Manchester Part 6: Focal Points (+atmosphere)

Focal Points

• The City

Final destination of train, the  city will work as a focal point because it is the final destination of the train, the player will believe this is where the current level/gameplay section will end. It can be seen through the windows of the cabin or when the player is balancing outside the train, grabbing onto it. 

• Protagonists's Comments

The player will give clues to the player as to what is happening and what they should look for or look out for. As an example, if the player has to find a certain object to get through a puzzle or obstacle, the player will make a comment about it: "I need to open this window, maybe I can find something to open it with..." or comments such as "Not long until I arrive at the train station" for example, when the player is near a window or outside. Will work as a guide for the player, if ever in doubt. 

• Atmosphere

The atmosphere will also work as a guide, the darker and the more depressing the surroundings and environment gets, the closer the player is to the end of the level. More info below about the atmosphere of the game.




The atmosphere is somehow relevant in this blog post, as it serves as some kind of focal point itself. Yeah, I've made a section called "Atmosphere" because I came up with a cool idea. I will keep this short since it's not very important when it comes to gameplay, but I still think it's worth adding since it's interesting, IMO. First I wanted a dark, depressing atmosphere/setting, but I decided it'd be cool if everything started off like this: Sunny weather, many people on the train in the cabin you start off in, smiling people, a positive feel to the intro, in general, including the people the player interacts with in the first minutes of gameplay. Then gradually, as the  game progresses, for every cabin the player enters, the weather as seen through the windows of the cabin, will turn from sunny to dark, rainy, misty and depressing. There will be less people for each cabin, and this doesn't have a specific reason other than that it works with the gameplay, since the player will be running away from an enemy and things will get more and more dangerous for each cabin, so to speak. The closer the player gets to the end of the level, the more obvious it will be that the player is moving towards the end of the level, as it goes from sunny and happy to rainy and depressing.


I found a game that does something similar - after I came up with this idea I tried to do some research to see if anyone had done the same or something similar, and this is the closest I got:




As you can see, when she leaves the path, things take a different turn in atmosphere, sort of like my game, except in The Path, this is optional, whereas in my game this is a part of the level, working as a focal point of some sort...