This game is called Fields Of Terror. It is a horror survival game where the character has to find his way through this haunted maze whilst trying to find 8 different books in order to complete the game. Halloween night turned into a horror movie. Whilst collecting and exploring the character is being hunted by a spirit called HellMouth, who is a spirit of a farmer who used to work in the area many a years ago and left a trace of his life in all eight books, but he does not like when people begin to read through his books!
Platform it will be played on
Fields Of Terror will originally be released on PC but hopefully sometime in the future will come out on Xbox and Play Station. The game will be somewhat difficult and scary because since it will be only one long level to begin with I want to make it hard
Characters
Character 1 - Benjamin
Benjamin was on a night out with a group of his friends for Halloween and they decided to do something scary and play hide and seek in a local farm where they knew there was a maze. They all agreed and thought it would be a good idea but little did they know there night would be tuned upside down especially for Benjamin
Character 2 - HellMouth
Hellmouth used to be know as Farmer John Wilson many a years ago approximately 240 years ago he was alive but before he died throughout his life he used to write books on 8 different parts of his life that he wanted to remember but before he died he didn't want anyone to find out about them so he his them in this maze he created on his farm. Little did he know that this was a horrible idea because when he died his soul became bound to these books that where in the maze, but still he didn't want anyone to find out about them, so he protects them with everything he has got.
Setting
In the narrative there is a story behind everything, why HellMouth is haunting Benjamin especially, why there are eight books in this maze. Everything adds up. Benjamin is actually a descendant of of Hellmouths family, that's why he's haunting him in the maze because they have a strong connection, but still HellMouth does not what anyone to find out about what he wrote in the books, that's why he is out to get Benjamin in the maze.
Core Loop
Eventually I will add more levels in the game by also having them on different difficulties. Having different difficulties on the game will make the layer firstly want to experience what the game is like at first and then maybe at a later stage, speed run the levels etc.
Mechanics
There are three main mechanics in the game will be having a jump scare mechanic, a good example of jump scares is the game Five Nights At Freddie's. These jump scares will be at completely random moments in the game.
The second mechanic in the game will be having ambient audio in the game this will create the mechanic of adding an atmosphere in the game. This idea will make the game a lot more scarier and will make the player become more evolved with the environment around them whilst playing.
The final mechanic that will be implemented in the game will be a sanity meter. The reason being is because having a sanity bar is better than a health bar in my opinion. When you run out of sanity you just pass out rather than dying, then the game gets reset.
Dynamics
The dynamics will be everything the player sees/interacts with in the game for instance I would love to add achievements in the game so the player can feel like they are accomplishing something whist playing the game. Also having items in the game such as the books and the flashlight are all the dynamics of the game. There will also be other objects in the game that player can interact with such as Easter eggs etc.
Enemies
There will only be one enemy in the game and that will be HellMouth. He is the one that is going after Benjamin once he finds certain amount of pages and he is trying to stop him from finding them all and completing the game
Progression
For starters there will be only one level for the player to roam but it will be hard. The progression will be the player moving through the maze trying to find the books within it to complete the game. The maze will not be easy to navigate though. There will be twits, turns and dead ends which will make the player panic and try to rush through the game because its so scary.
Environment
The environment will be an eerie one. I want to make the level really dark so it make the flashlight come in good use. I also would like to make the level misty since it is a maze it need some sort of fog to create the atmosphere that I am looking for. The maze however will all look the same, so this making it hard for the player to navigate through the maze ultimately leading them to get lost in the game and begin to get scared or worried
Description
The art style that I would be going for in the game will be a realistic one. Making the game look realistic would help the player be more engaged with the storyline as if they where in the situation that the Benjamin is in. This also will help make the game be a lot scarier for the player ultimately leading to a true horror game
Art Bible
Specifications
UI - User Interface
For the UI as soon as the player enters the game it will load up. It will be nice and simple a PLAY button where it will bring the player straight into the game and also a CREDITS button which will pop up with the credits of the developers of the game. I want the UI to be as simple as possible to begin with just so the player can experience the game then in a later date I would like to add a section where the player can change the difficulty level, choose what level they want to start at, and change their graphics setting.
Game Controls
Again in this section like it again to be nice and simple. Since this is a first person horror game, there will be WASD for the movement meaning that you can go in all directions. I would also like space bar to turn on and off the flashlight and then have escape to bring up a menu so the player can either exit to main menu or shut down the game entirely
Description
For the audio of the game, I would like to have ambient sounds in the background. The reason being is that if you have ambient sounds in the back it will make the player feel more intense whilst playing. These sounds may include audio such as wind howling in the background, screams in the distance etc.
For when the player gets jump scared I would like this to be loud and have each jump scare as a different loud noise such as screeching and shouting. I want the player to be petrified after experiencing these jump scares.
Target Audience
For the target audience since the game will be 18+ anyone over that age would be acceptable to play Fields Of Terror, but of course, there are specific types of people. Thes people may include, gamers you like to play horror games and experience how scary the game really is, and also there are gamers who like the element of speedrunning games since this game will have different difficulties eventually speedrunning will be a lot of fun. Finally, there are just casual gamers who wouldn't be big into playing horror games but just want a good scare at the end of the day. There is no specific gender that would want to play this game more, everyone is different so I cannot specify what gender or age will play this game the most.
Target Device
The reason as to why I decided to go for a horror game is because it is what I love. I do love to play a lot of horror games from time to time and get a good scare out of it, but I kind of want to add my own aspects to a game. In my opinion, I think horror games out there on the market at the moment are a bit vague about how much they scare you, not all but some. I would ensure that the horror game would be extraordinarily scary almost to the point of unplayable since in my opinion you know if a horror game is good or not if you feel like you can't continue on playing.
Promotions
For the promotions, since I would like the game to release on steam, I would hope that I could pay a little extra to get it on the steam main page for upcoming games. Also, I would set up a youtube channel and grow a community on there, where I can give constant updates as to what is going on in the development stage so people know. I will also do the same with Twitter but just tweet different patch notes on the game to hopefully gain a community form it.
Community
This game will be firstly single player which will be harder to get a community behind it because of its lack in multiplayer, however, I am not closing all doors to not having a multiplayer mode in the future, of course, I will have to come up with the idea of how that would play out but I think it could work out. This meaning I can gain a larger community and they will stick with the game for further updates etc.