Photo Edits/Designs

I digitally altered some of my photos to help comunicate my ideas. I experimented by desaturating them and adding blood, I wanted to figure out wether violence was necessary in horror games as many of them are often gory.

I feel that although violence is not necessary to make a good horror game it can certainly help to build tension and fear as blood can give the player the impression of danger, it can be a warning. Of my edits I really felt that the red blood on black and white worked best, it helps emphasise the gore compared to the pure black and white one where it just looks like dark smears also it looks more stylish and artistic sort of like the sin city movie.

Video Reference

I have also taken some video footage to use as reference, I have also added a black and white filter here to give an impression of the style I want my game to look like.

The lights in the basement at work come on automatically when you are within a certain distance of them so it can be particularly creepy as you are forced to walk into the darkness before it will light up.

I walked past a malfunctioning light at work and it seemed like an opportune moment to capture some footage

Reference Photos

I work in a large and very old department store and I often do the delivery shift which requires me to be in before 7am when it is still dark outside and the building is rather empty as most employees have not arrived yet. I feel that it can be quite a creepy place to work and thought that it might be an interesting setting for my horror game which would also allow me to take lots of reference photos and videos.

Mood Boards

I like to begin a project by creating a series of mood boards linked to the subject matter to help comunicate my initial thoughts and ideas.

In this case I have looked at a number of my favourite horror games which I will be referencing throughout my project.

Resident Evil is arguably the largest horror video game franchise with over 15 games released so far and more planned for the future.

Silent Hill is most probably the second largest horror game franchise after resident evil

Bioshock is a 2007 FPS which has a horror elements to it, the game was notable for featuring a distinct art style as it was set in an Art Deco designed underwater city.

More Game Inspiration

Black & White

I recently purchased and have been watching the original twilight zone box set and realised that there aren't many games in black and white so i figured that this may be a good idea/route for my project which could set it apart from other games.

I have looked at some other classic black and white horror/sci-fi movies for inspiration. As they didn't have the technological advances of modern day film to make their movies scary they found alternative ways such as trick with lighting and the contrast in film to induce fear.

A few games in the past have experimented with black and white to varying degrees of success.

(please see my RVJ for more in-depth analysis of the mood boards)