S.H.E.

With my “S.H.E.” project I am aiming to give the player a unique virtual reality experience. Submerged into a steampunk world aboard an airship you have to solve challenging puzzles in order to save the day. Walking on platforms where one false step could mean a painful death you have to uncover and sometimes even create the path.

I want to arouse the imagination of the players by showing them only the necessary parts of the world this game takes place in and leaving the rest to their imagination. This will be done through a clever play with light and darkness. The ultimate goal is to make the game as minimalistic as possible – both with graphics and with controls. In order to support the immersion of the players no additional controls, besides the movement of their heads will be necessary.

In my opinion the look of the game will be the biggest challenge for me. I will have to find the right balance between what I want to show the player and what I want to leave for them to imagine. The obvious risk is not showing them enough and making the game seem dull.

The other problem might arise from the game being a puzzle game. I will have to invest a lot of time and thought into the mechanics to make them challenging, but not frustrating or impossible to solve. Keeping this in mind I also want to introduce new mechanics throughout the game to keep the game fresh and the player entertained. The gameplay must be intuitive to ensure the best perceived quality possible.

The story is set in year 1919. Inspired by the RMS Titanic, people want to build a big indestructible airship. Our hero is just one of the mechanics on its virgin voyage. The story starts as the ships mechanism is damaged just moments before the landing maneuver in Paris and all passengers are being evacuated. The lead engineer of the ship – Stella, is trying to save her good name and is refusing to leave it behind. The problem is that she can’t do it alone and needs help. Nobody is willing to volunteer, since this seems like a suicide mission. Being one of the smartest and most beautiful women of her age, our hero sees this as an ideal opportunity to impress her and decides to risk his life.

The game begins with the player in the main room of the ship – directly in front of the main engine which is damaged and needs to be repaired. Stella is on the flight deck trying to steer it and so it becomes the player’s task to do the repairs. In order to do this, the player must venture into different parts of the ship. This is much harder than it seems, since in order to protect the ship from sabotage, it was designed as a maze.