What we AREN'T trying to do: Devlog #3

Hi! Watt and Max here once again to give you the daily update on our game, Hunting Night! This time is a little different since we were given the prompt to "corrupt our vision" and create a prototype that was what our game would look like if someone else misunderstood our vision. It was tough but we figured out what things we did not want to do with our game and implemented them in this weeks prototype.

To recap, our project goal is to make an arcade style horror game in the vein of Duck Hunt. You play as a hunter out late at night in the forest hunting game when he starts to notice strange happenings in his hunting area.

For Watt's proto we kept the same core feel of his last prototype but we implemented a more gameboy aesthetic that we thought would make the game scarier. The less clear and detailed an image is the more blanks our players will fill which in the tension of the scenario will enhance the horror. The corrupted vision part was implemented with a cheap jump scare that plays partway through the game, we do not think this is an effective scare tactic for horror games and so it was perfect to show people that this is not what we are aiming for. We aim for a more creeping dread for our game rather than something so low-brow. Playtest feedback was positive with large praise for the art direction and the execution of the flashlight.

Hey, Max here! My first prototype went well, I learned a lot about creating some pixel art for the future game, I learn't about how visual tracers worked so I believe it went successful. The prototype this week is to be a "corrupted vision" of our future game. In my mind I had a couple of ideas with this topic, I decided to go with the question of what would a book version of our end-goal game idea look like that was boring and cliche?  Going in with this question, I made it my priority to focus on visual aspects for the player. Things such as transitions, dialogue-like features, shades, and pixel art as well as making a boring and cliche story.

Most of the feedback consisted of adding more visuals but it most thought it was an enjoyable read. For some the text was boring to read which is understandable since it is a lot of text, but that's okay, that was what I was trying to evoke from the audience. An idea I liked a lot from a game tester was to have a visually appealing background table with a bunch of little objects. Another was to add small little visuals to the book so that the player can see visual descriptions from the hunter himself which seemed cool, something as simple as a tooth from one of these beasts would've cool to see.

For next week's prototypes, we will be exploring how to implement time into our games. Perhaps we'll make a day and night cycle?

Until next week, stay tuned for more from us!

Max's Prototype:

https://maximglkv.itch.io/prototype-2

Link to video of Watt's Proto: 

Video link to Max's Prototype: