After getting the first prototype for my PGD Challenge entry up and running I quickly found a name, it’s called “Trugbild” (German for “delusion”). Once I got the visuals of the prototype the way I imagined the game to look in the first place, the name somehow directly came to my mind and I found it pretty fitting for such a “game”.
First work-in-progress screenshots (click on the thumbnails) :
Note that the game loks much more nightmarish in motion (I may get a video up sometime this week), with the camera swaying, the moving noise effect, a breathing character and a moving fov that gives a “nice” anxiety effect. So though this is a very early version it already perfectly fits the look I was aiming at from the very beginning, and once I get some disturbing (dark ambient) music and background noises (like heavy breathing) in, it should feel pretty dark and depression, which I was totally aiming at.
The prototype is already “playable” and you can move through several corridors. For the final game I plan on having different visual styles for different types of questions. In addition to the oppresive corridors I plan on adding holes (for very negative decisions), upward stairs (for positive things), windows (for questions realted to matters out of your own control), light cones in the lone distance (for questions related to isolation) and a few other types (that may or may not make it into the final product).
As for the technical part : The game makes heavy use of shaders (for film grain, glow, etc.) and frame buffer objects (currently four). Especially the shaders make it easy to go for such a dark, gritty and hazy look. I plan on adding lots of disturbing effects that are directly affected by the player’s mental and physical health using different shaders.