Synopsis
This game is about uncovering a hidden narrative, namely about a murder that takes place in an abandoned, dilapidated building. The player wakes up on the top floor of the building and is thrown into the game with limited information and must work to uncover as much as they can in order to reach the end. Our idea currently blends the narrative storytelling of a murder mystery with some creative puzzle-solving as the player and a sidekick move throughout an abandoned building.
The player assumes the role of the main character, an unnamed child. The child has lost their memories and thus the player has very limited information. Alongside the player character is an older man, listless and also suffering from amnesia. Despite not knowing each other, the older man takes responsibility for the player character and tells them that he will help them leave the building. That is the start of the player’s downward descent.
The game takes place over several floors (currently the team is thinking of having 5 floors), each requiring the player to solve a puzzle before proceeding downwards. Each floor’s puzzle is self-contained and can be solved by exploring the different sections of the floor. Along the way, the player may also find hidden clues that hint at the truth of the murder. Clues can be related to the floor puzzle, the truth of the murder, or both. Additionally, clues can be referenced and used between floors which may require players to keep track of or even backtrack to previous floors to find clues.
Along the way, the player will be able to interact with the older man through the puzzles. There could also be special dialogue that triggers when the player finds certain clues or reaches a new floor. We hope that including ways for direct interaction with the older man will allow for more immersion into the narrative. Additionally, we want the player to develop a relationship with the older man. We are considering a twist ending in which the older man betrays the main character, and this twist ending can only be effective if the player trusts the older man.
Example dialogue: “This… This seems familiar? I think I’ve been here with my family… but I can’t anymore. Not after what she did to me…”
Our current concept for the twist ending is that the player reaches the bottom floor to find their own corpse, and it is revealed that they have been dead the whole time. It is also revealed that the older man killed them, and the mystery that the player has been investigating the whole game was actually their own murder.
Setting
Our game will be set in an abandoned building with several floors. The building will appear recently damaged, and entry points between floors will be blocked by rubble, boards, or other obstructions. There will be signs of people having lived in the building, potentially before and after it came to be so damaged. However, the player will not encounter anyone except the older man in the entire building.
Overall, the aesthetic of the game will be creepy and gloomy, leaning into its identity as a murder-mystery game.
Tone
Our game leans towards the creepy side by using muted, dark colors (black, gray, white, blue, purple, red for accents, etc) as the primary colors of our ame. Additionally, we want to give players a sense of really walking through an abandoned building. The game should have a sense of creepiness and suspensefulness.
Creepy: A couple of artifacts that come to mind when trying to establish a creepy tone are a static-y, malfunctioning TV/radio, an old record player playing faint jazz, drops of water echoing through the building, and relative silence throughout the game.
Suspenseful: In addition to the player trying to escape a creepy, dilapidated building, we want to ensure that the player feels as though the game is building up towards some big climax. We constantly want to make the player feel as though they are in an information deficit – that they are missing out on a key detail that pieces everything together.
In order to get a sense of walking around an abandoned building, we would try to lean into the idea of “not knowing what’s around the corner”, potentially by having random events. This can help to both creepiness and suspensefulness since players will have to be constantly aware of random events happening.
Another aspect we could lean into is how to grow the mystery as the player completes more floors. Perhaps by having each floor ask another question or open a new possibility of the truth, we can motivate players to continue climbing downwards.
Tone References
Games
- Chillas Art
- Babbdi
Movies
- Oldboy
- Fight Club
- Memento
- A Tale of Two Sisters
- The Girl on the Train
Gameplay
Our game will involve a deck of cards and a companion app. The deck of cards will contain clues, events, locations, and actions from the older man. The companion app will be used to play recorded narratives that go along with major events occurring in the game. The companion app will also allow us to create an interactive experience not possible with just cards, e.g. by including interactive puzzles, audio diaries, music, communication with the older man, and narrative text.
The general loop looks like this:
- The player reaches a floor and is confronted with a puzzle that blocks their progress to the next floor
- The player will start by exploring a limited subset of possible cards for a floor (in-universe, this limit is due to the fact that some of the rooms may fall in on themselves).
- The sidekick will also explore parts of the floor, but their contributions will be determined by the game (random) rather than the player.
- Based on the clues found, the player will try to figure out a way to move to the next floor by using the clues found on the floor and previous floors.
Key Challenges
Design
- Puzzle Design
- How can we create fun puzzles which are not too hard, but also not too easy (Goldilocks)?
- How do we theme the puzzles to make sense in our world and narrative?
- Should we have multiple puzzles per floor?
- How can we introduce new puzzle elements to create an interesting difficulty cure that keeps the player engaged?
- Clues
- Can we have clues that are not used for the floor puzzle, but instead for a future goal (next floor / hidden murder narrative)?
- What can be clues (clock, broken brick, a somewhat folded slipper, etc)? Can anything be a clue?
- Do we include any sort of omniscient voice that occasionally provides pointers/tips to the player?
- Cultivating an immersive and engaging narrative
- Since we’re planning to use card decks, it’s naturally more challenging to craft an immersive experience compared to using a game engine. Without controls like lighting, colors, and sounds, how do we design an immersive experience?
- How do we create an engaging, suspending, and creative narrative through card decks? The emotion of suspense might be easily broken in this gaming experience as players will be playing it in an open setting–we need to leverage our companion app to achieve this goal.
Tech
- Our team has very limited experience with game engines, so we are looking toward alternative ways to incorporate digital elements into our game
Art
- What style should we go for to convey the emotions we hope to convey? Computer generated, hand drawn, etc.
- How much of the floor should be represented through art?
- If we end up using cards as location representors, how much art do we need on the card?
- Can the art be also shown through the companion app or other digital interface?
- How to design our app and card decks such that they integrate seamlessly, contributing strongly to the narrative?
Who is this for?
This game is for murder-mystery enthusiasts who love the thrill and suspense that comes with the unknown. This game is also for those who enjoy games with a rich narrative backstory. Because we plan for our game to be centered around a murder narrative culminating in a scene where the main character discovers their own dead body (they were a ghost the whole time), this game is intended for mature audiences 18+.
