"McMurphy Ranch" level samples

 Tasked with creating the backdrop for an open-world indie horror piece, I chose to emulate a then-recent hike through Murphy Ranch, a long-abandoned site in the Los Angeles hills initially built by Nazi sympathizers. While the game itself went the way of all too many auspicious indie projects before it, the map I crafted shows considerable progress from previous attempts, especially in regards to terrain. Lighting is also much improved, though there are still some missteps (the pink tone of the fiery car wreck, for example, ruins an otherwise successful setpiece).

In an effort to show off some recently acquired scripting skills, I added a vague shadowy creature which would always lurk outside of view, dashing off-camera if the player caught a glimpse of it. It was a surprisingly effective (and simple) trick, and even when re-playing the level years later, it manages to make me jump in my seat. This kind of unscripted jump-scare is the kind of thing I think horror games really need to embrace if they're ever going to make that much-anticipated comeback...

At the time, I was still limiting myself by using Unity's free assets, and while I did a decent job of making the various props feel natural together, there are some scale problems that are difficult to ignore once spotted. The biggest problem, I think, is the layout, which aimed to avoid linearity with a few branching paths, rather than embracing the open space to create a more dynamic experience.