Role: Solo Developer
Videogame adaptation of the movie They Live. In it, players use a camera that unveils secrets in the characters and the scenery to progress the narrative.
They Live (1988) as a movie had a very clear mechanic around which it articulated its narrative and themes, the glasses. Early in the movie, the protagonist finds a special pair of glasses that allow him to see the world for how it really is, unveiling a secret alien plot to take over humanity by replacing its elites. My focus during the early stages of preproduction was placed on adapting the glasses mechanic to the interactive medium.
As you can see in the below graph, I ended up arriving at the camera concept as a way of maintaining the glasses' visual component while removing their passivity.
The camera also had perks as an exploration tool. Players could only photograph objects that were highlighted as interactive, which limited the pool of "photographable objects" enough to not be frustrating (players wouldn't try to take pictures of every in-game object) while also encouraging exploration (as any new interactive object rewarded players for photographing it).
The camera allowed me as well to populate my level with hidden alien elements that tied my prototype with They Live's themes. These help with the pacing of the level and improved the player's sensation of exploring a real world.
Overall, I believe it successfully adapted the movie within my constraints. However, if the camera mechanic was expanded into a full-length game it would likely require of supportive mechanics or new powers to prevent it from becoming stale.
