The artifacts are pieces of evidence that prove the events of Jurassic Park occurred. These would be found mainly in the Visitor Village, Safari Lodge, and Visitor Center complexes as well as the park and East Dock areas. What pieces of evidence you collect will determine what events happen in that particular level and in the last level (the shoreline level) it will determine whether you get a false ending or continue on to the underwater facility.
As for atmosphere, I would like to bring back the "Ghosts of Jurassic Park" idea, where you walk around and hear unexplainable noises, see shadows and figures, hear voices, etc. Give the abandoned facilities a scarier feeling than what is usually seen in a Trespasser level. I admit, even though the buildings are awesome, they are too quiet and too dead in the game. These events could potentially add some depth to the locations and would be something new. Also add in some ambient sounds like air passing through the buildings, creepy music, etc.
I played quite a bit of STALKER lately and I like the feel the game has but it lacks explorability. I want all the buildings to be 100% explorable, as if someone actually left in a hurry and didn't bother to lock 90% of the doors in the places
We need a composer for music as well as some people for Voice Overs, but since we are so early in development there's no reason to be too worried about that now, feel free to throw out some suggestions. I don't want to add tons of features to the list of things to put in (feature creeping), but we need to have something to set this mod out from all the rest
Good idea.
