First Steps: Research

This year for the final project we'll have to make an interactive experience to a professional standard.With VR about to launch and having a passion for the technology myself it only seemed fitting to base my project around it. I've therefore decided to create a VR Horror WalkingSim.

I've based my concept and theme heavily on the popular First Person Horror title Among The Sleep. The game portrays you as an toddler roaming around different environments in the middle of the night in order to find your mother. I was really intrigued by this concept and their designs as there is little jump scares and little threat until the final levels. However they created a strong and uneasy atmosphere in all levels and environments, which puts the player on edge. This is the type of game I want to make. I've researched titles which use and achieve similar atmospheres from PT and Alien Isolation to even film titles like Paranormal Activity. 

All these titles rely on the atmosphere created alone to create unease and danger towards the player rather than continuously throwing out jump scares. Jump scares are not popular as they are being considered easy and cheap. This is due to the jump scare being over used in all mediums in the same way. Having intense sound build and build, a moment of silence and then a loud noise introducing the threat. People argue that its not the threat that is scary but rather than the loud noise suddenly playing that creates the scare. 

This is why I am going to use little jump scares and even try and use the intense build up of sound differently.  

As I stated earlier my influences are heavily on Among the Sleep. Therefore my game will have the player portray a toddler in a home nursery. I'm also taking inspiration from PT and how they repeatedly used the same environment, but made subtle changes to keep the player on edge. To achieve this at the start of every sequence I will have the player wake up in their crib as if they were waking up from a nightmare. 

I'm also taking inspiration from the Paranormal Activity film series for their use of lighting. They use a strong blue as their primary colour with a single bright light source often coming through a window or door and strong dark shadows. Among the Sleep used similar lighting techniques in their opening sequence. 

 

Because I'm using VR I'm hoping that the peripheral alone will help create an uneasiness in the player. Therefore lighting is key especially for creating shadows. I'm planing to have the environment very abstract making use of squares and rectangles. The room will be square, the crib rectangle, the window square etc. I will have little organic objects in the scene so when they cast shadows it will feel more unfamiliar and uneasy for the player. I also want to use the objects in the environment to create silhouettes of threats that aren't there. With the player experiencing this in VR it will be extra terrifying. 

I needed a title for my game and since it's based in a home nursery I'm simply going to call my game "The Nursery". For the logo I wanted to use items commonly known to be found in a nursery but used in a disturbing way. Like a child drawing a demonic entity in crayon. I then decided to use a chalkboard with the template of an Ouija board marked on it with the title overlapping.

I made it oval to make it look more appealing to the eye. I then came across a happy accident. When trying to use the magic wand tool to erase everything behind the logo it ended up duplicating the image instead creating an eerie effect. 

This effect makes it look like someone is obsessed and has repeated the logo over and over again on a chalkboard. I then added lighting effects to help emphasis and draw the eye towards the title.

The use of blue helps identify the type of colour scheme and lighting I'll be using within the game. It also adds a nice level of contrast keeping the duplicated writing obscured and mysterious.