Anyone There is an anomaly style horror video game and instillation where the main character has been hearing and seeing things late at night and and whatever has been chasing them has finally caught up. Use what you hear and see to clear the path so they can escape the nightmare their hallway has turned into.
This project has two main parts to it; the video game you are playing as well as the installation work that goes along with it. This is a 2D video game that is story driven that is almost a mixture of an anomaly based horror game and one that is story driven. In the main gameplay the player must listen for directional audio cues as well as look for visual monsters appearing in order to get rid of them all before moving on to the next stage (taking the next step down the hallway). In the installation version the audio is playing out of headphones which are stereo. Along with that, the lighting state in game is directly tied to the lighting in the room so when the character is plunged into darkness, the viewer is as well.
Final Work Instillation and Video of Gameplay
If you are having trouble seeing any of the final videos here is a link to a Youtube playlist.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8gu3ET1im47UYN4WdZqBkKuHsBcj94WV
The video to the left is a recording showing how the light in the room changes as you progress through most of the game. There is no audio on this video.
The video to the right is a screen capture of the gameplay. I recommend using headphones to listen as a decent portion of the game uses stereo audio with some low notes.
Both videos show the same gameplay which takes you through the main story and all animations. The only things missing were showing the escape menu, continue game, and quit game functionality.
Space Walkaround
The work was Installed in the Kamil Gallery at UCSD at the show ECHO•location. It was in an area that would be able to get pretty dark so that the piece could be really dark during the hallway scene. It not only added to the environment of the piece itself but allowed the anomalies to be more easily seen when playing the game.
More About the Work
I wanted to create a work that really immersed you into the game which is why I wanted the lighting to be controlled by the game itself. I like working with horror in particular because it allows you to deal more with some interesting topics and get the viewers to have an easier time having an emotional response with the project. Since I wanted the lighting to get as dark as possible in the space, that allowed me to make the aesthetics of the hallway darker since the contrast between the space and the screen would be less allowing people to see it more. I wanted to make the game play on the experience of not being able to really tell if something is there or not and how that paranoia takes over. The dark environment and graphics helped create an an environment similar to that.
The graphics are 2D and all text is hand drawn. I wanted to make the game in 2D not only because of time constraints but because it would force the player to go in a particular direction and experience the story in one way. I liked the look of the hand written text as I liked the type of charcoal style pen in my drawing software and I think the font that I wrote in was legible and fits the more horror theme of the piece itself. Not too serious and not too messy.
The game itself was primarily made using unity, pure data, and a lighting to control the govee light. The Govee light required an additional script running in order to keep the bluetooth connection quicker and stable as the lights are not made to stay connected to a device. So the server keeps pinging the light so its response times are a lot quicker then the 3-5 seconds if the bluetooth connection times out. For Pure Data usage, I used a Libpd extension that is added to Unity in order to add the Pure Data patches directly into the game so anyone who downloads it does not need to have Pure Data for the audio. I wanted to use Pure Data because it already has systems built into it that allow more control with volume, starting and stopping sounds, as well as not having a really noticeable blip every time the sounds loop.
If you want to read more about the piece, how the piece works, and other projects that helped inform this piece you can view it on word or google docs here
Google - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VK-plVxY3ClA_tkLz73-KaWi2ySbbkoB9_-D1AQ5nBA/edit?usp=sharing
Progress Through the Quarters
Week 3: Got LED Lights that can be controlled with a computer using its API/LAN. Confirmed that Pure data could be directly added into Unity for sound. Created a comprehensive list of assets that I needed and general storyboarding.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rcAZntqDK_38kNJb2yK6-7MXbA9gTpXDARoqvD937MA/edit?usp=sharing
Week 4-5: Successfully implemented lighting and sound control through unity so it changes with the current state of the game. Tutorial Screen created with functioning New Game and Credits Buttons. Title Screen, Controls Screen, Menu Buttons, and Tutorial Background concepts made.
Wk 6: Midterm Crit #1
Demo Start of Game into Tutorial - new game takes you to the start of the tutorial scene.
Demo Lighting Code - have the IRL lighting be different depending on what scene you are in within unity.
Demo Pure Data - have pure data connected to unity so it is all controlled and run within it
Demo Save - have an automatic saving system when you enter a new scene
Wk7-8: Reworking LED for Bluetooth Control as WIFI does not work on the installation site. Added a functioning menu and auto-save functionality so when you close down the game you can hit continue to go back to where you were.
Wk 9-10: Concepts and Coding, Finals Crit #1
Concepts for tutorial completed (both for visual and audio). Tutorial is now fully playable and when you pass it takes you to an empty scene for the next section of the game. Animation concepts added in. Lighting control using LED strip as a placeholder working for all of the coded game so far. Current placeholder "Left, Right, Front, Back" dialogue when in the Ear Test as surround is not set up at this point.
Wk 11-12: Fixing errors and Concepts
Started on concepts for the beginning of the home stage. Fixed audio issue so sound actually plays properly when the game is built. Menu was broken on Ear test stage which now has been fixed. Started researching surround sound headphones that actually have different channels as well as surround sound speakers that have a receiver to connect them to a laptop.
Wk 13-15: Creating Concepts, Fixing errors
Finished all concepts up until the horror actually begins. Have animations playing between each "step" the character takes and in between each scene. Fixed lighting connection so that if the game is left running with no user interaction, when a user does interact with it it is quick to respond. Made it so I can have lights change within a scene (instead of just changing when the scene shifts)
Wk 16-17: Horror Gameplay Implemented
The horror gameplay concepts and code are completed along with concept audio for the monsters. Updated all timers so if they player opens the menu it pauses and it will stop as soon as all inputs are hit. Fixed tutorial animations not loading before running. Created an animation for the transition between non-horror into horror.
Wk 18: Updated Lighting and Sound, Bug fixing, Difficulties Made
Updated the lighting to work with a bulb LED light instead of an LED strip. General bug fixing for code. Made different difficulties that the player can choose after hitting new game and created the graphics for it. The difficulty adjusts the amount of time you have each stage in the game. Started making adjustments to the audio in the game. Created a "death" animation for if you fail. Created a loading screen for scenes with long loading times and no animation between the two.
Wk 19-20 Final Touches
Updated audio, fixed some drawing issues, made the ending and credits animations and audio. Finalized difficulty timers. Final bug fixes
Updated audio, fixed some drawing issues, made the ending and credits animations and audio. Finalized difficulty timers. Final bug fixes
Contact Me
marissamichalik.art@gmail.com