Description:

Welcome Dr. Lazo,
It is 00:00 UTC December 4, 2039

You have been awoken at a nonstandard time due to an electrical malfunction.

A Mars space station shrouded in darkness lost power after a terrible accident, equipped with only your knowledge of electromagnetism, you must save the station from certain doom.

You and your collogues have been researching Mars habitation in a pilot hibernation study for years. Its your first time awake since 2030 and it seems things took a turn for the worse as you piece together through text logs found throughout the ship what happened while you were asleep. Will you find a way to save the study and your colleges? Or will more than just mutated cockroach larvae get caught in the crossfire? Discover what events unfolded on Mars at Midnight...

Modifications:

Retro FPS Movement was added instead of traditional mouse/keyboard movement to produce a lack of control to increase the fear factor as well as stay true to its retro aesthetic

Pixelated Camera was added to produce a retro aesthetic and blend disparate graphics and models into one harmonious visual style. 

Designed interconnected space station that serves as the map for the player to navigate. It has a total of seven sections each with unique gimmicks to teach the player about the game space and mechanics.

Darkness Death is an additional way the player can die if they spend too much time in the darkness due to the inhospitable temperature of the Mars base.

Flashlight that prevents the player from dying to darkness and revealing the pitch black environment.  The flashlight can also be used as a weapon. The battery continuously drains if the flashlight is on. The battery drains 20% if the player shoots the flashlight.

Backup Supply of power is where the player can refuel their flashlight if it drops to 0%. However, the backup supply is the only thing keeping your colleges alive, so it must be used sparingly.

Electricity system which includes several interconnected components of the game world including
- Electric Boxes are the way players activate other objects connected to them. To activate them they must compete a Electric Box Minigame.
- Keypads are activated by Electric Boxes and can also activate anything an Electric Box can like doors. to activate keypads players must input the correct 4 digit pin code.
- Electric Powered Door are doors that are activated by the Electric Boxes or Keypads
- Electric Powered Platform are vertically or horizontally moving platforms that can be activated with Electric Boxes.
- Electric Powered Lights are lights that prevent the player from dying and light up whatever room its associated Electric Box is connected to.

Text Logs can be found throughout the station detailing past events and how to progress in the game.

There are a total of five unique endings that players can encounter. Details on how to achieve each of the five are explained at the end to avoid spoilers.

Original models & textures created for the game include:
- Space Suit
- Hibernation Pod
- PC
- Electric Box
- Keypad
- Wires
- Metal Bars
- Destroyed Wall
- Cafeteria Desk
- Cafeteria Table
- Text Log Floppy Disk
- Martian Terrain
- Text Log Visuals 

Original sound effects created for the game include:
- Pickup log 
- Death vignette 
- Electrical Repair 
- Lights shutdown 

Edited sample sound effects created for the game include:
- Elevator movement
- Footsteps
- Lights turning on
- Lights ambience
- Darkness ambience
- Flashlight on/off

Composed original track for main menu and endings titled Heart of Aries.

Credits:

All the above modifications were made by me, Langston Key.

Special thanks to Emma Brown for playtesting. 

If the sprites, mechanics, or sfx weren’t mentioned above, they were part of the FPS asset pack utilized in the creation of this game made by Michigan State University.

All the names I used in the game are based on real Mars researchers. Their actions and personalities do not in any way reflect them in the real world (besides Dr. Lazo being an electrical engineer) and just used their names as inspiration for the in game characters.

By sampling real sounds recorded on Mars downloaded from this NASA website I created my original music track in Ableton Live Lite.

The faces for the text logs were created by first taking a raw AI generated image of a face from https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/ and then importing into Krita. From there, I downscaled, filtered, and recolored the image to achieve the desired effect.

Inspired by this video by Brandon James Greer, I learned how to use Blockbench to model and texture all of the 3D retro assets in this project.

I used this website for all the sounds listed in "edited sample sound effects". I altered them by cutting them down in length or into separate files, adding echo, reverb, or other audio effects all in Audacity.

I used an altered version of this Unity tutorial to achieve the pixelated camera effect.

I used ChatGPT to write the screenshake and light flickering scripts.

Used this font for the majority of the in game text

Unlocking All Endings:

SPOILERS AHEAD PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK

The first ending is triggered if you run out of light and the backup battery, ultimately killing all of your other colleges on the research project and dooming yourself to stay on an empty Mars forever.

The second ending is triggered by killing Dr. Ryne before he reveals his true motivation for his actions. Without knowing his purpose or why he was awake on the pod your collogues turn on you and trap you in a hibernation pod forever.

The third ending is triggered by killing Dr. Ryne after he reveals his plan to backstab the rest of the researchers in the interest of continuing the study and not ending it early. Because you have evidence of Dr. Ryne's misconduct the other researchers wearily let you stay on board the station and research continues.

The fourth ending is triggered by leaving the room after Dr. Ryne lets you go, ultimately giving him the opportunity he needs to take you out. Dr. Ryne kills you along with the rest of the researchers in this ending.

The fifth and final ending is triggered by siding with Dr. Ryne's plan of re-routing the power and killing the rest of researchers while keeping you and Dr. Ryne alive to continue the research. This ending ultimately also ends in doom as you realize this research is too much for two people to handle and you both descend into insanity.