theinspectorgame

[theinspectorgame]

I'm making a game about finding memories to wake up a beloved from coma. I'm trying to deal with a level design that opposed real things and absurd elements, like in a dream!

This is will call "The Inspector" and your mission will be to "investigate" inside the dreams.

The game itself is very simple (is nothing more than a walking sim), but the story behind it, is not!

10 years ago, my mother fall into a deep coma state after an accident. She, fortunately, woke up after 3 months. In that period, feelings of inadequacy were my most common emotion. "I really cannot be doing anything to help her to wake up?" I was thinking!

So, many years after, and one pandemic that give me some extra time, I decided to "write" game, where I can finally try to do something to deal with the people that are in coma.

In a near future, a special medical department called TIP (The Inspector Programm) has the delicate task of investigating the human mind in search of those elements that will bring our loved ones back to life.

I hope you enjoy this concept. If you like it, leave a note below to let me know. This is the most important thing.

Take Care.

The Inspector is on STEAM

[theinspectorgame]

I tried to fix a major problem in my game with a new feature!

I made I playtes 2 weeks ago.

During that, practically everyone reports to me that wasn't easy to find all the memories inside the map (and find memories is necessary to complete the game!!).

So I worked on improving a system that lets you "hear" the position of these objects!

(here below is reported the page of the wiki that talks about this system, called PMF)

Definition

The "Parabolic Microphone Filter" (or PMF) is the main tool for identifying the memories inside the patient's mind. This element, which can be equipped via the "TAB" key, cast an invisible ray, parallel to the line of fire, transferring an audio signal from the point where the beam meets any obstacle, to our ear.

Filter and Tracking functions

La funzione "filtro" del PMF (automaticamente attivata ogni volta che lo si equipaggia) permette di sentire suoni altrimenti indistinguibili. Generalmente, ma non necessariamente, questi suoni sono associati alle memorie del paziente. Nel caso in cui si intercetti un suono proveniente da una memoria, la scritta lampeggiante "Signal detected" apparirà nella porzione inferiore del nostro Inspect-On. Lo sfondo di tale scritta ha il compito di indicare la distanza con la pozione della memoria più vicina.

The "filter" function of the PMF (automatically activated each time it is equipped) allows you to hear otherwise indistinguishable sounds. Generally, but not necessarily, these sounds are associated with the patient's memories. In the event that a sound coming from a memory, a blinking message"Signal detected" will appear in the lower portion of our Inspect-On. The background of this writing has the task of indicating the distance to the nearest memory position.

Red Background - sound coming between 150 and 100 meters **

Yellow Background - sound coming between 100 and 50 meters **

Green Background - sound coming within 50 meters **

With the PMF equipped it is possible to mark the last position of the listening point using the "F" key. A yellow symbol (defined as PMF marker) will then be added to both our map and the compass, making it easier to search for memories.

How to unlock and where to use

It was clear early on that unregulated use of PMF led to severe neurological consequences for the patient. To avoid abuses in its use, access to this tool is initially inhibited for Inspectors who are about to enter the mission for the first time. The PMF is generally stored in a safety cell, accessible only to owners of the appropriate electronic card.

This key is made available only after finding at least one memory and deactivating a beacon. As an additional security measure, the key spawns randomly into the subconscious and it will be up to the inspector to find its location.

In any case, the use of the PMF is limited to some areas only, the field of action of which is displayed inside the Inspect-On by a white circle. The flashing message "PMF now usable" appears every time you enter this range. The PMF is equipped with a safety system that automatically deactivates the tracking system once outside the permitted areas.

Fun Fact

The iconic shape of the PMF resembles a large water gun. The two rear ampoules are used to store the tracer gas (in a minimum quantity for 3 missions), while the shape of the truncated-conical barrel serves to limit the listening cone.

Notes

(it is not possible to equip the PMF until it is found inside the patient's mind)*

**(compared to the listening point of the PMF)

[theinspectorgame]

I'm experimenting with an audio listener attached at the point of collision of a ray cast, letting you scan the area like you have a directional microphone!

On the left side, you can see how the listener is transferred on the collision point (marked with the redpoint) as soon the microphone is equipped.

Final state machine for this system is pretty easy!

As you can see, the hit point is stored in a Vector 3. The max distance of the raycast is set on -1, which means "infinite"; I also put all the tree under a "vegetation" layer, that basically is not affected by the ray cast

Thanks to the "set point" action, here I'm transferring the listener on the vector 3 stored as seen above

Finally, I'm able to switch between the listeners with some really simple "activate game object" actions

[theinspectorgame]

Despite the super-tough week on my 9-5 job (or I would say 8-9), I found at least 1 hour per day to work on my game: sometimes I hate it, sometimes it can gift me some nice glimpse of peace!

I've already put over 200 hours under my belt, since October 2020. It's my first game ever, and I learned everything only, from scratch!

[theinspectorgame]

Today I've done my first "full" playtest. This means that finally, the game has an INTRO, a CORE, and an ENDING. Arrive at this point was challenging, but also super rewarding!

[theinspectorgame]

Commitment.

It's the only keyword that you should consider if you are going to start an indie game dev journey.

This is my progress in level design after over 100 hours spent in unity, 1 minute at least, every day, every night, since October!

Commitment doesn't necessarily bring to you success, commitment means to put all the love you can into something you have ever dreamed about!

[theinspectorgame]

That's really incredible how much you can achieve without writing a single line of code. Discovering a plugin for unity like playmaker literally changed my perspective on game design, without knowing barely anything about C#.

That’s not necessarily means that visual script is easy but just because you aren't familiar with syntax and the technical details doesn't mean you can’t think like a programmer

[theinspectorgame]

I started thinking about introducing pixelated style as soon I get that this could help me in the production, hiding some mistakes in 3d modeling and texturing. In other words, I found pixellation the best solution to speed up production without losing quality. 

I obtain this effect by simply applying two super simple scripts found online and free to use!

[theinspectorgame]

I've been strangely silent for the past two weeks. I worked on the enemy AI, which was super time-consuming. Now enemies need to have a clear line of sight to you before start chasing, giving you room for some basic "stealth operations"

[theinspectorgame]

I played Outer Wilds too much during these holidays... ended up adding planets to my game! (as always, sound ON  is suggested!)

[theinspectorgame]

Here we are! I spent the whole week preparing the first trailer for The Inspector, and (I hope) it looking good! Now it's time to start setting up a steam page!

[theinspectorgame]

How to stay motivated after weeks of working on the same project and at the same scene? Simple! Start to mess around with random new features for your game!

[theinspectorgame]

This is just a new portion of my passion project I've been working for 2 months, in my extra time after work. Every night, I add just a little piece and, for now, I'm pretty happy about how it's turning out!

I received good feedback from other platforms about this image so, why not share it with you?