Planning I

I want the player to feel as if they are in an ethereal plane of existence - but nothing too extreme. Their surroundings are full of familiar objects, but something about the tranquility of the scene and atmosphere makes it feel dream-like. Normally when you visit a museum or a park, you are not the only person in it. But what I want the player to get a sense of is that they are the only person that exists anywhere in this dream-like world. Similarly to the album “Worlds” by Porter Robinson, I want to make the themes of escapism and fantasy really shine through. This is where I had the great idea of using doors as portals instead of traditional doors that connect you to a room on the other side. I was mainly inspired by Makoto Shinkai’s latest animated film, “Suzume no Tojimari”. There would just be a door in the middle of each room that transports you to a separate, unique environment.






In terms of interactivity, there should be lights that light up when you walk near them, or sounds that play when you interact with various objects. I think sound is a topic we haven’t really touched much and I would love to implement more of it - especially in terms of ambience. Maybe some text prompts of your character’s thoughts show up when you interact with something. The lights could even be used as a guide to the next door. The player should start in a room that is familiar to them - a bedroom of sorts. Then as you walk through doors, it gets increasingly unfamiliar and fantastical. Maybe you get transported to the inside of a subway train that’s partly submerged, or to an alley in the middle of a futuristic city. Or to some ruins in the middle of nowhere. But at the last door, you return to your bedroom. This all sounds really ambitious, but I think I could pull it off since the “rooms” aren’t too large, and there are tons of free content packs I could utilize (I can also create my own simple models). The doors shouldn’t be too difficult to code either (I don’t plan on having it all be seamlessly connected, I.E being able to see each environment through the doors) Attached are some pieces of art I plan to reference for lighting and design.