Game Vision Statement
In this blog I will be discussing my vision for my game 'Escape the Mansion'. In this vision statement, I will detail Escape the Mansion's genre, gameplay aspects and resources, and include relevant links and images to help flesh out my plans.
I wanted to create a game that had a very simple play style for casual and experienced gamers alike. I didn't want to overcomplicate the game by jam-packing it with features, but to make something anyone could pick up and enjoy. When researching what to do I felt that the best games with simple concepts had a thought-out theme that made the player create the world themselves. The original Mario game had very limited capabilities by today's standard but had the player make up their story for why Mario saves the Princess.
I want to try create a similar theme with this game to make the player ask these kind of questions in their head and create the answers - why am I trapped here? Who are my captors? What threat looms around me? These are the ideal questions I want the player to think when playing. Personally I have always enjoyed playing games that involve quick thinking and clue solving, both of which are going to be included in my game.
The game, in as simple of an explanation as possible, is an escape room simulator where the static player clicks on various objects to escape a room before a looming timer finishes. As a point-and-click adventure, the player will have to click on various objects around the room and read the messages that appear when doing so. Some will leave helpful hints as to where to look for the next clue while others will expand the creepy pseudo-horror theme, eluding to ghosts, or monsters and the like. A key will be needed to open the locked door in the room, which in order to get, a safe will have to be opened. I will aim for the safe to have 5 digits which results in the player having to find and solve five clues.
I chose the name 'Escape the Mansion' as although my plans for the game will only take place in a single room, the name expands the mental visualisation of the small player area into a wider world. I felt that when hearing 'Escape the Mansion', it gives the impression of a building of many rooms that the player is tasked with escaping from.
I plan on having the player area to be a single, bedroom-looking area, so that even if the player completes the room, their victory will insinuate that their journey is unfinished. I like the idea of a victory message appearing at the end saying something along the lines of 'The End... of Room 1' or 'The End... for now'. I have no plans to create a second room, but I like the idea of an open-ended ending.
While my plan for the game is to make it simplistic, I still feel that a good genre and theme tie the concept together. I researched into fun, semi-horror games and found an aesthetic that I thought was very fitting for my idea - Luigi's Mansion. While my game will be far more basic than Luigi's Mansion, I found the sort of cute but sort of scary old mansion look to fit perfectly, providing the creepy elements I want to implement without actually making a genuinely scary game.
I would like to implement some royalty-free music to be playing in the background also to add to theme I'm trying to build. As seen below, I would like to style room like a 2D version of a room from Luigi's Mansion, obviously excluding the ghosts and high-tech candles and player movement. The objects scattered around the room would be general household objects, such a vase, notebook, lamp and such.
I plan on having a timer in the game, probably 4-6 minutes, and if the player doesn't 'escape' on time, a monster appears on screen or it will cut to black with a message ominously saying 'Too Late...' to warn the player they have been caught in their escape.
The game will be made as a PC game but can be easily played on a mobile device as the controls are simple.
Concept Art:
Hi Leslie, I really like the premise of your game. Especially because it's coming closer to Halloween and it's starting to feel like Spooky season again finally. I found it really cool how you want to create an escape room simulator because these were some of my favorite games to play online when I was a kid. I have no doubt that you will be able to incorporate a lot into such a small player area. I was wondering how you were going about setting the theme of haunted mansion and how it will end with the journey not finished yet. Although I love the idea of leaving the player with a sense of having to fill in the pieces, perhaps there could be a story to why the player doesn't know anything. I was thinking maybe you could be a little meta and much like another Horror game, Amnesia, you could say that the player doesn't remember anything about how they got there or what any of it means because your character has taken a potion of amnesia and by playing on the fact that if its the players first playthrough of the game, they also will not have any memory of anything within the game. Other than that I'm excited to see what you develop :)
ReplyDeleteHey Leslie,I have just read your Vision Statement and I like where it is going so far. I really did you research and have kindly displayed some pictures of how you want the game background to look. I really like the "Escape The Missions" genre and the concept together is really works well. I am wondering why you are not planning a second room because it would be nice to have to different scenes in the game maybe even making it a little harder than the first. And would the character be saying a few words like would there be speech involved in the game and what type of sound would be introduced too? What would be the type of things that will try and stop the character from going forward to the end of the game? But besides all that I am really looking forward to this game you are making keep it up ;)
ReplyDeleteHey Leslie, I just read your Vision Statement and I must say your idea is well thought out and very appealing. You have done a lot of research which is very evident while reading this post. I love the genre that you have chosen for the game and the idea of leaving the greater lore to the players imagination. I am wondering why you are planning on not making a second room though is it because of time constraints or is it because you would rather not make the second room? I think adding the royalty free music will really make the player feel immersed.
ReplyDelete~John
Hiya Leslie
ReplyDeleteI firstly must say your game is very well and fully thought out in your game vision statement. I really like your game idea. I really liked luigis mansion, so having a game that was inspired by that game would be class. I like the idea of making a creepy and spooky rather than scary game. This is because then anyone can play it, like kids who wouldn't be able for the scary games. I like how the name would tell me that there isn't just one room and that its a house full of many rooms. Looking forward to seeing how your game plays out.
- Cian