Initial Ideas, Concepts and Dracula

(very, very quick concept for game intro)

My first idea was for a game where the player is chasing shadows around Whitby, following a trail of death all the way up to the abbey.  Players would glimpse and subsequently follow a shadow, which would lead them to bodies or clues, working towards the horror aspect of the brief.

Having watched the library video again I felt inspired and realised that I could do an extended version of this, right from when the Demeter crashes on the beach.  This extended version would have a menu screen showing the ship off the coast waiting (see 10 min concept sketch above).  When the game starts the ship will crash on the coastline.

At this point I realised I didn't actually know what happened next, having never read Bram Stoker's Dracula.  The problem with this is that I'm quite dyslexic and my reading speed is atrocious.  In fact the chances of me finishing the book before the deadline of the competition were slim at best.  As a result I hunted for an audiobook version, which was difficult to find because they all used LibriVox (I found it impossible to listen to something that sounded so lifeless).  Thankfully I managed to find one that was actually quite well read by a human and so proceeded with that one (Dracula Audiobook Playlist).  I also took the opportunity to watch the film, which I quite enjoyed.

Most of the information I needed was in Chapter 6 and Chapter 7, however, all of the story up to that point had given little ideas that I could include in my game.  For example, the crates from the crashed ship containing earth.  Another idea I liked was to place the book that was in Dracula's library with the map of England and circled locations on the beach to indicate to players who or what the shadow might be.

The path the extended design takes would be shorter then the original idea, given the additional assets that would need to be made, with a structured path that again leads to the abbey.

Choosing to do something based on Dracula has meant that I actually got to know the story, thanks to the audiobook and film, which I may never have done had it not been for the research conducted on this project.