So I guess the best place to start this blog is describing exactly what this project is.
The Old Game
Back in 2014, I was heavily influenced by the Thief game that was released in the same year, I bought the artbook and it was such a visually appealing game that I was just completely inspired to make something similar. Of course I know now that it was a bit of a flop because diehard fans of the previous Thief games valued the original gameplay and storyline over the new visuals, but just from an art point of view, that is easy to ignore. Funnily enough, the last professional project I worked on was the Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow game, which was an absolute honour to be a part of considering the history of this project, but I'm not actually using that to influence this game.
In my original game, the player had broken into a manor house and had the goal of stealing obvious golden shiny objects and finding the hidden treasure room. There was no gameplay loop or replayability, as once they entered the treasure room, they'd get locked in and its game over. It was just a portfolio piece with very simple gameplay, created in UDK (yes I'm old), using very basic Kismet interactions. I had created 4 main rooms + the hidden treasure room for the player to explore. There was no time limit or threat, so it was just a very simple idea to get the player to explore the environment I was so proud of back then.
This is the flythrough that I made back in 2014:
Looking back at the flythrough I made, it is so easy for me to see a multitude of problems with each room, I cannot be proud of it anymore because it's just plain ugly. The scale is off, the textures are gross, the patterns are too much, there's such a mess of different time periods and the only real consistent thing is that everything look bad. Maybe once I have finished this current project, I'll look back in another 12 years and say the same things - an interesting thought! In my very slight defence, this was created in a time when PBR textures weren't really a thing, so the surface of each material won't be reading correctly, they're just shiny or dull, but I don't think there's much excuse for anything else, other than I was young and inexperienced and had too much social anxiety to ask for help.
The New Game
In my new project I would like to concentrate on making this into a game that people might actually want to play. I have quite a bit of industry experience now so I understand more about gameplay loops, target audiences and features that not only makes people want to revisit playing a game but also attracts new players. I am also very aware that I cannot do this completely by myself, especially if I actually want to release it in a working state!
Art Content
I will be remaking the 4 rooms of the manor with a similar layout as a nod back to the original project but with a more realistic scale and theme, plus creating new rooms in the same style. I'm going to make this mostly with UE5, Maya and Substance Painter as they are my current favourite programs. I will be utilising asset packs and content from the Fab store in places, just to make things a bit quicker in the initial stages, which I might swap out for my own models (haven't decided yet). I will not be using AI for any 3D models, (as I have a bit of a personal disdain towards AI potentially causing my redundancy) but I might use it for placeholder painting images, as there will be a lot of unique paintings around the manor. I will absolutely replace any AI images before this project gets to a demo stage though because I believe human made is so much better, for quality and morality. 2D painting is not my strong point though so I will very likely find a better artist to make these for me.
Major changes with the Environment Art theme is that the manor is actually a dollhouse now, and so there will be a secondary environment where one player is a lot bigger and can see the house as a whole.
Target Audience
My target audience is going to be streamers and friend groups. I would like to have a similar set up to Fable Legends (remember that?!). I can't recall off the top of my head if any other game has done this in the same way, they probably have but anyway.. I like the idea of a team game VS an evil player. So it will be multiplayer of at least 3 players, and I want it to be something that's fun to play and have some banter with and interesting enough to watch. I haven't really thought about audience participation yet, but that could be a cool thing to look into once I have something playable.
Gameplay
The aim of the game is very similar to my original, but with the difference of it being a collaborative team. The team must explore the manor, opening cupboards and looking inside furniture to find valuables and keys to open doors to other rooms. The big addition to gameplay is the evil player, they will control the manor. The evil player has an overview of the house and can set off traps and close passageways to divert or split up the team. Potentially they could also release enemy mobs to chase and damage the team and ultimately stop them from getting all the loot. This is very similar to games such as Lethal Company or R.E.P.O, but with the difference that a human player is causing the issues for the team, slightly similar to games like Dead by Daylight but more of like a top down strategy for the evil player, rather than a third or first person view. So the evil and good team will be seeing different things at the same time.
My theme for this is that the evil player is a creepy little Victorian girl and the team are doll people inside of a dollhouse. The team will be able to see the girl looming over the house through the windows, and the girl will see the team players going through the different rooms.