Haunted House project status 10-20-11

So far, I'm having a bit of trouble with the project.

1. I can't decide what to start the interactive haunted house story with:

• It takes place from the user's point of view(first-person)

• Here is a possible opening: The user's car breaks down at night in the middle of nowhere during a bad storm and his/her cell phone has no reception. He/she tries to find shelter for the night, and comes across an old (mansion/house/plantation).
  

• I don't know if I need to go further or if I need to develop it more.

2. I'm having trouble deciding whether to use a mansion, a house, or plantation. Most of the horror stories I'm familiar with contain a mansion of some sort, Addams Family, Luigi's Mansion, Casper, even the Haunted Mansion(I hadn't watched the film or gone to the attraction yet).

3. Other than the following rooms:

• Bedroom
• Bathroom
• Kitchen
• Dining Room
• Front Entrance
• Attic
• Ballroom
• Wine Cellar
• Living Room
• Library
• Garden Maze
  

I don't know what else to add. I also can't think of how to make each room scary enough for the target demographic(18-34 years old). That's mainly what I worry about: keeping target demographic in mind.

If anyone knows of any recommended viewing of horror movies or can help me get an idea on how to make specific rooms "scary" or "spooky"...maybe along the lines of Vincent Price or something like that, please let me know.

Any help on this will be appreciated.

Project Timeline 10-8-11

This timeline is as follows:

• Week of October 10:Turn in Capstone Proposal and Timeline
• Weeks of October 17-31:Script Development
• November: Learn how to program with the VR Cave Theater
• Weeks of November 7-14: Storyboarding from Finalized Script
• Week of November 21: Develop Art Direction
• Weeks of November 28-December 19: Create Art/Find Sounds and Music/Record Voices
• December 24-25: Christmas
  
• Week of December 26: Possible break
  
• January through March: Programming/Testing
• Week of March 12th: Spring Break
  
• Weeks of March 26th-April 17th: Make Promotional Materials for the Capstone
• April 29th: Day of Capstone Presentation

I started off with the script, because it is the backbone of any project. Whether I assigned myself enough time for it is the real question mark.

Storyboarding and Art Direction help decide the look and feel of the project. So that comes afterwards. I may have to consult Beth and speak with her regarding this stage, though, as not many of my Oncourse surveys have returned as of yet. They are important as they will help decide the target audience and thus the look and feel of the project.

As you may notice, the Programming and Testing takes up the bulk of the capstone process. This is because a lot of things might go wrong in the Programming stage: Glitches, misspellings, and also getting reacquainted with Actionscript, since I had not done that much with it since Mat Powers' S355 course last year.

Also, I'll have to learn how to use the VR Cave technology throughout the month of November. However, actually making a Script for it might be harder than the actual programming, since I don't currently know how the "story" of the interactive V.R. Haunted House will turn out.