Building upon the “Essential Experience” of my game, I want to brainstorm about games that have a sort of “dual aesthetic”. Where the main part of the game has a specific aesthetic and art – However, another smaller but just as important part changes up the aesthetic completely to lend towards a psychological horror scene.
Some examples of this in video games I can think of are: Omega Flowey (Undertale), Natsuki (DokiDoki Literature Club)
Game Idea 1:
I feel like this game idea lends extremely well to the psychological horror behind abused children and the trauma of an abusive childhood. Taking something innocent and safe like an interactive children’s show and adding elements of horror and themes of disappointing a figure of authority in a child’s eyes is a cool and contrasting concept.
However, this game concept is too similar to an existing game I found when I began to do research on the idea. The game Amanda the Adventurer is a horror game set around a seemingly innocent children’s TV show where players explore VHS tapes featuring Amanda, a strange, unsettling character, as they uncover hidden, dark secrets. With each tape, the story grows more disturbing, blending nostalgia with psychological horror and forcing players to confront eerie choices.
Game Idea 2:
“First-person pixel-art” may seem mutually exclusive, however by this I mean a 3D pixel game with 2D pixel assets. The game itself would be bright, cosy and colourful with friendly characters; However the “thing” would have a completely different aesthetic compared to the rest of the game. It would apply a filter onto the game, making it dark and dreary, symbolic of the fear and doubt that comes with chasing one’s dreams.
Ultimately I felt that this game lacked scope as this is the first time I’ll be able to test my game design skills while not having to worry about creating a final working product. I want to test myself and see what vast idea I can come up with with this project, I am passionate about games with great stories and excellent world buildings and want to see if I am capable of creating something like that.
Game Idea 3 (Chosen Game Idea):
This game will focus on the narrative and worldbuilding of the game, using few key NPCs to be able to push the story forwards. It will be a vast open-world game with multiple endings, I want the exploration to be non-linear allowing the player to play how they please. Ultimately however, the story will conclude in one of a few ways but with many different routes to reach in order to get there. The game will have a main “story” but, unbeknownst to the player, will have a “secret” story and ending of sorts to do with the child that “controls” the player character. However, it will be entirely possible to complete the game without even knowing that it exists.
This is how I will incorporate the theme of “escapism” into the game, there will be hints of an ulterior narrative but ultimately it is up to the player whether they want to stay in the delusion created by the child’s mind, or to step out and face the cruelties of reality.
I am currently undecided on whether I want to make this game a souls-like game – as I want to implement a dark fantasy aesthetic for the game, and it would also portray the hardships of escapism – or if I want to keep it an action-adventure, as I would be freed from the constrictions required from the souls-like genre (Extremely unforgiving, difficult combat etc.)
Peer Feedback
I showed the three ideas above to friends, family and peers in order to get feedback from third-party sources. After asking which of the three ideas they believed to be ‘better’ in their opinion this was the data that I had gathered:
I then asked them to elaborate on their choices but some were unable to articulate why, the following are the best responses I got:
- Idea 3 (Chosen game idea):
- “Creating a very story-heavy game within a genre known best for it’s pure action and mechanics could have interesting implications.”
- “i think keeping the player in the dark about this hidden story would be so cool to unravel”
- “i would rather explore this huge cool world and fight bosses than run a cafe tbh”
- Idea 2:
- “it seems like a cool narrative twist on a game that looks kinda innocent, that just seems like an interesting concept to me”