Hello and welcome back horror friends! I've been working hard on my upcoming survival horror game 'The Hidden Labyrinth', to be released on PC Steam when it's done.
A quick overview of what has changed since the last update! It's very cool to see the game progress and notice the differences since I started developing the game two years ago and the way it stands today.
Visual improvements:
Below is a screenshot of the labyrinth's front gate in the forest, in its initial development stages a few years ago.
As you can see, there are major improvements over time visually. This goes for everything the player sees in the forest where the labyrinth is hidden.
UX and UI
As for the user experience (UX), some new features were implemented aside from the main ones that I really like: The Looking Glass!
Some objects can now be interacted with, and play a key role in the puzzle element of the game. Not all interactable objects can be picked up, but can still be examined and/or interacted with. Not all object that can be picked up are useful in the game. It's up to the player which object serves which purpose. Perhaps some objects can be used in different ways to solve a puzzle. For instance a shovel could be used to break open a door, but so can an axe. However, the player wouldn't be able to use an axe to dig a hole.
When it comes to UI, I prefer to keep it very minimalistic.
If the player has something in the inventory, it's simply displayed as an icon resembling the selected object in the bottom left corner of the screen. With the mouse wheel, the inventory can be scrolled through which then reflects on what the player uses. The crosshair stays the same (turns red if something can be interacted with). For instance, when a shovel is selected, and the player tries to open a door that requires a key it wouldn't work, since the 'active object' is a shovel. But when the player scrolls through its inventory and selects the (correct) key that's been found and the tries to open the door, the door will open.
I've seen a lot of games that make this mechanic overly complex, and I was thinking about how to make this as simplistic as possible, yet efficient. This game mechanic in The Hidden Labyrinth can be found throughout the entire game and works very well in my opinion. The player can stay focused on the objective and quickly select items that matter, rather than going through overlay menu's or assigning items to key presses (I'm looking at you Resident Evil 5!).
Only two 'special' objects:
Only two special objects are, in a way, part of the player's inventory - but are automatically enabled when the player has them and wants to use them and will not show up as an icon. They are the flashlight (what's a horror game without a flashlight??), and the looking glass. The looking glass is a very special object that defines the game and all its puzzle elements. Once obtained, the player can look through it while still observing the 'normal' world. In other words, the player can see two dimensions at once. Below is an example of an interior setting where a mysterious figure can be seen when the player holds up the looking glass - not visible otherwise. This technique is achieved by using two cameras that each render a different layer of objects.
Speaking of interiors. Most of the pictures posted of The Hidden Labyrinth are pictures of the forest where the labyrinth was built. The labyrinth itself is all exterior too, but notice that some of the scenes in the game have an interior setting as well. This is due to the fact that exterior and interior settings use different lighting. I once tried to make the transition from exterior to interior just in one scene, but quickly came to the realization that the difference in atmospheric light is so significant that separate scenes were needed in order to truly enhance the player's experience! Therefore there will be loading times in between the scenes - but thanks to scene optimization these are kept to a minimum.
Here's another screenshot of The Witch House's interior that needs to be explored before the player can even enter the labyrinth.
The examine system:
The examine system is a new feature that was recently implemented, and actually what took me the longest to properly create. Maintaining persistent data between scenes (since the player is free to travel to any unlocked scene) was a major speedbump here - and took me awhile to understand and implement a player inventory system that was built from ground up that 'remembers' the items in the inventory - which one was already picked up or used.
Furthermore, some interactive items that can be examined have special examining points attached to them. For example, a secret compartment in a music box. The music box can be inspected by rotating the object or zooming in and out. But also the mouse pointer registers a 'interactive point' once it's hovered over it. Then the player can interact with that point to reveal other objects that are needed later on in the game.
Below is an example of the examine system in action:
What still needs to be done?
The game is unfortunately nowhere near to completion. Being a solo developer that just went over another massive learning curve in Unity3D is what takes up the most time. However, I'm hoping to release the first chapter of the game as a Halloween 2023 demo on my Steam page!! I'm working hard to make this deadline happen. Until then, don't forget to follow me on twitter, where I post more frequently about game development than this page. I also slowly but surely try to revive a facebook page where I eventually post updates as well. I really should post more updates, because every day a new improvement to the game is made - but I simply don't have all that much time to spent on social media and rather devote that time to actually making the game.
