What’s New?
- Remodeled the house based off an actual floor plan so the rooms felt more cohesive.
- Added electronic sliding doors. Previously, doors were implemented with a door hinge and pushed players aside when they opened a door.
- Turned the collectable notes into tablets so that information can be passed onto the camera op.
- Refactored switching cameras so that toggling between cameras is more intuitive. Previously, the camera op player pressed the trigger on the controller to switch to different cameras around the house without specific control of which camera they actually switched to.
- Added distinctive furniture throughout different rooms in the house so the player and camera op can now distinguish rooms and move around the house easier. Previously, many of the rooms looked the same, and it was difficult for the camera op to guide the player.
- A security guard was added to the game in order to increase the feeling of danger in the game.
- More character models were added so that the game-play experience felt more like an actual party.
- Animations were added to all the models.
What’s the Motivation?
The previous level designs had no thought behind the location of the safe and its obstacles. By basing the new house off of an existing house plan, we are able to more accurately resemble a similar, to-scale feeling of a large, single-story house. Because of this, we can be more distinct with camera placement as well as room features which makes it easier to communicate positions between the teammates.
Along with the new house design comes a few minor aesthetic gameplay improvements. Originally, we had regular hinged doors and paper notes with clues. To make gameplay feel more realistic, we implemented high-tech sliding doors and replaced paper notes with tablets so the camera operator can hack it.
By coming to conclusion with the house layout, we do not have to worry about adjusting camera positions anymore. This week we then turned to focus on camera switching aesthetics to make it easier for the camera operator to know which camera he is on and which camera he will switch to. Instead of instantaneous switching, we allow the operator to select the camera and then switch to it. In addition to the original, non-intuitive icon, we added a fov indicator which shows the current field of vision of the camera.
For this iteration, we chose to add more obstacles to the searching experience by adding a security guard that roams the house. This gives a sense of urgency and another way for the camera operator to help the attendee.
In addition to the guard, we added neutral NPCs that also move around the house. This increases clutter and makes it more challenging for both the attendee and the player to navigate effectively.
What’s Next?
- We plan on focusing more on the team to team interaction, thus changes for the next iteration include more ways for teams to stop each other from being able to successfully steal from the safe/escape from the house.
- Additionally, we will continue to polish the house and the environment around the house.
- We want to provide more tasks for the camera op player so that roles within a team are more balanced.
- To introduce the start of the game play, we will be adding cut scenes that show players arriving to the house and what their goal is.
