I'll make another post after this with gameplay footage along with some of my final thoughts on the project however for now I wanted to talk about how I tackled the sort of art block I was having.
Menu Screen
The primary typeface I've been using for the branding of the game is an opensource font called "Figa" which I've edited to be a bit more readable. I decided to keep the menu screen pretty simple as I want the focus at the showcase to be on the actual game. However in retrospect I should have experimented a bit more.
Forest Area
In my last post critiquing the game as a whole I addressed the issue of my tree designs potentially being too bright for a horror game. However I felt having darker trees felt a bit too visually harsh and lightened them again, though the trees do become ever so slightly darker the closer the player gets to the school. I've also lightened the background slightly, added more white mist and lowered the opacity of the flickering vignette overlay so it's a bit more subtle. Another important change to the game as a whole is the addition of a letterbox overlay. I really like how cinematic this makes the game feel and even though it's not that noticeable I think it's just a nice touch.
I've also added in some spatial tutorial elements which I'm quite pleased with - I'm going for a clean but glitchy aesthetic to compliment the finale of the game.
Hallway
The hallway is looking a lot better although I'm still not totally happy with it and can't really put my finger on why. The colour scheme is a bit dull despite the little splashes of purple and teal I tried to include to avoid that and the scrolling fog looks a bit too solid.
Basement Corridor
Blurred the background and added a low opacity black overlay on top to make this area seem darker and eerier. I've also added some little hand prints in the background to lead the player to the "Ritual Room".
Ritual Room
The most important addition to the ritual room has been the feedback animation to be triggered after the player presses space and "activates the ritual" i.e. timed gameplay sequence of closing the three portals. Ideally I would have animated the player character doing something such as touching the red stain on the floor however I ran out of time. Instead the ouija board in the background begins to glow slightly (this glow was way more obvious in previous iterations and as a result looked really tacky so I toned it down), the salt pentagram on the ground begins to pulse a sort of red glow and a demon arm will appear to try and grab the player as a sort of warning for the chase sequence that happens once the player leaves the room. I also tweaked the candle layout (sooo much of my time in the level editor this year has been spent tweaking candle arrangements!) though it could probably do with a few more just to really kick up the cult-y vibe I'm going for. I've also added quite a few bespoke animations that the player will trigger in this area such as blinking eyes in the hole in the wall, rats running across the hanging chain and the china doll in the background falling to the ground for no reason. I think these really help add to an unsettling atmosphere and those who have played the game have commented that the doll in particular is "pretty creepy".
I'm really not happy with how the ouija board turned out, it looks a bit bland. If I have the time I might change it to look like a more traditional ouija board that's been nailed to the wall. Aside from that though I'm satisfied with how this area has turned out. I fixed the scale issue by messing about with the size of the wall in the background, making the room a bit shorter and enlarging the foreground asset so that the enitre scene feels a bit more claustrophobic.
Classroom
I'm pretty satisfied with this room too although the environmental storytelling isn't as chaotic as I initially envisioned. However sticking to a colour scheme of teal and rusty reds worked really well I feel as it doesn't feel too overpowering yet is still murky enough to pass for horror.
Limbo
I intentionally didn't add the letterbox overlay to this area as the finale of the game is where I wanted the fourth wall breaking elements to come in to play. I didn't have time to implement this quite as I'd like to have although I think the uncomfortably bright colour scheme and glitchy animations game out really well. The "tree ghosts" come across a bit forced though and their blobby, shadow designs aren't exactly scary. If I'd had more time they'd be a lot more complex. I've also had people comment that the game ends too soon after the brother character is taken by the enemy. Ideally I would have had a sort of cutscene at this point showing a more emotional reaction from the two characters once they see eachother and then the enemy running at the player after it consumes the brother, with the screen fading to black just before it reaches the player. I also wanted to include some sort of enemy slowly creeping towards the player as the game begins to slow their movement which I feel would have really added to the tension. However once again, I've ran out of time to do a sufficient job on that.
Overall I'm not very happy with this area. The layout in general just seems a bit stale. I think I might mess about with the foreground assets and add some more fog in an attempt to get that claustrophobic atmosphere back.
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