Kill the Priest

Kill the Priest is an immersive first-person mystery game developed in Unity, exploring the integration of narrative and gameplay mechanics within a suspenseful, interactive environment. Set in a mysterious Victorian-era estate, the player takes on the role of an investigator unraveling the secrets surrounding the disappearance of teenagers in a forbidden area. This game, which serves as an introductory foray into game development, combines dynamic audiovisual elements with interactive storytelling to create a deeply engaging atmosphere. The project has also been adapted into virtual reality (VR) to enhance immersion and player engagement.

Project Overview:

In Kill the Priest, players are drawn into the role of a detective entering an eerie estate with a reputation for unexplained disappearances. This narrative-driven game is designed to intertwine the player’s journey with various game mechanics, including basic shooting and item-searching, to provide a suspenseful, exploratory experience. Developed as a class project, Kill the Priest represents a foundational approach to storytelling in game design, set against a moody, Victorian-inspired environment crafted using Tinkercad and Unity, with asset integrations for environmental depth.

Key Features:

Narrative and Environmental Immersion: The storyline is embedded within an atmospheric setting that emphasizes mystery and suspense. Players are guided by environmental cues and interactions to unravel the story as they explore, offering a text-free narrative experience that relies on visual storytelling.

Mechanics and Interactivity: Basic mechanics such as shooting and item-searching were incorporated to allow players to interact with the environment. The shooting mechanism was refined iteratively, highlighting the challenge of creating responsive game mechanics. Plans for future iterations include puzzle-solving elements, which would deepen the player’s engagement.

Visual and Aesthetic Design: The game’s aesthetic draws on dark, Gothic influences to establish a haunting atmosphere, reinforced through the careful selection of textures, lighting, and audio cues. These design choices are intended to evoke curiosity and unease, immersing players fully in the game’s mysterious world.

Technical and Creative Challenges:

Plausibility and Realism: The game’s plausibility is supported by map design, lighting, and sound effects, which contribute to the sense of realism and immersion. However, areas like character animations and shooting physics presented challenges. Currently, the animations lack fluidity, which can disrupt player immersion, while the physics engine needs refinement to better reflect real-world dynamics. Improving AI behavior to make the antagonist less predictable is a goal for future versions, as more dynamic interactions would enhance realism and player engagement.

Auditory Immersion: Sound design plays a crucial role in enhancing the game’s immersive quality. Inspired by personal experiences of auditory cues guiding attention, the game integrates sound effects that extend the player’s sensory experience. Audio cues such as environmental sounds and suspenseful music underscore the eerie atmosphere, adding depth to the virtual space.

VR Adaptation:

The project was later adapted into VR to elevate the immersive quality of Kill the Priest. The VR transition required significant modifications to the game’s point of view, navigation, and interaction design, providing a more intimate player experience:

VR Shooting Mechanics: VR controllers allowed for a natural adaptation of the shooting mechanics, although challenges arose in accurately directing bullets and scaling the player within the VR environment.

Enhanced Sensory Engagement: Players reported a heightened sense of immersion, with VR technology bringing them directly into the game’s eerie setting. VR expanded the game’s potential for direct interaction and spatial awareness, intensifying the feeling of presence within the environment.

Narrative Expansion in VR: The VR adaptation has laid the groundwork for additional narrative elements that could exploit VR’s capabilities to further engage players, such as spatial audio cues and interactive objects that reveal hidden story details.

Research Areas:

Interactive Storytelling and Narrative Design

Game Mechanics and Immersive Media

VR Development and First-Person Shooter Dynamics

Auditory Immersion and Spatial Audio

Future Goals:

Enhanced Animation and Physics: Refining the animations to create more fluid and realistic movements and adjusting the physics engine to improve bullet trajectory and environment interactions.

Expanded AI and Game Mechanics: Developing the antagonist’s AI for more unpredictable and responsive behavior, and introducing puzzle-solving mechanics to enrich gameplay.

VR Optimization and Narrative Depth: Optimizing the VR controls for smoother interactions and enhancing narrative complexity, such as incorporating additional VR-exclusive storytelling elements to create a deeper player connection to the game’s themes.