stone Ocean:

JJBA (JoJo's Bizzare Adventure) Stone Ocean is set in Green Dolphin St. Prison in Florida. The prison atmosphere is well built, showing all sorts of rooms and facilities I could include within my walking simulator, it also shows how corrupt the prison life is, with prisoners having their own economy, and smuggling money to trade with either the guards or other prisoners, to either get away with things, or get items they'd be interested in.

The phones are also often "booked" 30 days in advance, with people buying spots in the line. A good example of the corrupt system, is when Jolyne (the protagonist) is asked if she could lend money by a fellow prisoner. Jolyne's cellmate Gwess mentions that Jolyne was making a mistake, and that the lady who asked for the money will never give it back. To get back at the lady, Jolyne demands her money, and when it's refused, Jolyne spikes the lady's drink with some sort of laxative, and takes up the only bathroom in the library, not actually needing to use it of course. She demands she gets her money back, but not only that, she demands 10 times the amount, and she succeeds in getting it. This scene, while not really being so applicable in the walking simulator, could be mentioned in the journal which you find in your cell, or at least something similar. It could also give some insight to some of the rooms within my prison.

Ao Oni - Puzzles:

I love the Puzzles in Ao Oni, because they're all possible to figure out on your own, despite the difficulty. The Piano Puzzle is my favourite. The Ao Oni series is slightly notorious for the difficulty of the puzzles, with some of them being rather simple, while others would stump even the smartest of players, another puzzle which is rather simple which I like, is the puzzle with the numbers and the bars. Within the cell, if you look at the "numbers" it seems all jumbled, like nonsense, but if you look at the numbers through the bars, you can actually read them, the answer being 5376 [14:10, (Ao Oni Full Playthrough, 2022)]. There's multiple layers to why this puzzle is effective. For one, the room is incredibly dark, and the candle you have to light is *in* the cell, so you can't look through the bars until you have lit the candle. Secondly, there's a poorly drawn picture of someone looking through bars, most players brush it off as the Oni's "creepy drawings" but it's in-fact a clue on what to do. Most players once they figure this out might feel rather stupid, but it's actually a very cleverly designed trick. Once you have the code you can open up the safe to the key for the annex. I really liked the piano puzzle [6:59, (Ao Oni Full Playthrough, 2022)], so I made a calendar puzzle based on it.

Joaquin Guzman Loera:

Joaquin Guzma Loera (known as El Chapo) was a drug lord, infamous for running the Sinaloa drug cartel. He was feared across the globe. In 2015, El Chapo escaped Mexico's highest security prison via the shower. There was a two-by-two foot hole underneath his shower in his cell, which lead to a mile long tunnel. This tunnel lead to a construction site in Santa Juanita. In 2001 he escaped from the same prison, via a laundry cart, which was being wheeled around the prison, and was eventually wheeled out of the exit (Hurowitz, 2022). Javier Camberos was the man who wheeled him out, an associate of his.

I think that while his escape methods are interesting, I don't see them working in my walking sim. It'd be a lot more interesting if I could get it to work though.

Prison Moodboard

Mechanics:

My walking simulator's main mechanics include the small inventory system as well as having several types of locked doors, making you have to explore and find your way out. I took inspiration from The Escapists here, having colour-coded doors which tell you which key you need for what door. My game has a similar mechanic, with the red book unlocking the red doors, and the calendar puzzle being related to the pink door.

My inventory mechanic was also inspired by The Escapists, as you have to utilize your limited inventory, however due to time constraints I couldn't really make use of this limit.