Game idea.

[Rusty pumpkin]

Because I have a terrible habit of pestering friends with my myriad of ideas, I will go to people who can ignore me without making me sad.

Horror game, the basis of which is about the player character being blind. Not completely, as somehow a technology was made to essentially allow the character to see as a bat would, using sonar. Now, this makes the enviroment colorless and short ranged. Reasons this is a good idea somewhere below.

1: The reason a horror can be a horror and not action is because of a mystery. Most games have a terrible habit of making a rather grotesque or bizzare enemy the mystery, shortly revealed by the neccesity for a danger. See Resident Evil, Silent hill past 1 and 2, and Dead space, for the most part. With the colorless, short ranged, in-distinct world of a sonar-seeing blind man, the mystery is ever present. When the apocalyptic-doo-dad happens, you're forced to flee from blurred outlines of something, plus the short range ensures every corner and distance could have an army of enemy outlines waiting to munch you.

2: A rather common aspect of all horror is darkness. For good reason of course, but it isn't really implemented sometimes. Dead space did this well, darkness could be a haven for necromorphs, Amnesia made the game as dark as graphicly possible but added a lantern and candles. Since, in this game, you can't see things X distance away, it would be shrouded in darkness. To be nice, the outlines could still exsist at such distance, but even more blurred.

3: By all means possible, this destroys any chance for it to be labeled action game. You can't see, likely since you were small, so combat skills are minimal, and if anything you would rely on a gun thats neigh impossible to aim properly. Also, because of blurred outlines, a enemy could be a normal human, or vice-versa. Also adds to the mystery, as there may be no true enemy but only humans and your own insanity.

Constructive criticisms appreciated, and I apologize to anyone who felt that reading this was waste of time. Good day, happy hunting, whatever.

 

[Jim Grim]

Have you considered that it might be incredibly difficult to navigate through the game? That is, to know where you're going and not get lost?

 

[Rusty pumpkin]

Have you considered that it might be incredibly difficult to navigate through the game? That is, to know where you're going and not get lost?

Linear levels? That, or important objects will shine for player convenience. It's not a puzzle game, more of a horror-survival at its rawest form.

EDIT: Perhaps a seeing-eye dog, who pulls you towards progression while letting you have the ability to explore. Like a trail that you can walk away from and back to at will.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

I reckon this could work as some kinda indie game, or maybe as a big Source engine mod or something.

Dunno about making the guy blind though, should just be him unarmed in a series of very dark areas.

 

[Rusty pumpkin]

I reckon this could work as some kinda indie game, or maybe as a big Source engine mod or something.

Dunno about making the guy blind though, should just be him unarmed in a series of very dark areas.

First thought: Didn't silent hill: shattered memories do the exact same thing?

Main reason, I want the player to have some trepidation about fighting off an enemy. "Oh god, get off! Wait, what if it's a person? *bang*" stuff like that, also maybe an ending based on number of 'enemies' slain.

Also, yes, an indie game sounds good because if this game was to long then there'd be issues.

 

[sheah1]

Have you considered that it might be incredibly difficult to navigate through the game? That is, to know where you're going and not get lost?

Linear levels? That, or important objects will shine for player convenience. It's not a puzzle game, more of a horror-survival at its rawest form.

Some sort of Radar might help, like, I dunno, stuff get's built into your eyes across the course of the game. Huh... building things into your eyes...

 

[More Fun To Compute]

I think that this could work but maybe not for a whole game.

Modelled on something like Eternal Darkness then it could work better. Like in Eternal Darkness the main character visits a creepy house and exploring the house starts up stories for other characters. The blind character could be someone moving into a new home that was occupied by another blind person. As you explore you get can sort of find your way around the house without too many problems but new rooms are scary as would be moved furniture and so on. And in the house you could find weird Braille books that start adventures. Maybe around a theme of people with different but less extreme visual disabilities or people prone to hallucinations getting involved in scary situations.

 

[Rusty pumpkin]

using sonar might not be the best use. you could use some other explanation, maybe night blindness or something. sonar would probably create too much distance between the player and the character, while immersion is very important for a good horror.
it depends on how you implement sonar though.

might i suggest penumbra as a very good horror game? you're not allowed to see the monsters at the beginning, because "you'd go mad". you just have to creep away cowering. i don't know if they ever get revealed, because i was too scared to continue ^^

only real problem i see is that everyone has some game idea, but not many people get to make their game.

Sonar was to be a kind of permanent, passive aura of sight around the player. Like a lantern in a dark place. And yes, penumbra and other Frictional games are great, but the penumbra series revealed the enemy in it's naked glory in the second. The idea behind the 'blind mans game' is that you never learn what the enemies are.

Also, yes, this will likely never be published, but i'm the kind of person who must do something with an idea.

Hmm.... Maybe absolute colorblindness? I don't know, that may be a little too detailed for the mystery.

 

[Ca3zar416]

Have you considered that it might be incredibly difficult to navigate through the game? That is, to know where you're going and not get lost?

Linear levels? That, or important objects will shine for player convenience. It's not a puzzle game, more of a horror-survival at its rawest form.

EDIT: Perhaps a seeing-eye dog, who pulls you towards progression while letting you have the ability to explore. Like a trail that you can walk away from and back to at will.

I have to agree with you on this one rusty. This concept sounds well for lack of a better word, horrifying. There can be nothing more frightening than knowing that somewhere there is something waiting to get you but it takes forever to come. Along with the normal powerlessness in GOOD survival horror the addition of near total blindness brings it to a new level.

To Jim - I think the difficulty to navigate would really help tell the narrative of the game. The point isn't to find the monsters and take them out guns ablazing. It would be about being in one of the worst positions possible and trying to survive. Not everyone is a Kratos, or a Master Chief or any of the other humans made nearly gods. You're an everyday person.

 

[Rusty pumpkin]

I think that this could work but maybe not for a whole game.

Modelled on something like Eternal Darkness then it could work better. Like in Eternal Darkness the main character visits a creepy house and exploring the house starts up stories for other characters. The blind character could be someone moving into a new home that was occupied by another blind person. As you explore you get can sort of find your way around the house without too many problems but new rooms are scary as would be moved furniture and so on. And in the house you could find weird Braille books that start adventures. Maybe around a theme of people with different but less extreme visual disabilities or people prone to hallucinations getting involved in scary situations.

AND this is why creative criticism is great. To expand on this line, newly bought mansion, you move in with a trusted friend who acts as your eyes. During the beggining, he describes the rooms layouts for future reference, and you begin hearing things because your hearing is stronger for lack of sight. Eventually, friend is taken away, you are left with the vague outlines of what each room looks like, and begin a search for the friend. If there is a re-uniting point then you assist each other, he sees and fights, you listen for secret passages and approaching enemies. (co-op idea right there). Perhaps a touch of the occult, mansion with a dark history haunted by the souls of the damned.

I thank you More fun to compute, because this is actually a great idea .

 

[Rusty pumpkin]

I have to agree with you on this one rusty. This concept sounds well for lack of a better word, horrifying. There can be nothing more frightening than knowing that somewhere there is something waiting to get you but it takes forever to come. Along with the normal powerlessness in GOOD survival horror the addition of near total blindness brings it to a new level.

To Jim - I think the difficulty to navigate would really help tell the narrative of the game. The point isn't to find the monsters and take them out guns ablazing. It would be about being in one of the worst positions possible and trying to survive. Not everyone is a Kratos, or a Master Chief or any of the other humans made nearly gods. You're an everyday person.

You have grasped my idea, thank you good sir.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Just to go by survival horror games the best companion in these games is a dog and seeing eye dog would fit the concept well.

 

[GiantRaven]

For a game where the protagonist is blind, it saddens me that you immediately used sonar as a visual aid rather than remaining within the sound domain.

You should have a look at Papa Sangre [http://www.papasangre.com/]. It's not the same kind of idea but it does some really interesting stuff regarding the lack of visual content.

 

[MrCollins]

I think it's a great idea, the horror would be chilling and due to reduced field of view + blurry sight it would be quite easy on the price of development as no rendering would be needed.

The only thing is it would rely very heavily on story, if the mystery was uninteresting or the ending predictable or ridiculous.

 

[PlasmaFrog]

That might be like trying to walk through the entire game in Metroid Prime: Echoes with the Echo Visor on.

 

[Redford Blade]

Have you considered that it might be incredibly difficult to navigate through the game? That is, to know where you're going and not get lost?

Not a problem. If the means of sight is technology, then technology also provides the answer: Augmented Reality.

It makes sense that this form of "sight" would come with a built-in ability to "tag" locations with digital markers that only you can see, because they are just overlays programmed into the sonar device. You can leave a trail of breadcrumbs for yourself, though it might be best to limit what sort of tags the player can leave.

Sonar was to be a kind of permanent, passive aura of sight around the player. Like a lantern in a dark place. And yes, penumbra and other Frictional games are great, but the penumbra series revealed the enemy in it's naked glory in the second. The idea behind the 'blind mans game' is that you never learn what the enemies are.

Also, yes, this will likely never be published, but i'm the kind of person who must do something with an idea.

Hmm.... Maybe absolute colorblindness? I don't know, that may be a little too detailed for the mystery.

Stick with the blindness, it adds to the sense of vulnerability. I'm a massive coward when it comes to horror games, buy what you've described so far sounds compelling enough for me to buy it anyway, as with Amnesia.

 

[Rusty pumpkin]

For a game where the protagonist is blind, it saddens me that you immediately used sonar as a visual aid rather than remaining within the sound domain.

You should have a look at Papa Sangre [http://www.papasangre.com/]. It's not the same kind of idea but it does some really interesting stuff regarding the lack of visual content.

My thoughts was that something just barely tangible would be that much more haunting. A mystery isn't start until something becomes obviously unknown, so colorless, indistinct outlines are like icing on a nightmarish cake. Also, I don't have access to award winning musicians or the lot, and if anything this is a indie game. So for practical reasons I couldn't aim for a 3D musical game, despite how cool that would be.

 

[Rusty pumpkin]

I think it's a great idea, the horror would be chilling and due to reduced field of view + blurry sight it would be quite easy on the price of development as no rendering would be needed.

The only thing is it would rely very heavily on story, if the mystery was uninteresting or the ending predictable or ridiculous.

Benefit of a rather lazy graphical requirement, more time and money for a story board.

 

[GiantRaven]

My thoughts was that something just barely tangible would be that much more haunting. A mystery isn't start until something becomes obviously unknown, so colorless, indistinct outlines are like icing on a nightmarish cake. Also, I don't have access to award winning musicians or the lot, and if anything this is a indie game. So for practical reasons I couldn't aim for a 3D musical game, despite how cool that would be.

Fair enough, I just recommend not disregarding simple elements of sound design (such as spatial awareness, panning etc. - I was never talking about musical content) when they could really enhance your game. It's something that sometimes gets overlooked and you have a perfect chance to make it in some way important to your core gameplay.