Idea Notebook: Survival Horror game with no Sci-Fi or Supernatural elements, just you, alone and outgunned

This is another instance of me getting an idea for something that I'm not particularly interested (much less motivated) to work on, but I thought the idea itself was cool enough to share. And hey, who knows what the future may hold, so why not write it down.

The basic idea I had in mind was that this would be a horror game that forgoes the common trope of there being a supernatural or sci-fi element to create monsters and drive the scares. No, the game would be designed to feel like a mostly plausible scenario. You're just some random civilian with minimal knowledge of firearms and no combat training, and for some reason or another, there is a bunch of armed soldiers in the building trying to kill you. Yeah, I haven't really thought too much on what the context of this would be... I don't know if they're hunting you specifically or just anyone in the area. I also don't know if these would be troops sent by the government or some private entity. So for now I'll just call them the "Goon Squad".

Anyway, the structure I had in mind was that it would be laid out somewhat like a classic Resident Evil game, where you'd have to traverse back and fourth through an interconnected structure solving puzzles and trying to survive. And the gameplay would be a first person shooter with very light milsim elements. And I do mean light, like mainly stuff related to bullets being wasted if you reload to early, having to hold still and wait for a second while you bandage yourself, that sort of thing. Just enough to make you feel sufficiently de-powered. Furthermore, I think the thing about this concept that intrigues me the most is that the people you're fighting aren't just mindless zombies. The Goon Squad would (hopefully) be fairly intelligent and act like a coordinated group of soldiers. Meaning they'd scan areas looking for movement and they'd radio in backup if you're spotted. More importantly, if you get in a fight with them and the bullets start flying, people are gonna know. If you fire off a shot and kill a soldier, everyone in your quarter of the building is going to react to the sound of gunshots and promptly run towards your position. So if you're forced to get in a gunfight, you will likely have to either try and hide somewhere, get the heck outta dodge, or maybe try and find a vantage point where you can pick off anyone who comes in. Although if you do that last thing too much, then when new members of the Goon Squad are sent in, they'll start throwing flashbangs into a room before investigating.

I should also mention that aesthetically, we'd still be going for a distinctly "horror" atmosphere. Not using sci-fi monsters or ghosts or whatever doesn't prevent us from using some creepy lighting and chilling sound designs. Also, I do like the idea of giving the Goon Squad that "illuminated gas mask" look, sort of like the HECU have in Half-Life, and the Helgast troops in the Killzone series. I can definitely get down with the idea of giving them uniforms that have a subtle alien look to them, just as long as they clearly behave like human soldiers.

I suppose the one major issue I see with this idea is just that it would be too difficult, and I can see two possible ways to remedy that- 

1. You make actually encountering a soldier a rare occurrence for a large chunk of the game. So the soldiers would usually just be in a group of 2 or 3, and there'd only ever be like 4 or 5 groups in the building at any given time. 

1. Widen the map up significantly so you can give soldiers a wide birth. You would have to stealth through areas in a manner closer to something like Far Cry.

Now maybe a game like this does exist and I'm just not aware of it, but I don't think I've ever seen a game come close to this. I mean already, the idea of a game structured like Resident Evil but with exclusively human enemies is not something I've ever heard of, let alone one where the AI is designed to respond in a way actual soldiers would. The only game I've heard of that seems to even be in the ball park conceptually is... This War of Mine, maybe...? That's a 2D survival game. But from what I understand, that's mainly meant to be a commentary on what being in a warzone does to civilians and their families... and with the premise I just outlined, you definitely could go in that direction thematically, but that's not really what made me think this was such a cool concept. I mostly just like the idea of creating horror simply by being outnumbered and outgunned, all while using enemies that aren't something we'd typically call "creepy".

Anyway, this is just something that's been bouncing around in my head recently and I needed to get it on paper. Despite not actually playing that many survival horror games, I do find the genre infinitely fascinating and think there's a lot of ideas that people simply haven't explored. And this is once concept that I'd absolutely love to see.

Developer Commentary: UAC Pacific Northwest

I've recently uploaded a video where I reflect on the creation of my first publicly released Doom mod, UAC Pacific Northwest. I've become quite critical of how I designed combat encounters in this map set, although I did find that there was still some interesting elements in the theming and layout design.

New map! - TOXIC TROUBLE for Doom 2

 

    In the previous post, I mentioned that I wanted to make a Doom 2 map that followed up on my discussion of "Never just one problem." Well, here it is. TOXIC TROUBLE is a quick map I made over the course of a few days, taking special care to have a number of encounters where the player has to deal with multiple conflicting issues at once. 

    Initially I wanted to make a map that followed the Mario design rules of "start a level by introducing a gimmick before elaborating on that gimmick throughout the span of the level." But after some brief experimenting with having to fight on moving platforms, I decided to go in a more traditional direction.

    

    It was also in making this level that I realized just how much Doom 2's enemy roster is geared towards having multiple problems to juggle. For comparison, many of Doom 1's monsters were just variations on the fireball-throwing imps, just with different health and damage values. But in Doom 2, we have Chaingunners and Arachnotrons giving rapid-fire pressure, Revenants that shoot homing missiles, Arch-Viles with an attack that forces you to break line of sight, and Mancubi who attack in volleys with a specific pattern. It is infinitely easier to create unique encounters with Doom 2's enemies in comparison to Doom 1, as different pairings immediately force the player to change their tactics. Especially with the Revenants and Arch-Viles, as they immediately force the player to scan the environment in order to disrupt their attacks, because a simple dodge isn't gonna cut it.

    Anyway, it was really refreshing to make a level using this sort of mindset, and I think it came out pretty well.

    Here's the link to the Doomworld page if you're interested: https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/136215-toxic-trouble-single-level-for-doom-2/?tab=comments#comment-2651724

"Never Just One Problem"

A design concept I've been thinking about a lot recently is making sure the player rarely has just one problem to deal with. This started when I watched a video from the YouTube channel "Josh Strife Plays" titled Was it Good? - God of War (2005) where he goes on to talk about the various design decisions that made God of War such a remarkable game. You can watch it yourself, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snFATnSgdNY

I find this to be a genuinely fascinating bit of design knowledge, because it seems like such an obvious thing to implement in your game, but it can be very easy to forget as a level designer. Now in something simple, like a Mario game, this is very easy to spot. I recall the channel "Game Maker's Toolkit" made a number of videos talking about the formula of Super Mario levels, where they introduce two mechanics in isolation with a safety net for the player, before slowly mixing them together with escalating challenge. But this is a concept that can be applied to any game, not just Mario. And these combinations of challenges can easily be expanded upon for more than just one level. 

But what convinced me to finally make this post was the Doom 2 map pack "Machete" by Doomworld user A2Rob, because it does an excellent job of combining challenges to make sure the player stays engaged. The one map in particular that stuck out to me as such a good example was when the player is locked in a room with giant crushers on each corner that cover 90% of the space. Meanwhile, you also have to share the crusher room with a bunch of demons chucking fireballs at you. The crushers will take care of them if given enough time (yeah being ground to a meaty pulp isn't an instant kill in Doom). But if you just try and stay out of the path of the crushers, you have almost no room to dodge the enemy projectiles, and also give them an opportunity to approach and overwhelm you. So you're left with this encounter where you have a brief window of time where you can run out in the open and relocate before the crushers come back down. It was great fun and a good challenge.

Now as a level designer, it can be very easy to assume that simply having multiple enemy types in an encounter is enough variety to keep the player engaged. A few bullet-firing human enemies here, a few projectile-spewing monsters there, and that's all you really need, right? Maybe sometimes, but we can definitely do better. Instead of just having some bullet-firing enemies on one side of the room, why not have a sniper that restricts your movement? What about a totem that will keep resurrecting enemies until you take it down? Maybe the player has to contend with a limited arsenal or move set for one level? Now none of these are particularly original ideas, but it's important to keep perspective as to why they keep appearing in games. Because they are very effective means of getting the player to change their tactics and keep them engaged with the mechanics, rather than falling into a mindless pattern.

I also want to take a moment to briefly rant about how one mission in MWII(2022) almost did this but then copped out at the last minute. They have a whole setup about walking through the steam tunnels, trying to avoid laser tripmines. So that's one problem that we get to deal with in isolation. Then, we move into a room without traps revealing that there are some enemy soldiers still in the tunnels. So that's our second problem used in isolation. Okay, now we get to start combining these elements, which it kind of does? One guy runs out from behind a corner while the player is crawling prone under a laser, but it's treated as more of a jumpscare than anything. So far, we are following the ideal, game design 101 pattern of introducing and combining elements to create a fun challenge for the player. Having two elements in isolation before starting with an easy challenge that combines them, and then the final step is to ramp it up, right? Well... no. The game just leaves this idea behind and we transition to more open combat. I was expecting it to culminate in a setpiece where each side of the arena is armed with tripmines, with maybe a few in the middle that we have to avoid for good measure, and we have to deal with enemy soldiers shooting at us from some battlements. Maybe we could find a switch to deactivate the lasers to make the fight easier? I dunno, it seems that the developers thought if we spent too much time in the tunnels we'd get bored, but it seems like such a waste to throw away that setup.

Anyway, I'm thinking I might make a short Doom 2 level to practice with this sort of thing. It's definitely something I want to try and consciously think more about while working on levels.

Dealing with Mental Illness and Demotivation: How I'm Improving

 

Hey kids: Mental illness sucks! 

[insert party horn sound effect here]

    In all seriousness though, these past few years I've been struggling heavily with ADHD, anxiety, and depression. It's caused a huge dent in my academic career and has even made it difficult for me to work on personal projects. But it's not all doom and gloom, because this past semester has shown me making a major recovery, and I'm even in a good enough mental state to start looking for a real job.

    In my case, there are two main factors that were causing me trouble: One is the bad habits I had learned in high school due to my ADHD, the other being my anxiety causing me to be afraid to show myself when I've made a mistake.

    You see, I have this really terrible combination of ADHD pushing me to procrastinate while also technically being "academically gifted." What this means is that throughout all of high school I was able to get by with putting everything off until the last minute, because I was one of the few students who was able to do that and still get a good grade on the homework anyway... if by any chance you're a high schooler reading this and that sounds like you... for the love of God, STOP! Trust me when I say that will not last. Your responsibilities will build up and become unmanageable if you let that continue into your college and adult life.

    So those bad habits may have been the seeds, but they unfortunately were not the worst of it. No, once I started down that road and got a few assignments or essays late, I would get this little bug in my ear telling me that I couldn't show my face to any of my professors until I "fixed everything", until I got all my late work turned in. Only then could I allow myself to continue attending class. So I would let that mindset fester, while also continuing to put off the late assignment, and then that class would show up again I still don't have the thing done, and I think you're beginning to see how this can quickly get out of hand.

    So I would sit in my dark little dorm room for weeks at a time, never really talking to anybody or doing anything productive. I couldn't even find the motivation to work on my own projects, either because I was too glum to do anything but pursue mindless escapism, or perhaps I just subconsciously believed that if I couldn't even do my crucial responsibilities, what hope would I have of completing a substantial project of my own making? Whatever the case may be... it was bad. Wallowing in self-pity while you have a pile of unfinished tasks behind you is an absolutely awful way to live.

    But enough of the sob-stories. Let's share some good news. My path to recovery started when my older brother (who runs the much more successful blog, Hidden Des Moines) decided to suddenly rent a car and drive to my dorm so he could knock on my door and ask me what the hell I was doing... I didn't have a good answer.

    After that happened, we immediately started working on a plan to get me back on track. I started by emailing my professors to let them know where I had been and why I was struggling. I also forwarded most of these emails to my brother in order to keep him in the loop. From there, I started talking with my mother every night so that she's always up to date on my progress. And to keep myself honest, I would send her photos of the classroom upon my arrival alongside turn-in screens for my completed assignments. Later on, I also found out that there was an office for accessibility services that could help me stay on track for next year. I've had a number of discussions with her, and she's planning to give me some light accommodations for my ADHD under the requirement that she meets with me every week in order to keep me accountable.

    Right now, given the stage that I'm at, accountability is the key word. While it might seem childish to have to call my mom every night just to say "Yeah Mom, I'm doin' my homework, it's all good", it's worth mentioning that this person could be anybody. If you're in a position where you're still learning to hold yourself accountable, it is a very good idea to find someone you trust and ask them to keep in touch with your progress. It's just easy to give that job to your parent because most moms or dads would be willing to do that for their kids, and I imagine most people care about their parent's opinion of them. Besides, the plan (at least according to my therapist) is to do this for long enough that these systems of accountability come naturally to me, and I will eventually to expect myself to behave proactively. Right now I expect to not be able to do something unless I'm told to prove it's finished later. But hopefully, if I keep this up long enough, I will eventually expect myself to act responsibly because that's just what I've gotten used to.

    Anyway, that's been my situation these past couple years. It was painful, it made a huge dent in my GPA, and delayed my graduation by a few years, but things are finally looking up. I'm feeling more genuinely optimistic about my future than I have in years. If you happen to have any similar struggles, I hope something I mentioned here can help.

 

Funny anecdote: My brother actually had no idea which dorm room I lived in, he only knew the building. But he was able to blindly guess which one I was in because I had this cat taped to my door.

Brief Page Revamp

 Good morning Ladies, Gentlemen, and all those in between. 

    It occurred to me that I should be using this page to present the broader range of subjects that I dabble in. While I will stand by that the one medium I can confidently say I understand to a professional extent is level design (hence why the URL has no changed), I am somewhat of a jack of all trades. I write, I draw, I have a near professional understanding of Graphic Design, and I'm a competent programmer to boot. When it comes to skills needed for game development, really the only thing on the list I'm missing is musical talent. 

George, will you please type out the clip of the off-key sad trombone?

*wAh WaEh wUH wAaEaUhhG*

Viewers, please read that last line in a trombone voice.

    

    Anyway, I will henceforth be using this blog as a more regular journal to discuss things outside of level design. I have some interesting other projects I have in the works, and I think it's time this page stood for myself as a creator, not just a level designer. I'll have a general portfolio with a quick scattered view of my works that you can see at a glance, and more specific portfolios for individual mediums.

Quick Blog Doctor's Appointment

Hello again. I don't actually have much to talk about at the moment, just wanted to send a quick post here to say that this blog is, in fact, not dead.

I have it all sourced on my Doomworld profile and LinkedIn, however this blog gets almost no traffic at the time of posting, so I don't bother updating these very often.

However this still is a place for potential employers and other level designers to come see what I've done, so I just want to let everyone know that this hasn't been abandoned. Thank you.