Big Change - New Concept

So after a few meetings with lecturers and careful considerations I have ended up changing my project idea. It is still similar to the original one however there have been a few changes. These changes were made primarily due too my scope being too large, the fact I was diverging more into psychology as oppose to art and because I was becoming obsessive with the accuracy I wanted to have in my project.

I took a step back and decided to think carefully about what I wanted too do and what I enjoyed doing. The best way about doing this was taking it in little steps. So too begin with I knew and have always known I want to do 3D Environments:

Step 1: 3D Environments

Next was to figure out, what I enjoy and like about games and 3D environments; atmosphere I have always been a huge fan of atmosphere and truly believe it is a huge part in games, TV and film. I am all about atmosphere so it was clear that this was something I'd enjoy and be passionate about:

Step 2: Atmosphere

Next, again was to figure out what else I like about games and what I'd like to do within my environment. Along with atmosphere I really enjoy story and narrative, in particularly, when you the user/player has to figure it out for yourself, hence environment storytelling. I find this very effective and realistic as in some games it just places you in the world and you have to figure out your purpose and own opinions of the world yourself. (e.g Half Life 2).

Step 3: Storytelling/Narrative

Another idea I had in mind which I think would be really good to show as it would be highly interesting as well as effective as a portfolio piece is too have some sort of historical transformation happening within the environment as you progress through.

Step 4: Historical Transformation

With these four ideas/steps in mind it was time too scope down my project with more specific ideas. Linking the first two I had to come up with some sort of environment and some sort of atmosphere I wish to set. My favourite atmosphere is horror which I feel is sometimes not so well done in games and would love to try and create a truly horror/creepy atmosphere with a psychological horror theme coming to mind.

Step 5: Atmosphere = Psychological Horror

Now I needed to figure out the setting. With the psychological horror theme in mind and thinking about the historical transformation I had a rough idea in my mind of what I wanted. Similar to my last idea - Show a historical transformation of Mental Asylums - I decided to stick roughly to this but take a slightly different (in fact opposite) but more interesting approach. I decided to start of in a Grand Hotel which used to be a Mental Asylum and as you progress through the environment you discover some sort of story and discover the Hotel's (Asylum's) history.

Step 6: Historical Environment Change = Hotel to Mental Asylum

This is as far as I have got but it is definitely more suited to me. In a later post I will show my history of 3D environments and how I have slowly progressed and developed my interests and skills. My next task now is too get some moodboards as visual research and too start thinking up a story that can go with this environment,

I have a presentation today in which I will be showcasing my new idea and hopefully get some useful feedback. I will also be posting this up for you to see but for now, here is another little 'premise' for my 3D interactive experience:

Create a 3D environment which, through exploration, tells a story. Focus will be on creating a psychological horror atmosphere and showcasing a transformation of environment, in this case, Grand Hotel to Mental Asylum. Storyline is highly important too keep the user immersed.