Project "Have Fun" ~ Ideas

Environment is the most important aspect of a game, it must be as believable as possible for the player to be mesmerised by the game and want to keep playing. As soon as something unbelievable and unrealistic is presented to the player, they will be brought back to reality and realise they are sat in their room on their own, playing a game, which then loses its appeal.

I was unsure how to start this project as I didn't have an idea hitting me in the face straight away. I took photos of interesting things on the hour and a half train ride between Leicester and Stourbridge (my hometown) to get more ideas, this was the result:

I seem to have mainly took pictures of industrial sites, like cement and concrete works, and building sites. I have always been interested in derelict buildings, so maybe doing a project on current working buildings that have a derelict feel to them may be a good change.

As I was at home for a few days, I went to Kinver to have a look at the rock houses, as this may have been another interesting start to this project:

Unfortunately over the years, these houses have deteriorated and have been ruined by graffiti. However the overall look and feel of the smooth walls and sandy floors is quite inspiring, I don't really know how I would turn these rock houses into a game though, but I may use them for reference.

I decided that the industrial idea was the best one, so collected some imagery from the internet to get started:

I found a website with some interesting photos of the inside of a working concrete factory: 
http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/flickr_api/set_list.php?page=1&uid=72157629230963877&title=Crossrail%20tunnel%20segment%20forming%20factory

A lot of the machinery could be used as hiding places or traps for the players in the game, or even a way of getting to different floors of the building. I think applied to gaming ideas this would be more of a multiplayer shooting game setting.

This website offers photos of an abandoned factory which adds a lot more creepier style into the mix:

http://www.pbase.com/darylf/devils_tower

This style would be used for a survival horror game, because it is dark and creepy and you are just expecting things to jump out!