Atmospheric Shadows

BEGINNING

The somewhat troubling truth is that I was overwhelmed by sheer variety of game engines. At the first crossroads, I found myself heavily contemplating the differences between the different game engines and which one would be the most suited towards my goal. Unity was the obvious default choice but I was quite ambitious and wanted to create a full demo based on an adaptation of the mechanics of my TTRPG.

1^ST ITERATION

To this end I found and committed to using RPG maker MZ due to its friendly user interface. Along with the core of the game engine being designed for RPGs, a lot of the interface seemed to be removed from coding which was at the time a relief as my first attempt to grasp unity ended in utter and complete dissatisfaction XD.

Yet after further delving into the software while attempting to create an animated title screen, I repeatedly found myself stumbling across technical issues owing to the JavaScript based system where code is written, then exported and installed as plugins inside RPG maker. Specifically, its not due to the difficulty encountered when utilizing the plugins, it’s the problems encountered when searching out related support documents as I have little to no knowledge regarded to coding. An example is when I encountered an issue pertaining to animated title screens. I noticed that an extra small mirror copy appeared in the top left corner, I tried everything to remove it but found no success. A video is provided below showcasing the issue.

Prototyping - YouTube

So, I ended up abandoning the game engine altogether.

2^ND ITERATION

            My second option and honestly only option after dropping RPG maker MZ was unity, as at this point, I had spent more than half of the allotted time for Jam 2. So, I tried to more realistically adapt my expectations to what my game will be. Since it was clear that I would not be finishing a demo to my every expectation at my current knowledge and time frame.

I started off trying to decide what mechanics would be doable in unity. A 2.5D perspective was something that interested in me, with games like little nightmares being some of my most favorite games. It provided both a fixed perspective to increase the tension as the player doesn’t have as much freedom to escape horror. Something else that was also crucial is the atmosphere which I found to be quite important. A good game no matter the genre specifically lower budget indie games rely on visual effects to mask lower resolution assets without losing the immersion. I find Five Nights at Freddy’s to be quite a good inspiration. Long story short I ended up focusing on visuals instead of the mechanics.

Unity Asset Source: 3D Beginner: Tutorial Resources | Tutorials | Unity Asset Store