Research
Research Planner
Research Planner
Contextual Report
Planning Technique 1 - Storyboarding and level structure
The first planning technique that I need to research and analyse is in regard to the planning of my levels and narrative of my games story, I will be looking at both level structure and also storyboarding in order to improve my approach to the planning of my level blueprints and my narrative planning documents such as story bible and Game Design Document. The first area that I will be researching is storyboarding, as I am planning to take a game designer route for this project I will be required to carry out planning into the games narrative, story and level flow, so storyboarding will help to plan and visualise the narrative flow of my game. The first source that I have found highlights the key areas of game storyboarding and describes the steps required to carry out successful storyboarding. They start by stating the basic requirements or building blocks of a storyboard, “The first step in storyboarding is creating "cards" that hold plot points and events. Each individual card might be a few lines of script, a scribbled-down idea, or a sketch of a scene.” (Gamescrye, 2017), this seems to be a very common step because also in a second source they describe in a more educated way that the ‘nodes’ on the storyboard represent different stages and texts within the underlying game or story, “Storyboards are hierarchically structured graphs. The composite nodes are named episodes, whereas the atomic nodes are named scenes. Composite nodes may be subject to substitution by other graphs. Atomic nodes, in contrast, have some semantics in the underlying domain.” (Arnold, Fujima and P. Jantke, 2013).
This shows that each node within the storyboard will show a scene or key point within the story and this will allow me to organise and visualise the story and objectives within the game. The overall finalised storyboard will look something like a flow diagram, each scene or objective will flow in chronological order from start to finish as stated by Arnold, Fujima and P.Jantke (2013) “Storyboards are hierarchically structured graphs”. Generally storyboards will not only include key points of the story, but also filler or build up story that will have to be included to show the progression. I have learnt the basic layout of a storyboard and that it will include basic sketches or even text to show each scene of progression within the game and I will ensure that going forward I create a storyboard to help plan and structure my story before moving on to developing the story in-engine, before this though, I will experiment with the method presented and will be able to work out any kinks or flaws in my documentation before creating my final plans.
Moving onto level structure and the planning needed around level blueprints, I have gathered a large variety of sources both primary and secondary to help aid my research into this subject, the first source gathered from Ryan Laley (2025) says, “in pre-production we would think about what the aims of the level are. This doesn't mean the objectives for the player but rather our objectives as the designer. From there a sketch going into a blockout. The blockout allows us to prototype ideas and spatially plan a level”, from this I am able to gather the basis for the starting of the level design planning, they create a document detailing the aims of each level, but for objectives as a designer not player and then they form a sketch that will be digitized in-engine as a blockout which will help to prototype and spatially adjust the level layout. When it comes to my game I will need to analyse the effectiveness of each of the methods that I am going to be researching and apply them to pre-production to ensure that I have a smooth and professional pre-production process. To support this quote, Bauer (2023) says, “High level phase: Some companies also call it the blueprint phase. If it is a linear game you hash out the high level idea for each level, the order of the levels, and how they fit together in the game”, now this sounds very similar to that of storyboarding which I researched above, however, this method seems to focus more on the importance of each level and how it fits within the main overarching story.
Now focusing on how to structure a level and different approaches that I can take toward structuring my levels, I have first looked at an architectural approach to level design, now this varies from normal level design as the architectural approach is to use historical or architectural references such as buildings or art pieces in order to construct a blueprint ready for blockout in Unreal Engine. There are many techniques within the architectural field that can be applied to level design and blueprinting, for example historical references in this source have shown that I can create 3D or viewpoint blueprints that show the level or section of a level but from the perspective of the character, “Roman Temples such as the Pantheon focused mainly on a single hierarchically important view rather than a variety of three-dimensional views” (Totten, C.W., 2018). This shows me that I am not limited to just static top down views of my levels and environments and can instead take a historical route and adopt a mix of both 3D perspective blueprints and also the traditional top down views, when looking at this in further detail I can see that this would greatly benefit my project as I am planning on designing a fairly large environment for the player so having planned a perspective view or a series of, will greatly reduce the time needed to plan and finalise my level design and structure when it comes to development or blockout. This will also help to add verticality to my levels or extra floors that add height to the game map, this perspective level blueprint will aid in the planning of height as I will be able to visually see the ezra floors easily, and as one of my primary sources says, “Make things that are AWFUL and pay attention to WHY they're awful. A good example is in 3D level design - quite a lot of people forget to put any verticality into their maps at first - flat gameplay doesn't work in most games. Fail fast, and often.” (Dan Marshall, 2025), this shows and highlights the key importance of adding height and verticality, so paired with the perspective blueprints I feel that I will be able to successfully plan and add this in my game.
However, a secondary source of information says that blueprints can be skipped, and the focus can be put straight away on prototyping and blocking out the level, as this gives an immediate feel for the level structure and flow for the player. Now this is a very non-traditional method, normally, as identified in my process research report, the level designer creates several blueprints so that they have a basis to begin with before moving to greyboxing, “the LD can begin on blocking out the rough level design [...] that just define space rather than geometry or aesthetic” (Salmond, M., 2021). This is the workflow that I normally use after creating a blueprint, but without a blueprint I feel that this method may be harder to execute especially as this is the largest project that I have worked on so far this year. However, in contrary of this point form this source, I have found a another source that tells that failure can often be found when following a method such as this and that proper planning should be taken when creating a level, “The way I used to plan for game environments or level designs in the past that failed me were:Get an idea
Open level editor and go to work. Sometimes I would collect some photo reference and create a top down layout but most of the time it was idea straight to level editor. This usually led to an unfinished project.” (World of Level design, 2011), this tells me that the technique displayed in the book source is redundant and that this can often lead to failure.
In conclusion, following research into both storyboarding and level structure planning, I have been able to gather a wide range of information and techniques that I will now experiment with in order to inform my working practice going forward into planning and pre-production. However, at this point in time I will not be following the workings of Salmond M because their work practice of just going straight into blocking out can be faced with drawbacks and failure as found by World of level design, so I will instead opt for a traditional 2D top down approach as well as the perspective view, to be able to successfully plan out my level before development.
Planning Technique 2 - Scheduling and Project Management
The final planning technique that I feel I need to work on and research into is professional project / personal management. I have previously used scheduling software throughout my college years, however, I have never taken a deep dive into project management. I feel that by learning a professional method, this will allow me to improve not only my scheduling but also the work approach that I take going forward into this project. The main area that I want to look at is project management, “project managers guide and facilitate projects with a keen sense of budget, scope, timeline, staff and all of the complicated places in between” (Harned, B. and Storey, G., 2017, p.g. 3), as we can see project management is a very large and important part of any project, I will be required to not only manage the scope of my project but also deadlines and planning for each working hour. This source moves onto talking about the finer details of project management and highlights key pointers to manage a project, “every project comes with a deadline. It’s up to you to understand the process by which your team will meet that deadline and document it in order to keep things on track [...] You can create a line-by-line plan with specific deadlines, a Gantt chart with overall timelines, or even a Kanban board that shows work tasks from initiation to completion” (Harned, B. and Storey, G., 2017, p.g. 11), I can see here that they presented an array of different methods of tracking a projects development and now I must analyse each method to see what each entails and compare then to get a better understanding of what project management document will work best for me.
However, first when looking at a second source also on project management, I can see that software can now also be commonly found to aid with project management so this may be a more viable option for this project as written documentation may not be as efficient as digital software, “The task of managing a software project can be an extremely complex one [...] the evolution of project management tools for both software and non-software applications has been accelerating at a rapid pace, and the number of available products have grown significantly” (Mishra, D. and Mishra, A., 2013), this highlights how there has been a shift in project management and that is should focus on software tools to help aid with my project management. A technique mentioned several times in these sources to help visualise project management is Gantt charts, now gantt charts are viewed as “simple to understand and easy to construct and are a powerful visual tools for managing projects”(Kumar, 2005), this shows that they view gantt charts as being essential and powerful tools for successful project management and can be the be all and end all to the success of a project, so it is essential that I learn how to manage correctly so that I do not run the risk of failing. In terms of how to structure and plot a gantt chart, a gantt chart is typically made up of horizontal bars to visually show the progression of the project across the timeframe, now specifically in project management, “gantt charts are used to schedule, track, and communicate deliverables, deadlines, dependencies, and resource assignments. [...] A gantt chart allows you to simplify complex projects into an easy-to-follow plan that includes:
How a project breaks down into tasks, When each task will begin and end, How long each task will take, Who’s assigned to each task, How tasks relate to and depend on each other, When important meetings, approvals, or deadlines need to happen, How work is progressing in a project, The full project schedule from start to finish”(TeamGantt, 2025).
Looking at this, I am able to see that a gantt chart includes all of the required information for the project ranging from the task, the deadline of that task and who is going to complete or work on the project, this will be extremely helpful for this project as this will be the biggest project that I have worked on this year and also the timeframe of the project is larger than before, so an effective gantt chart will help me stay on track. In addition to this, a gantt chart falls within the agile and scrum methodology, meaning that constant updates and adaptations can be made to the planning as the development progresses, “Scrum is an agile software development process to manage software projects. Scrum is based on three simple principles: visible progress, constant inspection, and adaptation. With Scrum, teams use an empirical approach to adapt to changing requirements and priorities.” (Code Magazine, 2008). However, when looking at a different method for project management that is mentioned in the book by Harned, B. and Storey, G, Kanban, a kanban board works in a very similar fashion to that of a Trello board, “A kanban board is an agile project management tool designed to help visualize work, limit work-in-progress, and maximize efficiency (or flow). It can help both agile and DevOps teams establish order in their daily work.” (Rehkopf, 2025), this tells me that most agile projects are managed in a visual manner and that this works best within the industry as this is just one of the many sources that have mentioned a visual approach.
Looking into how to structure and use a Kanban board for project management, a source that I have found explains in detail the types of areas that are highlighted and visualised on a Kanban, “David Anderson established that kanban boards can be broken down into five components: Visual signals, columns, work-in-progress limits, a commitment point, and a delivery point.” (Rehkopf, 2025). From just this quote I can see that a Kanban board will be made up of several tickets or columns that are used to move the tasks through development from planning right through to completion, they explain that there are three main areas that I feel are the most important to my planning process, “Visual Signals, Columns [...] Delivery Point” (Rehkopf, 2025), I have mentioned these areas of the source to be the most important in a kanban because the rest relate to product development and customer engagement so a visual signal is defined as a card or ticket that is positioned within a column to show the task or objective, a column is then the separation between the different stages of development, such as to-do, in progress and completed, this will be important because without columns I would not be able to track the progress of a task or objective. The final area is delivery point, delivery point is the end of development on the kanban and can be seen as the final step in the management process, it helps to show finished tasks and helps keep track of completed and remaining time on the workflow.
In conclusion, when comparing both a Gantt Chart and a Kanban Board for project management and personal scheduling they both come with their own uses and drawbacks, after researching into each method I feel that I need to experiment further with these methods. Because of the variation in these methods, a kanban being more flexible and broken down into sections and the gantt chart being colour code based and more timeframe adjacent I feel that experimenting with both will allow me to come up with the best approach to the project management and scheduling of my project. Overall, I feel that this research was paramount to the development of my planning techniques for managing the scheduling of this project.
Practical Technique 1 - Movement / Realistic first person movement
The first practical technique that I wanted to look into in order to improve the movement and subsequent immersion for the player when they play and experience my game, was realistic first person movement and camera. In order to improve the immersion and User Experience within my project I must research into setting up a realistic movement type for my playable character, this will allow me to develop a movement type that feels more authentic to that of real life and without the need of much programming as I am a game designer focusing mainly on visual scripting in Unreal Engine. The first source that I gathered to help with my research into this practical technique for Unreal Engine 5, was a YouTube video, this video details the entire process of setting up this movement type, “Do you want to know how to use true first person in your video game [...] You came to the right place” (James The UE Dev, 2022), as we can see this source is relevant to my research point in first person camera setup and so this will be extremely useful at building a basis for my research into this technique before reviewing other sources and evaluating their effectiveness in the form of a comparison.
Reviewing this first source, James explains that in order to effectively use this realistic setup I will need to start with the default third person character and then by removing the camera boom, “Select the camera boom and delete it” (James The UE Dev, 2022), I will be left with a blank third person character which I can use as a foundation, ready for the implementation of the researched feature. James The UE Dev (2022) then goes onto explain that, the next step is to “drag and drop follow camera into the mesh [...] add the parent socket as the mesh head”, now from my understanding of blueprints and sockets in Unreal Engine these steps will allow me to position my newly placed camera in the position of the head and the socket will then ensure that this camera stays in position relative to the head, so that when the playable characters’ head moves so does the camera, to give a more lifelike experience. I can assume that the process of attaching a socket is extremely important as, in my experience without a socket the attached mesh would be left unattached from the character, so this is an important step that I will need to remember and take into consideration when it comes to experimenting with this method.
In continuation, the final steps explained in this source are in regard to the movement and bobbing of the player camera as the player moves the character throughout the level, “After positioning your camera [...] you want to enable use pawn control rotation [...] bp third person character [...] then enable use controller rotation yaw” (James The UE Dev, 2022), these steps that close the video source are simple and easy to understand and follow, and setup a very useful and basic movement type that I feel I will be able to use effectively in my project to create a more immersive experience. I can see that these steps are essential to the execution of my camera movement and feel that without these the movement would be no different to that of the default settings, so I must ensure that I follow all of the steps provided in order to achieve a similar outcome as presented.
However, when comparing this to a second source also from YouTube, I have found that this second source adopts a more in depth approach when compared to the first. In this tutorial the YouTuber Eremental Studios (2023) explains “this is in the first person template so sadly this will not work in the third person template” now this is already a difference from the previous source who uses the third person template and amends the camera position to a first person perspective “by default locate your third person character” (James The UE Dev, 2022), this source may not be as helpful as the previous, as I want the player to be able to see their hands, legs, body and feet and this can not be achieved in the first person template without a lengthy process of importing a character mesh. Nonetheless, continuing with this source they go onto introducing all of the instances that I can use their head bobbing system, unlike the previous source that should a singular method for one type of head bob system this source can be used for a number of different instances such as “idle camera shake, walk camera shake and the sprint head bobbing” (Eremental Studios, 2023), this shows a more fluid and open work method that can be applied in various areas, however the previous source can only be used in one instance, so this source has a more open work approach.
When looking at the method provided by Eremental Studios, we can see that they have taken a more programming approach to the application of this system and this will ultimately take more time for me to implement into my project however, they explain that I will first need to locate my first person character and create three “Legacy camera shake [instances]” (Eremental Studios, 2023), for each of the head bobbing type, so walk, run and idle. Also, for each I need to adjust the pitch, yaw and roll to values of my preference so that when the camera is moved the head position of the player will move and shake in accordance with the movement type, after adjusting these values and setting up the initial folders for the movement types I must then move onto focusing on the blueprint for the first person character. “Go into the first person character [...] so open that up and then go into the event graph [...] create a custom event and call this head bob” (Eremental Studios, 2023), now the focus of the source now is on initiating the head shake instances at the correct time and by creating a custom event I am able to call this at any point throughout the first person character blueprint. They then go onto a very lengthy explanation of calling the different types of head shakes when needed and this takes up a very large amount of the video that follows a similar repetitive pattern, I was able to gather that the most important part that I must remember for the correct usage of this system is to ensure that I use “call event tick and the foundation value [...] our custom event” (Eremental Studios, 2023), now this is the most important part as this ensures that the code can run, without this the camera instances would not function correctly and as intended.
In conclusion, when comparing the two presented sources I can see that both present two varying ways of achieving roughly the same outcome, however, the first source presented by James The UE Dev has a more concise approach to the application of this feature and ultimately this method can be used in conjunction with a third person blueprint, something that I highlighted as a key area to achieve full visibility of the players lower body. When comparing this to the method by Eremental Studios I can see that although they take a lengthier approach to the implementation, the outcome lacks in areas that I feel are important for my project such as being able to see the players whole body and most importantly arms and hands. Going forward I will move into experimenting with both of these methods to get a better understanding of the implementation and customisation of these methods, however, as it stands, I feel that the first method by James is a better choice for me and my project.
Contextual Research
Report
Practical Technique 2 - HUD / UI - Onscreen Objectives
The second practical technique that I will be researching into is setting up a live objective tracker HUD, I want to include this mechanic within my outcome because I feel that in order to improve user experience I need to have a way of tracking objectives, so that the player can easily see what needs to be completed before moving on to the next area or objective. I have never used a system like this before so this research will be paramount to me understanding and utilising this feature in my game. The first source that I gathered was a video tutorial. I find that video tutorials are the most common sources on Unreal Engine techniques and I feel that from experience these sources tend to work better for me as I am able to visualise what is being put into practice.
Starting off with the first source, they start by giving a brief overview of what the final outcome will look like following the tutorial, the final product will look exactly as I expected; the player is able to see current objectives easily in the top left corner of the viewport and the objectives update once the player progresses through the level. Getting into the actual process of implementing an objective tracker, they begin with creating a simple trigger box in a new actor blueprint, this will act as the trigger for the correct objective to appear on the on-screen HUD, they then open up the blueprint and insert a simple trigger box however, they specify that it has to be of a specific collider, “first of all we need a certain type of collider so we can know when the character has gone through [...] add a simple box collision” (Gorka Games, 2022), it seems extremely important to use the correct collision box type so I must ensure that I follow this to ensure that I use the correct collider type. They then go onto creating an on begin component overlap event in the event graph, from previous working practice I know that this allows the Engine to understand that the player has overlapped an object and that a line of code can then be executed as a result, I assume that this will be used later to trigger the correct variable for the objective.
After this, a new objective is created, this will be called New Mission and this will be set as a string as we will need to edit the text that is displayed when this is triggered. Moving into the player character event graph, we also need to create a second string variable called Current Mission, this will allow the engine to store the current mission that the player is on and update the mission tracker accordingly, after this the collider box is then positioned within the game world in its intended position, in order for it to be interactable in-game. The next and probably the most important step is to create a widget blueprint or canvas, “lets just go ahead and create a new widget” (Gorka Games, 2022), this widget will be the canvas in which I will be able to position the on screen objective tracker, we add two sets of text both the title for the current objectives and then a second that will be used to show the mission objective and also the updates to that objective. The most important step to remember in this part is binding the current mission text to the current mission variable as this is what allows the text to be updated, “so just click on the text i'm just going to change it into current mission [...] we’re going to be using this reference of the variable and then just click its variable so it will appear as a variable” (Gorka Games, 2022), now that the text is binded to the variable whenever I am to place down a mission objective collider I will only need to change the text within the variable to be able to see the updated change on the canvas widget. Overall, this method has given a very clear and detailed look into using widgets and canvas to create a mission objective HUD and I believe that I will be able to use this successfully within my project following this research.
When comparing this to a second source also from YouTube, in this second method of carrying out this mechanic within Unreal Engine 5, they start in the exact same manner as the previous source. They begin by adding a collision box to a new actor blueprint and attaching a new variable to this when it is triggered by the player called ‘current objective’, also in a string form as the previous source also stated, “add event on component begin overlap [...] cast to player [...] add another variable in here so we’re going to plus variables and set this to just be called objective changing that to be a string and ticking instance editable there so we can change it to be different” (Matt Aspland, 2021), this shows a clear connection between this source and the previous, they both use two variables one for the current objective and the other for the new objective that is being changed, I must ensure that I follow a similar approach as this has been proven as being a common method of implementing an objective system.
After a lengthy process of attaching variables and setting up the code in the trigger box and player character, similar to the previous source, they go onto creating a widget, this widget is set up in the exact same way as the previous and this shows that their is one common method to approaching this mechanic and helps prove to me that these sources are reliable and trustworthy. “Next we’re gonna do the more lengthy part which is creating a widget” (Matt Aspland, 2021), this method is very close to the first one and the widget is created and designed in the same way as the previous they create an objective title called ‘current objective’ and below this they bind the current variable to the text box to display the current objective that the player is playing toward. After setting up the widget and binding the variables to the text, they then go onto positioning the trigger boxes in the game world and changing the objective in the variable box in the content browser on the right hand side of the screen, so that the objectives match the objective that the player is moving onto.
In conclusion, when comparing the methods presented in both of these sources I can see that there is a clear connection between both practical methods, each source uses the same method of work approach and this shows me that both of these methods can be viewed as reliable and trustworthy as both methods match and the publishers of these sources are viewed as industry professionals. Going forward I will experiment with both of these methods, however, as both of these methods match, I will not be missing any positives or fallbacks from either source if I were to choose one over the other. As it currently stands, I feel that the source presented by Matt Aspland will be more beneficial for me as they give a more in depth visual tutorial of the method.
Practical Technique 3 - Audio and Sound in Unreal Engine
The next practical technique that I will be researching and analysing is implementing audio and sound into Unreal Engine, I am researching into this technique because I feel that my past projects have been lacking in the sound design area, and to enhance the immersion and horror experience in this project I feel that I need to implement sound even if it is in a basic form, to not only improve the atmosphere but to also expand my knowledge in Unreal Engine. I have previously used audio briefly in my first person shooter project, however, the audio present in that game was played on a loop and not activated when the player walked or interacted with an object, so hopefully this research will allow me to learn and understand how to play audio when walking or interacting with an object.
The first source that I have used as research comes from a YouTube video, in this source the creator walks through a step by step guide to implementing a basic walk sound to the run / walk animation of the provided third person character. The first step mentioned in this source is to find or record the audio files and import them into the Unreal project, this is a fairly simple process and as I have previous experience with importing content I have skimmed over this part, the next step presented is to create an audio Cue from the imported audio file, “from this i’m going to right click and i’m going to be creating a cue and this is going to be our step [...] cue” (Free Unreal Engine 5 Tutorials UE5, 2023), I assume that from previous knowledge that an audio cue is the blueprint that is used to initiate the sound effect and to control the effect when it is implemented into the character animation sequence.
After creating the cue and linking the audio file to the cue, we then move onto matching the audio to the footsteps in the character walking animation, it is important that I match the audio cue to the footsteps of the character as in game the audio would not match with the interaction of the players feet with the ground. “I’m going to create another one [notify track] so just click it here add notify track [...] what i’m going to be doing is that i’m going to be looking every time our character steps on the ground [...] this is the right moment I would simply right click and then I would add notify and then play sound” (Free Unreal Engine 5 Tutorials UE5, 2023), this seems to be a very simple way of adding sound to a walking animation, we repeat the same steps for all of the footsteps made in the animation to create a more fluid walking sound. By looking at this source I have been able to gather that adding audio is not as hard as I thought it would be, The technique displayed in this source can be used across multiple animations, “But the same thing is going to be for other kinds of animations other types of animations that your using”(Free Unreal Engine 5 Tutorials UE5, 2023), this will come in handy because I can use the same method again for other sound effects for a variety of animations and audio cues.
When comparing this method to that of a second source from a forum page, this second source also provides a look into how to successfully import audio and add footstep sounds to character walking animations. “First of all you have to have footstep sounds [...] select one of it and press right mouse button on it and create cue [...] so lets select all of our walk sounds in content browser and drag it to sound queue [...] start typing ‘random’ this way our random node will connect to all of our sounds” (Unreal Engine Forum - Epic Games, 2021), I have already noticed a sheer difference between the both of these sources, this one allows the user to use multiple step sounds to create random walk sounds every time the player takes a step, whereas the previous source only used one walking sound, using multiple sound effects on a random generator will allow for more variety in sound effects and will be perfect for my game. As we can see this method seems to be going down the same route as the previous and this proves that both sources are credible as they both present the same working method.
Moving forward with this source, “now we have to attach this sound to our animation [...] here is the first footstep so lets press right mouse button on the notify bar and add a notify play sound” (Unreal Engine Forum - Epic Games, 2021), this is yet again the same method as the previous so this once again proves that this method is generally used within Unreal Engine and that both sources are credible in their practical methods, when looking at this compared to the first I can see that the next steps will be to add notify play sounds at each footstep just like the first. This method has not varied from the previous, but has given me the knowledge and comfort that this is the most common method of adding audio cues into animation frames.
In conclusion, both of these sources present very similar methods when it comes to adding audio cues for walking animations and other animations, however, following the research and analysis of both, I feel that the second method presented in the Unreal Engine Forum provides a more flexible approach and the addition of randomised walking sound effects has swayed my judgement to follow this method in the development of my game, I have chosen this method because the random walking sound effects will allow for a varied soundscape so the player does not have to listen to the same walking sound on repeat, like the first method was presenting. I will experiment with both methods and I will apply this practical technique in my outcome by adding walking sound and other sound effects for picking up items or enemies and enemy walking.
Practical Technique 4 - Jump Scares in Unreal Engine
The final practical technique that I will be analysing and researching into in this report is utilising correct methods of implementing jump scares in Unreal Engine for an enhanced horror experience as the player journeys throughout the environment. In previous projects I have also adopted a horror theme, however, I have never researched jump scares and I have highlighted this as an area that I felt my previous games have lacked in, so this research will allow me to utilise this within this project. The first method that I found on YouTube was related to a scene and trigger box, this is a more immersive and zombie focused jumpscare which is perfect for the type of outcome that I am planning. In this source, Ugur Batur GameDev (2024a) says “lets create a level sequencer for this and add it to the scene”, the first step is to import the 3D model of the zombie or character and then input a level sequencer to the scene, I assume that this sequencer will act in a similar way to that of key frames when working with animations. The use of a level sequencer allows me to create an array of animations or movements for a large majority of jumpscares that I could add to the game. The next step explained is to attach the walking zombie to the sequencer and open the sequencer to move the zombie to the required position in the game after moving, then adding a sequence ender to show the movement of the zombie, “add another key to the location value” (Ugur Batur GameDev, 2024a).
The most important step to ensure that the animation triggers is to “connect the level sequencer to the event begin play node in the level blueprint” (Ugur Batur GameDev, 2024a), this helps to play the animation and sequencer at the intended time. They then explain about adding audio and sound effects, however, as I have researched into adding audio I will be skimming over these steps. After adding audio, they then explain that in order for the animation to trigger as the play enters the room or meets a certain point in the environment I must use trigger boxes, “now let’s put a trigger box on the stage when we enter this box the animation will start” (Ugur Batur GameDev, 2024a), this is exactly as I had detailed above, the event begin play event is then modified to include the trigger box and the interaction of the player. After adding this extra line of code, Ugur then moves onto destroying the zombie animation after a variable amount of time desired for the game, they use twelve seconds however, this will change in my game as I may choose to adopt a longer or shorter animation time. In continuation, in order to achieve the final step in this jumpscare tutorial I must add a second zombie off to the end point of the animation and attach a second sequencer and trigger to this new model. After repeating the same steps as before, when the player enters the second box the zombie should reappear and attack the player, “connect the level sequencer to the new trigger box with the play, now the zombie is attacking” (Ugur Batur GameDev, 2024a)
This is a perfect tutorial and I feel that the technique detailed in this fits with my planned outcome well. Going forward I will be able to experiment with this technique and come to a conclusion as to if this will make an appearance in the game. When comparing this practical technique to a second of the same genre and context, this source explains a very different method of achieving a jumpscare, unlike the first source explaining a method to achieve a walking zombie scare, this one explains a method to achieve moving objects that fall when a box is triggered. The first step, “first create a blueprint class let’s select actor [...] now go inside and create a static mesh [...] let's add a collision box and position it in front of the bookshelf” (Ugur Batur GameDev, 2024b), these steps presented by Ugur are the basis to the jump scare coming together. In connection with the first source, this one also uses collision and trigger boxes, so this is a similar approach presented here, in addition to this, this jumpscare method requires the use of event graphs so some skill can be transferred from both. The trigger box will be the cause for the event or jumpscare to begin and this can help me to position my jumpscares in multiple locations throughout the map.
Moving forward with this source, the method in this video source is extremely similar to that of the previous and this only requires the use of simple physics to move the objects after walking into the triggered box, “right click while box collision is selected, the relevant functions will appear select on component begin overlap select do once [...] in order for the book to fall we need to simulate physics” (Ugur Batur GameDev, 2024b), this means that in order for the jumpscare to function as intended I will need to ensure that I use the physics engine built in. In addition, they mention that I can use multiple objects in the same jumpscare to create an even more scarier experience for the player and allow for more objects to be interacted with, “You can increase the number of books [objects to be thrown]”(Ugur Batur GameDev, 2024b), after this the tutorial just connects the event trigger box to the interaction from the player to trigger the physics of the objects, and is very similar to that of the previous tutorial where the event is played once the player enters the collision box.
In conclusion, both methods of jump scares create effective results that will test the players strengths when it comes to the horror theming, and these will allow me to implement these systems in a professional and working order thanks to their clear and precise tutorials. When comparing the two, we can see that the first method focuses more on the traditional jumpscare, an enemy walking into frame and then jumping back out on the unsuspecting player, whereas the second uses a more subtle method, using objects and sounds as a jumpscare. Both methods present two varying methods and I feel that in order to add variety and enhance the horror immersion experience I will need to include a mix of both of these methods throughout my game, moving forward I will experiment with each method to work out any fails or drawbacks of both approaches and will implement them in my game when I see fit.
Similar Narratives -
In order to improve, expand and draw inspiration for my project, I must look deeper into similar narratives and professional examples, researching and analysing the narratives to find commonalities and conventions that I can use for inspiration in my outcome. In addition to this, by playing, watching and analysing these similar professional narratives I will be able to draw conclusions as to how to effectively execute the themes and conventions that have been planned to be implemented in my outcome, such as the theme of horror, how does a certain narrative interpret and showcase this theme and how can I use this to build the implementation in my project. Throughout this report, I will be looking into a varying array of narratives ranging from movies, TV shows and video games, this will allow me to make comparisons between each narrative and draw wider conclusions from a larger source array.
Dead Rising - Deluxe Remaster -
The first similar professional narrative that I have analysed as inspiration for this project is Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster (Capcom, 2024), I highlighted this video game as a similar narrative because this game follows similar themes and settings to that of my planned outcome, this game is also of a horror theme, so I will be able to analyse the conventions and codes that are found within this narrative to get a better understanding of them and how I can then utilise them within my outcome to reflect that of a professional outcome. In addition to this, I will be able to analyse this narrative further by looking at the game's setting. This game is also set within a mall, so I will be able to get a better feel for the environment and how I will go about constructing this setting within my game.
When analysing the gameplay in this clip from my gameplay of Dead Rising, we can see that this game adopts a very dark atmosphere when the mall closes, the mall music and announcements over the PA system are silent and the only sounds that you can hear are the guttural roars of the zombie hordes, this is a very typical convention of a horror themed media product, in my project I would also like to adopt a similar atmosphere as my game will be set within an abandoned mall with no power, the echoes of zombie growls will enhance and push the horror experience for the player. In addition to this, the shop fronts and facades are unlit and stand bare, the familiar location of a mall also helps to enhance the immersion and horror theme because the setting is relatable, however, zombies or a zombie outbreak has not yet effected the real world so the combination of both makes for a dark, immersive and yet humorous experience. As well as the horror, the game pushes a more humorous side to a zombie outbreak, the player is able to defeat these zombies in any way shape or form, in this video we can see that I have chosen to use a parasol as a weapon, this provides a lighter side to the story and gameplay as the focus is on leveling up the players stats by defeating as many zombies as possible within the 72 in-game hour timeframe.
When looking at this for inspiration for my outcome, I will not adopt a humorous side as I believe that in order to portray a perfect horror experience for the player that is truly frightening and as if they are in the players shoes, I need to adopt a darker side. Not just the environment, but also the experiences that the player will face. When analysing the environment within the game, we can see that they adopted a similar style to that of a typical American Mall, the mall is sectioned off into different ‘themed zones’ and maps, foliage and typical benches can be found throughout, with ads and escalators readily available, this yet again helps with the immersion aspect, the player is able to feel as if they are Frank West and not just controlling him. When it comes to my outcome, I will also adopt a similar style, my game world will be filled with typical objects found within the mall and instead I will adopt a first person camera instead of third person, as I feel that this paired with the detailed environment the player will be able to feel immersed in the atmosphere.
Resident Evil Village -
The next narrative that I have analysed is Resident Evil Village (Capcom, 2021), I have chosen Resident Evil Village and another game within the series as inspiration for my project because I feel that these games perfectly reflect the mechanics and theming of a perfect first person and third person horror, shooter, action game. I have chosen two titles within the series as key inspiration because the two games are alike but different in every way, by this I mean that Village is of a first person perspective and is set within a snowy, cold environment and focuses more on mythical beasts and enemies such as leviathans, whereas RE2 is of a third person perspective and focuses more on enemy types such as zombies and mutated creatures, whilst set within a very closed environment. However, when focusing in on Resident Evil Village we can see that from the gameplay, there is a more immersive experience with the first person perspective when compared to Dead Rising and this helps to become the character, as we can see later in Resident Evil 2 further down the report they choose to adopt a similar camera setup and control to Dead Rising so the immersion is less prominent in that game as well.
The beginning of Resident Evil Village starts with a short introduction to the story so far and then the player is able to move Ethan around his house, the controls are very responsive and intuitive, doors and other objects open automatically so there is no need to go out of your way to open doors, however, as good as this is, I feel that it takes away from the horror theme because the door will swing open and you are able to see inside immediately, whereas if you were to open the door by pressing a key there is a form of suspense and caution, so in my outcome I will stick with a key press door or a door that swings open when the player walks into it, to build the suspense and enhance the jumpscares that I will incorporate. A key mechanic that is present within Resident Evil Village is the ability to pick up key objects and look at them, whilst being provided a key piece of information about the use or purpose of said object, I want to adopt a similar yet adjusted mechanic within my game, the player will be able to pick up keys and fuses and will be able to look at them in more detail before they are then put into their inventory, I feel that this mechanic is perfect for an immersive game because the player is able to visualise and understand what the object is for. Looking further into the gameplay of Resident Evil Village, when Ethan enters the abandoned house in the snowy village, we can hear a shuffling noise coming from the basement, this audio cue peaks the players interest and allows them to be lead in the correct location of the sound, I want to adopt a similar sound design because the audio cues help with breadcrumbing and improving the user experience.
After following the ‘breadcrumbs’ to the basement, the twists and obstacles help to build suspense and tension before being jumpscared by a mouse in a wardrobe, the suspense then immediately drops back down, the player feels as if the tension is over before being greeted by a series of footsteps and knocks upstairs, suddenly the player is panicking and the tension has peaked. This opening series of gameplay is a perfect example of excellent execution of false suspense and also jumpscares, when applying this to my outcome, I will also adopt a similar approach, I will construct levels that are full of obstacles, audi cues and then jumpscares, I feel that this paired with the dark atmosphere the player will be able to experience the horror as intended.
Budget Backrooms -
The next game that I have researched is Budget Backrooms (DavidJoacaRo, 2023) from Steam, this game is a free low budget version of the Backrooms that I have been able to play and analyse. This game was a large inspiration for this project because I feel that the recognisable locations, yet being very subliminal, creates a perfect atmosphere for a horror game, this was an inspiration because I have decided to adopt a recognisable environment for my game. In addition to this, this game has been an inspiration because of the mechanics that are present, for example the character has a first person perspective and is able to walk about these spaces avoiding enemies and obstacles in order to search for exits and interact with objects in order to successfully open said exits. There is not really any notable features within this game that varies to the previous, however, the execution of the mechanics is very different in this game the player has to find objects that are connected to puzzles, this is similar to that of the Resident Evil games where the player needs to find keys in order to unlock doors. The puzzle element in this game is not frustrating and does not feel like a chore, I want this to be the experience in my game because I want the player to stay engaged and intrigued with the story and gameplay so a similar approach to the puzzle and finding objects element will be required.
Five Nights At Freddy’s (Movie) -
The next similar narrative that I have watched and analysed is the 2023 Five Nights at Freddy’s (Universal Pictures, 2023) movie, this movie was a huge inspiration for my outcome because the main character within this game is a security guard, their role is to look after the building, ensure that it remains in a suitable state and that electricity remains on. This links closely to my project, the player will not be carrying out security duties, but they will be a security guard trying to survive and escape from a haunted abandoned location, in addition, the character in the movie comes under attack from animatronic characters in the pizzeria, his mission is to survive until the next day and protect the animatronics from escaping, this also links because the character in my game will be under attack from zombies and will need to survive.
Also within this movie, the main character faces his demons and tries to overcome them by fighting back from these animatronics, within my project I will ensure that the player faces challenges and demons, not only to improve the horror theming but to also cause scare for the player as they control the character through his experiences escaping from the mall. In comparison to the games that are in this report, the horror theming in this movie is very dimmed down and this is most likely due to the 12 age rating, the rest of the games are of a Pegi 18 rating, this impacts the atmosphere within the movie, because no or minimal gore or violence is present, when it comes to my game I am aiming for a Pegi 16 rating so I will take a similar route to that of Resident Evil and Dead Rising except no strong language will be present. I feel that this is a perfect match for my concept because from previous target audience research I found that this audience typically plays horror themed games, so an audience is already established for a project such as this.
Resident Evil 2 (2019) -
The final professional narrative that I have analysed is Resident Evil 2 (Capcom, 2019), as I have said earlier in the report, this game is very different when compared to Village, this game has a third person perspective and the controls are very similar to that of Dead Rising, creating a less immersive story but a more intuitive control set. As I have stated throughout this report and also on previous work I am planning on developing a first person experience so the camera in this game will not be the inspiration, instead the key inspirations in this game are the pick-up objects to open doors and secondly the zombie enemies.
The first mechanic in this game is the ability to locate objects within the world to open new areas and doors, this is present in the first opening scene of the game, Leon must collect a knife to cut the tape on a breaker box in order to open a shutter to the next area, this mechanic works extremely well in Resident Evil 2 and I feel that this is a perfect addition to my outcome as the main missions of the game will be focused around exploring the mall and picking up objects in order to open locked areas to escape the mall. The second feature that can be found in this game is zombies, now zombies have been identified as a very common convention in horror themed media texts so I have been taking inspiration and have decided that I will adopt these enemies in my outcome, not only because they are easily recognisable but also because of previous research into the horror genre.The zombies within this game all take on different visual designs however, they are all in the game for the same reason to disrupt the players movements and act as obstacles, whilst the player explores the environment. I want to adopt these enemies within my game because just like the enemies in Dead Rising and Village they will allow me to add to the environment and allow the player to overcome these obstacles as they play through the game's story.
Overall, Resident Evil 2 adopts similar mechanics and features to that of other narratives referenced, however, the atmosphere, dark lighting and enemy packed environments will be something that will be top priority for my project, as in order to portray and convey the horror theme correctly I must find the balance between light and dark areas in my game, the natural light sources in dim areas in this game has given me the inspiration to adopt a similar approach and use natural light sources to create contrast between the dark and light areas of the map, just like Dead Rising does with the skylights in the mall.
Real Life Examples -
In addition to researching into similar narratives that I can use to expand and influence my project, I am going to research and analyse into Real Life locations that are in some way linked to my planned outcome, this will allow me to build a more realistic and lifelike environment than compared to if I were to ignore real life locations and build my mall from memory or just planning documents. I will be able to gather reference images and videos of these locations so that I can use them later on in planning and also production, in order to build a basis for my mall location and level blueprints, to give a better informed judgement to the layout of my mall.
The first area that I want to look into in my real life examples is the setting of my game, shopping centres, I have researched into different shopping centres and malls around the world to get a better understanding of their layout, structure and details within the malls to be able to effectively replicate this within my game world.
The shopping centre that I have chosen for my research visit is Battersea Shopping Centre in London, I have chosen this location because the building is not purpose built, so being able to see how they constructed a shopping centre around a disused power station will help me to be able to create a more unique shopping centre in my game outcome. When looking at the images of the shopping centre that I have taken, we can see that this shopping centre adopts a large open space for walking and navigating the endless amount of shops on offer, the mall is on three floors and are connected by stairs and escalators, this is a very common feature in shopping centres around the world so I must ensure that I also include these within my environment so that it is as believable as possible. When focusing on the facades of the shops in the mall, they all feature a bland and minimalistic design choice, simple black frames with large glass fronts with the logo printed above, now this is a very uninspiring design choice and I will definitely not be adopting this in my game, because the game world will be abandoned I need to reflect the design choices of the time, so neon signs and large storefronts.
The shop fronts can be seen lining the two side walls of the mall and this is also common in non purpose built malls, as I want to reflect the design choices of typical malls, I will be going for a more open layout with many twists and turns in the structure of the building instead of going for a simple rectangular design that Battersea has chosen. Furthermore, as this is a relatively new shopping centre I will not be adopting the clean and bright atmosphere as seen here, this is purely due to the fact that I want to adopt a horror theme and also a more overgrown abandoned theme. The walls and architecture of the shopping centre adopt a more contemporary style, the bricks and pillars reflect the previous use of the building, whilst shopping centres such as Lakeside use a cheaper and less stylistic architecture choice. As I have stated throughout, I want to adopt a style that reflects that of a 90’s mall, so adopting a similar style to Battersea will not be viable or suitable so a design such as Lakeside will work as intended.
When looking at the second real life location that I researched, Lakeside Shopping centre in Essex, this shopping centre contrasts clearly from Battersea and instead of adopting a minimalist and stylistic style they adopt a more cheaper and clean design, they predominantly use a white colour palette throughout their interior and skylights are also present. The white colour palette is a stark contrast to that of Battersea and this is because the mall feels as if it has had the life and soul ripped away from it. When comparing the layout of the malls, Lakeside also adopts a three level design however, the third level is a smaller food / eatery level that only focuses on refreshments and food, this is something that is lacking at Battersea, I want to take this as inspiration for my project as I feel that a vary in levels and theming for the levels will add variety to the gameplay experience.
In conclusion, the real life research has helped me to analyse the structure, layout and design of real life malls and this will help greatly when it comes to developing my planning for this project, most notably my level designs and blueprints as I will be looking at the shopping centre maps and constructing my own layout from them, to better reflect real world malls.
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