Digital Storytelling
Ideas & Research:
Environment & Character options:
what if there was a serial killer watching from in the house.
what if runaway prisoners were hiding in the shack.
what if a monster patrols the swap.
what if knights battled in the snow.
what if a evil witch lives in the house across the bridge.
What if soldiers were preparing to attack just over the wall.
what if a vampire lived at the top of the tower.
what if samurais had a battle here.
Using ArtStation I looked at random environments as they popped up and typed the first thing that came to mind. Now that I had a selection of different ideas I started to expand on a idea I liked the most.
Escaped Psychopath Murder scene(Environment/walking sim):
Overview/Story: There has been recurring murders in the small town of Luxel, no one is able to figure out who is behind these horrible tragedies, not even the local police force. However one day a private detective eventually worked out who it was leading to the arrest and imprisonment of The Sickle Slicer also known as Johnathon Laird. One night when he is being transferred the police van crashes into some trees at the side of the road close to a sawmill, when back up arrived there was no sign of john but the police who were with him had been killed and locals from the sawmill had also been killed meaning John was back out in the public. Police put posters up hoping to keep people away from the area and to make any passersby aware.
In this scene there will be a police van that has crashed into one of the trees, bodies and blood of the dead police men and locals, posters on the trees warning anyone near by of his escape another police car possibly with police men stood by it to represent the search for him. Then at the top of the sawmill in a window there will be a flickering light and a figure with a sickle showing how he is just waiting and watching their every move.
I have decided to go down the walking sim route, meaning the player will be in the perspective of one of the back up officers and will go through the environment finding evidence for when it gets closed off as a crime scene, this will also explain the story and what has happened to the user. The other option I am now thinking about is a cutscene/cinematic delivery instead, but I will need to look into that more and decide if that will work well in getting my story and idea across.
The setting: This will be set in the past around 80s/90s as it fits the scene the best for what im aiming for.
Location: not far from the town of Luxel, in and around a sawmill, in a Forrest environment.
Character overview Johnathon laird: Johnathon Laird also known as The sickle Slicer, was nicknamed this when he confessed to it being his weapon of choice along side a butchers knife. His age is unknown, he is not on any documents apart from police records, no place of employment, no home residence, no family, no pets, nothing its like he doesn’t exist. He has stated many times to police that he loves to bring fear to those around him, it makes him feel powerful, especially the chase, that gets his blood pumping.
Character Overview Officer Wright : Officer Wright is 24 year old male, around 5ft 10 short black hair and blue eyes. He loves helping people and is the main reason why he joined the police force, so he can make a difference. Wright dreams of becoming the police chief of the Luxel police force, as he believes he would do a better job than the current chief.
Mood Boards:
Concept Art/BlockOut:
This is a rough concept for the layout and look of the scene, i will follow this up with some unreal concepts of how it will look within that. Now that i have got a basic block out done in unreal its now just about getting the assets made and textured then put into place. (Some assets/details are not shown in the block out).
Project Planning:
I will create an asset list and give them all a priority, I will then go through the list making what I think is most important for the scene until I have made all the assets needed. Once this is done I will then import them all in to the unreal engine scene I have set up. I will then make sure the scale is right, the collisions are right and the assets look how id expect them to. Following on from this I will then create any blueprints needed for movements, lighting, actions etc, doing multiple tests throughout to make sure it all runs smoothly. Once this is done I will then add sounds in, then i will do a final test making sure it works perfectly from start to finish.
software:
For this project i will be using Maya to make any assets needed and to texture them and i will be using unreal engine to put it all together and to create the final piece. I’m using these as i have experience with both and will be able to do my best with them.
Asset List:
Street light/lamppost (High priority)
trees (High priority)
bottles/other rubbish (low priority)
crashed/normal police cars (High priority)
logs (Medium priority)
axe (Medium priority)
sawmill (High priority)
Doors (High priority)
saw (High priority)
Posters (low priority)
bench (Medium priority)
tools (Medium priority)
Buckets (Medium Priority)
wooden Crates (Medium Priority)
These are the assets I will be creating and using within my game environment, it isn’t a complete list as of now as things may get added or removed in the future. I will be aiming for stylised/low poly assets. The time they will take is uncertain as it depends on any issues i may come across or if i change my mind with how i want something to look etc. but However they all have a designated priority so the low priority assets will be made once and once only unless i really do not like it.
Gantt Chart:
This gantt chart gives an idea of when im wanting to start/continue assets, blueprints and the lighting for the scene and when im wanting to get them finished by.
References:
(Figure 1) ArtStation (2022) The suburbs [Image] Available Online: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/xYk8n2
(Figure 1) ArtStation (2017) DeepWood [Image] Available Online: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/zgeWq
(Figure 1) ArtStation (2019) SlaughterHouse [Image] Available Online: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Yagn8d
(Figure 1) ArtStation (2016) Barn [Image] Available Online: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/1YJG2