Carnophobia

The game was a final project in a level design class. Carnophobia is a 3D sci-fi horror game taken place on a space station. The setting and atmosphere was inspired by alien isolation. The player navigates through each level, solving puzzles and sneaking passed the mutant alien lurking around the environment. The development of the game was split amongst each student. My primary work in the project was to build a scenario in the middle aspect of the game, where the terror lurks on your shoulder, and each horror element is present throughout the playthrough. The project was built using UE4, every participating student built their own level for the project.

Development

In a level design class, the students were assigned to create a full 3D horror experience. The project involved splitting the game into 3 acts, each act contained 3 levels. My job was to design a level 1 in act 2. This means the player has completed act 1 (aka the easy tutorial) and are moving onto something more challenging. I made a LDD (level design document) to better explain my thought process behind the experience. after sharing my pitch to the class, I constructed the level from a top down perspective on a sheet of paper. With a reference made, I got to work on grey-blocking in Unreal Engine 4. The class used a UE4 plug-in called horror engine to handle the main mechanics. I was able to focus more on level design thanks to this plug-in. Afterwards I used UE4 assets to replace the grey-blocking and help build the entire map itself. Once it was complete, we play-tested and adjusted some design choices to support the overall esthetic. With grey-blocking complete, I got to work on replacing the shapes with sci-fi assets found on the UE4 store. Some mechanics were polished, more detail was put into the level's lore, and the AI received some improved behaviors. I used 5 key factors to build this level. Story, gameplay, art, experience, and magic moments were incorporated into the project.

Horror elements

The main concept of the project was to develop a basic understanding of horror elements in the game. What makes the game scary, and what helps build the tension players feel. I used 4 HE's to convey the experience. Fear, mystery, terror, and isolation. The player knows what sort of threat is lurking around the corner, its my job to keep that feeling of stress and despair throughout the experience. If the emotion is gone, the player won't get scared so easily. As you roam around the office, you'll hear the footsteps of the mutant monster lurking about. The thumping gets louder, the darkness obstructs your vision, the music gives off unsettling echo's, the player feels fear building up.

Main Level Experience

This document states the vision for the entire level. The main setting, and the entire objective behind it. Use the link here in the description to check out the horror engine plugin: https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/horror-engine

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Project link

Use the link to check out the Itch page if your interested in trying out the build.

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Autres crédits

Mark Azarcon: Level design Teacher at LaSalle