Theme 1: Underwater
The first idea that I came up with was to set it underwater and have the path be on the bottom of the sea bed. This was an interesting prospect as I could play around with the look of water whilst walking through it, but then also look at how fast the character would move and how other objects would look underwater. This is a really great idea, but could prove too challenging for this brief, especially as I only have a limited amount of time to complete this project.
Theme 2: Mountain
The next idea that I had was to look at a mountain level, where the player will head to the top of the mountain, following the narrow path to reach the top, an area which will look onto a valley and almost be the start of the adventure. Again this could prove difficult, as if the player is only walking up one side they can still see into the distance and see beyond whats on the mountain path meaning that an environment beyond that has to be designed. But it balances out with the little amount of work necessary on the actual look of the mountain as this will just be a plain and barren path, but with stunning views.
Theme 3: Forest
The next theme that I wanted to look at was a forest theme. This was one of my favourite designs as it is simple but effective in the same way. The player would move through the forest as if it was being created in front of them. The forest becoming denser as the player gets further in and eventually coming across a house, which would be the actual start to the game. Its a nice idea and very similar to the game The Path, but it works like that player will not be able to deviate from it. This also opens up the opportunity for a voice over that could guide you through the level, asking you to imagine more is happening it.
Theme 4: Desert
The next theme that I looked at was creating a kind of desert atmosphere that the player must travel through. This idea probably isn't one of my favourites as I feel that it could be quite barren and sparse, only having the sand banks and then artifacts sticking out the top, but it does remind me of similar game Journey as this is set in a very barren desert but still has a really nice feel to it.
Theme 5: Cave
The next theme that I wanted to explore is creating a cave, much like the one featured in Dear Esther. I really like the way that one was designed so I though about looking at my own one, in which I took a few elements from the game to fill mine out a little bit in this early process. I really like this idea, looking at multiple pathways in the cave, but all of them always joining up at the end, but traveling down different ones will give you something different to look at. I also really like the idea that it is set above flowing water as this would create eery and a musical atmosphere in the cave, making it feel like you weren't alone.
Theme 6: Jungle
The next theme that I looked at was setting it in a jungle. Again I am not too keen on this idea as I feel that it is a lot like the forest idea, but set in a spiral and slightly worse. The idea is pretty much the same that the world almost appears around you in a way, and as you go deeper plants and rocks start to appear and then vines in the trees, eventually creating this jungle environment that's very heavy and claustrophobic, and acts like a real jungle.
Theme7: Temple Maze
This is probably my favourite theme although very simple and it is to create a maze and base it around Mayan's or mythological creatures.The maze would be very simple to design and would consist of brick or rock walls and create pathways in between in which the player can walk through and try to find a way out of. A way in which I could bring the idea of Mayan's or other historical periods of time into it is at dead ends there could be different creatures standing in the path which relate to that theme.
Theme 8: House
The last theme that I wanted to look at was producing a house, like the one from Gone Home, which the players can explore around in a non linear way. I again really like this idea and feel that it could be strong to take forward as so much detail can be added into the house, but I have to think about time constraints and due to the fact that I have very little time to be able to do this, I believe this idea isn't the best to take forward, even though it would be really nice to design properly.
After coming up with a range of different ideas the one which I want to take forward the most is theme 7. This theme produces the most positive result out of all of them, and also has the potential to be changed around and made better, so it is definitely the better option to use in the final design.
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