Context
SWOT Analysis
What is SWOT Analysis?
SWOT analysis is a method to assist in the production of a project by identifying key aspects, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. I am using SWOT to analyse the way I should shape my current plans to develop my strategic goals.
wALKING SIM
What is a Walking Simulator?
A walking simulator is a game that solely focuses on movement and environmental interaction. It is a game which lacks much action outside of the place that you are in, commonly played in a single-player narrative as a oppose to a third-person perspective. It is the players immersion into the environment which is what carries the game.
One example of a walking simulator is Campo Sanato's Firewatch. In this game you player as the perspective of a man named Henry who has become a fire lookout for work to escape the problems in his life. It is in this game that you explore a beautiful environment shaping a narrative with a supervisor 'Delilah' who you talk to through a radio. The entire premise of the game is to explore an unknown environment making decisions that will effect the only relationship you have built up. It is a game which covers over some heavy topics and is impactful on the player possibly giving them deep thoughts on themselves.
It was a smart choice to make the walking simulator such an open space full of life and exploration, it really sells the world the player is going through as believable. Hammered in by the beautiful visuals and creative art style.
After an examination of a walking simulator it is clear to see that a walking simulator focuses less on action-packed game like several first person shooters, but instead on the world painted out for the player to interact with and experience with audio to help with the narrative.
Ideas
What do I plan to make?
I have great interest in making an office in a Sci-Fi nature. Games such as Half-Life, Portal, SCP Containment Breach and Borderlands have used this concept and they have had great feedback from the community. I want to focus on the environment art of this office walking simulator and if possible add interactions however that will be a low priority.
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After looking into many artist's office environments, I have a greater vision on the facility I want to create and the office space I will make. Though the art style won't be so professional as these pro-artists, I will look to create a level with the aspirations of making an environment as high quality as these. One thing I notice is that there is a lot of small props filling in what could be nicknamed as "white space", I will look to make even the smallest details to fill in the white spaces such as scattered papers.
Mind map
How will this help
Creating a quick mind-map helps broadcast any ideas I have and can help to develop on the vision I have in mind. Noting down everything I can to help push my project into a more polished creation.
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After creating a diagram of the idea I look to further the concept as I am happy with the final results. I will however add that two other inspirations I have is that of the Stanley Parable and the SCP Containment Breach games. Stanley Parable is also a walking simulator however the story behind it is far more centred to real-life story making with linear and non-linear plots. The SCP Containment Breach game is a horror game which takes place in a facility and further into the game the player traverses office environments, I like the design of the games office spaces and looks professional.
Proposal
Forum
What this is for?
I have filled in a project proposal form to outline the bottom line idea for my project. It also features a time-table to help aide me in my production for the product I want to create.
REsearch
Intro
What I aim to achieve
With a successful pitch it is time to conduct thorough research into my project. For my office environment I will need to look at existing products with office environments of their own, I will need to look at the architecture of an office environment and make notes of the kinds of things you would typically see in such a space. I will need to revise my current narrative as it is just a draft, I will look at different sources and establish a polished story with an extensive look into the Sci-Fi genre.
Survey
A Google Forms Survey - Primary Research
To begin with research I decided to create a survey asking many questions to help me further my understanding of what to add and what to change. It will enhance my vision for the future of this project and if it will achieve or not.
Question One:
Question Two:
These two questions will help me pinpoint the audience I am trying to appeal to, to make it correlate with the PEGI rating I am aiming to achieve. In my pitch I was looking to appeal towards 18-35 however this may change with the survey responses.
Question Three:
This question will help me understand which genre's people will look to more. I had plans on creating a Sci-Fi genre style of game however this could easily change if my audience isn't interested in the genre.
Question Four:
The task is to make a walking simulator and I can't step out of those bounds. The purpose for this question was to see how many people would be interested in this style of game in comparison to the widely dominated action/adventure games of today. This also links with my target audience question in order to see how many of the audience I am aiming to appeal towards, would consider a game of this game genre.
Question Five and Six:
With a very brief draft of the narrative I have planned out, this question will be an easy way to see if it is satisfactory towards the players as an overall goal. I can see where I go wrong and where I can improve with the audience's feedback.
Question Seven:
The purpose for this question to help me identify people preferences into the art style and how I can use this to my advantage. If people prefer stylized art then I will go for that direction however if they prefer more realistic art then I shall continue with that approach.
Question Eight:
This question is very self-explanatory. From these responses I can gather if I should take a first-person prospective of the protagonist or a third-person.
First-person means taking the eyes of the protagonist, seeing the world from their perspective.
Third-person is taking the camera to follow the protagonist as appose to through their point of view.
Responses
Survey Responses - Primary Research
My survey became public on 26/03/2022. I began by joining public messaging boards to hand out my survey to people interested in video games. After Discord banned me for 2 days for private messaging too many new people, I came back with 40+ responses on my Google Form.
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Question One and Two:
From these responses I gather that the main audience is of the lower age demographic and predominantly male. This means that I should change my 18-35+ target audience to align with the results gathered from the survey responses.
Question Three:
Unfortunately, an action story genre does not corelate well with a walking simulator however I still had to include it as a story genre for survey purposes. With 50% enjoying Sci-Fi genre, I will likely be taking a different approach to my project and focus on the Mystery genre instead. I take this approach because it goes hand in hand with the results of questions five and six.
Question Four:
I wasn't expecting so many people to be willing to play a walking simulator. This question really opened my eyes to how the majority of the audience would be interested in this style of game. Seeing that the audience is mainly of a lower age demographic, I would need to make a narrative which isn't too graphic which works out well as there isn't much action in a walking simulator to begin with.
Question Five and Six
I got a lot of feedback on the draft of the narrative I have in mind. With Sci-Fi not being as popular as I had hoped, taking a 'Mystery' approach will likely work the best for a walking simulator.
"It reminds me a lot of Portal, but everything depends of how it is made"
As Portal is my biggest inspiration for this project, I believe taking away the Sci-Fi elements and creating a different threat will be the best course of action,
Albert Einstein said - "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
"Maybe just one character that isn't the AI, either assisting you or being seen in the background of some scenes, or even a narrator."
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"Have an accomplices maybe?"
I think from a narrative standpoint having more characters would be beneficial as the player would develop relationships with the characters they interact with.
Question Seven and Eight:
From the responses it shows that people don't mind stylized or realistic, as long as it goes with the game. I will be sticking with a realistic art style as it will likely fit the mystery genre of game the most.
As for first-person or third-person, there is a clear bias between third and first person with the majority not minding them so long as it fits the game. Since more people prefer a first-person perspective, I shall take that approach within my game.
Conclusion
This survey has greatly impacted my vision to what the project should be. I have learned a great deal of my audience and from them. From what I have taken back from this, I won't be pursuing a Sci-Fi narrative and instead focus on a Mystery genre instead. And as a result of this, the narrative will change as well including the antagonist to this story. A first-person perspective travelling through a realistic environmental style is now my goal which I will need to expand upon. Finishing up with the survey I am happy with the results and know where changes can be made from it.
Mystery
Discussing the Mystery Genre - Secondary Research
To begin we need to identify, what is a Mystery genre?
According to Masterclass.com, the mystery genre is fictional narrative which follows a crime from the start of the offense to the moment it is solved. These include crimes such as murders or disappearances. Novels of these genre are often referred to as "whodunnits" because the reader is constantly trying to guess at who, what, when and how, turning them into a detective of their own. These stories often take the perspective of the detective looking to find out what happened.
One particular mystery novella is "An Inspector Calls" which is set 1912 just before the war. This novella follows the mystery of who killed Eva Smith a low class worker that took her own life after being pushed to the edge from the chain of events she was caught in. An Inspector comes to the door of the Birling residence and the reader learns of the mistreatment of Eva Smith from each of the Birling's and fiancé Gerald Croft. Inspector Goole, questions each of the family and Croft hearing each of their lullabies as we uncover that all of them paid a role into the spiralling downfall of Eva Smith. The audience is made to feel bad for Eva as we hear of her constant neglect from them all, but still constantly guessing at who it was that pushed her to the breaking point. We hear her story from start to finish due to everybody's involvement in her suicide.
Why "An Inspector Calls" is a good example of a mystery genre is because it fulfils the criteria perfectly with deeper messages towards the social class system. The audience learns everyone is to blame, and that its not just their actions alone, but the way society was structured as a whole.
What kickstarted the Mystery Genre?
Masterclass.com, states that critics and scholars would credit Edgar Allen Poe on his short story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", sparking the invention of the modern mystery genre we know today. Written in 1841, Auguste C. Dupin was literature’s first fictional detective, this ground-breaking moment saw the birth of a completely new literary genre. Before then, there was no well-known fictional detectives written about in literature. Edgar Allen Poe made history with his Detective Dupin.
Mystery Genre Story Structure
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The Crime:
This is what the story revolves around, it sets in motion a mystery which captivates the audience into reaching the conclusion.
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Investigation:
The detective begins to dig up clues, leads and question possible suspects. They do their best to solve the crime committed.
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Twist:
An unanticipated clue surfaces changing the course of the investigation. Something the audience would not yet have predicted shocking them.
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Breakthrough:
The detective puts all the evidence together and finally reaches the climax of this mystery.
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Conclusion:
The perpetrator is caught and clears up all the rest of the loose ends.
After discussing further into the mystery genre I have taken back how I can create a mystery story of my own. A good story will always be a good story in contrast to something like humour which is subjective to its time. Looking into some of the mystery stories in history has helped push my understanding further for what is expected out of one.
Devices
Techniques in story making - Secondary Research
It is a necessity to understand how to properly use specific story techniques when creating one of your own. However some of these techniques can only be used based on the specific genre of story you try to make, typically a dark historic story wouldn't need to look into comedic timing as appose to a romance/comedy story. Some techniques are:
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Suspense:
Masterclass.com's definition of suspense is manipulating the audience's expectations by managing the amount of information that is revealed, when it is revealed and how it is revealed. The audience is spoon fed small tippets of information maintaining their interest for the subsequent chapters. It sets a mood which fills the audience with a sense of urgency, commonly done through deadlines as it poses a threat towards the protagonist is passionate in.
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Tension:
Following on from Masterclass.com's definitions, tension is a device used commonly within mystery novels that keeps your audience hooked from start to finish. It keeps them guessing and creates a story that is worth-while. It evokes the feeling that there is a constant ominous threat lurking behind each corner. Effective ways to build tension is through the use of foreshadowing to keep audience on edge as it builds dramatic tension. Introducing inner-conflict is another way of keeping tensions high as the audience feeds on the curiosity of if the protagonist shall enact their inner desire for justice or continue down the path of indecisiveness.
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Conflict:
Masterclass.com's tackles conflict in the same article by stating that conflict at its core is an incompatibility one thing and another. Characters can be at conflict with one another or possibly even a larger entity such as society as a whole. However one conflict that can challenge the character is their inner-conflict which was mentioned prior. Part of a meaningful character arc/development is having their point of view challenged.
I can make use of these story devices to construct a narrative that is enjoyable for the audience. My project shall take place during the beginning of this project where the protagonist enters the scene.