The first version of level 3: The Sleepless Night has been finished, although some details are still lacking (some cut scenes, instructions and a few interactions). The overall concept has already been made.
Here is the video:
Screen recording from UE5
Overall design thinking
The overall emotional experience that I was trying to design is a transition from fretful towards calm, as I decided during the previous stage, this level is mainly about sounds, so I used the idea that different kinds of sounds can bring the player different emotions. For instance, disorganized and annoying noise might make people feel anxious while pleasant sounds can make people feel good.
At this level, those noise sound effects I've been using:
sound of destruction
cat meowing
ambulance
scratching head
wooden door opens
...
At this level, those pleasant sound effects I've been using:
piano keys
the wind blows through leaves
lake
rain
wind chimes
...
Some Details
1. This level starts with Miss Worry lying on the bed and couldn't sleep, then, she decided to get off the bed. The first scene in the prototype starts after she got off the bed. In this scene, the initial light was dim, there is text instruction to lead the player to turn on the lamp (image below).
Screen capture from the video
2. Few seconds after pressing the 'E' key to turn on the lamp, a strange noise will come. At this point, the player needs to listen carefully and try to find out where is the sound source (I add the mechanics when the player is near the source, the volume would be larger, and vice versa, this can be seen as navigation). Once the player finds the door that can be interacted with, the cut scene will be loaded and lead the player to the next scene.
Screen capture from the video
3. The material steel has been applied to the inside of the peephole, it can cause a sense of unstable and represent some area that is old and nobody has been there before. By doing this, the player may have uncertainty towards the other side of the peephole. The peephole is designed to be narrow and long, so it can work better to help maximize the player's emotions.
Screen capture from the video
4. Once the player arrives at the staircase scene, he may find out he has become a red dancing shoe. This indicates that at this stage, Miss Worry has left the real world. The staircase is in the form of piano keys where the white keys indicate normal piano sound and the black keys contain all annoying noise. My intentional design was mostly white keys at the beginning, and then black keys appeared more and more frequently, which also means her inner emotion changed. In this scene, if the player steps onto the incorrect key, he will be sent back to the start point, the final house on the top will appear only if all the needed keys are stepped. Colours are also used in purpose, in a scene where black and white are mostly occupied, the shoe and the light are in red, this can highlight the disturbed and strange feeling that I want to transfer to the players.
Screen capture from the video
5. Back to the house, the mechanics are similar to the previous scene. As a dancing shoe, it needs to go back to the shoe rack, so there is a route towards the rack. Moreover, when the player controls the shoe to jump over the furniture, different kinds of annoying noise would pop up again. Another design idea is when the player accidentally failed to jump onto one of the pieces of furniture and is sent back to the starting point, the background noise will not stop, somehow this can also help to form an anxious feeling for the players (the longer they stayed in this scene, the more noise they need to 'suffer' from). The aspect lighting has also been taken into account, when the player jumps onto the furniture, red lights on the furniture will be turned on, which can create a weird environment.
Screen capture from the video
6. After being navigated by the text, the player can control the shoe to jump into the closet. A contrast is formed here, from the strange and weird red light bedroom scene, towards a peaceful and pleasant outside scene. The player needs to collect 5 sounds from the wild and bring them back to help her successfully fell into sleep. A wild is a place where the space is large and people will feel less pressure.
Screen capture from the video
The Next Step
These days, I'll have my level 3 play tested and do some interviews, trying to discover the unreasonable places in my level. Then I will modify them and make this level better.
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