Don't Let Them See You

W-A-S-D to move around, Left Shift to sprint whilst moving, mouse to look around, and Spacebar to jump.

Walk into orbs to collect them.

This is thematically a horror game, though it plays much like an arcade game. you must explore the streets in search of glowing orbs, upon collecting all of the orbs on the map you are told how long it took you to collect them all. this encourages replaying the game to try and beat your time. however, you are not alone here, eldritch beings will search for you and pursue you when they catch sight of you. these beings are capable of inflicting damage by simply focusing onto you, so you must practice caution whilst trying to beat the game as fast as possible.

I feel that this game's strengths lie in the movement system, which feels fluid and full of momentum, yet does not feel frictionless or heavy. the head bobbing and footstep sounds give the movement a sense of urgency or frenzy, which fits in well with the game's premise. the reverb effects over most of the game's sound effects also makes these sounds feel more like part of the world, as if they are bouncing off the claustrophobia-inducing walls surrounding you from all sides.

i chose to have rain pouring down on the player throughout the game, this adds to the atmosphere of the game by reflecting an uneasy mood. one of the first assets i made for this project was the road, and using blender's material nodes, i created a procedural puddled-asphalt material, from which I baked the road textures into unity. this decision ultimately led to my implementation of actual rainfall.

another strong point of this project is in the atmosphere, I aimed to evoke a mysterious and surreal vibe by utilising a nostalgic ps2 aesthetic in the textures, disabling pixel interpolation to make a more raw and retro appearance. i also designed the game's map with the aim of making a maze-like and disorienting scene, not dissimilar to the popular 'Back rooms' urban myth, which describes a strange, purgatory-like dimension in the form of a maze of dingy yellow hallways and buzzing fluorescent lights, which briefly caught the attention of internet circles, likely due to the coinciding 'Liminal space' emergence, which entails vaguely familiar or nostalgic scenes, left devoid of any sign of human life, this may include abandoned shopping malls, empty subway stations or even  familiar home interiors stripped entirely of furniture, with bizarrely misplaced or generally soulless lighting.

i feel that by using these nostalgic themes in an unsettling and surreal context, i have captured a similar atmosphere to these examples. I will go on to talk about the game's lighting in more detail, since that is a major aspect of the game's atmosphere.

despite the intentionally sharp textures, the lighting and general graphics effects used in this project are focused on imitating reality. my aim was to create a compelling visual style by combining modern graphical technology with retro-styled assets. I am personally very fond of how it turned out, though I have a lot of nostalgia for the ps2 aesthetic and it's bitcrushed textures.

please feel free to give any feedback, bug reports or performance issues

credit goes out to ZapSplat.com for the sound effects

sketchuptextureclub.com for the brick normal map and a concrete normal map which is used on some walls

filterforge.com for the pavement normal map

mixamo.com for the alien creature's model and animation