The Route Home

The biggest challenge with this project was the strict timeline, as is the case with all game jams. Fortunately this particular jam was two weeks long but even so I was working alone. This came off the back of multiple projects where I was the member of a substantial team and I wanted some creative freedom and also wanted to push myself to do everything involved to gauge how far I had come as a game dev generalist. 

 

This was my first foray into horror games as a developer and I knew I would not have time to upskill too much and programme complex AI or systems. Luckily I am a horror aficionado and could draw on some simple tricks to build tension and suspense.

 

First of all was the main game mechanic. There are three fields you have to cross in the game with maze-like paths through them. The catch is that these fields are full of ‘awoken’ sunflowers that want nothing more than to use the sweet sweet nutrients in you for sustenance. The trick to getting across these fields are contraptions built by the farmer that launch flaming projectiles high into the air illuminating the area and the skies. The projectiles draw the gaze of the sunflowers and allow you to pass by unnoticed until they eventually fall to the ground and the darkness and sunflower threat returns. I like this mechanic because it is essentially a timer. You have to navigate the maze, making life and death decisions in conditions that are getting darker and deadly with every passing second. There are certain routes that the player will have to take that will allow them to use a second contraption from within the maze. This builds a nice tension and release loop that keeps stress levels high with moments of relative safety.

 

Next were the sunflowers themselves. This inspiration for this game originally came when a train I was on passed by a field of dying sunflowers and even though they were all hanging their heads, they felt alive and almost like a hive mind. I wanted to capture that feeling and how I imagined they would move. To achieve this I relied heavily on a simple rig and the animation rigging unity package. When a player moves within a certain range of the flowers, they will draw their attention. When this happens the heads of the flowers will slowly turn to face the player. At the same time the stems coming off the main shoot will grow out and extend towards you. Again this isn’t a fast movement and one of these flowers would not be a problem but when you find yourself in the middle of a field surrounded by them. The idea is for the slow growing stems and unsettling gazes to quickly grow dread. 

 

Finally I had my narrative. I knew that I had my work cut out for me with this project and needed a quick solution for most components. Two genres of horror that are very close to my heart are that of weird tales and old school survival horror. Both of these use rely heavily on written accounts from those who are no longer with us to flesh out narrative and build dread. I attempted to emulate this by leaving notes from the farmer at certain points in the game. In the notes he speaks of some of the happenings in the fields and the village the months preceding the comets falling from the sky as well as some of the safeguards he has put in place to survive his own fields. He goes on to allude to something in his largest field. The intended effect is to; give some context for what is happening, give the player some clues as to how to proceed, and to build dread as to what might be found if you continue.