Game Encounters Winter project: Designs

Over the past 2 days I've been doing research into what level design I wish to produce for this project. I wanted to produce a post apocalyptic style horror, so I decided to gather research from watching many first person horror walkthroughs on Youtube including Outlast and Alien Isolation.

Game Grumps play Outlast

Pewdiepie plays Alien Isolation

LetsPlay P.T

What I found in common with these titles was they focused on putting the player in closed spaces such as corridors and small rooms with little light to create a powerful and eerie atmosphere. With the first person camera the small spaces and lack of lights makes the player feel claustrophobic and on edge. These are the elements I want to simulate in my level design.

Before I started drawing I researched on google different level designs from different games to get an idea on how to produce them on paper and also for inspiration. 

From there I started creating roughs to help open my mind and picture what sort of gameplay I want to produce baring in mind it will have to last for 2 minutes.

After I got my creative juices flowing I started creating designs on specific areas from Hospitals to Elevators.

After many hours of research, sketching and pondering I decided to base my level designs on an elevator/corridor. I chose this as I feel I can really play on the minds of the gamer in a short amount of time using a mixture of lights, sounds and simple animation in this environment. This level design will be a small, closed environment with little lighting making the gamer feel on edge and uneasy.

I returned to google to further my research into elevator designs to get an idea on what style I want my level to be.

Using these images I started creating rough elevator designs and level layouts for my level.

I then combined all three designs to create my final level design for my one sheet.

Using my one sheet I started blocking out my level in Maya.