Crime Scene House
In the midst of a missing persons case in a cursed town, you play as a detective investigating the disappearance of a resident who got too close to figuring out the truth of the curse that plagues their small countryside village. This house is from an early section of an unreleased horror game project I did work on in Unreal Engine, using a combination of asset store props, altered blueprints, and custom materials.
This is the most dense level section I have worked on yet, with lots of clutter, props, environmental storytelling, and deliberate construction. The goal of the space was to create a snapshot of the home just before the attack, with the resident being freshly moved in which is a core element of the story. This means lots of a boxes, half unpacked decorations, and lots of trash and clutter showcasing a lived in environment. I took inspiration from games like Silent Hill, Fallout 4, and Resident Evil to create an play space that felt real and grounded, ensuring the added enemies and atmosphere would have real weight and meaning in gameplay.
The house was made in an empty level to later be placed into a larger town scene
Work began with a layout and I worked form there room by room
The layout was made with the intention of making as many blind corners, long sightlines, and pinch-points for story telling as possible. The genre of the game is survival horror, so the threat of an enemy appearing around any corner or just at the edge
The first room you enter is a blocked off hallway, which naturally pulls your attention left towards the main crime scene space, as well as forces the player to explore the entire house before finding the final room in the mission.
Some rooms were made first with lighting in mind. The TV glow here was meant to evoke uneasiness, reflecting off the blood on the floor, furthering the idea that this person went missing violently, and suddenly
Filling the boxes with household items was important to me as to not make the space feel too repetitive, even if most players will gloss over such details.
Cluttering the kitchen was another storytelling moment for me, since we can lean into how the resident's character is portrayed as a conspiracy theorist proven right.
This meant dirty plates, piles of pizza boxes, and a kitchen table better suited for storage than entertaining guests.
The hole in the wall was modeled in engine, with the goal to be replacing with a custom asset by a modeler.
I used a physics placement plugin to help pile trash from this book case. First I placed the items upright in the shelves, and then tipped it over and let physics drop them.
The carpet here is to help draw the players movement
This bookshelf took a good while to properly clutter, with a relatively small asset library I did my best to retexture what I could to make the best use of what assets I did have.
I used my own desk as reference for this one, whether the trash and clutter is part of that reference is up to your interpretation.
Laundry on the bed is a natural element I wanted to include since it helps mask the clipping between assets from the mix matches libraries but also continues the feeling of a messy disorganized home.
In game, the bookshelf moves to reveal this hidden room behind.
This is the final objective for the player, with the notes on the table pointing towards the next objective. Reading the notes spawns an enemy to appear as the player leaves the house, recontextualizing the space from a mystery to a horror fight scene.
The boards on this window are actually cabinet doors scaled down, you cant tell from either side so it was an efficient little trick I was happy with.