I had to design a character, his biography, his back story and the level the character would play in. To be honest, the character is my worst one yet - I guess not everything can be as perfect as you want it to be.
COMMENTS AND CRITICISMS APPRECIATED!
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| REVENANTS - FRONT COVER by Christian Whelan |
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| REVENANTS - CHARACTER DESIGN by Christian Whelan |
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| REVENANTS - CHARACTER INTERVIEW by Christian Whelan |
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| REVENANTS -LEVEL WALKTHROUGH by Christian Whelan |
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| REVENANTS - LEVEL DESIGN (START) by Christian Whelan |
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| REVENANTS - LEVEL DESIGN (4TH FLOOR) by Christian Whelan |
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| REVENANTS - LEVEL DESIGN (3RD FLOOR) by Christian Whelan |
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| REVENANTS - LEVEL DESIGN (2ND FLOOR) by Christian Whelan |
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| REVENANTS - LEVEL DESIGN (END) by Christian Whelan |
REVENANTS: THE CHARACTER BIOGRAPHY AND JUSTIFICATIONS
Chris Mally, an unemployed, parent dependant, lethargic dreamer that buys his time with empty academic ventures – unfortunately today’s social stereotype of the average young adult. One that twenty two years old Chris Mally, the playable protagonist of Revenants, reluctantly conforms to but doesn’t take pride in, it’s a conditioned praxis only a relentlessly destructive event could ironically mend. Initially, he’s the representative character of the commoner. Penultimately, through the branching arc, he demonstrates physical and psychological characteristics until he flourishes as a symbolic character players empathise with through stories, in-game events and mechanics. His backstory plays a role in the ability to empathise with him and therefore the story and the game itself.
“Eighteen years in the same town, social circle and the pessimistic mind, Chris was a stay at home gamer. It’s an inferiority complex and a fear-triggered lack of motivation originating from family loss and his resultant illness. At four years old, Chris sat in the back of his mother’s car, innocently and unwillingly victim to the drunken crash that took his mother, naivety and health. Recovering from head trauma, stress triggered blinding migraines. Enforced expectations, workloads, negative social situations – all of the aforementioned crippled Chris’s vision through stress induced migraines, forcing him to spend the his years unable achieve goals – everything was out of reach because of his own mind and beliefs. At sixteen years old, succumbing to his socially detrimental illness, online browsing triggered an independent passion for parkour running. Chris developed this, but it was never of any result. With no job, and a fear of spending his life with unfulfilled potential, Chris applied for university, to delay getting a job. Ironically, Chris was forced to move into Manchester with his girlfriend, where again, he remained below average.”
It’s an exaggerated representation of everyday life, the inability to strive for the better due to one’s own personal crippling doubts and expectations. It’s a weakness and emotional trigger, that although extreme, is still relatable, players will empathise with Chris, his worries and his lifestyle. Setting up a story that players will relate to, immerse themselves in and most importantly, care for as well as the characters within it.
To extend empathy levels for players, Chris’s two character traits, prompted and justified by moments in his life, serve more than just filler – they play vital roles in the game mechanics – Parkour Running and Migraines; his strengths and weaknesses balance not only as mechanics, but as character agency and empathy. Foremost to discuss, is his strength, something that Chris is actually good at. Scott Rogers declares, “…make sure your character is good at something.” (2010, Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design). Parkour Running represents his practical function. He can run, jump, slide and wall run, but it also serves as a rewarding countermeasure for his weaknesses – Migraines and Fear (empathy). Whenever Chris comes into contact with any conflict, most notably the Infected, Chris’s, and therefore the player’s, vision is blurred – forcing players to utilise the Parkour mechanics to escape.
As a result of this balance, Chris is equally as weak as he is strong. But most importantly, the player feels empowered by utilising Chris’s passion of parkour that cures Chris’s weakness. This leads onto Chris’s antagonist. His foe is a larger force rather than an individual – the agile infected that cause the weakness. For undiscovered reasons, the population of the North West are infected; turning the pedestrian heavy Manchester into an Infected swarmed no man’s land. They stand, sit or lie in mobs. They hear or see, they scream, they sprint, and possibly kill Chris. Chris can attack if one on one, but in any other case he must escape. It creates the premise of the game world and its story and makes the characterisations playable. Thus, the player experience is richer and the character rounded and believable. Through this, Chris and the player would go on a journey that is relatable and inspiration on an emotional level.
Chris has a backstory, traits, strengths and weaknesses brought on from events, but it’s important to discuss his name and appearance. Scott Rogers supports that a name “must suit the character” (2010, Level Up! The Guide to great Video Game Design). Chris is the average person, so he has a common forename, with an Irish surname – a culture often associated with personality. Chris Mally is an everyday, likeable guy. He isn’t a “Badass”, he’s an undiscovered hero with unfulfilled potential, forced into an extreme situation (the game’s premise). Not too extreme of a character and personality that you can’t empathise, but not too redundant that the player doesn’t care. If players relate to the character, they care about the story, the actions and the events. They become internalised within the player, not just externally in the game. Finally, we have his superficial appearance (clothes and accessories) relate to the game premise and world. He wears a hoodie, to stay hidden, and jeans, because that’s all that was on sale when the infection struck - all of his clothes are scavenged (as you can see from the price tag). The sack is a key item in the game (but optional) where the player would collect as many items as possible and bring them back to a select safe location. The rips and the cuts are not from conflict, but from evasive free running in unsuitable clothing and panic.
REVENANTS: THE FIVE PART STORY ARC
With this basis for a rounded, relatable character reflected through his story and abilities, Chris goes on a journey, conquers his fears and becomes who he’s always wanted to –all experienced through the five part branching story.
Set between in a two month period, Revenants’ entire story takes place in modern day Manchester. Manchester, with a twisted premise – it’s been overrun by the SC100 pandemic and Chris Mally, the protagonist and avatar of Revenants, is forced to survive the now infected Manchester population, find his family and escape the alive. Facing fears and taking unfortunate circumstances as unconscious opportunities to better himself, Chris takes a journey as his character develops through the five part story arc. It begins at home, where he feels safe with his imperfections.
21st of December (Act One): Chris is surfing the web in his apartment, glimpsing the news - Act 1 begins; Chris’s call to adventure. The news advises people to stay indoors. Suddenly, the traffic is louder than usual. Beeping of horns are a racket, but the shouting outside is worse. Chris peers outside whilst the more independent Rachel checks on the shouting. In the street, a woman lies in traffic, bloodied and having a fit. She stops, stands up stationary, looks at the restless drivers and attacks them. Chris turns to shout Rachel when the shouting has been replaced with screaming as Rachel attempts to slam the door. The infected run inside as they both lock themselves in the bathroom, but the infected barge the door and knock Chris out. He wakes to find everyone gone.
22nd of December (Act One): Alone in silence, Chris rings Rachel to find her phone in the apartment. He manages to contact his panicked family in a dangerous predicament before being cut off. In an attempt to find Rachel, Chris explores the ransacked apartments, only to see the distant Hilton Hotel explode, foreshadowing events to come. Suddenly, Chris is chased out of the apartment and trapped in a storeroom. With only one way out, he escapes the infected, running to his family miles away. Thus begins Act 2 – overcoming the challenges along the way.
23rd December / 19th January (Act 2): Alone on his journey, Chris adapts by whilst scavenging for food, clothes and weapons, he is on the defence as the infected chase him on rooftops, though alley ways, on train tracks, in apartments, shopping centres and cinemas. Overcoming countless infected encounters and helping those who need it. He meets elderly Terrance and his wife May, trapped in their apartment who provide him with shelter; Alexander, a disturbed man in the cinema who betrays him and Sunny in the train station, an independent woman who assists his journey and shows him a document hinting at the location and truth of the pandemic’s cause. She is caught and, forcing Chris to finish his journey alone. Act 3 begins – overcoming the final evils of the circumstances.
20th January / 8th February 9 (Act 3): Chris reaches his family’s wrecked street. The front door is open and the downstairs empty. Upstairs, his family lies dead. With his sole dependence gone, Rachel and his brother Sean suddenly walk in. With conflicting emotions, he ensures their safety, and heads to the Hilton hotel, destroyed from the explosion and riveting with infected. He finds a document detailing the infection and the Euphoric Lab detailing the infections. It turns out the crash that killed his mother was a result of the virus being transported, he repressed the memory of the military cleaning the scene up and the source of the infection is a captive 22 year old girl pumped full of mind altering drugs. She attacks him; Chris traps her after a long conflicting chase, leaves with the document and burns the Hilton, unintentionally drawing all infected to him. Chris must get home on foot, constantly chased.
9th February / 10th February (Act 4): Returning to his family panicked and a changed person from the lessons and realisations he has experienced, it seemed that hope is lost when there are hints to infection beyond Manchester. A military vehicle plays an emergency broadcast, telling of an evacuation zone and cure for survivors at the Old Trafford Stadium. They frantically head their as the infected relentlessly pressure them. Outside Old Trafford, spot Lights turn on, bullets fire overhead, and they are quickly escorted by firing military into the stadium grounds, where choppers wait, taking Chris Rachel and Sean out of Manchester, leaving a view of thousands of infected below them.
21st of February onwards (Act 5): Parts of Manchester have been given the clear. Rachel, Chris, Sean and hundreds of survivors are taken by military trucks back into the areas restored and cleared. Chris is questioned and given a job helping restore Manchester as his now fiancée and brother stay at the safe zone providing help to others.
And so the story ends. Through five parts, Chris is put in a predicament with threats and a goal (save family from infected), he tries to overcome them but fails (family’s death), tries again but faces a larger problem (Euphoric Labs, realisation), until he is presented with the most challenging situation of which he resolves the problem (chased by Infected and escapes). Revenants’ story arc has structure, obstacles, threats, character development and a resolution.
REVENANTS: LEVEL DESIGN, JUSTIFICATIONS AND STYLES
Whilst it is true that the story allows the gameplay to be directed, and that visuals and audio styles and themes evoke emotions. Nothing directs the player more than indirect player control through the art of level design techniques such as tension, tempo, landmarks, and even sound and lighting effects. Balancing and carefully orchestrated these events allows for a varied level, full of different emotions and a satisfactory entertainment. As Jim Rossignol of PC Format magazine states level design is “one of the fundamental processes of game development.” (2010, PCFORMAT, Issue 234). A game designer determines the mechanics and how they’re played, the level designer creates the world in which the mechanics can be played
The most method to justify the introduction apartment level of Revenants is to take justify each event in order, then discussing the visual styles, audio styles and inspirations. An important aspect to note is that the level without obstructions, would take 5 minutes to complete. The level with obstructions would therefore be 10 minutes. A good method of level pacing practice as Scott Rogers states that playing the game without obstacles or points of interest, should take ”half the time it will take you in the final game” (2010).
1: The first time the player takes control – when Chris wakes up after the encounter. As a blatant contrast to the intro cut scene, the daylight, the cleanliness and the ambient sound of pedestrians and most importantly, the chaos of the latter event have gone. What’s left is a ransacked apartment, the television on with no signal, blood on the walls and blood on the floor. The sudden alterations of the visual and sound environment creates tension and thus atmosphere as Bill Green states, “The contrast between the destruction and the once-beautiful architecture helps create a harrowing atmosphere” (2010, Gamestm.com). It is important design aspect, as the first few moment of the game set the tone for what’s to come. In a horror game, this should be tension and horror. The room is trashed, the room is blood-soaked, and the television isn’t functional – everything the player needs to know. The high tension and underlying excitement comes from not knowing the extent of what’s ahead and how the player can and will deal with when they face the first conflict, of which this level will build up towards. From this point, the blood smears lead out to the apartment hallway.
2: The second the player leaves the room following the bloodstains, they hear a thud and a crash, heightening the tension further as they look down the aftermath of the action – barricaded doors, bags packed outside apartments and flickering lights from damaged electrics. Its sets the tone and hints that maybe the player should not be here. The end of the corridor is lit brightly, casting a shadow of a wheelchair and seemingly a man not moving. As Neil Alphonso states, ““pointing people in the right directions with subtle visual aids: a light here, a blood trail there.” (2010, PCFORMAT) is great way to direct the play of a level. Clearly, the player will head towards the light, regardless of the clear danger due to anticipation. But what heightens the tension further (which is now at peak level) is the two rooms along the way. The bloodstains, presumably Rachel’s, lead to the next open apartment where the sound originated from, clearly accessible as the door is wide open. As they enter the apartment, the room is in worse condition than their own. The first thing players see is a messy bed, lit by the television (again, with no signal) hinting this is not an isolated accident. As they are drawn to the bed, a pan falls to the ground in their blind spot. As this happens there vision blurs, giving the player their first glimpse of the fear. A quick exploration of the room (or none) takes them back to the hallway and into the next room.
3: What takes them to the next room? Flickering light, bleeding through the ajar door – players are drawn to it. As they enter, yet again another bed is lit, players expect the same scare but instead they are greeted by a bed with an old man’s corpse, bloodied, adopting an uncomfortable gesture. Scott Rogers states, “Nothing says beware, like skills and skeletons strewn around an environment” (2010). Considering this is the message of the level, a corpse is an addition to signal the real dangers of the threats, foreshadowing, and close by, threats. As they leave the room they here another bang and thug, this time coming from the end of the hallway. This time, the shadow has gone, but the player heads in that direction regardless.
4: The player reaches the first window, looking out over the Manchester Street, littered with crashes cars and in the distance, the Hilton Hotel, the penultimate set piece. The top floor explode, lowering the tension built from anticipation and raising the excitement and pace slightly.
5: They enter the room to their right, where seemingly, the wheelchair ridden may be. Instead they a greeted with disturbing gargles and groans from the bathroom – the door slightly swings ajar as if lightly nudged, heightening tension further and directing the player, as Scott Rogers continues on to state that “the carrot provoking players onwards is always hidden behind intelligent use of art.” (2010).
6: The player opens the door, greeted by an infected in a wheelchair. It falls off the wheelchair and crawls at them screaming as a cut scene shows them back up and fall to the floor. The Player gains control and prompts tell players to leave and not attack. So they run because of the movement impetus suddenly forced upon them as they begin to hear quickened steps and screaming on the floor above and in an adjacent apartment as they sprint. By this point, the tension level low to medium and the pace, therefore excitement is high and effective due to the anticipation built around atmosphere.
7: The player reaches the stairwell but a cut scene takes control of Chris as he hears a smash, turns around and sees a family of infected staring at him like hungry dogs at the end of the hall. They scream, and sprint toward him as Chris turns back around looking at the stairwell - the player takes control. In fear and excitement, players sprint down the stairwell – a key part of the level. By this point, the pace is at peak. Why is this part important? Two reasons – one, the stairwell has both a claustrophobic effect, leaving the player trapped even though they evade the infected and two, it creates a bottleneck, forcing players to move forward as Rogers also states “Bottlenecks can be created to prevent backtracking…” (2010). At this point, the player should feel like they are running down a funnel.
8/9: On each floor, the symmetrical hallway is flooded with yet more infected attracted to the footsteps gaining in numbers, forcing the player further down the stairwell, with each floor more ransacked than the last, earning to comfort to the player. But then they reach the second floor.
10: Clear of infected with the end of the hallway lit, the player watches outside as the infected run into the main entrance on the ground floor, the stairwell highlighting shadows of infected making their way upstairs. The player is forced to run down into the hall, as he does, two apartments are provide light, now a conditioned signal of danger as the player sees in each apartment, a resident being murdered as they run onwards. This unsettles the player as every direction has an element of danger. They run around the right corner and onto the fire escape stairs still hearing the screams of perusing infected behind them. By this point, the tempo is sky high.
12: The fire escape overlooks the car littered street seen before as well as a shop fully lit and free of infected. Scott Rogers calls this a “Weenie”. “Weenies can be used and landmarks” (2010) as a point of interest or to distinguish a goal or area the player should use as a directional reference. This is also an important point, as it lets the player view the expansive Manchester landscape, hinting a more expansive, but equally dangerous environment, giving players variety and those “Kodak moments…” as Rogers continues to state “Verticality allows variety and Kodak moments” (2010). Through this, the player has only one way to go – down the fire escape stairs (another bottleneck) into the narrow alleyway. Tempo is now at the pinnacle exploding point as the infected are right behind the player.
13: The player reaches the bottom greeted by a large barricade blocking the exit to the alley way. The only way to go is into the open alleyway door of the corresponding building – an empty workshop. At this point, the players control is taken off them as a cut scene shows Chris slam the door behind him, grab a crowbar and jam the door shut as the infected scream and bang on the door. They settle and seemingly run away. Now, the player can relax, but due to danger around every corner, tension is still at a steady level – they have overcome the imminent danger. As the player is directed into the next workshop by the television, again with no signal, they see piled boxes leading up to a small garage window. With the only light originating from this window, they climb up the boxes and climb through, giving them their first introducing the scalable environments.
14: The player lands on the other side of the barricade, but before they know it, the infected are climbing over it and after them, bringing unexpected tempo, leaving them only one way to go. A great example of this pacing twist is “‘All Ghillied Up for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare” (2010, PCFormat) as Neil Emphonso believes. It’s an effective play on player expectations that shocks players into an emotion. From this, they run into the car littered street with possible freedom in the lit shop directly ahead.
15: Before reaching the street they are greeted with two obstructing industrial bins, then a prompt informing the player then can vault over objects holding the left trigger, introducing players to further parkour gameplay whilst increasing the tempo further. Successfully completing the vault, they are in the street, running towards the shop, but as they soon notice, dozens of infected are closing in on either side as the shop owner is murdered. There are two reason for this milestone in the level. One, the disjointed, angular environment of the crashed vehicle unsettles the player as the infected close in – they feel like a rat in a maze as Rogers states ““You can use lighting, sound effects and geometry to make a level look foreboding” (2010). And two, it tells them the shop is off bounds for now. As this death takes place, the left hand alley way illuminates through flickering lights -0 the player heads down there with no guarantee of an escape.
16: As the player runs down the hallway, they see there is only a blind corner to the right. They turn, with the infected seconds behind them, seeing heavy double doors in the distance and a set of ladders – both are highlighting with a waypoint. This final section gives the player two options, both with the same eventual outcome (inside the store). Why do this? As Techradar states, large open game worlds like Grand Theft Auto’s Liberty City “opens up possibilities for gameplay at every turn” (2008, Techradar). With a game as centrally focussed around exploration and environments scaling as this, the statement by Techradar proves curricula. In addition, this section also teaches them there last basic lesson, multiple escape points that provide uncertain outcomes. As Cleff Bazinksi states “advantages and disadvantages of multiple routes” (2008, Techradar) is an effective and meaningful design aspect. They enter the room, they are seemingly stranded but gain a weapon. They climb the ladders, they are free to assess the situation but they have no weapon.
And so the tutorial level ends, providing the thrills, tension and anticipation any horror and action game should have. This introducing level is linear and brings the player into the gamer into the world with a atmospheric, carefully orchestrated bang. It was important that the level wasn’t a non-stop thrill ride, but gave player small moments to relax. Granted, these relaxation points where scares and short, but only as an atmospheric mood setter as if to say “You’re never safe in this game world” But the game itself is a sandbox post-apocalyptic Manchester, giving large sections of relaxation, using divided space to distinguish areas and landmarks to trigger emotions. These divided spaces are ripe with varied environments and architecture, crucial story set pieces and optional set pieces, not there to be seen, but here to be experienced as each area provides different atmosphere, scares and in some case’s stories. It is at these points, that the free roam parkour is built into the level design. Rather than indirect control through lighting and sound, red highlights around climbable objects indicate exploration as Rogers states “If it look like the player can go there, they should” (2010). However, this is not to say that lighting and sound won’t be used to heighten tensions and excitements for those orchestrated events. One thing that will evoke emotions and atmospheric moods though is the visual styles and audio tracks played passively throughout the game.
There are four divides spaces in Revenants’ sandbox environment – the City Center, Industrial Estates,
Farming Country Landscapes and finally the labs. All of the aforementioned have a distinct style and
mood. The level above follows the city centre visual style, shown in the first images to the right.
The first image is the inspiration for the apartments / hotels room in the level detailed. Each flat allows for a stark contrast between the great and the terrible – setting the atmosphere. The second image shows the style many of the alley ways will adopt, including the one in the level – rustic, abandoned, gutter streets filled with industrial bins and claustrophobic geometry. This represents the urban side of Manchester – the side that reflect the ordinary contrasting nature most Hollywood like games wouldn’t have. The final image of the three shows the landscape of Revenants – Salford and Manchester. With high-rise building and expansive environments, the player can always see his / her surrounding whilst easily identifying that the city is indeed Manchester. An empty destroyed one at that. It is important to note that the majority of the environments are dull in colour, neglecting any glossy presentation that detracts from the realism of the themes and premise of the game.
The next three images reflect the style of the Living Estates, the area Chris travels to find his family, the Farming Estates and the Euphoric Labs. Firstly, we have the living estate image that reflects the intended style quite accurately, only less dramatic with the damage. The goal would be to litter the streets with paper, clothes, glass from broken terrace and car windows and very few abandoned cars. Secondly, the next image represents the colourful and peaceful environment of the Farming Estates – the areas the player is most safe. The goal would be to keep this as simple and as expansive as possible, with it only be the conduit for one action set piece. The final image would become the style for the penultimate setting – the Euphoric Labs. Designed to be simplistic and pleasing to the yes, the labs are supposed to look euphoric and interesting, rather than the typically clichéd white labs scenario.
The key to making the visual style however is, destroying them whilst keeping their defining landmarks and characteristics intact. This takes the reality of the setting, twists it and highlights the horror of the “What if” situations. Game’s should always provide “What if?” situations – that is why people play game, to experience those impossible experiences.
The music couples visuals in key areas, “Kodak moments” and events. As stated quondam, Revenants is a realistic take on the apocalypse, but creating peaceful moments is key to making the horror a reality. Thus, most music with be simplistic, ambient and relaxing, creating euphoria and spectacle. Key pieces of music are detailed below.
The Search for Jim (John Murphy) – This eerie 28 Days Later track will be the almost natural but unpredictable backing track player as the payer explores the apartment and workshop.
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