top of page
The Thing Among Us
Fighting an Alien invasion has never been more personal.
The Thing among us follows in the footsteps of the popular Horror sci-fi film "The Thing" (1984),Directed by John Carpenter.
A VR immerse game experience in which you, the player, must complete different missions in order to survive the Alien's onslaught & save the world.
My Roles
Game development | Storyboard | Levels & characters design | Branding
Tools
Unity
Photoshop
Illustrator
Premiere Pro
Year
2023
Idea
🌟 Plot
It has been 2 weeks since the discovery of the Alien in the north pole. By now, the creature has reached the far corners of the world, killing every living being in its path. You, the player must find safety by any means necssecery.
🌟 Game Features
In this survival horror game you can find many features related to common first person games in the popular markets: action and adventure, first person shootings & logical puzzle concept.
Research
📊 Visual Research
I focused my research on the practical marvel sci-fi film the THING (1984). The original film tells the story of a group of scientist researchers in the north pole, stumble upon a strange creature, that takes the shape of a wolf, but when unnoticed, it changes shape to the form of any other creature it touches.
With each hour, the safety of the scientists is threatened by the creature, who infiltrates their lines, taking the forms of each of them, & kills them instantly.
They need to quickly find & kill it before it kills them all, and get a hold of humanity outside of the compound.
The main focus of the movie, is the paranoia effect: the Thing can get the shape and form of each of the scientists, that leads them to be suspicious in everyone around them including friends.
UI design
🎁 Special features
All the game was built with VR technology, using OCULUS QUEST 2 Quest device + UNITY Firmware game engine.
The experience of working with such a device was unique and special: it has been the first time I truly went far as to practice game building, while practicing and checking for his quality on myself and friends.
I worked day and night, to reach reality through the Oculus, but keeping it 80s shick with sci-fi movie vibes.
Level 1
The Survival Bunker
The Bunker is common location in survival films & apocalyptic games. It is a claustrophobic environment that shares the situation of the world were in: humanity has become almost extinct, normal life as we know it has changed and safety is of the outmost importance.
The bunker gives the player the feeling of being alone (even though there are others with him inside.
Checking the TV, the reporter expending the story and its main goal: it is a matter of time until the Alien will reach us but, There is still a small hope: a spaceship leaving earth in the upcoming days, not far from the bunker..
Inspiration
Process
The Bunker is based on a simple, small 4x4 small scale rooms with an elevator & a gathering room. the first floor was created with a big hallway in the middle, a communication room, tv room, & 2 survivors dorms.
After finishing the first floor, I worked on the elevator, that connects the survivors with the upper floor & the exit from the bunker.
Goals
In order to understand more about the world of "The THING", the player starts with a simple mission - turn on the tv to check the news.
This is the way of the game to tell the story of the game, & for us to understand more about the world were in.
The second mission is to collect all the objects needed to survive outside of the Bunker, while on timer mode.
Then the player needs to find a way out.
In-game screenshots
Level 2
Level 2
Camp in a Dark Forest
Venturing outside of The Bunker, the player & his group of survivors reach a dark forest & set up a night camp.
After resting for a while, the fire starts to die out.
The player, needs to go look for dry wood in the forest.
While heading outside of the survivors circle, All of a sudden The player hears creepy noises, then gunshots... Running back to camp only to find that everyone are gone.
But then, the player notices He is not alone.. He needs to find safe shelter quick, before He will join his friends.
Inspiration
Process
The Forest was one of my first drafts I did for the game. It is a plain area, with thick wood surrounding the camp in the middle of the map.
The only way out is to explore the forest, until you find the busted fence leading to the army camp.
It urges the player to think outside of the box & looking for clues on the way to safety.
Goals
In the Forest You will need to find dry wood for the fire.
First, grab a hold of the axe nearby.
Then, explore the area.
When chopping wood, the scene will change, & you will hear a screaming sounds followed by gunfire.
thus marking the transition to the events back in the camp, where all other survivors were attacked by the Thing.
This is the signal to run for your life,
looking for a place to hide.
In-game screenshots
Level 1: Survival Bunker
The Bunker is common practice in survival films and games.
It is small, claustorophobic environment that gives a chill vibes right from the start of the game.
with a deep, irry music, it gives the player the feeling of being alone (even though there are others with him inside the bunker).
Checking the TV, in the next room, the reporter tells us with greamy look, that all might be lost. There is still a small hope: a spaceship leaving earth in the upcoming days, not far from the bunker... just few days walk in a dark forest.
Inspiration
Process
Level 3 Army base
Level 3
Fort Carpenter's army base
After escaping the Alien, reaching the army base, the player finds temporary shelter, but not for long...
Waking up, the player notices The army base is surrounded by the Alien! once again safety is threatened.
The player needs to reach the spaceship harboring in the flight zone, before it its launch.
Inspiration
Process
The Army camp is an all out warzone.
Being so, I imagined the camp as an open field with one giant monster above it all, spreading chaos & destruction.
Thus making the experience tense: evading projectiles while running & maneuvering between obstacles.
Goals
Two weeks after arriving to fort carpenter, You waking up from a big commotion outside of your tent.
Now you need to quickly reach the spaceship docking in the airfield, while escaping from the monsters bursting inside the camp, killing all in
their path.
You run, and notice that the spaceship is ready to lunch. This is your only way to survive this, but how would you get inside?!
You notice an open empty cargo laying next to the engines of the ship, but the army soldiers are guarding the ship.
All of a sudden, an explosion accouris. a diversion! you take your chances when the guards are not looking, to sneak inside.
In-game screenshots
Building the Bunker was based on simple, small and cramp rooms. the first floor was created with a big hallway in the middle, a communication room, tv room, and survivors dorms.
After finishing the first floor, I worked on the elevator, that connects the survivors with the upper floor and the exit from the bunker.
Goals
In order to understand more about the world of "The THING", the player starts with a simple mission - turn on the tv to check the news.
This is the way of the game to tell the story for people who are not familiar with the movie it inspired.
Afterwards, the second mission is to collect all the objects needed to survive outside of the Bunker.
In-game screenshots
Level 4
Inside the Spaceship
Surprise surprise.. The Thing has invaded the spaceship just before its launch. Now you have to deal with the alien yourself, with only your 9mm gun in your hand as means of self defense.
It is overrun, The Thing kidnapped all life beings in the ship. The player have to maneuver between dark halls & passageways, looking for the self destruct button to blow the ship down, while try to look for the escape pod, before it is too late.
Inspiration
Process
The spaceship is basicly a giant maze. I based this level on a clastrophobic vibes given by other tension and horror films such as ALIEN or CUBE, where each room can be a source of hope reaching the end, or a dangerous location with monsters running and surprising the player.
Goals
After hiding inside a container box, unnoticed, the Army lifted the cargo inside the spaceship and flew away just before fort carpenter was destroyed by the Thing.
Waiting for the area to be safe, you get out of the container box, and noticed youre inside the ship. but alas, The Thing infiltrated the ship!
The player needs to reach the big red button, in order to explode the spaceship his on with the Thing inside.
Warning! spoilers ahead!
In order to stay alive, the second goal is to reach the getaway spacepod, in no more then 5 min, or else, die with the Thing in a blaze of fire and explosions.
You find the spacepod, and just before the explosion you fly away, bearly survive the ordeal. Just when you thought youre safe...
you realize youre not alone in the pod...
Play this if you wish - spoilers ahead!
In-game screenshots
Level 4 ship
Social
🖥️ Social media
The final work was presented in the Vitrina Gallery, as part of a VR exhibition, at H.I.T
college of tech. IL were I studied for my B.Design.
The exhibition as well as the VR course itself, were part of a big collaboration with the Faculty of Design at West Bohemia Uni. Czech Republic. The exhibition got the attention of visitors from other Design institutes including Uni. of Design, Dresden, DE.
Press
An article was published at the
H.I.T college of tech. website about the game,
with high praises.
Thank you!
bottom of page