This was one of my original concepts for the final project in my masters, I wanted to have the main character be in a wheelchair to enhance the feeling of vulnerability but also present the player with a different point of view. It would be designed for VR and utilize gaming peripherals to enhance immersion, such as the PS5 adaptive triggers for navigating the wheelchair across different flooring and slopes.
The game would take place over a single night within the main characters residence. The pacing would allow for the player to explore the house, getting used to the environment and uncovering information about the protagonists life and personality. Inspiration was taken from the films Curse of Chucky and Hush but also from real life as my daughter has grown up with Cerebral Palsy.
I designed the antagonists to be a home invader, who enjoyed toying with his victim. He would have the advantage of mobility but would have the flaw of underestimating his intended victim. He was designed using the AI system developed for the Xenomorph in Alien Isolation, to promote replayability. I designed different tracks for the killers’ behavior depending on the in-game time and player actions. If the player acted more aggressively the killers path on the tracks would speed up to reflect this. There would also be things slight changes in rooms the player had been in before, which would become more pronounced as the game progressed. Attention would not be drawn to this, resulting in the player questioning themselves and increasing the sense of unease.