My Work
BVW Round 1 - The Hallway - Design Decisions
The Hallway was our first time working with the Motion Tracker platform, so we struggled a bit trying to find the perfect way to implement the wheelchair motion. After several combinations of collision planes and spheres, we settled on collision spheres for the hands and a collision plane parallel to the performer's torso. This allowed us to detect which hand collided with the plane and so we implemented the movements so that steering was possible by wheeling with only one hand. Wheeling with both hands causes lateral movements to cancel each other, and forward movements to add up for a steady forward motion.
Another good decision that was made early on was to create the hallway in modules, so that it were fully customizable. We modeled four different straight hallway modules with varying side door positions and two bent hallways for curves and created several different textures for each, with varying levels of gore on them. This allowed for the creation of an easily customizable world.
One of the final decisions to be made was to add some sets of double doors towards the end. There was no time to add the doors when the first version of the experience was presented, but an interest curve analysis for a second version made us realize that the experience was lacking in moments after the blackout occurs. The doors aren't supposed to be a strong moment, but they help keep the audience on edge.
Making The Hallway we learned that it is very different to design games than it is to design experiences - and more importantly, you need to know early on which one you are designing: there are several compromises you will not want (or know how) to make unless you have decided on which side of the game/experience line you are on. Moreover, we learned there's but the slightest difference between scary and cheesy, which is something one might guess from watching any "scary" movie - but still it's very easy to create something cheesy without realizing it.