History of the Project
Project Phantom started off as a suggestion by a friend, alias 'Kaevy', to make a horror game that limits the player's control to increase their feeling of "helplessness" during gameplay. The game itself took inspirations from other popular horror games such as Five Nights At Freddy's, Bendy & the Ink Machine, Amnesia etc. After further planning in details, the project is a go!
Storybuilding- Setting the Atmosphere
The moment the idea is pitched, we instantly knew we wanted it to be set sometimes during the 20th century. When Noir and Jazz is the trend, the world is recovering from the war, black and white TV, you get the point.
Next up is to determine the location where the story will take place. Kaevy wanted the game to happen at the skirt of a city, and the plot will lead the player into suburban area where the climax of the story will happen.
Visual - Aesthetic & Style
We wanted the world view to be grim and dark, at the same time something reminiscence of that era's entertainment. In the end, we decided to do a style of undersaturated colors, with a hint of vintage vibe presented in all the films back then.
Environmentally, we imagined for the first few levels to be the urban area of the cityside. With tall brick buildings lining the side of concrete pavements, roads emptied of vehicles, and almost non functioning street lamps lighting up the foggy night. After that it will be moved to the suburban area, a seemingly abandoned housing district, with the same government built houses lining the sides of empty littered streets.
Characters Design - Dancing with Shadows
I can't tell you much of the characters without spoiling the games in advanced. But since it will be set in the early 20th Century, obviously the protagonist will be wearing a fedora, trench coat hiding a necktie, white collared shirts & long pant while sporting a leather shoes, a classic look familiar to detective films lover.
As for the phantom, we wanted them to look ordinary from afar or in the shadow, but at the same time subtlely out of place, maybe a bit terrifying. Something that makes you stop in your path when you saw them down the street at night. So, we opted for a more victorian clothing for the phantoms. On top of that, they will be wearing a masquarade-ish mask too.
