Static Paradox blog post #1 - Demo is up

 Link: https://evilous.itch.io/static-paradox-demo

I'm writing this all before finishing it fully, mainly due to how much localization is required for a couple of reasons I'll get into.

What is the Static Paradox

I wanted to make a full on single player horror game, since it's suppose to be quick and easy, and I started this around the 9-10th. I discovered something called Horror Engine which does a lot of the backend work for things like an inventory system, saving system, and more for items and certain objects. Which is really good for me, since I can focus on other things. And it would have taken me a while to make those systems on my own.

The graphics look like a lot of TV static covering everything, making it harder to see. Originally I wanted a hatching post processing, but I didn't like how it looked so I made it more static like.

The original idea was to have a duality of a Dream state and a reality state, where it would shift between them. But it eventually changed to always be an unknown state for tension and suspense.

The title is from the idea of the Hydrostatic paradox, which is from a concentrated point will have more pressure with water even if it's a small amount.

Main Gameplay Ideas

I've been studying a lot of horror and playing horror games for a while now. The main things I got from it is that Sound design is highly important, tension should always be preferred to build things up, and to not be repetitive. 

Sound Design

A lot of stuff will have audio only in a certain area, to trick players, and to add tension. Stuff like an Air vent breathing was very effective, along with lights having a very slowed down speech acting as static. The footsteps have 4 variations, and more rarer sounds that might sound far away or small creaks, making it unknown if it was something else or themselves, or what they are walking on. Then there are extremely rare sounds farther away, this plays stuff like running noises that aren't really there, something speaking softly, a baby's distorted crying and more. So even if alone, there is always a chance at tension through audio gaslighting.

Each enemy has it's unique theme that is heard around it, which will be discussed with each enemy.

Voices

So I went with something that Faith did, which is having very robotic TTS sounding voices. Some of it is recorded stuff edited with pitch correction and then put through multiple filters, and some is TTS put under the filters. At the start of each area, it can be heard saying something either asking the player for help, nothing at all, saying they should be careful with advice, or outright mocking. They mostly all use the same voice, outside select stuff, which adds to the confusion to what or who is saying what they are saying.

Tension

Outside sound design and the graphics, there is other stuff for tension.

Guns

The Pistol cannot kill any enemies, only make sure they run away for a bit. Ammo is always unknown, never showing how much a player has at a time. Random amounts of ammo is given when getting the gun and the amount in each clip is unknown and is randomized. It also has a jamming chance, it doesn't have an animation, instead it forces a reload. It can be used against enemies but is focused on puzzles, which will be later in development.

Only the pistol for now.

-Enemies-

Enemies all follow the same ideas of unkillable monsters that have some sort of logic the player has to learn. They all have the ability to send the player back to the first area when capturing the player. They will all have a theme that plays around that that tells where their presence is. Doors mark safe zones and enemies cannot use them.

(No jumpscares)

I didn't want to add jumpscares since they are usually very cheap, and they lose their purpose after the first time. So they only move the player back to the start in a random position. I hope this allows enemies to be feared but also not annoying, since they all have their tells.

The Hound

The first enemy is small, a human like creature with a single eye and a chest as a head. It's theme is the most subtle, as it sounds like a submarine which needs to be closer to hear the difference from the main area theme as it's subtle until getting close. It growls, it randomly moves until it spots the player, then it chases after them until they get behind a door. They can easily creep up on the player if they are running away from the drifter or are not paying attention.

The Drifter

The drifter will never stop, always know the player's location. It's theme is very bombastic and can be heard from a very long distance. It's slow, and can easily be escaped from with running. His whole goal is the trap the player in a dead end or keep them in a safe room, where they will bang on the door and laugh until the player gives up or tries to run for it. They have breathing sounds that are very sickly as well, but cannot be heard unless very close. It exists to always force the player to move, which disregards trying to hide from the hounds.

Secrets

There is a 1 in 100 chance to get a secret, which teleports to a backstory scene. Some of them only have dialogue, some of them exist to trick the player or make the MC seem more insane. Some exist for tension. Basically making getting caught feel much more random but also consistent enough so people don't expect when it's random.

Graphics

It's mostly very static like due to the post processing, where sight is more limited as walls blend into each other with the floor and more slightly, making it harder to see, and where sound becomes the main vocal point for trying to find or run away from things. I hope this adds onto the tension for people.

Lore

I want it to be very unknown but slightly known, so there is stuff to discover but something fully to define it. But it's more of parts and pieces being given. Many things are left unknown for the tension, to fully not understand the situation. But the main idea is the MC did a crime with a gun, and was caught. In jail they chose to take a deal from someone to go into a submarine to travel to an experiment site. The voice for everything is mostly the same, so it is unknown what is memory and what is gaslighting as everything merges together.

Localization

Main languages I usually do when I do localization. (Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Portugues)  and I copied the options menu from Prophecrawl, so the backend code didn't take a while. The horror engine stuff has a lot of text for debugging and the inventory, which ended up being a couple thousand words needing to be translated for each language. But I got it out of the way now so I could save the translations and import them in the future in other horror related projects, and to save time later with less to translate and localize later.

Future ideas

I want each area to be more unique, with at least one main enemy for it. Probably smaller than the starting area, with more enemy AI logic even if it's small. Not sure on how many areas as of yet. I want to keep it small but also feeling like there is a lot of content. No idea about the cover art at the moment. Also adding more tension as the game progresses. I also want to have multiple endings, so people can theorize on what is the true one, but also to make repeat playthroughs feel unique. 

Anything else?

It's been very interesting so far, I won't make a steam page until it's fully done at this point. I also added multi-language support, to mostly get it over with now so I don't need to reexport the demo later unless major changes happen. Right now I really want to maintain the balance of sound design and the idea of "having things be unstable/uncertain but having some sort of base line of stability to force the player into a sense of security." I am also using a "show don't tell too much" for the story so people are left trying to learn and understand the world through symbolism. Since maintaining that is the key to good horror.