PSI_GDD

Game Design Document for:
“Find the way out before ‘It’ finds you”
All work Copyright ©2016 Vancouver Film School
Written by:
Mackenzie Galbraith
Austin Harry
Thiago Izukawa
Andrea Osorio
Lyndon Robertson
Leonardo Stark
Version # 3.5
Wednesday, August 03, 2016

Copyright (C) 2016 Vancouver Film School – All rights reserved
Mackenzie Galbraith Page 2 8/3/2016
PSI
Table of Contents
DESIGN HISTORY ___________________________________________________________ 4
GAME OVERVIEW __________________________________________________________ 5
HIGH CONCEPT ______________________________________________________________ 5
PILLARS OF DESIGN __________________________________________________________ 5
Atmosphere built around growing anxiety rather than sudden shocks__________________ 5
The player should have to consciously manage their ammunition _____________________ 5
Collectables should guide players through both the levels and the narrative ____________ 5
COMMON QUESTIONS _________________________________________________________ 6
FEATURE SET ______________________________________________________________ 7
FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS ________________________________________________________ 7
Harpoon Gun _____________________________________________________________ 7
Radar____________________________________________________________________ 7
Diegetic UI _______________________________________________________________ 7
Audio Logs _______________________________________________________________ 7
Oxygen System ____________________________________________________________ 7
Objective System ___________________________________________________________ 7
FEATURE DETAILS ___________________________________________________________ 8
Player and Camera Movement ________________________________________________ 8
Harpoon Gun _____________________________________________________________ 8
Radar____________________________________________________________________ 8
Audio Logs _______________________________________________________________ 8
Oxygen System ____________________________________________________________ 8
Objective System ___________________________________________________________ 9
SINGLE-PLAYER GAME _____________________________________________________ 9
OVERVIEW _________________________________________________________________ 9
Story ____________________________________________________________________ 9
DETAILED WALKTHROUGH ___________________________________________________ 10
Hours of Gameplay ________________________________________________________ 15
Victory Conditions ________________________________________________________ 15
CAMERA __________________________________________________________________ 16
OVERVIEW ________________________________________________________________ 16
THE GAME WORLD ________________________________________________________ 17
OVERVIEW ________________________________________________________________ 17
Sunken and unsettling environment____________________________________________ 17
Unlockable areas _________________________________________________________ 17
THE WORLD LAYOUT ________________________________________________________ 17
Overview ________________________________________________________________ 17
THE PHYSICAL WORLD_______________________________________________________ 18
Overview ________________________________________________________________ 18
Key Locations ____________________________________________________________ 18
Travel __________________________________________________________________ 18
Scale ___________________________________________________________________ 18
Objects _________________________________________________________________ 20

PSI
GAME CHARACTERS_______________________________________________________ 21
Main Character – Poseidon Armor____________________________________________ 21
NPC Characters __________________________________________________________ 22
Enemies and Monsters _____________________________________________________ 23
CONTROLS ________________________________________________________________ 25
GAME INTERFACE - MENUS ________________________________________________ 26
SCREEN FLOW DIAGRAMS ____________________________________________________ 26
HUD/ON SCREEN DISPLAYS___________________________________________________ 27
WIREFRAMES ______________________________________________________________ 30
MUSICAL SCORES AND SOUND EFFECTS____________________________________ 32
SOUND DESIGN _____________________________________________________________ 32
MUSICAL SCORE ____________________________________________________________ 32
CONTACT INFO____________________________________________________________ 33
APPENDICES ______________________________________________________________ 34
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS WRITE-UP_____________________________________________ 34
TARGET MARKET APPENDIX __________________________________________________ 35

PSI
Design History
Revision Date Change Description
1.0 March 20, 2016 • Initial document set up. Added High concept,
Feature Set, Controls, Target Market,
Competitive Analysis, and Contact Info
1.1 March 21, 2016 • Added level design philosophy, Persona
under Target Market, Pillars of Design
1.2 March 22, 2016 • Added UI mockups, Camera View, AI Design
and behavior flowcharts
1.3 March 24, 2016 • Added logo, added write up for Target Market
to go with Persona
2.0 April 18, 2016 • Reformatted for final GDD, added Feature
Details, Single-Player Game, Camera, The
Game World, Game Characters, Game
Interface, Musical Scores and SFX, and
Appendices sections
3.0 July 4, 2016 • Began updating for Beta. Updated logos,
name, and reformatted some pages. Also
acted on feedback from the submission on
April 18th
. Updated Feature Set to new design
3.1 July 5, 2016 • Updated 3rd
Pillar of Design. Updated
Overview and Story.
3.2 July 7, 2016 • Updated HUD and Wireframes.
3.3 July 13, 2016 • Updated Characters, High Concept and Game
World
3.4 July 14, 2016 • Updated Feature Set and Feature Details
3.5 July 15, 2016 • Updated HUD and Wireframes. Updated
Level Walkthrough. Updated Feature Set and
Feature Details

PSI
Game Overview
High Concept
“PSI” is a 3D, first person, horror-survival game for PC. The player takes the role of a
rescue diver with the objective to recover the black box of a recently sunken cruise liner. To
achieve this goal, the player is equipped with a steampunk, old-style diving suit and a harpoon
gun for self-defense. A short time into the exploration, the player finds themselves trapped, with
communication to the surface severed. In addition, horrific, Lovecraftian monsters are trying to
kill the player by cracking open their suit. They must carefully conserve harpoons and oxygen as
they explore the wreck, kill these creatures, and discover the mysteries of how the ship went
down.
Pillars of Design
Atmosphere built around growing anxiety rather than sudden shocks
We deliberately want to avoid jump-scares, as we feel they are a cheap way of making
people scared. Atmosphere, both through lighting, sound, and pacing of levels are how we hope
to achieve horror.
The player should have to consciously manage their ammunition
Resource management is a large part of “PSI”. We want players to be thinking about how
many harpoons they have, and how many harpoons they’ll need to face any challenge ahead.
Every shot should be a difficult decision to make, and players will need to explore to find more
ammo if they hope to survive.
Collectables should guide players through both the levels and the
narrative
There are two types of collectables: gameplay pickups and narrative pickups. Gameplay
pickups consist of harpoons, harpoon packs, and oxygen tanks. Narrative pickups consist of audio
logs and notes. Harpoons guide the player naturally since it gives them more power in gameplay,
which makes them move forward to seek them out. Likewise, oxygen tanks are required to not
die. Audio logs and notes provide the player with the narrative, and incentivizes them to move
forward to unlock the next piece of the story. This reinforces two desires (that of power and
hearing the story) to explore and find new parts of the environment and levels.

PSI
Common Questions
What is the game?
PSI is a horror-survival game that takes place inside a sunken cruise ship. The player
soon finds himself trapped inside of it along with many Lovecraftian monsters. His objective is to
search the ship and find the black box so he can send an SOS to his team on the surface.
Why create this game?
We hope that PSI will create a psychological horror experience similar to the works of
Lovecraft. The underwater theme is one that none of us have seen done in this genre, and we hope
it will compliment it by building tension and anxiety in the player.
Where does the game take place?
PSI takes place entirely inside a sunken cruise ship. The levels focus mainly in the first
class areas, such as the dining room, first class quarters, and the bridge. The tutorial of the game
will be within the engine room, noted by different layouts, props, walls and floors.
What do I control?
The game is first person. The player takes control of rescue diver within the Poseidon
Armor. The armor is equipped with a harpoon gun but only has a limited supply of ammo.
What are the Goals/Objectives of the game?
The main objective is reaching the bridge to retrieve the black box and send an SOS. The
player also has a side-goal to collect all of the audio logs and unveil the hidden story. These are
found individually and only paint the whole picture when all 10 are found.
What is the main focus?
The main focus of PSI is to exploit the psychological horror apparent in the Lovecraftian
mythos. The player should be tense for a majority of playtime.
What’s different?
In recent time, the horror market has tended towards a mixture of horror and action or
focused on cheap jump scares. PSI wants to break that mould by going toward traditional horror
game philosophies, focusing more on the horrific, creeping feeling, rather than sudden scares. We
also have a totally original story written by team members in conjunction with alumni from the
VFS writing program.

PSI
Feature Set
Feature Highlights
PSI includes a low variety of abilities to keep it simple to understand. Having too many
complex mechanics distracts people from the atmosphere and horror that we are trying to achieve.
We wanted to make sure each feature compliments our design pillars. That is why each one of
them supports either atmosphere building, resource management, or story.
Harpoon Gun
The harpoon gun is the primary weapon of PSI. It fires 1 harpoon at a time before
needing to reload. It can be shot from the hip which fires instantly, or it can be aimed down sights
for improved accuracy.
Ammunition is very limited. Every shot counts as the player must explore throughout the
level to find more ammo. Harpoons can be picked back up after being fired, however they have a
50% chance to break and be consumed for good. This keeps players needing to move forward
while also not being too punishing.
Radar
The suit’s radar acts as a mini-map, displaying the walls, doors and other obstacles in the
layout of the level. It shows a top-down view of the area surrounding the player at a moderate
distance.
Diegetic UI
“PSI” tries to include as much of its UI as possible in-world to increase immersion. All
displays are actually modelled in 3D space to simulate them being physical displays the diver
would need within their helmet. The radar, health, distance to objective, current ammo and reload
timer are all mapped onto screens or dials within the suit’s helmet.
We do use some non-diegetic elements to give players more obvious feedback. Examples
of this are text on the screen saying “Press ‘A’ to interact”, when hovering over interactable
objects and highlighted outlines of said interactable objects.
Audio Logs
Throughout the game, the player will find audio logs which contain snippets of the story
of how the ship sank. They are told from two different points of view, each explaining their own
situation from before the ship sank. These start playing immediately upon collection, and can be
replayed at any time from the pause menu.
Oxygen System
The player only has a limited amount of oxygen while exploring the sunken wreck. If
they run out, they will die. They can find oxygen tank pickups or use a repair station to refill it.
Objective System
Starting shortly after the very opening of the game, the player will have explicitly laid out
objectives to complete. Things like “Pull the lever to open the door” or “Find your way to the
security room”. These objectives will be observable by the key object the player needs to interact
with being shown with a purple outline which can be seen through walls and other obstacles.

PSI
Feature Details
Player and Camera Movement
The player and camera movement is implemented using Unreal Engine’s built-in
methods such as AddMovementInput, AddControllerYawInput and AddControllerPitchInput.
Harpoon Gun
The Harpoon Gun is implemented using Unreal Engine’s LineTrace to check the location
where the player is pointing at. If fired from the hip, there is a randomized offset to make it less
accurate. If fired while aiming down sights, it fires in a direct line towards the center of the
screen.
Aiming down sights also zooms in the camera and changes the reticle to a much smaller
crosshair.
Every harpoon that is fired has a 50% chance to become a new harpoon pickup at the
location it impacted and a 50% chance to just disappear. If it becomes a new pickup, it will start
emitting bubble particles and be highlighted if hovered over, just like a regular pickup preplaced
in the world. If it breaks, it will instead emit a broken particle effect and play a sound effect
indicating it cannot be picked back up.
Radar
The radar serves as PSI’s mini-map. It displays all walls, doors and obstacles in a
moderate area around the player. This is done by having a camera renderer high above the level
pointing down. Beneath it is a huge plane which has a texture of the map of the level. The camera
is parented to the player so that it moves around the map of the level in the same way that the
player moves around the level.
In order to track the player’s vertical movement, there are 3 different maps that are
loaded onto the sky plane based on which trigger volume the player is currently in. These trigger
volumes are placed to contain the entire space of one whole level of verticality, thus only
changing the map when the player goes up or down.
Audio Logs
There is a total of 10 audio logs to collect, each one giving part of the overall story. 5 of
them are from the point of view of Barnabus Sandmartin Jr. and the other 5 are from the point of
view of Coraline Coulter.
The audio logs have a preset order, and whatever one is picked up, it will always play the
next one in line. For example, a player could collect the second audio log along the critical path,
but if they didn’t collect the first, it will play the first audio clip. Likewise, if they have only
collected 2 audio logs throughout the game, then they collect the 10th
and final one along the path,
it will still only play the third clip.
Audio log progress is saved at each checkpoint. If a player collects 5 audio logs, hits a
checkpoint, then collects 1 more, if they die, the game will consider them as having only
collected 5, not 6.
If an audio log is picked up while another one is still playing, it will be queued up to play
immediately following the current one.
Oxygen System
From the maximum, it will drain to 0 after 5 minutes and 30 seconds. Oxygen tanks can
be found throughout the level which will refill some of the player’s oxygen. Small tanks refill
25% of the total, and large tanks refill 75% of the total.

PSI
Objective System
Every time the player receives a new objective, text will appear on screen detailing that
objective briefly before fading out. This text can be viewed again at any time from the pause
screen.
In addition to the text, the objective object will be outlined in purple and visible through
walls and obstacles. If it is an area the player must get to instead of interacting with an object,
there will be a symbol floating in the area the player needs to get to, also outlined in purple.
Upon reaching this point in space or interacting with the intended object, the purple
outline will move to the next objective point or object, and new text will appear on screen with
instructions to complete the next objective.
Single-Player Game
Overview
PSI is a game about exploring, conserving ammunition, and immersing oneself in the
atmosphere. In short: a classic horror-survival game. Players will gain both ammo and
information by exploring the game world and collecting pick-ups, harpoons and audio logs.
Story
“Last night at 11:30, the lighthouse received a distress call from the S. S. Maelstrom
twenty miles off the coast. Rescue crews arrived in a matter of minutes but ended up coming back
with empty hands: there was nothing but a wreck. The ship sunk in what felt like matter of
seconds.
“That’s where we come in. They’ve ordered us to get to the bottom of this -- literally. But
not all of us, of course. There’s one Poseidon Armor for only one of us – and that means you.
This is a simple mission: find the black box and bring it back up. Let’s make this zone safer for
boats, son.” – Harlowe Gills IV.
The S. S. Maelstrom was a cruise ship that set out from New Bridgeport on the eve of
Mars 14th but never reached its destination. The events of PSI take place one day after the
Maelstrom went down. It is the job of the player to find audio logs from two passengers by the
name of Barnabus Sandmartin Jr. and Coraline Coulter which unveils the evil that occurred
during the voyage of the S. S. Maelstrom. He is guided through this journey over radio by his
Captain, Harlowe Gills IV.
Soon after getting to the wreck it is clear that something is amiss. Creepy sounds
foreshadow terrible, eldritch creatures have infested the ship and trapped the player inside. He
loses connection to Harlowe and must uncover the story on his own.
He discovers that Coraline was leading a cult that had the mission of bringing the Elder
God, Krygros from the neighboring dimension to the world they live in. She succeeded due to the
sacrifice of Barnabus and many of the other passengers of the S. S. Maelstrom. The ritual she
performed brought the ship to the bottom of the ocean where an interdimensional rip gave the old
god access to the mortal realm.
The player realizes too late that the ship that brought him in was in on this evil the whole
time. Harlowe was a part of the cult too, and wanted to send the player down be another sacrifice
to his God. Harlowe leaves the player for dead to be consumed by the servants of Krygros.

PSI
Detailed Walkthrough
When the game opens up the player finds themselves inside a supply room in the ship.
Having entered from the ventilation system. They find that one of the paths is blocked by fallen
shelves, forcing them to around a massive support structure. This
path has several large shelves containing harpoons. The final shelf
in the row has the first of the ten audio logs. Continuing around the
structure players will find a massive lever which can override the
security lockdown unlocking the door. However continuing in the
supply room to where the shelves block the path, players will find
several oxygen tanks. In the foyer immediately following the
supply room players find themselves opposite their objective. The
door to the bridge. This door is locked as is the door to the grand
staircase after the ship was locked down. The player is then
instructed to unlock the ship via the security office in the library.
They are told to access it through the elevator shaft to the left of the
bridge.

PSI
After dropping down players will need to move through the hallway behind the elevator.
However immediately on the shelf they will find the second audio log pick up. Continuing around
the corner they will come to the door to a rest area. Inside there is a crab monster waiting for
them. They will then be face to face with the door to the second class hall.
Once in the second class hall players will find signs pointing them towards several
locations. Walking to the left towards second class will have players finding the path blocked off
by debris intentionally placed. They will also find themselves an oxygen tank and another audio
log. Going the other way, players find a repair station immediately on their right. Inside is any
and all supplies they need. Continuing will have them entering the library.

PSI
Several rows into the library players will find a crab monster guarding a locked door,
leading to the dining room hallway. Continuing to the other side of the library will yield another
crab monster. Moving around the L-shaped room players find the reading area. Here on one of the
tables is the third audio log. At the back of the reading area is a door leading to the security
office. In the back of the security office is a lever that will override the security on this section of
the ship. Also in this room is a busted open safe with an audio log inside. Leaving this area will
have players returning to the guarded door they found earlier.
Upon reaching the dining hall the player finds another audio log on a table. They must go
through the kitchen to reach second class. Upon entering the second class area they will
immediately find a crab monster on the other side of the door. Continuing to the rooms the first
room on the left contains an audio log on a television stand. At the end of the hall is a door to
access the lower decks.

PSI
Once players drop to the lower decks, they will find themselves in a long corridor like
area. To the left and in front of them are 2 locked doors. To the right is a long corridor. Upon
opening the first door they will find a crab monster in the hall. Once past him players must make
a left, they will find another supply room where they can refill any lost resources. Continuing
around players will find another crab monster in front of another door. The other side will be
blocked but have a pickup inside. Players will move along until they are back in the original
corridor with another crab monster. Around the next corner is another repair station to be used.

PSI
After the repair station players find themselves in the grand staircase hall. There is an
audio log on the fountain, there is another audio log under the staircase. Once they enter the door
at the top of the stairs, they will find that they have returned to the start of the level with the
bridge now unlocked. Entering this leads to the bridge as well as the end of the game.

PSI
Hours of Gameplay
PSI gameplay should last approximately 10 minutes. In this time players will realize the
door to the bridge is locked and proceed to the security room to lift it This can be extended in its
current state by the collectibles in the area. It may also be extended if the bulk of the level is
completed ahead of schedule and there is time budgeted for another one.
Victory Conditions
Players will achieve victory in this short demo upon lifting the security in the ship via the
security room in the second floor. The final victory can be interpreted very differently depending
on how many tapes the player has collected upon entering the bridge.

PSI
Camera
Overview
“PSI” uses a first person camera to ensure total immersion into the game world. This also
supports our decision to have diegetic UI on the hands of the player character and on this inside
of his helmet.
In addition, the camera has a multitude of processing effects to help get across the
underwater feeling. There is a post-processing volume to give the blue tint and blur in the
distance. There is a custom-built shader to give the appearance of water rippling which is very
pronounced far away, but more subtle the closer to the camera it is.

PSI
The Game World
Overview
PSI takes place on a cruise ship with steampunk style elements. The player will be able to
explore the First Class area, Second Class area and a brief area of the Engine Rooms completing
missions to continue moving through the cruiser and unlock new areas. Unsettling feelings and
anxiety will be enhanced by the environment and character art as well as the background sounds
and music during gameplay.
Sunken and unsettling environment
Enter the Dining Room, Kitchens, Quarters and Ball Room to discover new things as you
travel through the ship. The player will find bodies, enemies, audio logs, objects floating around
him, destroyed surroundings but no sign of survivors. The environment art will be detailed with
walls containing human bodies, corpses will be pilled around, no obvious clues of what happened
to the passengers and crew except the story from the audio logs.
Unlockable areas
There will be missions along the play through of the game, to be able to enter a new
section of the ship the player must complete their objectives. If the mission has not been yet
completed, the area will remain inaccessible by different situations, i.e. a locked door or enemies
blocking the path.
The World Layout
Overview

PSI
The Physical World
Overview
The entire game takes place inside of a steampunk cruise ship. The ship contains a lot of
highly technological machines to reflect this theme. Copper and brass will make up a lot of the
textures of machines, even things like borders around monitors. There will also be a lot of gears,
cogs, and pipes which serve as accents around machines like engines, dials, and measuring
devices.
The design of the furniture, walls and floors is intended to give the feeling of a high class,
expensive place. Of course it will stick with the steampunk theme, keeping gears as ornaments on
the chairs, tables, pillars, even staircases. In terms of color, the main scheme will be golden but
peeled away and rusting underneath.
Key Locations
The cruise ship has 4 key location which are:
• Bridge: This is the location where the main objective of the game is achieved. The
black box and communications with the surface will be inside the bridge where the
player must reach at the end of the game.
• First Class Area: One of the three main areas to explore. This area features fancier
furniture, broader hallways, higher ceilings, and big expensive centerpieces. Specific
subareas include a dining room, first class quarters and upper decks.
• Second Class Area: The second of three core areas to explore. This area features
lower class quarters, a library, and lower decks.
• Engine Room: The final core area. It has a large section to itself, but also consists of
little areas scattered between first and second class rooms. This consists of storage
areas, repair stations, security rooms, and engine rooms.
Travel
Traveling through areas depends on the player’s progress in the game. The player will be
able to move by walking and reaching their short term objectives, exploring and finally unlocking
new areas which will make the player explore more in the cruise ship and progressing towards the
bridge while discovering more of the story and killing enemies that come to face them.
Scale
Scale is represented as the pictures below:

PSI
Scale of the player, AI enemies and size of walls for consider the size of rooms.

PSI
Objects
• Audio logs: These objects will be collectibles scattered among the cruise ship. There
are two type of audio logs: One belongs to Barnabus Sandmartin Jr. and other to
Coraline Coulter. This audio logs will reveal the complete story of the game behind
the Lovecraftian creatures and the reason the cruise ship has sunk.
• Notes: These will serve a similar purpose to the audio logs but be from many
nameless people from the ship, and only be visual, not read aloud. Text or small
drawings scrawled in haste are somehow preserved for the player to discover more
about the story.
• Harpoons: These serve as ammunition to the harpoon gun. They can be found as a
single harpoon, or in a pack of 6.
• Oxygen tanks: These refill the player’s oxygen. Large tanks refill by 75%, small
tanks by 25%.

PSI
Game Characters
Overview
The characters in PSI are split into two distinct groups. The first being the diving crew
that is investigating the disappearance of a cruise ship that mysteriously sunk to the bottom of the
ocean. The main character is a blank canvas that is piloting a steampunk diving suit called
Poseidon Armor. At the start of the game the player is in contact with a dispatcher by the name of
Harlowe Gills who explains the mechanics and narrative of the game through radio contact. The
other group is the passengers and crew of that ship that will be telling the story of what happened
through audio logs that the player can pick up during the course of the game. Barnabus
Sandmartin Jr. is one of the passengers of the SS. Maelstrom who plays a big role in the events
that led up to the start of the game. Coraline Coulter is the leader of a cult that performs a ritual
on the cruise ship that causes it to sink and turns the passengers and crew into horrific eldritch
monsters. The player learns of this storyline through audio logs that are hidden throughout the
game in a scattered order. The monsters themselves have a mixture of human and ocean creature
parts to make uncanny horrors.
Main Character –
Poseidon Armor
The main character of
PSI is a Search and Rescue
agent equipped with what is
called Poseidon Armor. The
armor was developed for the
potential rescue of the crews of
recently sunken ships and has
equipment for fending off
sharks, locating survivors or
service stations and moving
effectively through deep sea
terrain.

PSI
NPC Characters
Harlowe Gills IV
Harlowe is the dispatcher of the ship the player started his
expedition on. He will appear at various points in the game as
voice-over through a static filled radio. He was onboard the S.S.
Maelstrom just before it sank. Although the player doesn’t know
it, Harlowe is actually Coraline’s brother. He was afraid to
perform the ritual, so he took the emergency life boat and fled the
ship, leaving everyone else trapped onboard, doomed to face the
abominations Coraline summoned. Over time, his mind was
corrupted to have the urge to return to the wreck and finish the job
his sister started. That is why he brought the player out to sacrifice
him to the creatures which remain.
Barnabus Sandmartin Jr.
Barnabus is one of two characters who voices the audio
logs in the game. He is naïve, awkward and manipulatable.
Having no experience with dating, he was shocked when the
beautiful Coraline Coulter took an interest in him. He feels a
constant urge to obey Coraline. It grows slowly at first, but over
time it completely consumes him. Her voice begins echoing
through his mind to the point where he can’t focus on anything
else. This total insanity leaves him ripe for sacrifice when
Coraline performs the unholy ritual and consumes him.
Coraline Coulter
Coraline is the other point of view character from the
audio logs. She appears friendly and preppy, but also subtly
sinister. She seduces the weak-minded Barnabus to use as the
sacrifice for the ritual to bring back her God, Krygros. Her
brother Harlowe fled, leaving the ritual incomplete and although
the ritual threw the S.S. Maelstrom into chaos, it didn’t spread to
the world. She still lives on as part of the horrific monster,
Acervus, waiting to receive the final ingredient at the bottom of
the sea.

PSI
Enemies and Monsters
Carcinus Crab
The most common enemy in PSI is called a Carcinus Crab. It is a disturbing 4 legged
crab monster that is made out of what looks like human remains. The head of the creature
resembles the face of a human that has had its mouth contorted and stretched into a gaping maw
of pointed teeth. The Crab's chitinous shell is made from the bones of its former human body. An
exposed ribcage on the bottom of the creature lazily holds the Carcinus together.

PSI
Acervus
Acervus it is another enemy type,
he will appear less than the other enemies.
He is made up of many bodies, making him
huge by comparison to the others enemies.
He is a towering 2.5 meters tall. The
enemies tongue will function as feelers like
a bug, sensing the player’s motion and
sound ripples through the water.

PSI
Controls
Overview
Below is the control scheme for PSI. It uses standard first person controls for movement.
We also allow players to shoot from the hip for an inaccurate shot, or they can charge up while
aiming down sights to do a more accurate shot and zoom in the reticle to make headshots easier.
The only other offensive capability the player has is their flashlight burst placed on a face button
for easy access to use in a pinch.

PSI
Game Interface - Menus
Screen Flow Diagrams
Overview
Since much of the UI in game will be diegetic, the gross UI will be as minimalistic as
possible. The only time the player will ever have to navigate menus is before starting to change
options or looks at the credits. Aside from that, all action takes place without having to navigate
menus or interact with the UI.

PSI
HUD/On Screen Displays

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PSI
Wireframes

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PSI
Musical Scores and Sound Effects
Overview
For the musical score, the player should feel tension through the ambient music. The
background track has to be very subtle, but noticeable enough to effect the player subconsciously.
Every action in the game has to have a sound effect associated with that specific action to give
information to the player without relying on a User Interface.
Sound Design
The sound design in PSI has to communicate to the player that the game takes place
inside an isolated and heavy suit, deep underwater. This means adjusting the sound so that it
resembles sound travelling through water.
Musical Score
The score of PSI is meant to induce creeping feelings while exploring and walking
around, and then pay off that tension with higher intensity, hectic music during combat. The
exploration music uses a lot of percussion and slow tones without much melody. The combat
music uses string instruments like violin to create a more intense feeling.

PSI
Contact Info
Mackenzie Galbraith
Email: gd42mac@vfs.com
• Project Manager
• UI Designer
• Lighting Artist
Austin Harry
Email: gd42austin@vfs.com
• Character Artist
• Rigger
• Animator
Thiago Izukawa
Email: gd42thiago@vfs.com
• Character Artist
• Environment Artist
Andrea Osorio
Email: gd42andreao@vfs.com
• Gameplay Programmer
• AI Programmer
Lyndon Robertson
Email: gd42lyndon@vfs.com
• Level Designer
• Mission Scripter
• Cinematic Designer
Leonardo Stark
Email: pg06leonardo@vfs.com
• Gameplay Programmer
• Systems Programmer
• Audio Programmer

PSI
APPENDICES
Competitive Analysis Write-Up
1. Subnautica
a. Similarities
i. Deep sea monsters
ii. Oxygen meter
iii. Scary creatures lurking in the dark
iv. Feeling of isolation
b. How we stand out
i. Horror game rather than survival-
crafting.
ii. Not returning to the surface.
iii. Totally within a ship, not out in open ocean
2. SOMA
a. Similarities
i. Deep ocean theme.
ii. First Person
iii. Feeling of isolation
iv. Feeling of claustrophobia
b. How we stand out
i. Much more of a focus on
narrative
ii. Steampunk art style.
iii. No interaction with any other people.
3. Alien Isolation
a. Similarities
i. Building up anticipation for big
creatures.
ii. Feeling of isolation
iii. Anxiety built around sound
iv. Heavy focus on resource
management
b. How we stand out
i. Underwater theme
ii. The ability to kill enemies
iii. Using the environment to trap enemies

PSI
Target Market Appendix
The primary target market that our team is looking to acquire users from are males aged
15-30, who are fans of the horror genre. Our ideal user would most likely enjoy atmospheric and
Lovecraftian horror works, as well as the survival horror games such as Amnesia and Outlast. We
intend to get this audience by creating and advertising a very immersive and anxious game
centered around some of the many deep seeded fears in the human subconscious such as the fear
of the deep ocean, the fear of the dark, arachnophobia and many others. Our target market would
most likely not enjoy jump scare horror games, instead opting for high atmosphere, high anxiety
experiences.
Below is a persona detailing our specific target player.
Persona:
• Name: Scott
• Age: 28
• Gender: Male
• Likes
o Classic horror movies, in particular, Alien
o Immersive VR Experiences
o Atmospheric horror
o Diving
o The literary works of H.P. Lovecraft
o Rogue-like games
o Challenging games
• Dislikes
o “Streamer-friendly” horror games
o Jump Scares
o Cutesy mobile games, like Candy Crush
o Complacency in games
o Casual, easy games
o Shallow, irrelevant stories

PSI_GDD

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