What is Unseen?

Unseen is a first-person horror survival game in VR for the Oculus DK2. Tricked by the men who were helping you and your mother cross the border, you’re held captive in a warehouse. Taken from your mother to be given to a client, you find a key to escape, and must make your way back to your mom before escaping.

Concept

  • Problems women in Central America face
  • Main point: Sex trafficking
  • Hints at poverty and domestic violence
  • Add compassion by playing as a 15 year old girl
  • Play in VR to put the player in the character’s shoes (literally)
  • Be realistic: no combat, no weapons, only run and hide
  • Art style inspired by That Dragon, Cancer

How did we get this concept? Iris Cole of Do Good Artist gave us the premise of problems women in Central America face and we decided to focus on human trafficking. We worked with her, her associates, and feedback we received from a Anti-Human Trafficking Specialist of the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault to create the narrative behind Unseen.

Goals for the Experience

  • Make the player feel helpless
  • Yet, hint that there is hope, with the player’s help
  • Build empathy for the player

Goals for the Game

  • VR and non-VR version
  • One level in English and Spanish
  • An opening cutscene
  • 5 items from other in-game victims for audio cutscenes

Empathy Studios/Credits

Empathy Studios is the name of the team who created Unseen in Dr. David Robert's CSC482 (Advanced Game Projects) class at NC State University. The team is entirely undergraduate students at NC State University, with our music provided by students at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

North Carolina State University Development Team ("Empathy Studios"):

  • Garrett Bird - AI Engineer
  • Jason Buchanan - Narrative Lead
  • Dana Christo - Art Lead
  • Russell Creswell - VR/UI Engineer
  • Brandon Gent - Level Designer
  • Alex Melton - VR/UI Engineer
  • John Pravlik - AI Engineer
  • Jacob Stone - Team Lead

Note: In addition to their primary role, every development team member did a bit of everything.

University of North Carolina School of the Arts Music Team:

  • Sara Brandt
  • Campbell Flood
  • Austin Howard
  • Trinity Velez-Justo

The rights to Unseen belong to Iris Cole doing business as Do Good Artist.