Thread Lightly

THREAD LIGHTLY

I really enjoy dark and mysterious games that leave you thinking about them for weeks after you’ve beaten them. These types of games inspired me to create "Thread Lightly," which has a dystopian premise heavily influenced by George Orwell's book 1984. The idea of working for nothing in return, combined with the concept of always being watched, is dreadful for some people, and I believe I captured this feeling quite well in my game.

Pre-Production

When I started this project back in January, it felt very uncertain. I knew the feeling I wanted to evoke in the player but wasn't sure what gameplay would best fit. I began by creating a personal Game Design Document (GDD) where I wrote down ideas and potential gameplay mechanics, but nothing truly fit my image.

Then, I changed my approach and thought, "What is the least scary thing to put in a horror scenario that hasn’t been done before?" This led me to the idea of constructing sewing machines, which eventually evolved into a full-fledged one-man assembly line. With that, my game loop was established.

Blockout

Above, you can see the final version of the assembly room along with my latest iteration of the blockout. In this blockout, I used color coding to indicate the relevance of different objects:
Green: Key points for the player
Pink: Interactive objects for the player
Cyan: Smaller points of interest that might provide hints or lore
White/Blue/Red: Used for outlining the level

I wanted the sewing machine, or whatever was being assembled at the time, to be the focal point of the room, so I placed it prominently in the center. On one side of the room, you have your resources, while on the other side, you have your crafting station and electricity management.
My main focus for the gameplay was to make the player feel claustrophobic and pressured by working against the clock.

Visuals

As a solo developer, I had to narrow down my art style options significantly. During the development of this project, I was particularly inspired by the visual aesthetics of old Resident Evil and Silent Hill games. I researched extensively how they managed low-resolution textures on the PlayStation 1 and how they immersed players in the game world despite the low polycount.

I decided to go all in on this art style, and with the help of materials, low polycounts, and post-processing, I believe I achieved a solid final result. The main room where players spend most of their time is grimy and dirty, reflecting the overall aesthetic and enhancing the sense of immersion

However, after completing this project, I’ve grown tired of this art style. For my upcoming projects, I plan to explore a more stylized art style, as it offers a wide range of interpretations and creative possibilities.

Scripting

My biggest hurdle in scripting was the crafting station. The idea was to provide the player with a crafting station at one end of the room, where they could read recipes for parts and assemble them by pulling a lever. This turned out to be much more challenging than I anticipated.

I designed the machine to check if there are any items inside when the lever is pulled. If there aren't, it simply denies the player's request. If there are items, it first checks if they are valid crafting ingredients and then starts checking the list of recipes. The machine has around 40 different item combinations to check through, and if it finds a match, it starts up and crafts the chosen item.

The main struggles were getting the machine to find the correct recipe and managing all the items. The primary issue stemmed from my use of "for each loops". Initially, I had the machine check if it could craft anything after reading all the recipes, instead of having it check and read simultaneously. This way, if it found a match, the "for loop" would stop, and the machine would begin crafting.

Getting the machine to work took around 4-5 days and was a great learning experience.

Narrative

As the game progresses, my narrative is not there to hold the player's hand. I purposely left out a lot of information regarding the setting and kept the lore drops very fragmented. I want the player to speculate, but I also enjoy experimentation. This game has a total of four endings:

Ending 1: The player chooses to work their life away in the factory, leading to a promotion that results in an even worse work environment with horrendous tasks. As the game comes to a close, the camera pans out to reveal thousands of others who have reached the same level.

Ending 2: A scrap of paper appears beneath the door in the assembly room, containing a recipe for an explosive that can be used to escape. By following the instructions, the player can blow up the unit and escape through a tunnel dug out by the person who left the paper.

Ending 3: A note appears one day after the first, detailing a plan for a revolution and the creation of a weapon to take down the higher-ups. If the player chooses this path, they can craft the weapon and use it. After crafting, a long sound cue plays as the player runs down a corridor with the weapon. However, they are overwhelmed and fall into a room filled with security monitors showing countless other stations like the one they just left. The camera then pans to something very interesting.

Ending 4: This ending is triggered if the player crafts the previously mentioned explosive or weapon before the notes appear. If done, the game freezes, and the player is taken to an open white field of nothingness with only a table in the distance. Upon reaching the table, a monitor flashes text explaining that the player has created a time paradox by doing something the player knew about, but the character did not. This was my idea of a fun fourth wall-break for those who experiment with the game's mechanics.

Conclusion

This project has been great, and I feel like my skills in different subjects have benefited a lot from this experience. Handling multiple roles at once is challenging but enjoyable. I'm excited to see what the future holds, as I'm already eager to start working on something new. However, in the meantime, I should probably take a break. The game can be found below for those who are interested!

Link to the game!