My Survival Horror Game

[r.gun]

Here's my idea for a first-person survival horror game. It's a bit ... dry... this was a design document I had to make up for one of my classes. Forgive some of the formatting, I just stripped this straight from my word document.

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A Terrible Secret


Overview
1.1 In One Sentence
A Terrible Secret is a first-person survival horror game set in a medieval village that pits the player against hordes of zombies and a village that wants to keep itself hidden from the world.
1.2 Intro
A Terrible secret puts you into the shoes of Jim Turner, a freelance journalist with a past he can’t forget.

With some new found information regarding his past Jim seeks out his long-lost father, who went on a business trip years ago never to return. A freak railroad accident lands Jim in a whole heap of trouble as he is stranded in a very old English village that has a secret it doesn’t want to get out. It is up to Jim to get to the bottom of things and uncover the mysterious past of the village.

1.3 Genre
A Terrible Secret can best be described as a first-person survival horror game with a film noir feel.

1.4 Target Demographic
The goal of the game is to get an “M” for Mature rating because it deals with adult themes and has strong language as well as violence. The game will appeal to fans of many different genres from those who enjoy a good horror flick to gamers who just want to shoot things. It is a hardcore game, in that it intends to tell a strong narrative and will take many hours to complete the entire story arch. This is not a “kill 10 minutes” kind of game.

1.5 Game Design Goals
1.5.1 Inspirations
It is my intention to create a unique game that draws from a lot of different sources but the sum of all the parts creates a truly deep, involving and ultimately creepy first-person experience. The main inspirations of the game will come from the film noir artistic style, with its dark undertones and mysterious plotlines. Another big inspiration will be from zombie culture, with the main enemies that the player will face being hordes and hordes of zombies.

1.5.2 Environmental Reliance
The game is set in the present day; however the main environment that the player will be exploring is an untouched medieval village dating back to the 15th century. How the player dispatches of the slow moving zombies will be unique because of the setting the game takes place in. There will not be an abundance of ammunition for the player to pick up, so a strong reliance on using the environment as weapons and traps will come into play.


Common Questions

2.1 What is the game?
A Terrible Secret is a first-person survival horror game that puts the player into the shoes of Jim Turner, a freelance journalist who wants to uncover the mysteries that lie in his past. As Jim the player will be thrown into a dark and sinister medieval village that has secrets of its own, and it’s up to you to reveal them. You’ll fight through hordes of zombies using not only your guns, but your wits to dispatch of the slow moving menaces.

2.2 Where does the game take place?
The game takes place in Stillwater, a small medieval village located in the heart of the English countryside. The strange thing, however, is that the game takes place in the present day, which makes one wonder how a nearly intact medieval village is still standing in modern day England.

2.3 What do I control?
You are in control of Jim Turner, who is the protagonist of the narrative in the game.

2.3 How many characters do I control?
You will only control Jim Turner, however throughout the game you will meet NPC villagers who can be called upon for help in certain situations.

2.4 What is the main focus?
The main focus of the game will be to ultimately discover the secrets that lie in Jims past as well as the secrets that lie in the villages past; both of which are tied together. In terms of game play, the focus will be on dispatching hordes of zombies in creative ways using your environment.

2.5 What’s different?
Firstly, the setting is unique to the game. While there have been games in medieval villages, and games with zombies none of them have tied them together in such an interesting and frightening way. The film noir art direction of the game will also make it stand out as there have not been many action games that have the same style. With more and more games focusing on realistic military simulations the dark and gritty feel of the film noir in A Terrible Secret is a breath of fresh air.


Feature Set

3.1 General Features
First-person view
Intricately re-created medieval village
Ground-breaking physics uses
Hundreds of character models including; zombies, villagers, animals, and monsters
Hundreds of object models including; chairs, chests, beds, weapons, among others
Realistic graphics using the Source™ engine
Involving and creepy narrative
Up to 40 hours of game play

3.2 Editor Features
For PC users:
Hammer Source Engine editor
All art assets are available for free in non-commercial use
Vast assortments of tutorials are available online for the widely used editor
Full control of scripted events, shaders, and lighting
The editor will not be available to Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 owners

3.3 Gameplay Features
Up to 40 hours of game play
Previously unheard of level of interaction with the environment
Large assortment of melee weapons, from planks of wood, to medieval weaponry
Small assortment of modern guns, including pistol, hunting rifle, sub-machine gun, among others
If it looks like Jim would be able to pick it up he can – no more static environmental objects
Unique “zombie chase” mechanic – horde of zombies chases you, up to player to deal with it in number of ways including:
• Create a barricade using environmental objects, like chairs, chests, etc.
• Set a trap for the group of enemies by setting up objects in the town
• Fight the horde using objects like swords, and wooden planks
Interact with villagers, who are alive in the town, get them to help you or offer hints

Game World


4.1 Overview
A Terrible Secret is set in modern day England, more specifically a medieval village that hasn’t been inhabited since the 15th century. The details as to why the village is still there, in its original form, are unknown to the player at the beginning of the game but will reveal themselves over the course of the narrative. Players will explore the village throughout the course of the campaign, going from different locales unique to the period.

4.2 Detailed Recreation of a Medieval Village
While the village of Stillwater is a fictitious place it will be modeled meticulously using relevant source materials. Reference photos will be used in conjunction with previous recreations by medieval history scholars. This provides for an extremely detailed and believable recreation. The only liberties taken in favor of game play is in the size of the village. A typical medieval village would not be very large, but in order to tell a deep story and offer hours of game play the size will have to be increased.

4.3 Environmental Destruction and Interaction
Every object in the game world will have its own physics and weight and can be interacted with by the user. While a large beam that is blocking the players path may seem too heavy to move, if the right object is used the beam will move out of the way. This allows for a more visceral feeling for the player, allowing them to interact with anything they would like however they would like.

4.4 The Physical World
4.4.1 Key Locations
Key locations will include places such as:
The churches
The cathedral
The mayor’s house
Taverns
Modern day village
The crypt
The docks

4.4.2 Travel
The player will travel by foot for the majority of the game, with some scripted sequences where he is in vehicles like trucks or trains.

4.4.3 Scale
Scale will play an important role in defining the look and feel of the village. It is important for the player to feel almost claustrophobic within the confines of the city walls. Ancient houses will tower over him while he traverses the narrow hallways; zombies hot on his tail. While the village isn’t a huge game world by any means when compared to some other games, it is important to note that the entire village will be explorable – the player can go into any house and search its contents for clues about the storyline.

4.4.4 Objects
Any object in the game world will be interactable. Items will range from the mundane (cookware, brooms, chairs, etc.) to weaponry (swords, hammers, spears, etc.) One of the ways to keep the player going in the right direction is to implement “temporary” blockades that can only be moved when certain objectives have been met. This allows for the narrative to stay tight, while giving the player the illusion of freedom. An example of this would be a broken section of a dock being impassable by the player, but upon finding a ladder elsewhere in the level he can traverse the hole and continue on.



Game Engine

5.1 Overview
Gaming Nirvana has licensed Valves Source™ engine for use in A Terrible Secret along with the Havok™ physics engine. The Source™ engine allows for an amazing amount of detail to go into the environmental geometry and textures as well as the lighting. There is built in lighting techniques such as High Dynamic Range lighting that really make the lighting seem realistic. The Havok™ engine will be used extensively in A Terrible Secret for all of the environmental interactions that are available to the player. What Havok™ allows us to do is assign a weight and physical property to each and every object in the game, allowing for an unprecedented amount of interactability.

5.2 Source™ Engine
The Source engine, which was created by Valve Software, is the most important tool in the creation of A Terrible Secret. Its unique features include a large degree of modularity and flexibility, an artist-driven, shader-based renderer, accurate lip sync and facial expression technology, and a powerful and efficient physics system (using Havok™). The facial system will allow for very realistic NPC whom the player will interact with, while the physics will play a huge role in the interaction of the game. More specifically its features include:
• High dynamic range rendering
• Facial animation 2
• Facial animation 3
• Soft-Particle system
• Full-screen motion blur
• Dynamic lighting and shadowing 2
• Landscape and Flora Rendering
• Cinematic physics tool
• Multiprocessor optimizations
• Deformable physics bodies

5.3 Realistic Smoke and Fog
There will be a lot of work done on the particle and shader system in order to produce some of the best fog and smoke seen in a videogame. The fog will play an important role in setting the tone and mood throughout the game so it has to look great. Smoke plumes will be present throughout the city with much of it being on fire, so the smoke will add another element of realism.



Game Characters

6.1 List of Characters [Major and Minor]
Jim Turner – playable character; protagonist
Rose Souiller – little girl from the 15th century
William Austin – town mayor in 1634
Charles Frednik – village descendant, shows up periodically throughout the game
Larry Stone – village descendant, shows up at the beginning of the game
John Wald – village priest, 15th century
Walter Murphy – innkeeper, 15th century
Susan Ansten – village descendant, shows up at the beginning of the game

6.2 Jim Turner
Jim Turner is the protagonist of the story and the character you play throughout the game. The narrative follows him as he tries to figure out the secrets of his past.

Jim is a freelance journalist, aged 28, who is happily married with a son named Richard. He lives a normal life and goes about his daily routine just like everybody else does. However, Jim also has something from his past that he can’t forget. Indeed, he spends a good majority of his free time searching for clues or answers to his numerous questions. You see, when Jim was 13 his father left on a business trip, only he never came back.

"I'll be back in a few days, Jim, don't you worry."

That was 15 years ago, and his dad hasn't come back yet; ever since that day Jim has been looking for his father. Nothing too drastic, he managed to hold down a job - even have a wife and a kid, but the memory of his dad has always been there. He had almost given up his search, when he found something of interest. It was one of his father’s journals, and it detailed where his father was going on his "business trip". With this new clue Jim sets out to discover what has become of his father.

"I'll be back in a few days, Richard, don't you worry." he tells his son...

6.3 Rose Souiller
Rose is the teenage girl who was the victim of a brutal assault during the 15th century in the village of Stillwater. She eventually was murdered and her spirit now haunts the entire city exacting revenge on the population by putting a curse on the city. While she is not alive in the modern day when the game takes place, her spirit is present everywhere in the town and she is, throughout the course of the game, the main antagonist opposing Jim Turner.



6.4 Monsters and Enemies
This section will provide a short description of the enemies the players will encounter.

6.4.1 Zombies
Zombies are the main adversary of the player throughout the game. These enemies will show up in hordes and very rarely do they travel alone. Zombies will unceasingly chase the player in a slow manner, but will always know where he is. They are not fast, or smart, but what they lack in those areas they make up for in sheer numbers.

6.4.2 Tainted Dogs
These feral dogs will pose a dangerous threat to the player because of their fast movement and small size. They are hard to hit, and often travel in packs of two to five at once.

6.4.3 Water Zombies
Water zombies will only show up at specific places throughout the game, namely any place with water, and act similarly to the normal zombies. The water zombies are special because of their ability to fling mud and seaweed at the character, causing his run speed to slow dramatically. A couple water zombies in a group of regular zombies can spell doom for the player.

6.4.4 Village Protectors
These enemies are the ancestors of those cursed to roam the alleys of Stillwater as the undead. The village protectors are a sort of demented cult of inbred maniacs who will stop at nothing to keep their village and their family curse a secret. These guys are smart, and will work in teams of two or three to trap and kill the player. While most of these people are enemies, there will also be some who will aid the player throughout the game and have realized the folly of their ways.


Single Player Game
7.1 Overview
The single player experience of A Terrible Secret can best be described as a gripping interactive story that will both intrigue the player as well as creep them out. The main objective of the single player campaign is to progress through the narrative while also fending off hordes of enemies and figuring out environmental puzzles that have to do with those enemies.

7.2 Story Progression: Journals*
One of the key elements that will be used throughout the game in order to progress the narrative will be journals that are scattered throughout the town. These journals will have been written by the villagers in the 15th century and will provide a lot of background information as well as insight into the state of the village at different times. These will be voice acted as well, in order to give more character to the entries so that the player can connect with them easily.

7.3 Story Progression: Allied NPCs*
These allied AI characters will not only help you to fight off zombies and monsters, but they will also provide a great deal of information pertaining to the story. All of the allied NPCs in the game are ancestors of the people who lived in the village during the 15th century and so they know a thing or two about the history and why the village is in such a state in the present day. They are, however, quite secretive and will only reveal small amounts of information if you help them.

*Note on these two story elements: it is entirely possible for the player to go through the campaign without reading any journals or helping optional allies (there will be a set number of obligatory allies to help in order to progress the story). These elements are there to add further depth to the games back story for those interested.

7.4 Story As Seen by the Player
The main narrative follows Jim Turner (see Characters 6.2) and his journey to discover what had happened to his long-lost father. When his train crashes in the middle of nowhere, he finds himself woken up in the middle of what seems to be a medieval village. This village is called Stillwater and strangely enough that name was mentioned in his fathers’ journal. Jim will travel through the village looking for clues as to what is going on here, and also fighting for his life against hordes of monsters that want nothing more but to kill him. While on his journey Jim will meet up with village protectors who, for some reason, are trying to keep this place hidden to the rest of the world. There will also be the presence of a teenage girl, who will make appearances throughout the game and is the driving force behind what is happening to the town and has a link to Jim himself.

7.5 Story Revealed
By the end of the narrative it will be revealed that the town was the victim of a very unfortunate event that leads to its downfall. The mayor raped the girl named Rose and told her never to speak a word of what happened to anyone. She doesn’t tell anyone, but over the course of many months the mayor goes insane with paranoia, eventually becoming a complete shut in. One fateful night he decides to venture from his abode and to end all of the gossip that he felt was going around about him, so he abducts the girl in the night and drowns her in the lake on the border of the town. Before she ultimately dies the girl places a curse on the village and its water supply, tainting the water so that any who drank from the lake would turn into zombies within a matter of days. She also places a personal curse on the
mayor himself, granting him immortality so that he may suffer endlessly to the moans and groans of the villagers whose fates he sealed when he committed his terrible acts. So from that moment on the girls’ spirit spreads through the town, and thus is the downfall of Stillwater.

One thing that the girl didn’t get a chance to tell the mayor before he took her life was that she had been impregnated by him and that she had given birth to a son, who she immediately had shipped off to London and put into an orphanage. This son went on to live with a nice family in London by the name of Turner.

7.6 Victory Conditions
The player will ultimately win the game by ending the curse that was put on Stillwater. He will have to traverse the entire game, find out what had happened to the village, and kill the man responsible for the curse.

7.7 Hours of Gameplay
A Terrible Secret will provide up to 40 hours of game play if the player does all of the optional missions.


Artistic Style
8.1 Film Noir
The game will have a very film noir feeling throughout and while it won’t be done in a strict black and white style, the game will incorporate a very muted palette. The main character, Jim Turner, is a fedora wearing, cigar smoking, “Humphrey Bogart” kind of guy, who will say quick one-liners throughout the game so that players can relate to him.


User Interface
9.1 Interface Design
The interface will be very minimalist in order to allow the player to feel as though they are really in the game. The only information that will be displayed on screen is the amount of ammunition you have in your currently selected weapon, or a sketch of the item you are holding and how much life it has left (A chair you use to hit a zombie will turn yellow, then red, and then finally break). The player has the option to turn off the HUD completely if they wish.



9.2 Journal Interface
When the player picks up a journal the journal interface will appear, showing an old tattered book with the journal entry in it. Players can go back to the journal interface at any point by hitting the “tab” key in-game, where they can view all of the journals they have acquired.


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So, theres my idea... This document isn't entirely fleshed out, as I have almost a full journal worth of notes and sketches that I was trying to condense down to "10 pages" that the Professor wanted.

Any suggestions are welcome - I plan on some day getting around to fleshing out the idea more and actually trying to make the game.

[r.gun]

And just to liven things up a bit, here are some mock-levels I made in the Doom 3 engine years ago.

[Faille]

Still reading the OP, but just wanted to say excellent job on the levels. They look really well done and give a great sense of the atmosphere. Add in some of the modern stuff like fog and erie sound effects and it would make for a great playing experience, imo.

[r.gun]

Originally Posted by Faille

Still reading the OP, but just wanted to say excellent job on the levels. They look really well done and give a great sense of the atmosphere. Add in some of the modern stuff like fog and erie sound effects and it would make for a great playing experience, imo.

Thanks for the comment, Faille.

Oh, and here is a quick sketch of the village... it has no actually plan to it, as I drew it up the night before the design document was up... but I think it looks kinda neat, haha.

Oh #2, I'll attach a nice guidline for a game design document that my professor provided - if anyone out there is interested in making their own game, this template will help you get a design doc written up.

[Grave]

Sounds cool, albeit a bit cliche for a horror story these days (Silent Hill, The Ring, The Grudge all have similar stories), but hey, things become cliche because people like them. I think it would work.

I really like the mention of the zombie horde mechanic, where sometimes you wouldn't be able to fend all of them off and would have to create a barricade or escape. This would probably be difficult for a novice designer to implement though, sounds like some complex AI.

Really nice levels too, with some more fluff I think they would look great. I can already imagine stacking tables and chairs in a hallway using Source to prevent the zombies from following me. :P

[Burkex]

I'll tell you what I really like it except for one small detail. Why Zombies? Shooting mindless zombies seenms to me to be a bit overdone. What about some other type of creature/monster? Maybe a town overrun by Vampies or aliens that have invaded peoples bodies or something. It just seems that Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and the countless other games/movies have beaten the FPS zombie thing to death. It would be interesting to see something other than a zombie for once.

But I love idea.

[Hatorade]

Zombies have been done to death...but dammit its fun. I would be down with some Werewolfs though...not enough of those...

[The Ancient]

The problem with Vamps and Werewolfs are they make for poor survival horror enemies. A human can survive an onslaught of zombies with wit, caution and minimal equipment. Vampires and werewolves? You aren't going to make it just by watching out for dark corners and running away when possible.

[Burkex]

Has there ever been a video game based off Red Dawn? Or Mad Max?

[The Ancient]

Mute sound.

[Grave]

I'd like to see more survival horror in the vein of Fatal Frame, with actual ghosts.
Maybe give the protagonist some way of banishing them temporarily to satisfy the "action" elements (something cooler than a camera I mean), but it would still be something new instead of zombies.

It also allows you to do alot of fun enviromental scares that might not even mean enemies are in the area, it just creeps you the fuck out. Flickering lights, noises, etc. F.E.A.R. did this very well, but that game wasn't really as focused on strictly that element as a surv. horror could be.

[Burkex]

That Mad Max looked so bad bad but it was made in the 80's when the technology was terrible, actually for a game back then it isn't so bad. You can take a story like Mad Max or Red Dawn and turn it into a sick game. The Mad Max game could be a MMO or a FPS. Most of thr MMO's are either from the medevil times with swords and shit or are in outerspace, not that this is bad but it is pretty much the same formula everytime and very unoriginal. I think a new setting and concept would be cool. Has there ever been a great game that has been post-apoloclyptic, where the world as we know it has been destroyed and there are just a few remaining people that form together to create a new society and you can play as someone trying to survive. I just think that this would be a cool concept and it has yet to be done yet (I think).

[r.gun]

Thanks for all the comments, guys.

Originally Posted by Grave

Sounds cool, albeit a bit cliche for a horror story these days (Silent Hill, The Ring, The Grudge all have similar stories), but hey, things become cliche because people like them. I think it would work.

Yeah, it's actually really cliche... when I first came up with the idea, I had just seen Ringu and back then it wasn't as much of a cliche, but now it seems like every other horror movie has some little creepy kid. Oh well.

I'll tell you what I really like it except for one small detail. Why Zombies? Shooting mindless zombies seenms to me to be a bit overdone. What about some other type of creature/monster? Maybe a town overrun by Vampies or aliens that have invaded peoples bodies or something. It just seems that Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and the countless other games/movies have beaten the FPS zombie thing to death. It would be interesting to see something other than a zombie for once.

But I love idea.

Well, I just really love zombie culture and to be honest I don't think there has been a game that really got the feeling of hordes upon hordes of zombies coming after you (Left 4 Dead is gonna be sweet for this). So, while I agree that zombies are over done - I think that there is room for more! The gameplay would be less shooty-shooty too, because there will be very little ammo deposits around. So you have to either make traps, barricades, shoot your precious ammo or run in with, like, a chair and kill a few then run.

The problem with Vamps and Werewolfs are they make for poor survival horror enemies. A human can survive an onslaught of zombies with wit, caution and minimal equipment. Vampires and werewolves? You aren't going to make it just by watching out for dark corners and running away when possible.

Yep, thats what I was thinking too. Although, I could see a werewolf or, some kind of super wolfdog enemy being a boss or rare enemy that would show up.

[Burkex]

r.gun when you say Zombies are you thinking of slow zombies or fast zombies like the dawn of the dead remake? I thought the fast ones were badass and way scarier and the less reaction time made it more intense.

And I still think zombies are cool as hell if done right.

The game sounds pretty sweet.

[r.gun]

I think for gameplay reasons the majority of them would be slow moving, allowing you to plan an escape, or a trap, etc. However, it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility to have some fast moving ones that would show up periodically throughout the game.