Studio 1 | The Manor

Synopsis

You are a detective tasked with arresting a serial killer. The only thing is, that same serial killer has trapped you in his mansion, and if you don’t get out before the time is up…

Click here to go to the game:

https://themanor.itch.io/the-manor

It is an interactive experience where players explore the manor to find keys hidden in different rooms within the manor learning a bit about the serial killer, his motive and his plans for you. With this project, we wanted to create an immersive experience that insinuates fear, encourages players to question their beliefs, explore a new perspective and play with the sense of power.

Art Bible:

Mood board and References:

Production:

'The Manor' began with 4 students desire to create an interesting experience in a dark environment, so after a short discussion, they settled on a crime/horror/suspense immersive experience. The ideation and initial task allocation phase was finished on the day they started. The next week was followed by a complete rough block out of the mansions layout (as shown on the right - a bird's eye view of the manor). The mansion was created in Unreal for efficiency.

Pre-production documentation was entirely finished by week 5. This included putting together a mood board, art bible, project documentation page and planning a schedule as well as listing tasks and roles that were allocated. Once this was done, it was on to building everything! It was a very good place to be for the team, and this built moral and spirit. Everyone steadily worked on the asset creation and texturing. The team worked extremely well together and efficiently carried out their tasks, resulting in all assets had been modelled and textured many weeks before the grey boxing due date.

The next phase was to import the assets into the Unreal Engine and ensure it was a playable game. The lighting, effects, sounds, voice acting, blueprints, character and object actions were all implemented and finished a week before the grey boxing playthrough by the lecturers. Aside from a few suggestions to heighten the narrative even further, the game was given the green light and approved. Both lecturers and people who were given the game to test run were impressed by the quality and experience.

Due to planning, task allocation and direction, priority was given to the most crucial elements of the project to make it a playable game and somewhat immersive experience, so that all criteria of the project requirements were met. Once that was done, all members had a great time looking for ways to raise the bar.

The last few weeks were dedicated to polishing the product, as all the members desired to continue improving 'The Manor' as much as possible. The two members who initially worked together for the ideation phase took this opportunity to play through the game countless times - inspecting the environment, functions, sound and experience. They regularly checked to see if there could be any improvements made.

It was a phenomenal experience, working with a team that had great chemistry, worked on constant, fluid communication and took initiative with their allocated tasks - if something wasn't working right, they would take notice, find out how to fix it, suggest it to the group or do it themselves then check with the others to see if everyone liked the change. No one needed to be taken by the hand; everyone actively sought to improve the production, help their fellow teammates and create a killer product.

GALLERY

Meet The Team!

Alyssa Gomes

Kyle Boddy

Alyssa was the Director and Team Lead of 'The Manor' -

Alyssa came up with the story plot, characters, motives, event flow/story outline, and was the visual director and dialogue scriptwriter. Alyssa worked with Kyle to create the idea of 'The Manor' together. and kept polishing the idea throughout the production: Alyssa lead the team in keeping to the artistic vision, project requirements and overall efficiency in mind.

Alyssa handled the planning and scheduling: she made a team schedule, drew out a project timeline, then throughout the production noted tasks then delegated to each member according to who was most capable or interested in them. She made sure to be clear on the priorities to successfully meet project requirements while considering time for each member to have fun making what they wanted for the product. She also handled the project documentation and 'paperwork' of the group.

Alyssa took on a texture artist role, and also listed movements needed for the games' animation, then acted with the Motion Capture suit (later cut for efficiency). Furthermore, she listed and gathered audio tracks & SFX to be implemented in the game, and made the recruitment poster for an audio student to join. After he joined, Alyssa acted as the contact for him, providing reference material, checking up regularly on his progress and state.

Throughout the project Alyssa made sure to check in on each team members progress and mental/emotional state, what they were interested in doing and what else they could do. Towards the last few weeks of polish, she went through the game countless times with Kyle, giving feedback and suggestions to enhance the game even further.

contacts:

Student Email: 1018943@student.sae.edu

Portfolio: https://www.therookies.co/u/Alyssa/about

Kyle was deemed the Master of Unreal -

Kyle is the mastermind behind combining all working assets into the environment for 'The Manor'. Implementing audio, asset and character blueprints that makes the game playable. In the initial production stage Kyle used his dope hard surface modelling skills to handle most of the essential asset creation, texturing, and created the main playable character. Kyle and Taylor worked on troubleshooting and fixing errors in Unreal for 'The Manor'.

Kyle and Alyssa discussed ideas during the Pre-production and Ideation phase: Kyle made sure they were possible technically. Kyle was also the voice actor for both the Killer and Player. During the Motion Capture recordings he acted as the Director for the actor - making sure movements were good (later cut for efficiency).

Towards the last few weeks of polish, Kyle went through the game countless times himself and with others, and noted down all the feedback and goals the instructors and Alyssa had for improving the game and executed them within efficiently and within hours of it being given.

contacts:

Student Email: 1012909@student.sae.eu.au

Website (Portfolio & Blog): https://10219095.wixsite.com/kboddy

Taylor Lane

Taylor was the King of the Manor building.

Taylor worked on blocking out the environment, hard surface modelling for modular environment assets, experimented with trim sheets texturing and textured the mansion.

Taylor worked within Unreal Engine for the main lighting system, and to add the immersive visual effects in the environment such as: dust particles, volumetric fog, god rays, lightning and thunderstorms to the game. Taylor also worked on creating the main User Interface for the game's start and pause menus.

Taylor and Kyle worked together for all things Unreal related, and would assist each other with new ideas, possibilities and discuss more efficient options. Taylor and Kyle also worked on troubleshooting and fixing errors in Unreal for 'The Manor'.

contacts:

Student Email: 1010995@student.sae.edu.au

ArtStation Portfolio: https://taylorlane.artstation.com/

Main Portfolio: https://taylorjasen-designs.myportfolio.com/

Joel Dunn

Joel was tasked with modelling assets for the Red Room / Photo Room and the Garage / Storage. The models Joel made and textured we reused multiple times in areas such as the hallways, kitchen and library for increased efficiency.

contacts:

Student Email: 1018989@student.sae.edu

Personal Email: joeldunn02@gmail.com

Portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/jaydee3779

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaydee_insta/

Jordan Alabakis

Jordan’s involvement in “THE MANOR” comprised of recording and mixing foley sound effects for the gameplay. Jordan was the master behind making all of the ominous ambiance to keep the player immersed in the eerie setting.

contacts:

Student Email: 1016368@student.sae.edu.au

Personal Email: alabakisjordan@gmail.com

Project Portfolio: alabakisound.com

Facebook: Jordan Alabakis

Instagram: jalabakis

Report abuse