Hotel Havoc
As an assignment in my 3rd year of university, I had to create a one-page Game Design Document for a game of my creation and an engagement document explaining how the game will engage the player.
The one-page Game Design Document helped me understand how to strip my game down to its bare essentials while still being clear to other readers. ​
The engagement document aided in looking at my game through the lens of how engaging it is. It required me to break down the game design and understand how each element engages the player.
The document also speaks of viewer engagement from pages 8 - 10. I wanted the game to not only be engaging for the player, but for people who enjoy watching their favourite Youtuber or streamer play games. Some of the ways the game is engaging to the audience are visible in the extract below.
Those Who Remember
In my 2nd year of university, I participated in a module called Setting and World Design. The module consisted of creating your own fictional world, and then designing a video game based in this world. I titled my game Those Who Remember.
To communicate the world and the game to others, I created a narrative design document and a level design document.
The narrative design document helped me communicate how the player should feel during the narrative and the importance of having "key points" that stick with the player throughout the game.
It features descriptions of the game's story and mechanics, along with information about each chapter of the game, such as important plot points and locations.
For example, this extract includes key points that are significant to the player. It also describes how the player should feel during this chapter, as seen in the Player Journey column.
The level design document furthered my understanding of creating obstacles for the player and how to detail the player experience of a level effectively.
When creating the level design document, I made sure to include several references and mock-ups, to help the reader understand what I am trying to communicate without needing to read heavy amounts of text.
It was important to include pictures that inspired my idea of the mansion this level of the game is set in. By including images of real mansions, I immediately give an impression of the setting to the reader.
I also created my own mock-up of the mansion in a more presentable manner to the reader. Each room is labelled, giving the reader a greater idea of the different sections of the building.
Dissertation
My dissertation in my 3rd year of university concerned "The relationship between Gothic affect and horror video games". In other words, it focused on what affects Gothic fiction evokes and how horror games utilise similar methods.
The work features the elements of space, narrative, and agency. The chapter on space is visible below and discusses affects evoked by Gothic space, in novels such as The Haunting of Hill House, and horror video game space, in games such as Visage.
The dissertation showed me that we can use the past to make better games in the future. While a game like Layers of Fear was published fairly recently, there are elements of the game that are visible in Gothic novels from decades if not centuries ago, such as the use of space to create anxiety.