Rude Mechanicals

 So I know what you're probably thinking, having looked through my other pages about pre-visualization and story boarding: What part of this is the "Game" part? 

Welcome to the mechanics post, where I discuss my current plans for the actual interactive portions of the game. 

 

As of right now I have boiled down the basic mechanics to two things: 

1. poking things with one hand

2. using your cell phone with the other

Because the goal of the game is to give someone without PTSD a better understanding of how PTSD and triggers work, despite having to creatively show the experience in an unrealistic way, I decided the best mechanic for the game is something we are all familiar with - the cell phone.

Even ten years ago teens would hardly go anywhere without their phone, meaning that using it in the aftermath of a caving accident would not be unheard of. It also provides a couple of very important sub-mechanics in the game. As of right now, I have curated the following list of phone apps that I want to incorporate in the final game:

1. The Flashlight 

- The flashlight will allow the player to move a beam of light where they want to look. I plan to have the light illuminate solely the cave walls, while the in the darkness the player might be able to see a hint of Sam's reality - the outline of her bedroom window, or the dimly lit clock on her bedside table. I also plan to use the beam of the flashlight as a part of a puzzle mechanic, whereby the player will move the beam of light behind various structures to create shadow images on the wall of the cave when placed in the correct location. 

2. The Camera

- The camera will allow players to take pictures of their surroundings, including the answer to puzzles within the caves. I am currently toying with the idea of using the camera as a window into Sam's actual room environment, to show the player reality through the screen while trapped in the tunnels of Sam's mind. 

3. The Phone

- This will actually behave almost like a non-mechanic mechanic. One very convenient benefit of changing the setting of my project to be inside a cave is that it will enhance a looping behavior that I myself experience during a PTSD attack. As background, back in undergrad the semester I lived alone (primarily), I would sometimes get anxiety. When I got anxious very late at night, my brain told me to call another person, as being alone could trigger PTSD sometimes. I would call someone, say, my boyfriend, and when he did not pick up because he was alseep, I would try again, hoping that maybe he was just drowsy and needed a longer time to pick up. When he didn't pick up that time, I would try a third time, "just in case". Then a 4th Time. And an 8th Time. And a 26th time. By the time he woke up the next morning, he could have as many as 58 missed calls from me. This looping behavior would actually continue the PTS, and it would only be when my phone died or I found something to break me out of the loop that I would stop. I believe that making the player try to call someone for help where there is no cell service will mimic this experience, and each time the phone tells you that you have no bars will recreate the sense of panic that can be experienced through this looping. 

4. The Music Player

- In some ways, the music player acts more as an audio settings menu than traditional music player. You will be able to adjust the volume and add subtitles from here. Additionally, the music player will come on on its own at times and help jump-start the narrative. When you land in the caves, the first thing you will need to do is find your phone. Luckily for you, the music is playing, so you will just have to follow the audio to pick up the phone. The singer of whatever track is playing has an added role - they will break the 4th wall and help guide you through the caves. This character, Austin, has a mysterious relationship with the player, and becomes heavily integrated in the plot as the character moves about the space. If it sounds like I'm holding back on details about Austin, its because I am. 

While I am determined to keep Austin in the game as a character, there is a slim chance they will be cut from the final project. 

5. Text Messeges

- In many ways this will be a very optional mechanic. I plan to use text messeges first and formost as a way of fleshing out parts of the story that otherwise wont be stated - relationships with friends and family, and how those relationships can be strained. In the beginning they will act purely as background, however as the story progresses they will have 2 main purposes:

    a. Phantom Texts - I want to use haptic feedback in the controllers to mimic the feeling of having your phone on vibrate. By establishing early on what a text messege feels like, the player will get a sense of discomfort when they feel that same vibration later and find that no one has messeged them. 

    b. To show how state of mind and relationships can become distorted. While I do not have a complete plan on how I want to do this ( I will need the entire script finished first) I want the text message chats to change completely depending on your location within the game. Some conversations that used to be fairly normal, say with a parent, will change to reflect how that relationship has changed after the accident, or in some cases reflect Sam's own mindset about that relationship. 

As of right now I haven't decided if the player will be given any choice on how to reply or if that's too much for a largely miss-able mechanic. I just really enjoy games that have character driven text messages. They tell you a lot about a character. 

Other than the Phone, the player will also be able to interact with puzzles and the environment with their other hand, though it will be limited to touching an area. 

I wanted to keep the scope of the mechanics pretty limited, as the bulk of the experience will be about walking around in loops through the maze in Sam's head. 

Sorry there weren't really any pictures this post!