Haunted HOG!

 So, a while back when we were finishing up concepts for our Crime-based HOG (hidden object game), Christine and I got in a conversation about our favorite ghost hunter shows, like Paranormal Collector, and we thought that would be a really cool concept for a hidden object game. Thus, Cabinet of Curiosities was born! At the time, there was no garantuee if we would even GET to do another HOG game but I was like "NAW DUDE LET'S DO THIS". So I made a twelve page pitch on the side, because hahaha I have no self control.

Yeah, don't get excited, it's a just paint-over of a photo of the Flavel House Museum. Super proud of that gold-embossed text, though!

The game is virtually a one-to-one reskin of our current Crime-based HOG. Supernatural is a popular HOG genre along with Crime and Fantasy, so it seemed like a safe bet too.

Didn't paint him from scratch either. Put the head of a character from an older game onto the body of an Edwardian costume and gave him an evil makeover!

The basic premise of the game is similar to Paranormal Collector. Only here, you work for a Curator of a macabre museum of "haunted objects", similar to the house in The Conjuring. Your job is to go out and collect "haunted" items and bring them back to the museum. This opens the game up to all sorts of crazy locations.



 

More are male and female avatars I frankensteined and painted over from our other HOG game characters. What, you think I paint for a living?

Of course, your character has "special sight" that can help find these objects. Our current energy system works well into this, since our players can "exhaust" themselves using it too much, and must either wait to recharge or buy a boost.

The Curator is our primary quest giver, and usually sets up what we'll be doing for each case. Friendly enough to the player, but not very trustworthy. Often he has ulterior motives, but usually for good. Usually.

In game, the player may meet characters for a particular case storyline. These characters are ALWAYS LIVING. NO direct communication should be made with spirits, as that will only cause them to lose their mysterious and sometimes threatening demeanor. The witch's vengeful spirit loses a lot of punch if you can sit down and have a chat with her. That doesn't mean spirits don't talk, they just usually communicate through clues. Or writing in blood on the wall.

More characters shamelessly stolen from our previous HOG games. And, of course, Ghostfacers!

But alas, no one player can navigate the supernatural all alone, and here is where our reoccurring characters come in! While they may not always be cooperative (or possessing any common sense), they can help the player by providing information or decoding clues, similar to the forensics guys in our crime HOG.

Here's a basic level layout. The upper left is a paintover of a kitchen scene from The 13th Skull, which is a very pretty game. The upper right is classic photomash. The bottom one, however, I actually painted!

 Each "case" takes place in one location (like Haunted Farm, Japanese Estate, Creepy Carnival), but each scene is in a different area of the location. For example, "Haunted Farm" is one case, but you can go to the old well, the farmhouse, and the barn. That way, you can maximize the most out of a location. Players will need to complete one area, however, before they can go to the next. For example, you need to find a key by the old well to enter the farmhouse which has the saw you need to enter the boarded up barn.

I PAINTED THIS PART! And did the UI. The UI is rough and chunky, though, we would make something much prettier than this. The UI from any of the Shiver series is an example of UI art done RIGHT. 

Of course, to find these items, you gotta clear out all the junk first.

I chose a voodoo doll because it's easy to find on Google search, but it would be so cool if we had a doll like Annabelle from The Conjuring stalking you everywhere!

Here's the banana of the game! This is an item that is hidden in every single level. In this case, it's a voodoo doll, but it can be anything! Players who manage to find them all unlock an achievement and a gold sticker!

Yeah, it's really hard to see but POP SCARES! Yeah-yuh!

 Each level is animated (I wanted to have this level animated, but my psd was lost in the Great Laptop Thieving, sooo...use your imagination?). In addition, there are "triggers" in each scene--such as clicking a certain object--that sets off a sudden sound or animation (usually pertaining to the case's story). Basically, our game's version of a jump scare.

Once the area is cleared an item will "reveal" itself to you, like a key, a clue, or a tool to use later. In this case, the noose was the haunted object you were sent out to find, so this would probably warrant some cool "case closed" thing afterwards. And although the Curator sends you out just to find objects for his museum, usually you end up helping people or spirits out along the way. Yaaay!

 And then because I still have no self control, I made two MORE pages for the pitch.

Again, dirty thieving on my part! Top Left if from Haunted Manor: Lord of Mirrors, and the bottom is from one of the Shiver games...I think?

This is sort of a pocket level, a scene withing a scene, to help maximize the amount of gameplay without having to crank out a ton of art. It would require additional engineering, however, since our current game does not incorporate this.

Bottom panel is a recolor of a scene from Mystery Legends: Phantom of the Opera, which is also a very nicely done game.

Here is where we can integrate puzzles into our game. The puzzles we have in our current crime game are...simple, and I think we could beef it up a little, AND keep it plausible within our game's storyline.



My pitch actually got to be tested against internal audiences, but the product managers asked me to put a handsome guy on the fake splash screen to appeal more to the female audience. They specifically asked for something like Edward from Twilight.

This is what they got.

But when pitched against my original screen, my creepy old dude tested better with audiences. That's because I know what women really want...