Game Concept 3 - Hyperacusis

Disclaimer: I firmly believe this concept is too ambitious for this project year, and will in all likelihood not be pitching it because I won't have time in my pitch, but I wanted to put it up here anyway.

Working Title: Hyperacusis

Genre: First-person puzzle/adventure (somewhere between Myst and Half-Life?)

Platform: Unity Web/PC

First-person, 3D

Core concept/s:

• imagine any first-person shooting game that involves killing hostile or dangerous aliens
  
• what if you couldn't see them, couldn't touch them, didn't know how to hurt them - because all they are is a sound?
  

Environment:

• either a desert or an arctic environment - an open space the player can explore with some signs of civilisation

• the player's "home base" is a research station of some variety (more than a little generic, there) where they return to replenish their health etc

• the whole area is completely abandoned and devoid of life

• the only signs of people are abandoned belongings and homes, and the occasional corpse for good measure
  

Objective:

• the player is alone in the environment, which they have to explore at first

• they will come across non-corporeal 'sound creatures' who are embodied by noises which are severely harming to the player character

• the player must explore, find items, and progressively discover how to destroy the sound creatures

• overall goal is to wipe them out completely from the gameplay area
  

Gameplay:

• there are a variety of different sound creatures in the area, which have different effects on the player character and different weaknesess the player can exploit

• the creatures are limited to different 'zones' - most of them do not move around, so the player can remember their locations

• when the player enters the zone around a creature, they will first hear a warning sound that indicates an enemy is nearby (eg/ a high-pitched, grating whine). The nature of this sound may give a clue as to the sound generated by the creature

• when the character is exposed to a creature, s/he loses health and the player may not be able to fully control the character's movement

• the creatures can only be defeated with sound

• the character's main 'weapon' is a handheld sound recorder and playback device

• at the research station, the character has a very simple interface to be able to record and mix sounds from elements in the environment

• the correct combinations of sound played back at the creature will destroy it

• when a creature is destroyed, the zone it inhabited becomes completely 'dead': there is no atmos, and any player-character created sounds are almost inaudible - as if the creature sucked the sound out of the area as it died
  

Other mechanics:

• initially, the only item the player has is a pair of earmuffs. These cut out the sound of the creature and reduce the health loss experienced by the player character

• however, they inhibit the player's ability to respond to the creature - the sounds the creatures make are cyclic and pulsing in nature, and the player must record starting on a pulse, or the recording will be useless

• the earmuffs can only be used to allow the player to explore some areas in relative safety - however, they are completely ineffectual against some of the more powerful creatures, who can pierce through them
  

Obstacles/game elements:

• some creatures can be temporarily stopped by the character making noise (stomping, clapping, vocalising), but this will not destroy them
  

• some creatures can be destroyed simply by being played back at themselves (a more extreme version of holding up a mirror to an animal to make it aggressive)

• others are not so simple

• for some, the sound must be manipulated in some fashion

• for others, the sound cannot be properly recorded, and must be synthesized using elements from the environment, character vocalisations etc

• the way the player character responds to the sound can be a clue about how to defeat it

Examples:

• if the character becomes hyperactive and frantic (camera shake, over- sensitivy to controls), the sound needs to be slowed down to defeat the creature

• if the character becomes slow and dull (blurring vision, reduced sensitivy to controls), the sound needs to be sped up to defeat the creature

• if the character becomes disoriented (inverted controls), the sound needs to be played backwards to defeat the creature
  

Sound:

• Obviously the entire premise of the game is based around the use of sound and the player learning how to respond to sound instead of visuals

• there would be no background music - the soundscape would be comprised of atmos and ambient noise

• no animal or human sounds except the player and things left behind by the researchers to add to the story and mood
  

Other visual elements:

• obviously this would require some more complex first-person character animations

• however, the environment and animations could be simplified to be more stylised

• since the use of sound in the game is not entirely realistic or physically accurate, the player may be more inclined to accept less realistic graphics - though this may detract from the strangeness of the situation with which the player is faced
  

Potential problems/other issues of interest:

• There are so many problems with this idea like you would not believe

• As mentioned, the project is far too ambitious for the time allowed

• I think the core concept is solid but I am not happy with the specifics of gameplay - they seem both lacking and overly contrived

• the concept of the earmuffs to allow the player to move around in a less inhibited way is good, but doesn't cohere well with the other ideas about recording/playback
  

• earmuffs could be replaced with simply the character putting their hands over their ears - during which, of course, they can't perform any other actions except movement through the environment

• also toyed with the idea of a sinewave generator, with the player trying to match the core frequency of the creature - possibility of finding multiple 'weapons' as in a traditional FPS
  

I really like the idea, but it needs a LOT of work, both conceptually and for execution.