The idea of the game itself is a combination of several ideas and thoughts I have randomly come up with or thought of for some time now. Whilst playing through Amnesia: Dark Descent I was simply compelled to make a horror title (a long long way into the future now) as I simply found the gameplay completely unique. Amnesia to this date (12/12/12 by the way) is the one game that I have been scared and felt fear whilst playing it, something that Dead Space or Resident Evil failed to do and something which I felt was a bit of a niche market, which was evident as Amnesia was ranked 8th Top Rated game on steam at the time.
Over time multiple little ideas filtered into the general game idea, such as a the way the fog-horn like sound of a walker from "Falling Skies" caused the human rebels to flee as the sound of the droning getting louder as it got closer and closer to it's victims. Or the twisted and dark environments within Snow White and the Huntsman (girlfriend made me go to it, not my choice), or even how the sound of something following you, (but never revealing itself, like a schemer) and making little skulking noises and the sound of claws on stone bricks could apply stress and fear into a player, maybe even drive them to paranoia within the game.
Without delay I began working on the document and figuring out what exactly this game was that I thought was a good idea and what exactly would make it good, which turned out to be harder than I thought as I had never stopped to consider the specifics such as where this all took place, what setting was it in? Or even simple things like what was the protagonist called and why were they going out on this quest? I first started answering these questions with, what is the game called?
"Pernicious is a Horror Survival game set within the harsh
fantasy world of Sarenus where the player must survive the dark wilderness and
its inhabitants whilst completing tasks for the welfare of their people.
Sarenous is a dark and cruel world where mankind are at the
bottom of the social ladder, merely cheap labour and entertainment for the
Mesne, a rich and noble race of reptile-like humanoids who rule the lands from
their fortress-like cities, leaving man to fend for themselves against the horrors
of the outside world. The player’s character, Ferad, becomes unusually adept at
surviving out in the wilderness and is employed full time to a Mesne Barron who
promises to aid mankind in return for Ferad’s help. Ferad must move quickly and
cautiously to achieve his objectives, all the while exploiting the environment
to survive the wilderness."
Mechanics, USPs, gameplay ideas will need refining although I feel that it shouldn't be a problem since I've lulled over ideas and things every now and then for some time, but for now below are my moodboards for the Game Concept Document detailing elements such as gameplay, interaction and environments.
Environment
The environments Pernicious would be set in would revolve around large bastion, fortress cities where the Mesne would live each surrounded by some minor human villages and dense deciduous forests.
Gameplay
Gameplay would involve the crossbow being the main weapon, however the game would by no means be as action oriented as say Skyrim but rather the crossbow would be used to slow enemies down or alternatively wound the prey of a predator, allowing you to escape.
Whilst there would be lots of interaction between the player and the predators of the forests, there would also be lots of interactions between the different animals within the forests, as well as the interaction between the poor humans and the weather Mesne who look down upon them.
That's all for now although I will try to keep this blog more up to date in the future.
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