Game Design: The Inky Darkness, A Horror Real Time Strategy Game (subject to change)

Originally from Faction Calculus, my blog about Real Time Strategy games.

As my bio states, I am a game developer of sorts. I often do game jams occasionally, where one will try to make a game in under a prescribed time limit. Not a lot nowadays, but I used to.

So, with Asylum Jam coming up from Game Jolt with the theme of psychological horror or mental issues outside of a context of an asylum (which makes the name ironic), I had a lot of ideas: A game based on writer's block; a game based on the Five Stages of Grief; a 2-D version of Luigi's Mansion; etc.

I recently was playing around with an unfinished RTS engine of mine on Game Maker, and so I thought, maybe I should create a small horror RTS. RTSes are hard to make, but I have done them at least twice for different game jams. Also, I've been fascinated by Lovecraft recently.

Introducing, the Inky Darkness RTS concept!

Story:
You are a commander of a small military base outside a settlement. Whether suddenly or with warning, a dark fog has covered the lands and is increasingly darker and darker. In the fog are terrible, slithering things, and areas covered with the fog are impenetrable. The few that come back from the fog have been reduced to one babbling with insanity... or worse. Escape, get rescued, turn back the fog, or succumb.

Setting:
Deciding whether Victorian steampunk, World War I, Cold War, or the modern era.

Cold War has the advantages of the Soviet Red Menace atmosphere, and earlier wars such as the Vietnam War as a backdrop for flashbacks.

World War I has gritty trench warfare and gray drab atmosphere. Since chemical warfare was commonplace, the Fog is not out of place.

Modern era can be molded to anything, but has no context to history. Technology such as drones would be available.

Victorian steampunk is just cool, and fits the Lovecraftian sensibilities.

Gameplay:
The Fog of War is your enemy. Literally. Once it is thick enough, you can shoot at the fog which might grow shadowy tentacles and hold it back until you run out of ammunition.

Strong lights can also hold back the fog. The fog is more of a "liquid" fog than an airy fog that covers everything. Think of Zerg creep or the Creeper World creep combined with a Fog of War.

The thicker the fog gets, the more aggressive the enemies it spawns will be and your range will get smaller.

You will have limited ammo, limited fuel, limited supplies, and limited men. You may venture out in your own peril to find supplies and survivors.

There will be a day/night system, though a thick fog will make daylight very scarce. Your men, and yourself, will need sleep. And sleep causes nightmares, not only on your men, but on you.

Units can hide or take cover behind something to ambush or not.

You and your men are affected by insanity as determined by the thickness of the fog; eldritch horrors each men has encountered; loss of morale, supply and troops; and nightmares at night.

Sort-of fourth wall breaks as evidenced by the insanity and the monsters in-game.

Some sort of random generation for characters and other things. Small bios for the characters to relate to.

Enemies include lumbering Lovecraftian zombies/mutants, lots of tentacles, and other cosmic horror. Enemies can corrupt your infantry units and even vehicles.

Insanity might also be an infestation/corruption meter, or separate.

Sort-of open world sandbox RTS as there is a city nearby for looting and other landmarks.

Flashbacks of previous wars. Maybe the commander has PTSD. Increases the hallucinations. Flashbacks are interactive and playable. Provides practice for player commander for warfare.

Instead of a bird's eye view like a satellite uplink, there will be only surveillance cameras. Or even, the increasing activity destroys the satellite uplink and that player now has to rely on surveillance cameras.

Insanity affecting the landscape. Things will become more out of place as time passes by. Might flash into an alternate dimension.

Commander being attacked in the command station. Structures are not small, but huge enough to warrant firefights inside. Indoor gameplay.

Base-building is standard RTS building, however, structures have interiors aforementioned, sort of like Prison Architect with preset building layouts.

Planned rhythm. To shake off predictability, squads may be sent missions to check on completely harmless things. And the harmless things may clue in to a darkness coming, or actually something completely random comes out that is not harmless.

Undertale-type 4th wall breaks and game hacking.

Risks and Challenges:
The trick is how to make a strategy game scary. The survival part should theoretically lend to that idea.

Inspiration:
Call of Cthulu: Wasted Land
Fear Equation, Deadnauts, Zafehouse: Diaries
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Darkest Dungeon
Creepy World series
Don't Starve
Escape from Aliens from Outer Space!
Nullpoint
Blood Roofs
Undertale
Other games which I do not remember the name of.

Useful Links:
https://www.quora.com/Im-creating-a-horror-game-and-want-to-know-What-elements-make-games-scary-Good-ideas-will-get-you-a-free-copy-when-I-release-it
http://thefederalist.com/2015/03/03/six-elements-that-make-for-a-quality-survival-horror-game/
http://tay.kinja.com/six-things-the-new-silent-hill-needs-to-have-to-succeed-1626630082
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/223931/game_design_deep_dive_amnesias_.php
http://tay.kinja.com/what-makes-the-perfect-horror-game-1619847904

InDev: Offgrid, Wormhole Eilis, and Aethernoughts

It's been awhile since I actually posted something of a game design nature. The truth is, I have been so busy with school, the VDP society, scholarships, and work that I just don't have the time to make games.

There are, however, ideas that are baking in my machine when I do find the time. These are simply in the ideas stage.

Offgrid is a cyberpunk, open world "survival" game. The player character is a sort-of on-the-run hacker in a heavy surveillance society. Unlike most cyberpunk games, nations are not ruled solely by corporations (though they are still important), but have an NSA-like supragovernment. The player theoretically wants to go offgrid, that is, untraceable, so he is tasked with erasing information about himself. If the player makes a wrong move, he becomes hunted by a government hunter or a team of hunters, and must race against time to promptly disappear. Offgrid will have proper networks in-game (servers, routers, terminals, hubs, etc.) that control various aspects of the city and almost all equipment (cameras, cars, traffic lights, etc.) and will properly simulate true networks. Inventory and HUD, almost anything can be hacked or tampered with. I'm not sure if I will provide some sort of programming mechanism (maybe crafting) to create your own in-game virus and software, but that is an idea. I'm not sure currently what art style I want to use for Offgrid, though a 2.5D perspective may be best.

Offgrid Planned Features:
2.5D perspective
Simulated, realistic networking system
Survivalist gameplay
Hack everything and be hacked

Wormhole Eilis is a top down cross between X COM: Enemy Unknown and The Jeluvian Project, with sprinklings of  Pacific Rim and Lovecraft. Each turn is a ten second sliver of time with gridless movement. The player controls a special ops squad, but then may get a proper gigantic mecha to handle the more colossal nameless threats. It probably will be set in the near future, humanity will not have everyday, practical space travel, but have mecha for military applications. I'm not sure if it will be a government agency or squad, I dislike the nominal government agency type feel. A militia or terrorist thing won't work. I'm not much for a corporate, fraternal, or religious paramilitary either. So... that pretty much cover anything? (Just thought of a university based group, a school-based research paramilitary sounds cool) The wormhole in question will be open in a place in the ocean, quite possibly the Bermuda Triangle. I don't want any cyberpunk elements creeping here on purpose.

Wormhole Eilis Planned Features:
Topdown
Giant mecha and monsters
Squad-based tactical strategy gameplay
Gridless movement

Aethernoughts was originally going to be a hard science fiction space carrier simulation, but I relegated that in favor of a steampunk/aetherpunk space/sky carrier simulation. The player is in control of a space carrier and can manufacture fighters, weaponry, and so on. The universe is filled with these carriers. Each carrier is an independent mini-city state (own economy, religion, diplomacy, etc.) and most are not hostile unless provoked. I am weighing whether or not I should lean towards more of the strategy side like a MOBA, or more on the simulation side for this. I imagine this will be touch based, as I am trying to penetrate the iOS and Android market. There will be no Pay-To-Win. Star Citizen, Forgotten Futures, Auralux, Pax Brittanica, Planetary Annihilation, the original MMO concept of End of Nations, FTL, Iron Sky, and Leviathans are my inspirations for this one. Depending on the final scale (solar system or planetary), carriers can fight ground forces and traverse asteroid fields.

very early screenshot

Aethernoughts Planned Features:
Topdown
Customizable independent city-state steampunk skyship
Open world/universe
Real time strategy and simulation hybrid
Deploy craft, ground forces, superweaponry, harpoons, pods, etc.
Board other skyships
Kraken and space whales!

So those are the three I am working on in my sparest of times. All of them are being worked on in Game Maker: Studio.

I also just released TitanFlap, playable online and on mobile.

Why I Am Obsessed With Doctor Who: Parallels

People always ask me why I am obsessed with the phenomenon known as "Doctor Who".

They see my Matt Smith-esque bow tie and my sonic screwdriver. Well, one of three of them. Not including the sonic screwdriver app on my iPod. Which is in a TARDIS case. With a Police Box Lock Screen and TARDIS console Home Screen.

My Facebook and Instagram is littered with #DoctorWho posts. I make snide comments about "timey wimey" or other Doctor Who references in normal conversation, to the chagrin of others. I cried and squealed like a girl in watching the 50th anniversary special Day of the Doctor. I even cosplayed all the 13 main Doctors (including John Hurt) plus an alternate incarnations of the Doctor (the Valeyard )! I even started translating the KJV Holy Bible into Circular Gallifreyan.

I am obsessed. Why in the world(s)?

While some Whovians would say the Doctor's pacifism and cleverness, the emotional character stories, etc. got them, my obsession is a bit more personal. You need to know my personal history and interests pre-Who.

Before Doctor Who, I diagnosed myself with DID (Disassociative Identity Disorder), or more commonly known as MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder). I have counted about 12 alters in my fragmented personality, My MBTI personality testing usually comes up as INTJ (Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging), the personality type of applicable theorists and mastermind manipulators. I have been a sprinter throughout my high school, always running. My favorite colors have always been blue, white, and black.

Time travel and steam punk fascinated me to no end. I have written many a time travel theory and related subjects, even on this blog. I love British mannerisms and classics and gentleman dapper stylings and tea and accents. While I loved science fiction, Star Wars and other main staples did not have a great hold of my fleeting interests.

Early high school, I dressed in a leather coat as my vanity item. As high school progressed, I started wearing a small trench coat and suits. As I started college, I took to liking bow ties and top hats, instead of normal ties. I became the Prime Minister of a student leadership society.

Do you see why now? If you are a Whovian, you should have spotted the eerie similarities.

I only have gotten into Doctor Who last year (2013). Everything I mentioned above happened before 2013. I discovered that Doctor Who existed around 2011, but have not watched it until around late February of last year.

If you aren't a Whovian and do not get the similarity references, here there are:
1. The Doctor is only one man, but every time he is greatly injured or dying, he regenerates into a completely new Doctor, with new personality and look, and he has done so about 12 times. He also retains some personalities within his head, and also he meets his other selves while time traveling. But he's always the same Doctor.

In the same vein, with my disorder, I have 12 personalities (verified by a drawing I drew around 8th grade of my selves). Every time my heart breaks due to a very distressing emotional experience, an alter is created. I think it's my coping mechanism, but when that happens, my habits, mannerisms, and clothing changes to such a degree a new alter is born.

2. An MBTI chart show that most incarnations of the Doctor are of an INTJ type. The Doctor is known to be pulling strings and thinking of ways to cleverly outsmart his situation and opponents. My thinking process is more and less the same. Some of my personalities do show other variations of the MBTI.

3. A theme of the Doctor is running. I've always been running everywhere ever since middle school and throughout high school. So much so that people make snide comments about me doing so. But I can't help myself.

4. The TARDIS Police Box colors are blue, white, and black. My favorite colors before ever liking Doctor Who.

5. Time travel is central to Doctor Who if you haven't noticed yet. Steampunk and Victorian elements are present in Doctor Who. My favorite Doctor is the 8th, by the way, who has the best Victorian steampunk styled TARDIS interior. Earlier entries in my blog show my fascination with fringe science, techpunk, dimensions, alternate history, and time travel; all before I was ever obsessed.

6. Doctor Who is a British show, and has British things. I always have loved British stuff. The English I learned was British English, not American, growing up in the Philippines, before moving Stateside.

7. Doctor Who is science fiction. And I think it's the best so far.

8. The Ninth Doctor wore a leather coat. The Tenth wore trenchcoat and suits. The Eleventh wore bow ties and a top hat. Very creepily similar to my clothing changes and progression.

9. The title of Prime Minister holds more relation to the Doctor's archenemy the Master, not the Doctor himself. But it is a British thing. Also, back in 9th grade, I played the Prime Minister in Never Come Monday, a timey-wimey story about Monday never coming, meaning it was always Sunday.

So, in conclusion, Doctor Who fits my personality and history so much. I do not know why I have never found it before. It fits me perfectly. It parallels my life. And that's why I'm obsessed with Doctor Who.

Happy Anniversary to my obsession.

Notes:
I discovered that Doctor Who existed around 2011, but did not watch a single episode. I started watching Doctor Who around January/February 2013, but I did not grasp what the show was about and lost interest. It was rekindled when a friend of mine came to my house and we watched a couple more episodes, and I was hooked.

My middle school years were around 2005 to 2006. My junior high years were around 2007 to 2008. My high school years ranges from 2009 to 2012. The new Doctor Who started in 2005. My grade numbers and years coincided (2005 = 5th grade, 2006 = 6th grade, etc.) Everything I mentioned above unless otherwise noted happened before 2012.