REDLINE DESIGN DOCUMENT
Game Overview
Title: REDLINE
Genre: Narrative Horror
Platform: Windows, Mac
Engine: Unity
Game Mode: Single-player
Technical Details
Development Tools: Unity, Maya, Blender, Substance Painter, Adobe Photoshop
Timeframe: Senior School Year
Completion Date: May 1, 2024
Team Size: 2
Role: Lead Game Designer, Environmental Designer, Prop Designer, Graphic Designer, UI Designer
Concept
REDLINE is an immersive narrative horror game that challenges players to confront their own emotional turmoil through the lens of a protagonist burdened by regret. REDLINE explores themes of regret, guilt, and psychological disintegration, creating a uniquely atmospheric journey where the player is not just an observer, but a participant in the protagonist's unraveling psyche. With its focus on creating an overwhelming emotional experience, REDLINE redefines psychological horror by placing the player's mental state at the heart of gameplay.
Gameplay
Core Mechanic: REDLINE’s core mechanic revolves around navigating from one light source to the next in an environment where darkness is synonymous with psychological collapse. The player must balance their movement with the need to avoid overwhelming panic attacks triggered by the protagonist's haunting memories. Failure to manage these elements results in blackouts that force the player to reset their progress, creating an ever-present tension.
Player Objective: As the protagonist—a husband burdened by regret—the player must confront a series of harrowing emotional flashbacks tied to his failed marriage. The narrative is punctuated by visceral flashbacks, both visual and auditory, that progressively intensify as the player moves deeper into the metro.
Environmental Challenges: Players will encounter a variety of environmental obstacles that force them to navigate complex, claustrophobic spaces while confronting their emotional trauma head-on.
Level Design
Level Structure: REDLINE features a single, continuous environment that evolves in complexity and intensity as the player progresses. The level design mirrors the protagonist’s psychological breakdown, becoming increasingly disorienting and oppressive, using environmental storytelling to evoke feelings of helplessness and dread.
Progression: As the player advances, the metro transforms into a nightmarish maze of barriers and dead ends. The progression is meticulously created to increase player anxiety, using subtle shifts in lighting, spatial design, and audio cues to amplify the tension.
Design Philosophy: The vastness of the underground metro spaces contrasts with the player’s growing insignificance, utilizing scale and emptiness to evoke a sense of isolation. Drawing inspiration from real-world underground systems, such as the London Underground and the New York Metro, the level design grounds the player in a familiar, yet unnervingly altered environment.
Sound & Music
Sound Design: In REDLINE sound is implemented to heighten tension and strategically to unsettle and unnerve players. The auditory landscape is dominated by the desperate, echoing voice of the protagonist’s wife, contrasting with the protagonist’s heavy, labored breathing and the hollow reverberations of his footsteps.
Dynamic Audio: As the player ventures deeper into the metro and the protagonist’s mental state deteriorates, the sound design intensifies. The audio becomes increasingly discordant, mirroring the protagonist’s growing inability to differentiate between reality and memory. This use of audio as a storytelling device adds another layer of immersion, pulling the player deeper into the protagonist’s emotional turmoil.
Art Style & Aesthetic
Visual Style: REDLINE’s visual direction employs a minimalist yet highly effective color palette of black, white, and red. This color palette serves as a critical tool for gameplay, guiding the player’s attention and evoking strong emotional responses. The contrast between light and dark is utilized to symbolize safety versus peril, while red is strategically used to signify moments of emotional climax.
Environmental Design: The game’s environment is integral to the gameplay and storytelling, using space, light, sound, and exaggerated architectural design to immerse players in the protagonist’s psyche. The environment mirrors the protagonist's inability to escape his past and symbolizes his slow descent into confronting his buried memories.
Inspiration: The game’s environmental design is heavily influenced by real-world metro systems. The choice of familiar spaces—warped into eerie, surreal versions of themselves—enhances the sense of discomfort and disorientation.
Unique Selling Points
Psychological Depth: REDLINE is an exploration of the human condition focusing on themes of guilt and regret. By forcing players to inhabit the mind of a deeply flawed and regretful individual, REDLINE creates a discomforting, introspective experience.
Emotionally-Driven Gameplay: The game’s mechanics are tightly intertwined with its narrative. The use of light as a gameplay element that shields the player from overwhelming memories is a direct metaphor for the protagonist’s fleeting grip on sanity. The emotional weight of the protagonist’s past is constantly felt, making it deeply personal and affecting.
Immersive Environmental Storytelling: Every element of REDLINE’s environment tells a story. The environment is a key narrative tool that amplifies the game’s emotional impact. The player is not simply moving through space; they are navigating the protagonist’s fractured mind.