Monday 21 January 2013

HAUNT THE HOUSE : TERRORTOWN


A game developed by SFB Games has just been released into the big-wide gaming world and I was very lucky to have had the opportunity to work on it. In this side-scrolling puzzle game, you take control of a ghost and haunt your way through Terrortown, scaring away all the "unwanted" guests.
It is the new and improved successor to the charming web-based flash game that SFB Games developed in 2010.

You can still play the original game here: Haunt the House

We actually began initial work for this in the summer of 2011, when Adam Vian (of SFB) mentioned the possibility of doing a 2nd Haunt the House game. I did a couple of early test sketches to give Adam an idea of how I would approach the background art and the actual work for it began the following year.

The process for Haunt the House was a little different from the previous time me and Adam worked together on Detective Grimoire. After I had created a few backgrounds, it became very apparent that having a flat stand alone background became very restricting for the game's development, not leaving enough room to experiment and re-arrange.

The final alternative was that I would design the levels: considering things like tone, colour, details and overall shape. Adam would then take these and vectorise them in his unique style and then fill them with objects for the final game. What resulted was a clean and playful looking background which suited the style more and ultimately defined the look of the final game.

With that in mind, I had a lot more freedom to think less about the structure and more about the atmosphere. To make-sure that every level was unique and rewarding visually, it was important that each level had have it's own unique colour scheme and mood. Everything was initially designed at thumbnail size to ensure that every area was recognised and stood out instantly.





Haunt the House : TerrorTown is available for Playstation Mobile Now
Grab it on your PS Vita or any supporting devices!