Week 5: Part 1 - Additional Research

  Development Blog Week 5 - Horror Level Design

Hello and welcome to Week 5 of my Horror Level Design development blog. This week will be split into multiple parts. This blog entry will be focusing on additional research from popular horror games that are available on the market currently. Conducting additional research into this will help me to improve the overall level design.

After looking into the popular game 'Outlast' it can be seen that the corridors of each level are quite narrow, this is to help to add a claustrophobic element to the game and also make the player feel like they aren't in control. The long narrow corridors help to put doubt and fear into the players head to keep them in suspense at all times. This will be something I will be taking into consideration when going into further detail on the rooms I am creating.

'Outlast' also contains large, open rooms in which the player struggles to see side to side. This creates fear, although in a different way. The open rooms with little to no visibility help to make the player feel defenceless and that they can be attacked and surrounded from all sides. I will be taking these elements of fear and help replicate them within my level design as I think 'Outlast' does this very well.

This is the reception area within 'Outlast' has elements of both the previous types of fear I mentioned. Within the level design I have created I have included a reception that is similar to this.

There is a security room that is located off of a corridor. This room is small but includes information and objectives that the player needs to progress within the game.




I have also conducted research into an indie horror game called 'Phasmophobia'. This game does a good job at created a sense of fear due to the limited rooms and wide variety of levels available for the player. The player also knows that the ghost is present somewhere within the level, therefore always has to be on alert in case it starts hunting.

Within 'Phasmophobia' there are small rooms in which the player has to navigate around, they have to use items to identify the correct ghost type within the level. Ghosts have different personalities and will haunt the map different each game. The small rooms on the house maps help to add fear and suspense.

The game also includes a large map called the Asylum in which is similar to what I am going to be creating. It includes very large corridors as well as smaller rooms that help to add to the overall empty and haunted feeling to the game.


Thank you for reading the research blog for this week. In conclusion I think that I need to find a balance between both large and small rooms that will help the flow of the game as well as create suspense and a sense of fear for the player.

Stay tuned for the second part of this weeks development blog in which I will be showing off the progress of my level.

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