Troglodyte in Underbelly: The Sunken but Empty Hole

Author - Daniel Reder

Date - 12/7/2023

    The sunken hole as a concept was easy to conceive, but filling the hole with dangers that made sense was its own issue. Originally, the concept involved a hole that simply existed within an area, filled with nothing. This was meant to be unsettling to the player, but this version of the sunken hole would not make sense in the Underbelly.

    The Underbelly is meant to make the player feel trapped while they are not physically unable to leave (although this could change in game due to certain triggers). Having a large open area that is under ground in theory is very cool, but does little to make the player feel claustrophobic. The because of this, the solution would require a lot of space, while also delivering the sense of being in a tight area that can still see the sky.

    The solution was to fill the hole with an anything. This led to another problem; what could the hole be filled with that was appropriate to the game. In the end, the decision was made to fill the hole with what would essentially be above ground normally. Logically it makes sense as it would be a giant sinkhole. However this was not very exciting, so there we some enemies added that would only make sense in an area that in somewhat enclosed but receives both sunlight and darkness.