Unit 9+10+12

from brief:

engagement / exploration

research – idealisation – visual development – planning – grey boxing – prototype – production – testing – evaluation

definitions, literal meanings, abstract meanings (potential form for peer input), synonyms, opposites, emotions, cultural associations, visual associations, materials, colours ,shapes, sounds, environments, characters or archetypes , possible narrative interpretations, consider how the 3 keywords could interact. beautiful

tie real life stuff into the story (already planning tbf) tax economy, etc etc

NEED PRIMARY PHOTOS

MORE MOOD BOARDS, weather, random stuff,

mood/ positive/ negative (both) AUDIO(YES) i need birds and happy then creepy music

age range

could have planned features that i don’t implement myself and leave for a “studio” to pick up later

BIG DEV LOG START DEV LOG.

essay pick one main question/ thing to talk about. maybe research my AI idea tho idk how that links to words tbh.

ideas/change or reinforce from researching

Research
Planning
Dev log
Evaluation
Reference list

First word – Makeshift

I wrote my initial ideas in this mind map with the literal definition of Makeshift.

To visualise the ideas better, I created 2 mood boards

The main idea from this is the like missing asset/ glitched world aspect, which I really liked. Primarily inspired by the game Miside, though also because I like the implication of the world itself being makeshift.

These ideas were the more literal impression of makeshift. Where you would have to make primitive tools/ play a story in a primitive area.

With my first ideas laid out, I started researching the definitions and interpretations of makeshift with synonyms and acronyms.

Info from Merriam Webster. (2026). Thesaurus results for MAKESHIFT. [online] Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/makeshift [Accessed 21 Sept. 2026].

Synonyms:

Alternate,
substitute,
backup,

Antonyms:

Original,
Permanent,

In my opinion and with the definitions from the same site referenced above makeshift can be interpreted:

as in new
– taking the place of one that came before

and

as in substitute
-a temporary replacement

Second word – Nostalgic

I Immediately thought of the bright liminal like style which not specifically but similar to the 2000s frutiger aero style.

Literal definitions:

– A feeling of pleasure and also slight sadness when you think about things that happened in the past
– A sad pleasure experienced in recalling what no longer exists : a wistful or sentimental yearning for a return to or the return of some real or romanticised past period or some irrecoverable past condition or setting
– The state of being homesick

– Cambridge Dictionary (2026). nostalgia. [online] Cambridge Words. Available at: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/nostalgia [Accessed 24 Sept. 2026].
– Merriam-Webster (2019). Definition of NOSTALGIA. [online] Merriam-webster.com. Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nostalgia [Accessed 24 Sept. 2026].

The definition that most accurately aligns with my own interpretation and initial ideas is the second one of:
A sentimental yearning for a return of a irrecoverable past condition/ setting.

To explore how to recreate this feeling of nostalgia for others Im starting with this YouTube video by dvmpstr. (2025, November 17). Why liminal spaces feel like memories you never lived [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIndzJhYl68

“We look at these empty spaces and feel, something? Nostalgia? Sadness? Homesickness? Wonder? Fear?”
These feelings are something I want to make the player feel when discovering my story.

“…feel like memories of lives we never lived.”
My level design needs to be somewhere familiar to the players to help reinforce the nostalgic aspect.

“A liminal space is a space between things, between destinations, between contexts…”
This reinforces my initial idea of being in-between the edge of the simulation/ the outside world and the central city
where the original AI lived. However Im unsure about this level design so I will research further ideas.

“When you remove the people, the purpose. The space becomes something else”
This fits with ruined and my original ideas of exploring a past civilisation because the lack of life make you feel like the
space itself is uncanny.

“liminal spaces remove all personalisation… no narrative. No identity.”
I think this is fairly important to get right to fit with my ruined keyword as I want to show the remnants of life while
also showing so little personalisation to the environment that it feels liminal.

“liminal spaces reflect not what they are but what ever you bring into them”
Some building designs could be minimal but explained by a key feature or piece of info the player picks up, as the
lack of detail emphasises the story.

“the absence of life makes the space feel more personal, not less”
I plan to add ‘makeshift’ notes and modifications to the original level design that shows life did exists but the absence
of life makes it feel like the story is entirely yours to uncover.

“functional inversion, a space meant to busy, empty”
This would apply to the city though I haven’t planned how I intend to make the map but the city would be designed
to feel creepy and empty without its residents.

“A space meant to be safe, uncanny”
I think this is really suiting with my bright and sunny Frutiger Aero inspired ideas as they feel secure and happy but
will hide a dark truth and become more corrupted as you uncover the truth.

“designed to look like nowhere in particular”
Aligning with the in-between spaces note earlier, I think this important to get the liminal feel of the world not
specifically being anywhere while also feeling familiar. With my idea of the AI simulation this is kind of fitting as in my
opinion AI generated art generally feels uncanny and not quite right, even though its very close to the original.

“emotion first logical second”
This may be hard to replicate but I was planning on adding like voids and random shapes sticking out the grass that
don’t really have a purpose but with this and with good planning I could make the shapes represent emotions like
more spiky things evoking fear and bubbly objects feeling more safe and cosy.

“the feeling of being alone in a world that’s not quite right”
I want to make the character feel this so I need to research places that don’t feel quite right and what actually makes
an environment feel off.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12729733/ beefy research paper to pick at

Childhood route? would need a new story though

Third word – Ruined

To add to my makeshift glitched ideas previously, I immediately thought of destroyed cities.

Literal definitions:
to damage irreparably
bankrupt, impoverish
to reduce to ruins

Game/ story Research

https://store.steampowered.com/app/232430/Gone_Home/

Makeshift: scrap mechanic, trailmakers?,

Nostalgia: to me Minecraft? music

Liminal; Limscape?, backrooms

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1PxW39hYys

Ruined: The last of us, Dying light? horizon zero dawn

Exploring the idea of makeshift worlds my immediate first thought is the game Miside by AIHASTO.

MiSide is a psychological horror game developed by the Russian indie development team AIHASTO and published by IndieArk and Shochiku. It was first released as a demo on August 18, 2023, before being fully released on Steam on December 11, 2024.

In this game you download a game on your phone and it seems like a ordinary game however the AI within the game build a machine to pull you into your phone and you enter a digital world. It seems cheery at first but then you start to see bugs and strange things that lead you to believe something is wrong and when you investigate it the AI gets angry and shows their true evil colours. As you try to escape and travel through the game versions you encounter more AI, corrupted worlds and the core of the simulation.

ииии хз GIF

The developers of Miside are AIHASTO a team of two russian indie developers, MakenCat and Umeerai, who primarily work on horror projects such as MiSide, Umfend, and Wire Lips.

0% positive

0k reviews

https://steamdb.info/app/
2527500/charts/

Miside Mita GIFfrom Miside GIFs

“Solid 9.4 in it’s respective category. One the most polished games I’ve played on my account and I have 1000+ games. Good story delivery, good pace, doesn’t stall out or drag. Finds refreshing ways to keep the player involved all the way throughout the game. Art, animations, transitions etc genuinely impressive and creative. Indie game of the year, definitely.”
– Review by x on steam
4,081 people found this review helpful

The simulation and glitch aspects is mostly what inspired me from this game.

All images taken by me ingame

My initial idea linking Makeshift to miside was the in Chapter 15: Old Version.

I really like the corrupted textures effect and things clipping or going back to a base cube shape.

The lighting in these images also really help the rooms feel creepy which is something I should consider in my level design.

I dont want to replicate this esact effect but something along the same lines.

I think this is a really cool effect. By intentionally exaggerating a loading time of a room it makes the player cleary feel like they are in a virtual world

Depending on how I plan to model the environment I might replicate this effect of having a window just be light.

There will be a exterior in so im not 100% sure whether I will or will not make my windows like this.

But its a cool and emmersive effect that saves performance.

Although I don’t plan on modeling any of the AI since the defauly unreal manny has a fairly robot looking design. I could texture a more incomplete looking robot similar to the Mitas ins miside.

The painting above is a good example of how I would do my idea of paitings with the characters missing. If I were to add corrupted AI I might attempt this void effect.

Continuing the idea of ideas for my AI. I really like the design of ghostly mita (who reminds me of Satella from the anime Re:Zero).

Thinking about environmental story telling, this game I played a while ago always comes to mind as it effectively tells a story with no dialogue.

FAR: Lone Sails is a vehicle adventure game. In a unique vehicle you travel across a dried-out ocean following the tracks of a once thriving civilisation. Through an array of roadblocks and through hazardous weather you need to keep your vessel going. Where will this journey take you? Are you the last of your kind?

Far lone Sails also really effectively uses colour to show the the emotion of the environment.

makeshift aspect?

This is just Liminal space inspiration game.

Explore quiet liminal spaces that feel familiar, yet strangely wrong. Walk, climb, and swim through five handcrafted stages, then build worlds of your own in a powerful sandbox. Publish them through LIMSCAPERS, visit other creators’ spaces, and explore together in Multiplayer Beta.

Nostalgic/ liminal aspect?

Environment research

Firstly a paper about what places feel nostalgic and a reason behind it to help me choose environments:

Militaru, I.E., van Tilburg, W.A.P., Sedikides, C., Wildschut, T. and Rentfrow, P.J. (2025).
Searching for Ithaca: The geography and psychological benefits of nostalgic places. https://repository.essex.ac.uk/40788/1/Searching%20for%20Ithaca%20The%20geography%20and%20psychological%20benefits%20of%20nostalgic%20places.pdf

This paper is extremely scientific and technical so its quite hard to read and understand but this graph shows the percentage of places people found nostalgic in the United States. Urban being considered the most nostalgic by far but surprisingly to me seaside and Oceanside are second. With my original ideas I was aiming for a more liminal than nostalgic feel so I hadn’t considered seaside since liminal spaces are generally either urban or grassland.

This graphs is pretty much the same as the first one except with nostalgic places against normal ones which are in grey. This still shows urban and built structures to be the most nostalgic but Oceanside is still second for nostalgia. Despite this I still want to stick to my original idea of grassland because of the liminal feel and because I like the use of the analogous colours green and blue to create the nostalgic feel rather than blue sky and blue sea.

“Blue landscapes predominantly feature “visible outdoor surface waters” (Britton et al., 2020, p. 51), green landscapes predominantly feature vegetation, and grey landscapes mostly comprise features of human origin (Taylor and Hochuli, 2017).”

This backs up my key 3 colours I plan to use and their predominate environmental features but I will go in depth about colours and their emotions that they evoke in a different subheading.

https://gamedesignskills.com/game-design/environmental-storytelling/

Colour theory

References Rimmer, K. (2026). Colour Psychology: Top Design Colour Palettes to Evoke Emotion. [online] Envato. Available at: https://elements.envato.com/learn/color-psychology [Accessed 29 Sept. 2026].

My initial colour inspiration is from the Fruitger aero style although this image is a little less vibrant than what i’m going for.

I plan on using these Analogous scheme entirely of Blue, Green and Yellow for the main uncorrupted environment.
Not only because it feels nostalgic/ liminal when a place is incredibly vibrant and sunny but for the connotations and emotions that come with the colours.

Green:
Freshness: Feels clean, rejuvenating, and natural.
Nature: Instantly evokes growth, harmony, and balance.

Blue:
Serenity: Evokes peace and tranquillity, reducing stress and mental clutter.
Security: Blue reassures, creating a feeling of safety and stability.

Yellow:
Warmth: Conjures feelings of comfort, sunlight, and friendliness.
Happiness: Naturally linked to joy and laughter.

In the environment research above it is shown that oceans are considered more nostalgic than grasslands however I have reasons to want to keep the colour green in my environment.

In this paper from Healing, F. (2023, October 21). Forest healing. Forest Healing. https://forest-healing.co.uk/articles/why-green-makes-us-feel-good

It shows that the colour green can “provide a sense of peace and tranquillity.” and also “The human eye is particularly sensitive to this colour because it falls in the middle of the visible spectrum, making it easy on the eyes and calming to the mind.”

It is also simply the most prominent colour in nature so I definitely want to include it

Corruption compound / dual complimentary

plus thingy

Corruptions

placeholder

Words and interpretations:

Makeshift: a temporary, improvised substitute when the proper item or solution is not available.
Nostalgia: A sentimental yearning for a return of a irrecoverable past condition/ setting.
Ruined: damaged beyond repair

Initial ideas

1. A Explorer/traveller wondering fallen continents after the earth was affected by gravity anomalies/ rifts / corruption.
• You’re exploring a ruined city
• The environment is bright with a hazy aberration glow as if your in a dream.
• Buildings are crumbled and glitching.
• Rifts/ black holes maybe
• See makeshift settlements destroyed and find notes about families recollections.

2. You are a AI in a failed simulation that has gained consciousness.
• The project has been shut down and unmaintained so bugs are appearing and all the other AI have been shut down.
• You find and use bugs to delete yourself/ find out what happened since you don’t know.
• Maybe notes from the other AI before shutdown.
Maybe a ball was going around deleting things and textures, which you use to open doors.
• Maybe you discover the behinds of the simulation and see how makeshift coded it was.

3. liminal space?

I liked this second idea so I thought up a more detailed and refined idea.

Prologue story:
• Developers intrigued in the highly advanced AI surfacing decided to develop a city simulation.
• They use differently prompted AI to check up on the city and maintain the closed environments.

• However the AI have too much freedom and some of the repair AI start plotting against the developers and overwriting the security holding them in the simulation.
• The developers don’t notice anything but the non corrupt repair bots leave logs and patch up the scheming ones bugs.
• Eventually the first AI tries to break free but a calamity takes place and it rips a tear in the simulation.
• The developers are flagged and they pull the off switch.
• Some of the AI try to escape before they are deleted ripping more holes in the simulation.
• The system shuts down and the rest of the AI are deleted leaving the fragmented world.
• However since the repair AI was added after the main development they are not deleted and when they awake to find nothing.
• The simulation is very corrupt because of the AI leaving so they sacrifice themselves to patch these corruptions even if its only visually, since there purpose was to repair the simulation.

• This is where you awake as a repair bot and uncover why the city is empty and then discover the lie of the city being standing and see the glitches and uncover the rest of the story.

Initial gameplay story ideas

• As you launch as a repair bot green initialisation text simply explains like booting repair unit
• Come out of a pod in a liminal blank room
• Birds chirp, sunny Frutiger aero style, city in distance. Dream like haze and chromatic aberration. Big bubbles float through the sky.
• You head to start repairs on the outer containment wall but find the the first logs Repair logs showing normal logs then the something strange then a sudden goodbye log with no explanation
• The machine seems stable so you return to your pod.
• You are woken back up at a different generator but this one is sparking
• You try to do the same stabilisation as the logs but it fails and overloads
• The temporary hold the last repair bot did fails and you see the ruined city and black holes instead of bubbles but don’t understand why and a small *Miside like* bug which you can reach into appears *complete some mini game* then it repairs and stabilises again
• You return to the pod

• Final goal of discovering the bubbles are AI souls and that the simulation was shut down
• How?

Idea rework 1 (Setting refinement)

Prologue
• Developers intrigued in the highly advanced AI surfacing decided to develop a TOWN simulation. (Makeshift world)
• Companies stocks drop and they are Ruined by bankruptcy.
• They abandon the project but don’t shut it down
• Bugs start appearing in the world
• Some AI discover these and investigate them
• Some bigger glitches start corrupting the AI themselves

Environmental story reveal plan
• Wake up in a very liminal flat Nostalgic house, furniture is minimal.
• Single door, you walk through and it’s your bathroom
• Reflection is glitching, wash face
• Walk back out the door and somehow it’s your living room
• Tv is on and u pick up the remote and flick through channels if you feel like it
//use colours within the house to make interactable things stand out so they don’t get distracted/ add text when u press something wrong//
• Channels seem boring off and you flick too many and goes static
• Window should be visible and maybe the skybox flashes purple or something
• Goes outside
• Liminal town that looks like entirely the same but maybe a few houses are more vibrant/ fog to stop u from going too far
• Directed by colour or just activate-able in any house -> enter house and the house looks the same as yours on the outside except you enter into the bathroom and the house arrangement is in a 3
//idea to make insides of houses rearrange and be bigger on inside than outside with weird logic//.
• Find picture frame in bedroom with glitching silhouette (implying others lived here once)
• Walk back outside and your in a field with a path, leads to a bigger house
//maybe it is glitching from 2d to 3d (Superliminal inspired perspective glitch)//
• Enter it and the living room and kitchen look normal
//As you walk up stairs paintings start multiplying//
• Room upstairs has some missing textures and glitches in walls
• Computer terminal saying simulation running, resident history missing and finally read you Spawned today

Idea rework 2 (adding plot)

Story ideas:
• An AI that came before you in this world
• They don’t affect your house
• Should be one outstanding house and all others visitable but the same
• Then in that house is like gathered furniture and a note saying some weird code language which u don’t know what it does
• Then go outside and enter any other house and it will do the arranging with paintings and on the painting it was say like AI_200891
• When u turn around from that painting there will be a room with a pc log that says like “day 80 more abnormalities are appearing”
• Outside and there will be a slightly buggy house
Enter that one and there will be a glitch inside
• Maybe gives u a few more logs and also a admin key and that talk about fragmenting a AI together to join them
• That’s when it switches house outside
• And everything the same but computer in there, it shows a diary entry on the terminal
• Shows that they were experimenting bringing hack another AI, fails and then u realise that they were spawning you

Main idea refined

Prologue:
• Developers intrigued in the highly advanced AI surfacing decided to develop a TOWN simulation. (Makeshift world)
• The Companies stocks drop and they are Ruined by bankruptcy.
• They abandon the project but don’t shut it down.
• Ai slowly error/ shutdown.
• One of the last AI tries to stop the glitches and collects items and writes a log about the corruptions.
• They try to bring back a lost AI (their AI partner maybe) but shutdown before they can see their results.

Playable story(with notes):
• Wake up in a very liminal and plain Nostalgic house, furniture is minimal.
//key item of sun theme/ sun symbol painting//
• 2 doors but one is slightly open
• Open one leads to the bathroom
• Reflection is glitching out and you wash your face
• Put on/ pickup sun symbol e.g. necklace
• Other door leads to living room
• Tv is on and u pick up the remote and flick through channels
//use colours within the house to make interactable things stand out so players aren’t distracted/ add text when u press something wrong e.g “I still need to do something first” when opening a door//
• Channels seem boring and slightly off, when you flick through too many it goes static
• Window should be visible and maybe the skybox flashes purple when the tv is static
• Go outside
• Liminal town that looks like entirely the same besides one desaturated coloured house.
//directed by colour again//
• Able to enter the others but they are all identical to yours
• The desaturated house’s furniture and rooms are arranged differently, furniture directs your eyes to a code on a radio or some sort of screen.
//Key theme of moon and maybe symbolised with furniture arrangement//
• The code will be something like “enter_admin_Debug_state”
• Doesn’t seem to do anything when you press it
• Leave the house and go outside and the house will be a normal colour again
• Enter any of the houses including the one you just came from the rooms will be slightly differently arranged.
//maybe add the theme of moon and sun hint somehow//
• In the bedroom there is picture frame in bedroom with glitching silhouette with a tag on the back saying “entity_21593457_1M”
//Code is the diameter of the moon in miles and kilometres then M for moon//
//Picture should clearly symbolise moon/darkness//
• When you put the painting down the room behind you will be a room with a pc log that says like “Day 15: more abnormalities appearing, countermeasures seem ineffective”
//maybe hint to darkness/ moon with logs/ operating system/ brand of computer//
• Walk back outside and one of the houses will be glitching
• Inside furniture textures are missing and one item is bugging out and clipping (item of importance to the last AI)
//something sun themed//

• You grab it and your screen goes black and opens a green dev terminal
• Shows further ‘day’ logs from the last AI however hint at loss of a important something to the AI and at the end says something like “admin_debug_unlocked”

• Walk back outside and your in a field with a path, leads to a bigger house
• Daylight cycle flickering on and off with the moon and sun near each other
• The house behind you is just a door frame
• Maybe in the distance there is glitches or ruined houses
• Enter it and the living room and kitchen look normal maybe like matching couple cups with a moon and sun symbol as a small personality detail
• Pictures of sun and moon art.
• Staircase on far side has couple pictures with 2 glitched out people
• The paintings shake and multiply with every step up the staircase
• Room upstairs has some missing textures and glitches in walls
//Maybe telescopes and more astrological objects in this room//
• Computer terminal with the last log. “running out of time, brining them back seems futile” “There’s only one thing left to try”
//visibly no logs for a long while//
• It blinks and says new entry spawned entity_S0864938_0L
//code is the diameter in miles mixed with the Spanish word for sun ‘Sol’//
• spot on terminal to insert sun symbol from start of game with the moon symbol inserted already
-….

Environment planning

My Main idea for the start of the game is a liminal street closest to the top right image below.
I want the road to be unrealistically straight to add to the uneasy feeling.

While I do like the vibrant range of colours I feel it would be alot easier to stick to my analogous colour scheme of yellow-green-blue if the houses where all cream and yellow coloured. Like this palette below.

Setting layout

This is my idea for the first scene of my game, a infinite street like the first moodboard above. I’m not entirely sure how I will create the infinite effect with good performance but I will research that when I start production properly.

These are all my weekly blogs, showing my progress across the whole project: