WEBVTT

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SOPHIE CLYDE: Hi.

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I'm Sophie.

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PABLO VILLALOBOS: I'm Pablo.

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SOPHIE CLYDE: And this is
our project, Night Hunter.

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So our early concept
for this game

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was something like an invisible
maze that you could only hear.

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So we had the idea
of trying to--

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the original idea came from
the idea of superheroes

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who have enhanced senses.

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Since this was to be an
audio-only game, we thought,

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how can we enhance your hearing?

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We thought, what if you
could hear the things

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that you can't see?

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So the idea was that you would
try to move through a maze.

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You would hear what--

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you would use something
like sonar to try to--

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you'd send out a wave.

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It would make a sound.

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You could tell where it
was in space and avoid it.

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That's pretty hard,
as it turns out.

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One of the things we wanted
to explore by making this game

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was how good at people--

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or how good are people
at actually figuring out

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where that invisible thing is.

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It turns out the answer
is not very good.

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If you're trying
to avoid something,

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that's very important that
you are very good because you

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can't tell where the edges are.

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You can just tell it's
vaguely over there.

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PABLO VILLALOBOS: Our original--
when we did original play

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storming, playing around with
physical objects to come up

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with a concept, our
original concept--

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we split two tables
up and we put objects

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down to represent sound sources.

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And we had people
walk through it.

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And when they got close to the
sound source, we would ping.

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And that was our original
ideating playtest.

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But after that, we
transitioned into more

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of a collection kind
of game because it's

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hard to detect those edges.

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And so with our first
physical playtest,

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we had one player
wearing blackout glasses.

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So they were,
effectively, blind.

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And then a bunch of our
playtesting helpers,

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who are in this room,
would act as sound sources

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that the player is
trying to collect.

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And so they would move
opposite the direction

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where the player is facing.

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So it's as though they're
always moving forward relative

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to all the other people.

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And all the sound sources would
each take a step in cadence

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and then make some
sort of sound.

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We did clapping at first.

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But we had a lot of, actually,
very important findings

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just from this first playtest.

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SOPHIE CLYDE: Yeah.

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One of the things
we found out is

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that if everyone is making the
same sound at the same time,

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it's really, really
hard to figure out

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where they're coming from.

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It's just one big cloud of
"what the heck is going on?"

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And it was also pretty
hard to try to even--

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we had to show people
how to move at first.

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It was hard to understand
just from a description.

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If he's looking at me,
I'm going this way.

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And we had to have
someone pointing which

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way the person was looking.

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So we tried a
second round, where

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the-- where everyone was
making a different noise,

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and they weren't moving in sync.

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And it proved really helpful
for our playtester, who

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could lock onto one
sound, turn toward it

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until they got close enough.

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When the person got close
enough, tapped on the shoulder,

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they were out--
collected, basically.

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And they got slowly
faster and faster just

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locking onto that one individual
sound, pointing towards it,

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collecting it until
they were all out.

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We had a timer for
that second round.

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The timer was not necessary.

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So we're like, well, yay!

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This works so much better.

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So we moved on to making
a unity prototype.

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PABLO VILLALOBOS: So our
original unity prototype

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was kind of like this.

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It was a duplication of
this, where the frames were

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in the center of the screen.

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And then there was a cloud
of sound sources around them.

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And they would move against
where the player was looking.

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So again, it was like they
were flying around and trying

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to collect these sound sources.

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But we quickly found
out that it was--

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like the other
team mentioned-- is

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that it's very hard to determine
or to lock onto something when

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you can-- when there's
variance on the z-axis

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when you can look up and down.

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So we flattened it.

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So they were all around you.

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But even then, it was
still hard, pretty hard,

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to focus on each
individual sound.

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SOPHIE CLYDE: So we decided
to change to an endless runner

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prototype, where the
idea is that you're here.

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Things are constantly
coming at you,

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and you have to
turn your head so

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that they will move toward you.

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It's like there's
something coming over here.

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Oh, I can hear that.

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Oh, now it's coming
at me-- collected.

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Huzzah.

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PABLO VILLALOBOS:
So we transitioned

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to a linear experience.

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SOPHIE CLYDE: So our final
product is Night Hunter.

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The idea is that--

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it's a little hard to see
in this particular photo.

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But you're this tiny,
little arrow ship thing.

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And there are
small sound sources

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that you can hear they're
headed toward you.

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And you have to turn your
head, wearing the frames,

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to find them.

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They will-- if you
are looking at it,

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it will move towards you.

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If you miss it, it hits a
invisible plane behind you

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and is deleted, and
another one spawns

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because another thing we found
was if there are multiple,

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you will hear one over
here and one over here,

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and you can't tell
which is which.

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Even if the sounds
are different,

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it's still really hard.

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It's easier if the
sounds are different.

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It's still really hard.

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PABLO VILLALOBOS: And another
massive change which--

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we made is that
there is a UI now.

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So before, we were just
doing completely blind--

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you're just--

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you're only using
your ears to play.

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But we actually made this UI
for playtesting initially--

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or for debugging so that we
could see the sounds coming

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at the player.

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But we thought maybe
for a tutorial,

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this would be really useful
because then the player

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could conceptualize what they're
doing before they go blind.

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But we decided to actually
add it into the game.

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So you can always see where
you are, and you can see

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the sounds coming into view.

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They start out of you.

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So you still have to use
your ears to localize it.

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But once you get close
enough to it, you can see it.

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And then with more precision,
you can actually collect it.

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SOPHIE CLYDE: Instead of
having a full range of vision

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and sight, it's more like
you have a really, really

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limited range of vision.

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It's like being almost
blind because this is--

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you still have to get yourself
in the general area using

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your auditory senses.

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And then you can see it.

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And then that helps
with the final--

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oh, it's right here.

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I thought it was here-ish.

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Oh, I can turn it.

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I can see it now.

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It's there.

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PABLO VILLALOBOS: And with
this version of the game,

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we felt like now it was--

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we didn't want players to rely
too much on their visuals.

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We still wanted to get that
audio-first gaming experience.

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So what we decided to do is
have the screen occasionally

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go black.

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So you can't see anything.

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And then you have to truly
rely on just your ears

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to actually collect the sounds.

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SOPHIE CLYDE: So you'll
be playing for a while.

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And suddenly, the screen's
black and you're like, oh,

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what's happening?

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Wait, I can still hear things.

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It must still be going.

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Oh.

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Oh, I still have to use my ears.

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PABLO VILLALOBOS: And
we rationalized that

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as a radar system failure.

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So you're on this
spaceship, and you

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have a radar of the-- your
immediate surroundings.

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And then occasionally, for
whatever technical reasons,

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it goes black.

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And then you're flying blind.

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But you can still use your
other sensors, like your ears,

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to navigate.