flashlight
2019.10-2019.12
Flashlight is a 2D top-down horror puzzle game developed by a three-person group in two months using Unity. In this game, the player will control a little girl and help her escape a dark house filled with horrible monsters, and the only thing the player can use is a flashlight.
In this game, I was responsible for the mechanic design, level design, and art making including environment art, character art, and animation.
game mechanic
The main mechanic of our game is all based on light. The whole level was almost completely dark and players must use the flashlight to explore around and find a way out. However, the monsters in the house are attracted to light and can be easily disturbed. Players cannot see them in the dark, but once they turn their flashlight on the monster will soon come and chase the player.
We developed our puzzles around this dilemma: players need to use their flashlights to find possible light sources in the environment and use those light sources to lure the monsters. Once the monsters are attracted to light sources other than the players' flashlight, the players can continue to find their way out using the flashlight.
The whole process required the players to constantly turn their flashlights on and off, meanwhile, they would not know if any monsters had been disturbed yet. The mechanic based on light can create uncertainty in players' visuals, and increase their tension while playing the game, which can help build the horror atmosphere up.
A Playthrough Video of Flashlight
level design
Since we set our narrative background of this game as an abandoned house, we first took references from the floor plans of some old mansions, but we didn't want to use an actual floor plan completely, so we also made several adjustments.
We made almost every room in the house have at least two doors. Since our game is focused on exploring the house and escaping, we don't want the rooms to have only one exit so that the players would be reluctant to go in and explore the room. Having two different exits can also help direct players to go across the room without going through repeating routes, which can add some uncertainty and suspense.
The whole level is circular and when players finish their level they will find out that the exit is right where the level starts. We set the key items to the exit halfway on the circular level so that once players get the key items, they can choose to either explore further or return the same way. When players go all the way down they will find some fragmented narrative along the way as their award. If players choose to go back, they will need to face the monsters they previously met which is also challenging because some of the light sources in the environment are not permanent, and the players might lose track of the monsters they previously encountered.
Art Direction and Animation
Since the POV of this game is top-down, the art direction of the game is going for a simplistic cartoon style which would make it easier to express the top-down view and make the level clearer for players to understand. We also hope that the cute cartoonish art style with the horror theme can create a black-fairy-tale-like feeling that is distinct from other types of horror.
During the process of animating the monsters, to give the monster a smoother movement, I used the IK Bones and IK animation in unity instead of regular frame-by-frame animation. This method makes the monsters' movement more adjustable to our actual need for the enemy design.
Character Design Process
Enemy Design Process