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About Section
ABOUT WHAT HIDES IN THE WALLS
What Hides in the Walls is an environmental storytelling project that guides players through a mystery that unravels as you explore an empty mansion in the aftermath of an accident, without any dialogue or explicit narrative.
Over four weeks of development, I mapped out the full story arc, laid out the mansion using pre-made assets, and animated the morbid final sequence where the library comes alive to reveal the mystery building from the beginning.
PROJECT DETAILS
PROJECT TYPE
Solo Academic
ENGINE
Unity 3D
GENRE
First-Person, Narrative
DESIGN
Level Design
DESIGN
Narrative Design
DESIGN
Environmental Storytelling
DESIGN PROCESS
RESEARCHING MANSION LAYOUTS
1/1
With a short turnaround time and a focus on environmental storytelling, I opted to base the mansion on blueprints I found researching mansion layouts and then blocked off sections and made adjustments as needed. This gave me a base layout to start with and then build from there.
LEVEL GUIDANCE
1/6
USING THE ENVIRONMENT TO TELL A STORY
1/12
THE LIBRARY COMING TO LIFE
While players explore the mansion trying to figure out why an RV is in the foyer, it slowly reveals what they are actually experiencing is the end of a relationship, starting with suitcases and boxes, then unveiling the divorce papers and the notes on the baby items stashed under the stairs. But the experience has been hinting at something more ominous, which comes to life in the final sequence in the library.
Using audio cues, changes in lighting, and animated game objects, the library comes to life and starts antagonizing the player as they try to escape, blocking them off at different points in the room, keeping them trapped long enough to unveil one last hint at how the RV ended up in the foyer.
FINAL ITERATION
FULL PLAYTHROUGH
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