Need Feedback On My Game Idea

I'm thinking of making a horror game where you play as a newly hired nightguard working at an amusement park. The goal of the game is to patrol the entire park as well as some hidden goal that will appear once you've done that. The game is set in complete darkness and in order to see anything (apart from silhouettes against the sky, when you're outdoors) you'll need to use your flashlight that has about one hour of battery (how much battery it has in the final game will depend on how long an ordinary playthrough takes. I'll make it so that it lasts less than that time, forcing the player to avoid using it).
The catch is that some, but not all, of the animatronics in the park are alive and hostile. However they don't want the player to know that they are alive, so they will do the Toy Story by not moving when the player is looking at them. They will basically work like Boos in Super Mario, and your one defense against them is your own eyesight. This will force you to constantly look around, as the enemies make no noise.
There will also be lots of places to hide, but these are more to put the player in a false sense of comfort since the animatronics will frequently check these places in their search of you.
If you win the game the player quits immediately and moves on to a less lethal job. If you don't, one of the animatronics get you and the screen turns black as they finish you off behind the scenes.
My guidelines for this game are: Keeping jumpscares to a minimum if at all present, leaving out gore and such and instead leave the main characters' fate upon losing the game to the player's imagination, not having any background music (a nobrainer if you ask me).

I personally think this idea might work, but there is one problem that you might have thought of if you read all of this: There is already a game where you play as a nightguard surviving against living animatronics. A whole franchise, actually. But since these games are terrible with minimum gameplay and all jumpscares, I really want to make mine in order to show how this concept can be used better. But do you think that these basic similarities could ruin the game? That people will call it a cheap ripoff?

 

Well of course the most important part of this is
Can you make it?
Ideas are worthless (we all come to learn that eventually), so you gotta be able to execute it well to make it a good game. An idea cannot carry it.

As for my thoughts, I worry that it sounds a bit too much like Five nights. We're living in a time where brand loyalty is at an all time high, getting away with making similar games (whether its fair or not) to popular games is getting increasingly hard.

I also have to question what makes it scary. I dont like jumpscares, but most horror games use them as something to fear, as no death animation alone is gonna really scare us unless it makes us jump. A jumpscare is like hooking you up to a battery, and not knowing when it will shock you, thats what makes it scary. Without them, it is VERY hard to make a genuinely scary game.

I am just being very critical, which is the most helpful thing to refine an idea. My opinion, its not really my cup of tea but if you pull it off it could be very popular.

 

I'm already about half done (maybe that's a little optimistic) with the game, I'm just now asking if it's even worth carrying on. So I believe I can pull it off. Still having some issues with scripting, but it usually works out. The big hesitation right now is just, as stated if I even should be working with this.

Being critical is very welcome. I won't know how to improve the game if everyone are being nice and saying it sounds like the best idea ever and everything will go nicely.
The horror comes from the fact that all the animatronics are as good as silent while the player makes a lot of noise. Walking, opening doors, flicking the flashlight on and off, it all emits sounds that the animatronics can hear. So what supposedly makes it scary is that you'll have to look around in all directions to see if they are coming for you, find good places to hide if they do and hope they won't find you there, as well as the darkness. The player will be forced to not constantly use the flashlight, not only because of the limited battery but also because it makes you more easily spotted. So occasionally the player will be roaming in complete darkness. And the animatronics themselves are meant to all have freaky designs, but not exaggerated. I've seen some that are scary on their own even though they are meant to look friendly.

As for jumpscares, my plan is to only use them once the animatronics get you. But not like having them scream in your face and then you die; each will have a unique killing animation, and as they execute this they let out a noise that also varies between each of them. One of them will be a clown animatronic that lets out a distorted laugh, some will just scream or let out broken noises consisting of pieces of recorded sentences.
What I mean to say is that there won't be any jumpscares during the actual gameplay, it will be more of a penalty for losing. I think that as long as a jumpscare is accompanied by something else, and instead of being the star of the scare merely being used for added effect, it's not as pathetic to use it. Since it only lasts for a moment and does little but making the player flinch, I'm not counting on the actual jumpscare scaring anyone. However from personal experience, I think the worst part is waiting for it. So if you know that you'll get a jumpscare if the animatronics get you, you'll struggle even more to avoid them and be even more worried when they come for you. So I'm not using the jumpscares as actual scares, only to make the rest of the game feel more tense.

 

Can you put a prototype on Feedback Friday?

 

That would be great, but I don't have much to show at the moment. I'm saving the modeling until last, so all I got right now is a flashlight-wielding player in an empty little map with some walls and a single enemy consisting of a few cubes.

 

That sounds like it's just about enough to give us an idea of the gameplay if we use our imaginations a bit. If you feel like posting it some Friday, I'm sure you'll get some helpful feedback.

 

I'm new here, so I don't really know how this Feedback Friday works. Is it something that happens this one Friday or every Friday? Because if it's the latter, I'll probably do it once I've added a few more key features and fixed some issues.

 

@Gigiwoo sets up a new thread every Friday where people can post prototypes and works in progress for design-related feedback.

 

I see. In that case I'll probably post what I have to show at some point. But first there are a few things I want to get working.

 

Make a todo list, ordered by priority.

 

Fear is normal. The longer our products take, the more of our ego gets attached to other people liking them. If you think you are 'half-done', then it's definitely time to share a working prototype. Without external feedback - you have little to go on.

PS - Instead of worrying about other IPs, I try to focus on building my own game. Besides, big IP's aren't scared of my little games, unless of course, I'm actually stealing something. And only I know that.

 

Well Im glad you are working on it and its not just an idea, thats always very good to hear.

As for this, I do really like them, but the issue is, the player needs someway to be afraid of them catching you. As I said, a normal death animation isnt very scary

 

Indeed, so as stated my plan is to have jumpscares when you lose. Like, when an enemy gets the player his camera will be forced to point right at the enemy's face and show their killing animation as they let out loud noises.
As much as I despise jumpscares, I know I'm not ready to create what I consider ACTUAL horror for my first game. I don't have the programming, nor the modeling or animation skills to bring forth something that in itself makes the player feel growing terror. And as long as jumpscares aren't the star of the show, they are slightly more redeemable.
So I intend to use jumpscares upon death, but not as actual scares. Only to make the rest of the game feel more tense. The player will want to look around to make sure nothing is sneaking up on them to deliver a jumpscare, and they will want to avoid the enemies when they encounter them. I believe jumpscares aren't real scares, they are tools. They are the supporting class of the horror genre that is way too often used as the offensive class.

 

As I have read this, my main feeling is that you have a really strong theam, which is good, but I worry about is your gameplay (although it is hard to judge without a prototype). When I was at univeristy, a friend made the same game (with a ghost instead of a robot). The main issue that I had was that it just wasn't that much fun. The limited amount of time might be a key factor, maybe include keys in your levels to open doors to find the exit.

 

Well, the basic idea is to have the player look for a certain thing that can only be found after exploring the whole map, forcing them to constantly be on the move which leads to being more likely to encounter enemies. After finding the thing, there's what I guess I can call a "boss battle", except it's not an actual battle, just an animatronic that goes "screw the rules" and runs towards you even if you're looking at it, hopefully taking the player by surprise by the sudden difference in AI. Avoid this animatronic until it runs out of power, and you win.

Making this fun, and more importantly, scary, might be a bit of a challenge, especially since this is my first actual game and not just some practice project. To me, the fun will come from avoiding the enemies with a combination of running and hiding. I'm imagining things like players hiding under tables watching the legs of an animatronic as it searches the room for them, hoping it won't find them. But to do this I must make sure the player really WANTS to stay alive, and not just to avoid losing the game, as well as making sure it won't be too boring to hide. Hiding in horror games shouldn't be boring, it should be tense.
To make sure I succeed I'll have to make sure lots of people playtest the game to tell me what's good and should be expanded and what sucks and should be improved. Hopefully I'll at least reach my goal to create a horror game that isn't as bad as many of the ones coming out today.

 

What if the thing were mobile, like a lost kitten? The innocence and vulnerability of the kitten contrasts well with the danger of the environment. Mewing noises could lead the player into dark alleys and the like.

This sounds a lot like Alien: Isolation, which is good because the mechanic works really well there.

Good plan. The sooner you can get people to test a prototype, the better, even if the animatronics are gray capsules and the level is just a bunch of gray cubes. Best of luck!

 

What if the player was the lost kitten looking for its child owner (small kid voices calling "here kitty, kitty, kitty")? Or the player is a child? The lower perspective means everything else is bigger & more disorienting as well.

 

That's an interesting idea... A while back I played Among the Sleep and saw great potential in the concept of playing as a creature as vulnerable as a little child, with such a low perspective and inability to run far without tripping (like in most horror movies, except they have a valid excuse). Of course, as interesting as it would be to play as a kitten in a horror game, I have already come up with reasons why the animatronics are after the player and so on. Changing that would be changing the very basic story, and I don't want that.
But I'll keep the idea in mind. A horror game where you play as a cat... That could be something to work on once I've finished my current game...

 

I appreciate your desire to stick with your vision, but keep in mind that with any creative pursuit you have to be willing to kill your babies. (How did this thread take such a dark turn into lost kittens and killing babies?) For me, the babies I love the most are often the ones that block the very changes that will really improve the game design.

 

"While the man chased down the last unwanted kitten his young son crawled into the sack to play with the ones already in there. Throwing that last kitten in, & without checking further, the man picked it up, carried it down to the river & threw it in. It eventually washed up on the shore near an abandoned amusement park where the kid & the kittens learnt to survive on what they could forage (rats, mice, etc). Having no further human contact the kid learnt to communicate to the cats & they lived in relative peace & freedom until the day the (insert evil doer here)..........."

That lets the view point switch between the kid (higher view) & cats (lower view). Off the original topic I know, & I respect your sticking to the original concept but as TonyLi said, don't stick with it just because you have the assets, stick with it because you've shown it to work & don't be afraid to tweak it.

 

Of course. I am well aware that the ideas you think are perfect tend to be the ones in most need of improvement or in worst cases replacement. But in this case it's mostly meant as an explanation to why. "Why" is very important in any form of narrative. I don't want the enemies in my game to walk around trying to kill the player just because they have nothing better to do, so I've come up with a reason why they do it that eventually developed to one of the core elements of the story. I could of course change it to make it better, but if you intend to change something important in your game's story because a major game mechanic changes or is added, maybe you should keep that game mechanic in the back of your head for later and put it where it fits.
And naturally I'll want to see what people like the best. Maybe every playtester thinks the reason behind the animatronics' attempts to put an end to the player is dumb or uncreative. Then I'll have to do better. It's just that in this specific scenario I think that combining the idea of a horror game set in an amusement park with hostile robots and a horror game where you're a cat would end up messy.

...How come I always find myself with so much text when just trying to convey a simple message?

 

Here's a checklist for presenting your game idea to other people...

If you can't give detailed answers for each question, then you're not ready for feedback because you're still figuring out your own idea.

[ ] So, exactly what is the genre?
[ ] Is there a goal?
[ ] Wait, what happens when you die?
[ ] How will killers/achievers/socializers/explorers find enjoyment in the game?
[ ] What game is it most like?
- How is it different from that game? Why?
- How is it the same? Why?
[ ] Why do I want to make this?
[ ] Why would anyone want to play this?

Then you could talk about the story, if you wanted to.

Stories are just excuses for the game you make.

Which do you think is easier?
- Think of your favorite game and make a great alternative story for it. Change the characters, the bad guy, the setting, etc.
- Now think of your favorite story and try making a great game out of it without changing any story details.

Anyway, if you just keep spit balling the story, changing the story to fit the game in your head and then changing the game in your head to fit the story, you will complete neither.

 

I got the impression that the idea was you are looking for a cat, not playing as one.

 

Well, that is... incredibly close to what I currently have planned, actually. Though not quite.