Hi there! I figured I do some devlog articles talking a bit more about the gameplay features. In this case specifically reading books!

Yeah I know reading books doesn’t sound like a particular interesting gameplay feature. Especially since many horror games use documents in a very uninspiring way. In most cases you get a snippet of the story and occasionally the solution to a puzzle. It’s very rare for a player to be really engaged in reading the text. In the story and puzzle solving yes, but not in reading the text itself. Why is that?

Well in my opinion most games just present the text with maybe a voice over. But for many book readers having a book in hand is part of the experience. I know a few people who prefer reading actual books over reading the same text on a display. And I guess there are many more out there.

As reading books is an important aspect of my game, I don’t just want to present players with the hints hidden in a text. I want players to feel like they are looking for clues in old tomes. I want them to feel smart for reading in between the lines. And I want to use the books themselves to be recognizable – to have character. Players should be able to remember which book they need to consult in order answer a certain question. Not just the title, but also the cover and maybe even have a rough idea on how old the book is, based on what it looks like.

Of course this is difficult to achieve, but I try my best. The first step is done, as I have implemented the book reading screen. Aside from fixing some glitches, what I need to do now is to properly design the book covers and the content. On October 15^th you’ll be able to read them. And maybe you’ll approve of my design approach for reading in (horror) video games.