REVILL

REVILL
Plattform	PC
Spiel-Engine	Unity
Genre	Walking Simulator
Thematik	Horror
Spielmodus	Single Player
Steuerung	Keyboard, Mouse
Sprache	English

This is the wiki page for the game REVILL as part of the game production lecture in the summer semester 2022.

Roles and Tasks in the Team

Julia Posch

Project Management, Story

Sebastian Grundherr

Programming | Sound Assistant, Story Assistant

Selina Behrens

Level Design, Game Design | Wiki

Dominik Senzenberger

3D Art | Programming Assistant

Hannah Matzka

Sound Design | 3D Art Assistant

Game Idea and Goal

The main theme of REVILL is the feeling of uncanny valley. The subtle feeling that something is off, paired with the inability to discern what it is exactly. Another prevalent motive is the idea of purgatory and damnation as the player is, like the main character, forced to repeat a horrible mistake from the past over and over again.

The goal is to make the player feel an uncanny feeling that should be present in every aspect of the game. Music, Game Art, Lighting and Level Design should all be in service of this main idea.

REVILL draws inspiration from horror games like Layers of fear, Martha is dead or P.T. . The focus lies on the story and the atmosphere being conveyed, rather than on fancy game mechanics or action sequences.

Game Mechanics

The game REVILL is a first person walking simulator. The main game mechanics consist of searching for story hints and usable items inside the game world. The player can move with W A S D and sneak with SHIFT to reach low places - for example look underneath a table or inside a low placed shelf. The player is also able to run with STRG. By pressing SPACE all interactable items light up, so that the player knows where to find these objects. The player can select an item to interact with by pressing LMB. Items with which the player has already interacted with don't light up and can’t be interacted with anymore.

There are two outcomes after clicking at something interactable: the item can either be picked up or trigger a short text. The first option results in picking the item up. The player then can look at a 3D version of this item which can be rotated with LMB to inspect it further and to find more clues. There is no such thing as an inventory, but the items the player picks up are shown at the top of the screen as little simplified icons. After using an item the related icon disappears. The other option after clicking at something is to get a short text monologue on screen from Arthur describing how he feels or giving an anecdote about the item. The player can trigger this monologue only once and it can’t be skipped.

Doors have a special mechanic and serve as transition portals between the diner and the research facility. At specific times the player opens a door or exits a room the environment changes between the research facility and the diner. Every time the player comes back to the diner, the arrangement of furniture and room structure changes and the crash test dummies sitting there take different poses. The lighting is also different and gets consequently creepier and darker. However, the arrangement of rooms in the research facility doesn’t change.

The goal in REVILL is to explore the story and to fire the nuclear bomb at the end. There are no possibilities of dying and no such thing as health.

Level Design

Legend

Important item

Teleport or change in room layout

Diner

Layout 1

This is the first area the player gets to see. The ambience is lively and there are many people eating there. All doors are locked at this state in the game.

The first objective is to find the key to the toilet which hangs behind the counter and then need to be used at the WC door.

Inside the toilet aren't any important items. However, when exiting the WC the dining area is really weird: There are puppets instead of real people and there are subtile uncanny differences in the furniture arrangement.

After this event all the doors are open and the player can explore the kitchen. There are many little things to find revealing more of the story, the circumstances or the time period.

When opening the door to the hallway the player stands inside a big hall of a research facility. (see below)

Layout 2

After picking up the clipboard inside the research hall the player gets teleported inside the research facility again.

The layout of the diner changed again - it repeats itself many times to both sides. While exploring the diner the player hears sounds from Clara that seem to follow them whereever they go.

The next important item can be found inside the office. It's the first set of coordinates where the nuclear bomb should be fired to.

When opening the door to the hallway the player stands inside the research facility again.

Layout 3

After the player picked up the second set of coordinates they get teleoported to the diner where the layout changed again.

The layout is very streamlined now and the only option is to walk straight ahead. The first time the player looks behind them they see a silhouette of Clara standing there - she's laughing. After looking at her for more than two seconds the lights in the room go out and the player needs to run away from Clara. The lights always go out after exiting a room and sounds and shadows pursue the player.

There aren't any important items to collects, only optional ones.

At the end is a closed door which can't be opened. When the player turnes around again they stand inside the research facility.

Research Facility

The research facility consists of the research hall which is the core of this place. Around this room there are five smaller rooms for working and toilets.

The light, atmosphere and assets are more on the bluish and cold side of color. It is a contrast to the more reddish Diner.

The music inside the research facility consists more of noise and ambience sounds.

Layout

After Diner Layout 1

The player starts in the back of the big research hall. All doors are locked and only this area is explorable.

The objective is to find a clipboard laying on a table. After picking it up the player gets teleoported back to the Diner inside the second layout.

After Diner Layout 2

The player spawns inside one of the two office rooms and needs to find the second set of coordinates for the nuclear bomb. While exploring the research hall is locked so the player can only look inside the smaller rooms around the core. The coordinates are placed inside the break room on a tiny shelf. After the player picks them up and wants to exit the room they stand in the Diner again - third layout.

After Diner Layout 3

This is the last time the player gets teleported back and forth. The player starts once again at the back of the research hall.

The last objective is to enter the collected coordinates into the main research table in front of the big screen. After sending them a big explosion occurs, a tinitus sound starts ringing and the screen fades to white. This is the end of REVILL.

Story

Characters

ARTHUR - Middle aged guy. Had a job at a US government military research facility. He has been unhappily married for years and wants to use his severance money to start a new life with his secret girlfriend Clara.

CLARA - She is a mysterious woman. Arthur doesn’t know much about her past, but he also doesn’t care. What he knows is that he wants a future with this woman.

Story

A government researcher accidentally messes up the coordinates for a nuclear weapons test, and blows up a diner, where he wanted to meet up with his girlfriend, instead of a piece of desert. He is haunted by his mistake and relives his memory of this tragic event and what he assumed happened in the diner.

We begin the story in the empty desert of Nevada. Arthur looks at a note from Clara that reads: “Meet me in the diner at 8 pm”. As he lowers the note he sees the diner. Neon lights flashing and people moving inside. As he enters nothing seems to be out of the ordinary. But he doesn’t see Clara. As he sits down and orders some coffee, the waitress spills it on his clothes. He goes to the bathroom to wash it off, but as he comes back to the diner he is suddenly alone. Everyone, even the staff, have left and the place is filled with strange puppets. He notices - as it is his profession - that those are test-dummies for nuclear weapon testing. As he wanders among the puppets confused and a little scared he gets the feeling that he is not alone. He is being watched.

Emotional Intensity diagram

There are two stories, which are told in alteration. The first one is slowly uncovered in the diner. A failed nuclear test destroyed the place and a nearby town. Arthur finds hints, newspaper articles and maybe radio recordings that slowly tell the tale of his horrible mistake, while being haunted by the Ghost of Clara, which represents his bad conscience. The second story is his memory of the day from his point of view. We change locations back and forth from the diner to the military research facility where he worked. The research facility does not look normal though. It is a hellish place overgrown with stretches of mutated flesh and muck. It represents his own purgatory in which he is forced to redo his terrible mistake.

It is not possible to “win” the game. You can not prevent the catastrophe from happening. You complete the game by uncovering the story and once more reliving Arthurs mistake.

User Interface

Start Screen

Pause Screen

In-Game Interface - Interaction with objects

Inspiration

Asset List

Objects

CoffeeMachine.FBX

DoorInner_A.FBX

DoorInner_B.FBX

ExitSign.FBX

FireExtinguisher.FBX

FireExtinguisherSign.FBX

Flags.FBX

Hanger.FBX

Hat.FBX

Jalousie.FBX

JalousieOpen.FBX

Jukebox.FBX

KitchenCabinet_A.FBX

KitchenCabinet_B.FBX

KitchenCabinet_C.FBX

KitchenCabinet_D.FBX

KitchenShelf.FBX

LampCeiling.fbx

Mat.FBX

Materials Menu.FBX

MenuOnStand.FBX

MenuStand.FBX

Modules

Painting_A.fbx

Painting_B.fbx

Painting_C.fbx

Painting_D.fbx

Painting_E.fbx

Pizza.FBX

PizzaPiece.FBX

Rag.FBX

Signboard.FBX

Sink.FBX

Small Props

Sofa.FBX

SofaDouble.FBX

Stool.FBX

TableRect.FBX

TableSquare.FBX

Tableware

Telephone.FBX

Toilet.FBX

ToiletProps

Animations

DoorInner.anim