THESIS: DEETH

Difei Gao, dg3294@nyu.edu





LIST: WeeklyBlog  

 Week 2: Prototype


Story SynopsisThe protagonist woke up toothless. She began a journey of seeking her physical teeth and the murderer of killing her teeth in the magical, twisted world.

In the process of finding the teeth, she slowly discovered the truth: she was the one who called the Tooth Fairy to take away her teeth because she couldn’t accept her teeth’s imperfection and mortality - teeth would decay, just like the life of all things. After the journey, she reconciled with her body that the damage to a teeth happens naturally. She realized that without the laws of nature, she is no longer a human being.
North Star GoalThis game explores identity, fear, and acceptance through the loss and retrieval of teeth. Players navigate through three distinct rooms, interacting with the world and ultimately making a choice: to embrace imperfection or to refuse mortality. 

Minimal Viable Product (MVP)
  • One room (Distorted Mirror World)
  • Basic interaction (tooth collection + dialogue system)
  • Single ending (embracing imperfection)


Development Steps
  • Phase 1 (1-2 weeks): Establish basic interactions (tooth collection, dialogue system).
  • Phase 2 (3-4 weeks): Complete the first room (Distorted Mirror World).
  • Phase 3 (4-6 weeks): Develop the other two rooms (Dental Surgery, Childhood Memories).
  • Phase 4 (3-4 weeks): Implement dual endings (Restoration / Acceptance).




Game Mechanism Mirror

 The game takes on a format of first-person angle, where the player can see her hands during the game. 
The mirror is a constant element that the player will be able to check at any time by pressing a key.
I started building the project by building the character of a manequinn to operate in the way of two moves: walking and running. Then, I worked on the logic of mirror. In Unreal 5.4, to create a working mirror with LUMEN on, I used scene capture 2D and Render Texture to create a fake reflection of a view from a virtual camera. By testing, I skipped 3D Planker because the player lost its reflection in the mirror if sticking with LUMEN. I want to keep it for better atmospheric rendering.
With the blueprint set up, I got a working mirror that would correctly reflect a vague image of player in the mirror. I choose to look into the resolution problem later, or let it be an aesthetic choice. 
After testing the mirror logic, I attatched one onto the player’s hand to build a player prototype and tested.

Diaglogue Based Narraivte

The player will talk to different NPCs to learn prior memories and clues to find teeth.


World Exploration

Players search for teeth, triggering memories and environmental changes.

Three Room Designs:
1. Distorted Mirror World
2. Dental Surgery
3. Childhood Memories



Prototype 
Visual Style Mood Board

The Empty Gum

By sculpting on an existing teeth model, I made a set of empty gums for the initiation of the game. The model is either going inside the character’s mouth or will be summoned to view during the process of the game.

The emotional incentive of the game will be fear (of losing teeth), curiosity (of exploring the strange world), and the pursuit of a happy ending. 

The Protagonist

I used MetaHuman to generate a bald woman for the prototype of the protagonist. I’ll see how the rigging of mouth goes. 
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