Intro
The Window is a solo-developed, Virtual-Reality prototype inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s Dagon. Created over a period of 10 weeks, the project explores how to translate a cosmic horror story into an immersive experience. By making use of atmosphere, interaction and environmental storytelling rather than directly retelling the original story. The experience places the the player inside the aftermath of the story, a police agent investigates the apartment of a man who has fallen to his death from a window, only to find that whatever caused him to do so is now manipulating the player.
Concept
The project started with a read and analysis of Dagon, taking note of the plot structure, key details and recurring themes as well as important elements that might be useful for visual interpretation. Early in the concepting phase, I decided I didn’t want to just retell the story through the eyes of the protagonist. Instead I opted to reframe the story as an investigation set within the same period and atmosphere as the original story. The player enters the apartment after the story has ended, uncovering fragments of what happened to the protagonist of Dagon through objects, clues and environmental changes. The apartment becomes both a crime scene as well as a psychological space, passing on the protagonist’s madness.
Process
As a solo project, the process covered a full development pipeline, albeit in a smaller or more shallow scale, reading and analysing the source material, researching existing Virtual Reality experiences, ideating possible adaptations, gathering feedback and forming a cohesive concept. Then moving on to actually build a prototype in Unreal Engine. The main design challenge was deciding on how the player would uncover a written story without relying on long exposition, passive narration or written text. Interaction became the main storytelling device, using objects in the apartment as triggers for narrative fragments, environmental responses and moments of psychological instability.
Development
The prototype was built in Unreal Engine, combining environmental design, interaction scripting, prototyping and even a little sound design into the mix. Though not extremely full or cramped with objects, the apartment was developed with the time period and societal status of Dagon’s protagonist in mind. The visual direction was a bleak, noir-inspired setting. Sticking to a monochrome experience makes colour feel out of place and alien. Something that I decided would work well seeing as the source material is cosmic horror. Other than scripting the interactions and building the project in Unreal Engine I also created a small set of sludge-like assets in Adobe Medium. Because the rest of the environment was rooted in realism and normalcy, these slick, oily lovecraftian shapes became a way to introduce the surroundings of where Dagon takes place into the apartment.
Outcome
The final result is a low-fidelity but atmosphere rich Virtual Reality prototype where the player investigates an unusual death and slowly becomes implicated in the same madness they are trying to understand. The Window translates the themes of Dagon into a player-driven experience intro the world of cosmic horror and Lovecraftian writing. It was a strong exercise in adapting literature for VR not by adapting the plot directly but by using atmosphere, interaction and the environment, the categories Virtual Reality excels at as a way to make the player feel as though they are stepping into the world of H.P. Lovecraft.