The Blue Room

The Blue Room VR

Visual Novel, Narrative, Simulation, Virtual Reality

Project Role

Lead Artist, Game Designer

Collaborators

Allison Whitney

Responsibilities

Game Design: Allison Whitney and I collaborated on the concept and setting for The Blue Room, and determined the core game loop together.

Concept Art: I developed the visual style and concept art for The Blue Room. The room itself was designed to give a retro, otherworldly, mysterious, and calm atmosphere.

Art: The Blue Room uses a combination of 2D sprites and 3D models. The sprites are drawn in Procreate, and the 3D objects were made in blender.

Level Design: I organized and designed the layout of the shop, and sized the player to be able to reach everything without moving too far. I was also responsible for lighting the scene.

Process

This prototype was developed in Unity using the Oculus Quest at the MICA Game Lab for the Advanced 3D Game Design course.

When developing this game, we wanted to utilize our newfound knowledge of VR games to create a visual novel / shopkeep game, and see how the spatial aspects of VR can affect the atmosphere of the narrative and world.

The Blue Room takes the idea of a pawn shop, and all the baggage that comes with it, and tells a story about the memories that used, pawned, and confiscated objects in the shop can hold. We want to explore what kinds of situations can push people to relinquish their most precious memories, and the consequences of getting rid of painful memories as well. We intend to create meaningful interaction with patrons that have feelings, trauma, passions, hobbies, and lives of their own.

TBR Gambler Concept Art
concept art for The Blue Room; we wanted to do something with a limited palette that feels like it exists separate from the rest of the world. The first patron in the game is a young, cocky gambler who is down on his luck.
The Blue Room's setting is also its namesake, a pawn shop called The Blue Room. We wanted to give it a sort of retro feel, and an atmosphere that feels cool, calm and cozy, but also a little bit mysterious and aloof.
The Blue Room prototype was made in the MICA Game Lab using the Oculus Quest and Unity. The studio provided a great space to figure out the layout of the space in-game.