Amygdala

My Role As The Head Designer

Overview

This project was so much fun to work on. Paired in a group of seven, we were given a couple of different concepts by the year above to choose from. We choose Amygdala as it instantly struck inspiration with our team. After that, we all discussed our strengths within the group and delegated roles accordingly to ensure we had a good plan set out with clear expectations for roles. I took the role of the Head Designer, focussing on story and concepts for the game. I wanted to really dedicate time to research due to the nature of the game we were asked to create. A horror game about mental health issues is something I instantly recognised needed extensive research to ensure we were getting everything right while still bringing forth the horror game feeling.

Initial thoughts and research

I first focussed on research surrounding the core concepts offered in the project brief. These were the horror game genre and the mechanics that surround it, fears and what they are caused by, as well as the deep psychological effects that people experience. I compiled a long list of evidence and paired this with different concepts for our game. I worked out different mechanics that we could use to best replicate some of the real psychological effects that phobias have on people, while also looking at the way that people experience horror games and the best way we could approach a widely done trope to make sure we didn't fall into the trap of being another horror game following the exact same tropes as the others. I then presented this to the rest of the team.

Story Development

Looking at all the concepts and closely considering the game concepts given to us by the second years, we were able to lay a very loose foundation upon which I could build on. I compiled everyone's ideas and meeting notes into a large document and reviewed them over and over, writing out a few different story concepts for the game. I looked at incorporating our favourite ideas meanwhile ensuring that our prompt was closely followed. Eventually, I decided on an idea and wrote out a brief concept, which I later presented and built on with the team. It was important to me to get their input, so I could use their input to balance my ideas and create a project that everyone is passionate about. We ended up with a really interesting idea with a good blend of everyone's inputs.

I worked closely with our lead artist Melody Brookes to create art early on to reflect our ideas and help visualise our room's concepts.

Scripts

Another team meeting was held where I discussed these ideas and spoke extensively with the rest of the team about what was doable in our time limit with our resources. We came up with a good outline for our game that followed the guidelines we had been given while still being realistic for our time frame and allowed everyone in the team to display their best work. I worked on arranging the group's next steps as well as continuing on to write scripts and audio cue prompts for the game, as well as a skeleton for the game’s story and gameplay.

I then worked extensively on the script for the game, creating a full script that included audio cues for sound effects and in-game triggers based on the concepts discussed with the programmers and Danielle, the sound designer. I handed this off to the rest of the team to implement into the game

Sound Effects

I worked closely with our sound designer to determine what kind of vibe we wanted for our game, and I then compiled the sound effects we needed from a royalty-free website, before taking them into Audacity to work on them. I edited the audio to add a 3d element, to make more surrounding audio and add to the creepy element of the game. This was something I focussed on perfecting as, reflecting on my research, I noticed it was an important element of horror games. I also amended some of the clarity and volume of the audios to make them fit in the game better.