Plan for VR Interactive story

Player Character(PC) - Only 1 3D Character Model, of the main player, who is going to be in first person, with possible visible arms up to elbows. If we have the time and skills, develop a full-sized 3D image of the character used for mirrors. If not, we can make the mirror shaded, covered with something.

Support Characters – While we are told not to waste time on 3D character models, Ian said it would be fine to use our Main character, if we change the appearance. If we have time we can do it, otherwise we will stick with 2D models of : PC’s wife, Ghost appearing from window, person staying at the end of a corridor, 2D models for VHS, pictures around the house etc. 1 possible problem will be creating an image and animation for death scene option 1 (stabbed from the back with a weapon).If not, then we can think of a different way to die(break your neck yourself, get neck broken, get hit with a hammer, then dragged and finale).

Note: We can use the same 3D character model, and change it a bit for the others. We can play with shadows, hair, etc. Check below.

Idea for supporting ghost characters(made in 2D):

Note: while these are not in 2D, our ghosts can be made in 2D, and therefore will not be moving, eventually just flashing like Lisa in P.T.

Interactable objects : These would include: keys, interactable doors, drawers, maybe pictures, levers, VHS’s, DVD Player, Piano.

Sounds: That is probably the most important part, together with the story. We can find premade sounds and use them. They should be loud and dark. We can add things such as footsteps behind us, screams(+jumpscare), the voices in his head (which will be really important + we can use all of our voices: 1 player character voice talking to himself, 4 voices directing towards 4 different endings). We can put a really weird melody for a DVD recorder (most probably classical music) for when it is turned on. If we manage to include blood appearing in real time from walls or something, we can put some music like dark enchanting, or we can record something and play it backwards(it works really well).

Place : This is a really important key factor, even if we use the same room for everything, we still need to change its appearance and lightning. I will talk in rooms, but we can still change just the appearance. We can plan all the rooms in Sims or something like that where you can project your own house. If we decide to build a house it shouldn’t be big, because they said it should be at least 5 minutes long, which means we should aim for 5-7 minutes, but really good in quality. We have no idea how we are going to do things so if we find it easy we can make up to 10 minutes, if not we should try making at least 5. We should include pictures on the walls(we can change them at every enter of the room to get turned upside down, or to be scarier, with blood, fallen off and everything in the room rearranged. We can also use the upside down idea.

Examples of rooms creation tension which is a key factor for any type a horror:

Examples for appearing ghosts ( for a second or something like that, or at the end of the room etc):

Note: all the graphics are for games will big budgets and a lot of developers, our designs are not going to be near them.

STORYNote: For story elements I tried to use this , for jumpscares – this, for endings (THIS), I tried to

highlight some of the voice speaking moments with this, but that can be done later.

Our character wakes up in a room, not knowing who he is, not knowing where he is, he has a strange, yet somehow familiar feeling about the place he is. This should be the moment where he talks and the voice narrator starts. He would say something like what happened, I don’t remember where I am or something else. The room should be completely empty with only a door, and if we want to make it interesting – an interactive object( a few for example rocks, or levers, and you have to interact with them in a certain way, we can leave a hint somewhere in the room, and only when you pull the levers in the right way, the door opens. It would make for a nice starting puzzle to take them away from the horror.) The lightning in the room should be really weak. Main light source should be around the door to highlight it. After the character goes out, there should be a window which breaks open and makes a loud noise, for a jumpscare, directly after he goes through the door, it will be unexpected. The room in front should be medium lighted to show objects and calm down player, but the design should be creepyish to keep the tension. In this room you should be able to make a choice to go to one of two rooms. It should appear as arrows with a text, like in Until Dawn(example below).

Now here while making the choice he should hear the first two voices.

One should lead him to go to a certain room and after that find a key .( Option 1)

The other should tell him to investigate a scream(woman’s which is somehow familiar)(the PC original voice should notice that after the voice tells him about it) ( Option 2)

If we go with option one we find ourselves in another room(or same) with a creepy setting maybe blood. If we have a piano and dvd player, the way to find the key may be putting a song on, a creepy

melody comes on, then either the PC switches off or it goes off, and if you click it again it tells you a combination of notes or whatever the other object is, with a really creepy voice. When you execute the combination on whatever item there is, a picture for example should fall and the key behind it. Once you get the key, it should trigger a shuffle in the room which doesn’t allow you to go back to the previous room, like a barrier in the middle, but the door on the unreachable side should open and the light in the far room should be turning on and off, revealing an 2D character model etc. Once you go through the door the walls should start bleeding, creepy noises, etc. You should have 2 choices : use the key and get out of the house, or investigate a scream “HELP ME(if you find your ID or something she can shout your name)” from another room. Again with voices.If you decide to go with the door, the game can end with you escaping.(ENDING 1) If not:

Option 1.2You go in the next room, you hear loud bangs and screams for around 3-4 seconds, and then a horrible sound as if something is dying, which comes from the front. We can add stairs and if you try to go up, there is an open door and when you get close a figure appears and the doors closes.You go down and a picture falls behind you LOUD. After that you continue, and the next door leads you to the woman which reveals who you are(her husband) and tells you to stay away from her.( Her image should be blurry in a dark room with a single light(for us to use 2D images)) Now the voices appear and you may decide to go back which would result you getting stabbed from the back. You can also decide to go to her which will result to you seeing that she is dead, and you get killed again.(ENDING 2(2.1 and 2.2))

Option 2Now if you go directly to the scream, we should think of a jumpscare when you look through a window or interact with an object in the next room. There should be a room with everything dark and just one red light and the walls should start changing, moving, bleeding,(anything). You hear the voices screaming all at once and we can find something hanging just like that( a fridge with blood or something) right in the middle around the light. You try 1 door but it’s locked, and when you reach the second door, you should hear a voice saying ”BEHIND YOU” the voices will tell you to turn or not, you can go through the door or turn around. If you turn around we should make a face just coming in front of the camera (a really fucked up ghost face) resulting in your death (ENDING 3) . If you choose just to stay at one place it should say “TURN AROUND”, if you don’t do it, after 5 seconds that endind should disappear. You continue through the door and wake up in a all white room( if we make a 3D model we can show that he is tied like in a hospital) and we should hear a voice “ MR. ….. something, time for your pills. And then you should realise that you are mentally ill. You go to sleep again and while everything becomes blurry you hear your wife’s voice. She is asking if you are ever going to recover. And we can think of something else to say for a cool (ENDING 4)Now we should note that we need some jumpscares cause Ian wanted it to be scary, but the main scares would be from sounds cause they are easier to make. We can enhance the sound effects if we record voices with 2 different microphones, which will create a really realistic sound on headphones.

I know it’s too much, but if we manage to do at least 35-40 % of it, we should get good marks. This Is just an idea to have a base, if anyone can think of something we can change anything, anytime, or start from scratch again.

Update 1

Time 10 min after writing it…

Some Q&A about horror games:

How do I get better graphics in my horror game?

Make your 3D models high poly, and make your textures larger and more detailed. Make sure your game is playable on a variety of devices.

Which game engine should be used?

Game engine typically comes down to personal choice. Do some research and think about what you need from your game engine. Unity and Unreal are both powerful and flexible options, so they will be a good starting place for your research.

What happens if there is too much suspense?

The thing that makes suspense fun is that it will ultimately end. We can then reflect on that suspense later and think "wow, that was scary." If it never ends, there is no relief and players will not want to go back and keep playing your game.

Tips For the love of god, make sure the controls are convenient!

Keep in mind that you're making a game for the world to play, not just for you, so try

to avoid in-jokes.

Even if you don't have very good graphics, see if you can utilise it to your advantage,

like they did with the first silent hill.

Have several friends to dispense opinion on your idea.

Don't expect everyone to like the game, not everyone's into gory mutilation.

Use sound elements as part of the game but don't overuse them.

Add darkness to the game; it adds to the care element.