Thursday 6 June 2013

Middle of Nowhere - Description, Features and Kickstarter!


Middle of Nowhere is an exciting new, original first person survival/horror game which centers around waking up from a car crash in a place you don't know and not being able to remember a thing.
The game is mostly set in an open-area full of caves, shanty-like shacks and other things planned in future development. You have the option to explore while following the story as-well.
The story is well thought out, as you progress, you find out fragments about your past and why you are in the middle of nowhere.
Use various items to remove blockades, heal yourself or top up your flashlight.
Climb different levels of caves, solve puzzles.
Encounter monsters, choose to stand and fight or run away.


The game is well into the beginning development stage with a full list of working/already scripted features, images and soundtrack listed below.

Early development gameplay can be found here:


 


The game is planned to be released for Windows. I will be looking into making the game for Mac and Linux as the Unity engine does support that and i know there is probably a lot of people who would want to play the games on those platforms but Windows will be my main focus for now and Mac and Linux compatibility could come later.

Features:

  • Flashlight: Use this wisely, the battery drains pretty fast, if you have no batteries left, you'll be left in the dark...
  • Health system: A complete health system displayed on the upper left corner of your screen. Med-kits or food can be used to regenerate health.
  • Stamina system: A regenerative detailed stamina system displayed on the upper left corner of your screen. Once out of breath, movement speed is slowed for a short duration while the player is out of breath.
  • Enemy system: An engaging enemy system. When you hit the enemy, it gets more angry, faster movement and attack speed. You can't always win against the enemy but some very effective weapons can be found.
  • Combat system: A combat system for each weapon, each has it's own power against the enemy so while you may struggle with a small combat knife, there will be other weapons available to find. Finding good weapons won't be easy.
  • Inventory system: Pickup med-kits, weapons, notes all with the mouse click. Using 1,2,3,4,5 switches weapons between a flashlight, combat knife etc... there may even be a gun somewhere...
  • Med-kit System: This regenerates a good deal of health for the player.
  • Food system: This is similar to a med-kit system except it gives you much less health.
  • Energy Drink system: This recovers lost stamina. It's a great resource when running away from the enemy while low on stamina.
  • Collectable System: There is a max number of collectables you can find in the Middle of Nowhere. You will be able to see how many you have found displayed on screen.
  • Sleep system: A sleep system with a cool-down. Used to recover 25 health, 25 stamina and 25 battery life. This can only be used every 5 minutes. If you have no batteries or med-kits left, this can be a great resource.
  • Note system: A note system for engaging into the story even deeper. Find out fragments of information as to why you are where you are.
  • Underwater breath system: An unforgiving underwater system. There's items to collect underwater but you have limited time before you run out of breath and your health starts decreasing, can you find them?
  • Fall damage system: As simple as it sounds, though, when climbing caves watch your step.
  • Locked door and key system: Doors will remain locked until the player finds the key needed. Once found, they can open the door by clicking and dragging the mouse while selected on the door(like Amnesia's system)
  • Drag-able boxes, barrels etc...: There will be puzzles that require use of these items.
  • Caves: Explore and climb caves, figure out how to reach the next level in the cave, explore.
  • Shacks: Lots of shanty like shacks which react with the story. Some have valuable items in. Some you'll have to find your own way in and if you do, you'll most likely find a valuable item.
  • Detailed story: A well thought out story that starts out as soon as you start playing.
  • Save system: Though the save system is not final, it does work. As it is, the player can save at any time by pressing esc to go to the main menu.
  • Menu system: Option to change graphics settings between 6 settings, option to save, option to return to the main menu, option to quit. I plan on adding more to the menu in later development.
  • Realistic particles: Realistic fires, mist and smoke to set the ambiance.
  • Realistic water: Reflective water.
  • Dynamic lighting: Flickering lights
  • Wind: Nothing is static. The bushes, flowers and trees all move in the wind.
  • Attention to detail: Taking advantage of lots of image effects to make the game look it's best. Depth of field, bloom, anti aliasing are all examples of what i mean.
  • Original soundtrack composed by myself: Most people who know me know that I'm a professional musician and composer for film and game. I've been making music since 10 years old, have a great amount of experience and have been a fan of survival/horror games my whole life, especially the Silent Hill and Resident Evil series. A preview of the soundtrack can be found below, if you like Silent Hill or anything similar, you'll love the soundtrack!
  • Original sound design created by myself: I also do sound design, I've worked on the sound design for the game Paranormal and know how important it is to horror in particular. You can be sure that the ambiances and sound effects will give you the chills and definitely have you on the edge of your seat.


There's been major work done on Middle of Nowhere since the Kickstarter launch and the game will now be set in a foggy mid-day setting rather then night. Here is a picture to illustrate.



 


I've recently launched a Kickstarter for Middle of Nowhere with more images, features and soundtrack preview. It can be found here - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aaronwildemusic/middle-of-nowhere-survival-horror

Show your support and stay updated by giving Middle of Nowhere a like on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MiddleOfNowhereSurvivalHorror

-Aaron