Asset Lists
These lists show assets that I either need to create or use free assets for.
Visual:
| Asset | Priority | Purpose |
| Nathan Cross | High | Character model for the main character. Needed primarily because the player is not always playing as them. |
| Operative D-14 Model / Operatives Model | High | N/A |
| Rian Sanderson | High | N/A |
| Doctor Richmond | Low | Doesn’t have much of a presence in the game so could be removed and referenced in documents only. |
| Zombies | High | Primary enemy for the game. Variation in models not as important but would be preferred. |
| Mutated Zombie | Low | Isn’t necessary for the story but could add some variation to the gameplay. |
| Civilians/Corpses | Medium | Not that important to the story but can help with environmental storytelling and an optional Operative D-14 segment. |
| Checkpoint Environment | High | Used for the introduction. |
| Exterior Street | High | Serves as the main area of the game. |
| House Interior | High | Used for the explorable houses. |
| Furniture | Medium | Make the interiors more interesting. Variety less important. |
| Keycard | High | Key Item to progress in the game. |
| Lab Interior | High | Used as the In Media Res start and final segment |
| Viral Agent | Medium | Would be preferred to have a visual representation in the lab of the virus but not mandatory. |
| Handgun | High | Main form of combat in the game. |
| Machine Gun | Low | Another weapon to differentiate the operatives weapons. |
| Blood | High | Very useful for environmental storytelling. |
Sounds:
| Asset | Priority | Purpose |
| Gunshot | High | Audio feedback for the player. |
| Player Footsteps | Low | Better immerse the player in the experience. |
| Zombie Noises | Medium | To warn the player of an enemy nearby. |
| Character Dialogue | Medium | Would help to better tell the story but this can also be shown in text. |
| Ambient Environment Noise | Low | Better immerse the player in the experience. |
| Character Noises (Injured etc.) | Low | Audio feedback for the player. |
| Lab System Noises | Low | Better immerse the player in the experience. |
Character Overview
Nathan Cross
The willing hero of the story. Ventures to the rural town of Red Oak in search of a missing biology student. At first, he struggles with the events happening in the town but adapts to the situation as he is determined to save the student. The character arc is that he leaves the town with a new conviction of taking down the Dymon Corporation as their sinister deeds can’t go unpunished.
Rian Sanderson
Serves as the herald for our primary protagonist as his disappearance is the catalyst for the start of the story and is what draws the main character to the Red Oak Quarantine Zone. A prodigy biology student at Red Oak University specifically targeted by the Dymon Corporation for his unique skillset. His arc is that he goes from being an innocent student working alongside the Dymon Corporation to directly opposing them after the horrific events he was involved in at Red Oak.
Doctor Harold Richmond
The primary antagonist as his research is what causes the outbreak in the first place. His incessant need for results to gain profit for the company allows the initial accident to happen. Also takes a shapeshifter role as he at first seems kind and committed to good causes to Rian Sanderson until he reveals his true nature in a failed attempt to get Rian to help his research. Doesn’t have much of a presence in the game but his actions are what causes most of the problems encountered in the story.
Operative D-14
A secondary antagonist for the majority of the game as well as an alternate protagonist to show the events from another perspective. They start antagonistic to the main character as their job is to remove any threats to the Dymon Corporation which includes witnesses to the Red Oak events but this changes as they start to question their actions due to the emotional toll. Their arc is that they become an ally to our main hero at the end of the story and allow them to escape.
Zombies
The infected creatures serve as threshold guardians within the game as they are used to stop the player from progressing. The plan is to have multiple variations that serve as bigger threats.
Story Overview
It was a well known fact that the town of Red Oak has long been associated with the Dymon Corporation but the extent of their involvement in the town as it turns out is far more sinister. The town serves as a cover for a secret laboratory that engages in unethical human experimentation to try and push human ability far beyond natural levels. A viral agent previously used in these experiments is accidentally released causing an outbreak in the town. This specific viral agent was deemed too dangerous as it had the horrific side effects of taking over a person’s mind and mutation with prolonged use. Unfortunately for you, a student has been reported missing in the rural town of Red Oak and you are the private investigator tasked with finding him. What you thought would be a simple job ends up being much more than you bargained for as you find yourself struggling against these creatures that before today would only exist in your nightmares.
Characters
Nathan Cross – A private investigator hired to find missing student Rian Sanderson within the rural town of Red Oak. He is determined to find Rian even if it means risking his own life. He will serve as the player character for most of the game experience.
Rian Sanderson – A biology student prodigy at Red Oak University. Has a scholarship sponsored by the Dymon Corporation. He is very passionate about vaccine research. The Dymon Corporation seeks to use his skills in their illicit research which he is initially unaware off.
Operative D-14 – A mysterious agent working for the Dymon Corporation. Employed to protect the image of the company at all costs. At first, they are unwavering in their loyalty to the corporation but the terrible acts they are ordered to commit in Red Oak starts to take a toll. Secondary player character for some segments of the game experience.
Doctor Harold Richmond – The head of research at the Dymon Corporation Red Oak Lab. A cynical man only focused on getting results on his illicit research. This focus on results is what allows the inciting incident to occur in the first place.
Structure
My story is structured in the usual three acts as it works perfectly for the way I am presenting my story in my short game experience. However, there will still be complexity in my structure as I will be utilising the In Media Res storytelling technique in the first act to hook the player’s into my story. I also intend to use the Monomyth or Hero’s Journey as Nathan Cross will leave Red Oak with a new conviction of exposing the sinister nature of the Dymon Corporation. The narrative is multi-layered as there will be multiple perspectives on the events happening in Red Oak allowing the player to see different outlooks on the situation from opposing sides.
First Act: The player is at first in control of Operative D-14 as they clearing a section of the underground lab in search of potential witnesses. The player clears the area of all infected creatures and then finds Nathan Cross and Rian Sanderson. Nathan Cross pleads for D-14 to let them leave and then the screen fades to black. The player now is in control of Nathan Cross earlier that day as he has entered the Red Oak Quarantine Zone. The player explores an abandoned checkpoint and has a first encounter with a zombie. At this point, the player has no weapon so the player has to run. The player finds a handgun on a corpse and dispatches the first zombie.
Second Act: This part of the game is more open as the player is free to explore a small group of houses. It is in this section that the player can find various notes and documents detailing events that occurred in the quarantined area. The aim is to find information on the whereabouts of Rian Sanderson. One of the houses belongs to a Doctor Richmond which contains a hidden entrance to the underground lab. The player has to find a keycard in this open area before being able to progress into the lab. Optional playable section in which the player finds footage of D-14 and their squad killing witnesses.
Third Act: The third act consists of searching the lab. This act is more linear but there are still notes and documents containing information on important elements of the story. The player can piece together exactly how the virus spread as they explore this lab. As the player reaches the end of the playable part of the lab, they discover Rian Sanderson hidden away in a locked room. Opening the room starts an alarm that summons a horde of zombies and the story catches up to the situation set up at the start. Operative D-14 lets Nathan Cross and Rian Sanderson leave as they can no longer cope with the guilt of what they have done in service of the Dymon Corporation.
Themes
The theme that I aim for my story to have is “the devastating effects of corporate greed”. The nefarious experiments that Doctor Richmond and Dymon Corp committed were to gain results in their aim to push human ability further than naturally possible. This was all to increase the income of the company by selling the viral agents to various militaristic organisations all over the world.
Setting
The period in which the story is set in is a version of our modern day. This means that everything in the game should make sense to real life. The zombie and viral agent elements of the game don’t work in a real world scenario but they will be explained in a way that would somewhat make sense in real life. The story takes place in one night as the player explores the Red Oak Quarantine Zone. The story takes place in a rural english town known as Red Oak with a secret underground lab. The main conflict in the game is the main character Nathan Cross surviving against the creatures and forces of the Dymon Corporation. However, there are secondary conflicts of Rian Sanderson discovering the nefarious plans of Doctor Richmond and Operative D-14 struggling to cope with the horrific actions they are ordered to do.
Tone
The story is being told through the eyes of a private investigator and a corporate operative allowing different perspectives on a mostly linear story. The tone will be quite serious as I aim to tell quite a serious story and without a tone that matches it may not work that well.
Initial Research and Ideas Generation
Initially, I started thinking of the software I would like to use for my digital story. As I would primarily like to pursue game programming professionally, I would prefer to use a game engine in which I can showcase my programming ability. I would prefer to use a version of Unreal Engine as I have most recently been using the Unreal blueprinting system to program my games. However, I also have some experience in creating modifications for Bethesda games such as Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas in their respective creation kits which serve as a more restrictive version of a game engine.
Ideas Generation
Idea 1:
A small first person game experience set in a quarantined housing block infested with creatures reanimated by a manmade pathogen which the player character travels to in search of a missing student. The focus will be on environmental storytelling as I would prefer for the player to piece together an idea of what happened themselves but certain information will be given to the player to help this process. The player will at first be confused by the events inside the quarantined area so part of the story will include the player character struggling to survive. The game won’t be too gameplay intensive as the priority is on the story although I do intend to include combat with some enemies.
What If: What if a student went missing in a small neighborhood infested with zombies?
Controlling Idea: How does experiencing a horrific event change a person?
Idea 2:
A game modification for Fallout 3 or Fallout New Vegas that would aim to expand on a story or plot thread from the main game. The aim of the modification would be to add some further complexity to the lore of the game while the story is an original creation that would fit within the respective game’s universe. One idea I had of a potential story I could do in either of the games is expand upon an existing or create a new vault experiment with links to some of the characters from the main game. The player would have to make difficult choices to survive the vault experiment potentially having disastrous consequences for other people.
What If: What if the player is caught in a vault experiment?
Controlling Idea: What will a person do to survive at any cost?
Chosen Idea:
I decided on my first idea for this project as I was more passionate about it and it will help me to showcase the skills I have most recently developed. The idea was originally a much bigger game experience but in order to make it in the time I have I have adapted it to a much smaller scale.
Inspiration
One of my main inspirations for my project is the Resident Evil series as it originally started with quite a similar premise to my own as an abandoned town, Raccoon City, is overtaken by a virus that turns people and animals into mindless biological weapons due to unethical experimentation by a corporation known as Umbrella. The primary point of inspiration I am drawing from the series in terms of my story is how the company has complete control over the town allowing them to have a secret lab underneath it as well as allowing experimentation on employees and citizens without repercussions. The small housing block that my game is set in is to be a cover for a secret lab that is run by a corrupt organisation using artificial pathogens to try and augment human ability.
However, for the gameplay I am more inspired by the most recent non-remake titles in the series as they use a first person perspective instead of third person or fixed camera perspectives. The first person perspective will assist in creating the tense atmosphere I want for my game as well as it makes it feel a little more personal to the player.
The game Outlast also serves as an inspiration for certain aspects of my project. The game takes place in an asylum that the player is exploring as they were tipped off about terrible things happening there due to experiments by the Murkoff Corporation. The aspects of the game that inspired my project are the gameplay and the way the story is presented to the player. In Outlast, the player has no way to combat any threats and must run or hide from any enemies. I wish to incorporate this type of gameplay in the early part of my game to show the struggle the player initially has before they adapt to the situation.
The primary inspiration I take from this game though is the way the story is told to the player. Besides from some important plot points, a lot of the story is told to the player through the environment or through notes that the player can optionally pick up and read allowing the player to piece together the story rather than having it all explained in an exposition dump. I aim to include a similar storytelling method in my game experience as most of the game will be exploring the environment and putting together what happened.
Moodboard
References
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Capcom (2017) Resident Evil 7 Gameplay Example 1 [Photograph]. Available online: https://www.polygon.com/resident-evil-7-guide/2017/1/26/14401532/walkthrough [Accessed 8/11/2022].
Capcom (2017) Resident Evil 7 Gameplay Example 2 [Photograph]. Available online: https://store.steampowered.com/app/418370/Resident_Evil_7_Biohazard/ [Accessed 8/11/2022].
Capcom (2017) Resident Evil 7 Main Room Screenshot [Photograph]. Available online: https://store.steampowered.com/app/418370/Resident_Evil_7_Biohazard/ [Accessed 8/11/2022].
Capcom (2017) Resident Evil 7 Table Screenshot [Photograph]. Available online: https://store.steampowered.com/app/418370/Resident_Evil_7_Biohazard/ [Accessed 8/11/2022].
Capcom (2018) Resident Evil 2 Cover Art [Photograph]. Available online: https://bloody-disgusting.com/video-games/3512261/cover-art-revealed-capcoms-upcoming-resident-evil-2-remake/ [Accessed 8/11/2022].
Capcom (2019) Resident Evil 2 Hallway Screenshot [Photograph]. Available online: https://store.steampowered.com/app/883710/Resident_Evil_2/ [Accessed 8/11/2022].
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Red Barrels (2022) The Outlast Trials Lab Screenshot [Photograph]. Available online: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1304930/The_Outlast_Trials/ [Accessed 8/11/2022].
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