Light in the Darkness - Overview 

Light in the Darkness is a short atmospheric horror game in which a child lost in a dark forest must collect light while being pursued by a menacing figure. This game was created as my final year project, developed solo using Unreal Engine 5.2.

System work examples - Diagrams

Player mechanics

  • Player moves around using WASD, which also moves the camera fixed on the back of the player
  • When holding shift, players sprint for faster movement
  • Players interact with E
  • When collecting light orbs, player body begins to "fill with light"

Enemy behavior

  • Enemy wanders aimlessly between randomly generated points on the map
  • Enemy field of view (FOV) visualized using an orange light
  • FOV cannot go through objects; such as trees
  • If player enters FOV, enemy will begin chasing player
  • If player collides with enemy, player dies and the level is reset
  • The more lights collected by player, the more enemy FOV increases in range

Grass

  • Orange grass found in level 1 and 2 will 
  • Will slow player down if walked on
  • Gray grass found in level 3
  • Will glow if stepped on by player
  • Will glow in on points of interest such as puzzles

Reflection notes

Player:

Meant to represent an empty husk, that by collecting lights scattered around the map, can the player return life to the darkenned forest. Controls were kept simple as well as single handed to allow better acessibility. 

Enemy:

The model and animation for the figure were made by myself, which helped keep the original idea of the character. The system is a simple ai chase behaviour, that only in the end does the figure always chase the player until the end. This is because the player has accumulated so mush light that the player is visible through the darkness

Grass:

One of the first concept idea for the game, I wanted to use plants in different ways to add to the forest world magic. Originally I wanted players to be able to draw on a grass field with the light, but due to time constraints the grass was used as a challenge factor in the first 2 levels, and then as a world guide for player to more easily find the puzzles on the map

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