A Dangerous Mind
A Dangerous Mind was the final project developed in the first year of the video game course at ETIC-Algarve.
I wanted to develop a psychological horror game with puzzle elements because those are two of my favorite genres. The game was developed slowly during the year while I was still learning and applying new design and programming techniques.
Development
This project was made from the ground up using a GDD I created in the previous modules.
I used a variety of programs and principles I learned throughout the year, such as:
- Unity and Object Oriented Programming (OOP);
- 3D modeling in Blender and ProBuilder;
- Creating in depth documentation for video games;
- Editing images and textures with photoshop;
Things I didn't make myself;
- Enemy animations (Mixamo.com);
- Sound Effects (freesound.org);
- Images and Textures.
Gameplay
In A Dangerous Mind the player finds himself locked inside a room and needs to find a way out. After the player manages to escape the room he will need to solve various puzzles scattered throughout the apartment to escape.
This prototype has two puzzles, being both numerical puzzles, one in the main room where the player is and the other in the bathroom. To be able to progress the player needs to solve the puzzles while being chased around by the Entity, the main enemy of the game, which will torment the player along the game. If the Entity ends up finding the player he'll be chased until the Entity loses track of him either by hiding or by being out of sight for some time.
The player has access to wardrobes scattered around the apartment that can be used as hiding places.
The Entity is a creature whose job is to be an obstacle for the player and has the ability to kill the player when touching him.
But in order for the game to be fair the entity is not always active and has time intervals where she will disappear from the map so the player can focus on the puzzles and progress.
This in turn creates moments of tension and doubt as the creature can be right beside you at any point in the game.
She can also open doors, although with a delay, and has a chance to pluck the player out of wardrobes if she sees the player hiding in them. A feature that creates a lot of tension and may lead to funny moments.