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Island of the Dolls

"Just south of Mexico City, between the canals of Xochimico you can find a small island with a sad background which never intended to be a tourist destination. The island is known as Isla de las Munecas (Island of the Dolls).

It is dedicated to the lost soul of a poor girl who met her fate too soon in strange circumstances.

The area has thousands of people, but this small island is home to hundreds of terrifying dolls. Their severed limbs, decapitated heads, and blank eyes adorn trees.

Dolls are threatening, even in the bright light of midday, but in the dark, they are particularly disturbing."

The island of the dolls is a haven of degraded and broken dolls, all hung up to honour a girl who has thought to have drowned. The original resident who done this, after the first doll, just kept hanging more and more. There are several theories as to why from, he just wanted to do it for the girl, or the spirit kept telling him to and there would be consequences if he didn’t. The spirit telling him method shows how much control a spirit can have despite never being seen or physically present. 

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Feisty Pets

These toys match well with my theme or cute mixed with creepy. I wanted my game to start off cute but get gradually more scary. These toys look like normal plushies until they are squeezed which presents the growling look with turned down eyebrows. The way these work is almost similar to Lilith where you can't see the rows of teeth that hide behind the normal looking wooden mouth.

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Creepypastas

"The term "creepypasta" comes from "copypasta". A copypasta is a text that is copied and pasted in several places on the Internet. Sometimes, someone will change a little something, and another person a little something else, etc.

It's the same for a creepypasta but the story must be scary, or at least creepy (or trying to). A creepypasta can also be a symbol or a character that is used again and again in stories (SlenderMan is the most famous)."

With dolls being widely seen as creepy, there have been many creepypastas made that involve dolls. This would mostly be due to most porcelain dolls being fairly old and often just wearing Victorian style clothing. There’s also the glass eyes that sometimes were placed in a way that the eyes would follow you in aa an illusion. When the dolls are degraded, with stiff eyes, degrading colour in the clothing and the skin, and potential cracks the doll may have suffered all add to an eerie look.

The Doll

Betsy the Doll

The Doll Maker

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Puzzle games

"Puzzle game is a unique gaming genre that focuses on solving puzzles. It tests the player’s problem-solving skills that include pattern recognition, word completion, sequence solving, and logic. Some games have a time limit, while other games provide players with unlimited time and attempts. The history of the puzzle game goes back to the puzzles and brainteasers throughout the centuries."

Puzzle games are often used as mini-games in most games nowadays instead of entire games on their own, unless it's on a mobile device. Tetris, one of the biggest games in the entirety of games is a puzzle game. It tests the users' reactions and problem-solving. Puzzles could be a good element to add to my game idea as it slows down the player and would help add the false sense of doing something by their self.

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Point and click games

"Point and click refers to a type of adventure game, in which the user interacts mainly with the mouse or any pointing device (be it a finger on mobile phones). To make it as simple as possible interaction is generally made of:

click

double-click

drag-drop

All the game is built around interactions with items of the world. The most classic interactions are:

talk

look at something

take something

use an item

combine items

Most parts of the game design phase are to liberally use these possibilities, to make the player find solutions to problems. Resolving them will make the adventure continue. In a sense, point-and-click game are similar to puzzle games. The amount of interaction is quite limited, but their number differentiates point-and-click from visual novels in which they are fewer and even exploration game in which there may be no puzzle at all."

Point and click games are mostly story driven due to the lack of control the player has and so less the developers can make. This, however, matches up well with the general idea of control I have for my project. The idea that the player has minimal control matches the theme and could add some interesting game elements to the story.

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Toymaker

"In Nazi Germany, 1941, fearsome Colonel Ludolf Von Alvensleben acquires a legendary Occult book which holds the secret to bringing inanimate objects to life. Stolen by rogue Nazi officer Benjamin Hoffman, the mysterious book ends up in the hands of Toymaker Amos Blackwood after Benjamin is tracked down and murdered by SS officers in the town of Rosenheim. As the Nazis terrorize the locals while searching for the book, the Toymaker experiments with the ancient tome and gives life to his collection of vintage dolls and handmade toys. After betrayal from one of his employees the SS raid the Toymaker's shop, stealing the book and kidnapping Amos. But the animated dolls and toys don't take kindly to the loss of their master. So begins a mission to rescue the Toymaker from the clutches of the evil Colonel and exact a brutal and bloody revenge on the Nazis.”

Toymaker is another example of more traditionally made dolls. The features are heavily defined, like the cheeks, the mouth crease and the chin, along with glass eyes. This design is often seen as unsettling as they are usually stuck in a permanent smile. This would have been a good element for me to explore in my character designs at it would add more facial variations via the features and shapes.

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Puppet master

From the Puppet Master, the main area I wanted to focus on is the puppets themselves. The main one, shredder, is the most recognisable and creepiest ones. The sharp face, glossy eyes and smile gives it an incredibly unnerving look.

In the puppet master, the designs of all the puppets are very traditional. They are wood carved, have defined facial features and a softer looking, more articulated body. In the second image, the third puppet along from the left looks the most traditional. It looks more like the traditional jester puppet you might see at a kids performance. It's sharp and the painting is simple but very effective.

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Chucky

Chucky is a killer good guy doll, possessed by the soul of Charles Lee Ray who used voodoo magic to transform. The doll ends up in the hands of Andy, to which Chucky exploits the impressionable child so that he can transfer his soul to him as he is the first one he let his precense known to.

Chucky is easily one of the most recognisable dolls, along side Annabell. The doll that is possessed looks like all the other Good Guy dolls.

The way this relates to my project is that Andy is being manipulated by the dolls. Chucky is mostly in control of everything as children are much more naive and easy to manipulate.

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Raggy dolls

Raggy Dolls is an 80’s Children’s TV cartoon. Roy Evans was commissioned by Yorkshire TV to produce an animated title sequence and end credits for a programme to be based on an original idea by Melvyn Jacobson and illustrations by Steve Smallman.

Any doll that was made incorrectly at Grimes' Soft Toys was taken to the reject bin. Inside of this bin lived 7 dolls, who loved adventures.

My main interest with this show is the character designs. They feature large hands with no fingers, large feet and mostly shapeless bodies. They all have blushes and variously patterned clothing. It's obvious that the characters are dolls just from looking at them, as well as being able to distinguish the separate characters.

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Robert

"Robert is 111-years-old and lives at the Fort East Martello Museum in Key West, Florida. Before that,be was the property of Robert Eugene Otto, an eccentric artist and member of a prominent Key West family.

Some believe his hair colour – and soul – are both slowly fading. Robert’s current favourite mischievous act involves casting curses on those who take his photo without first asking permission. To date, the walls near his glass case are covered in numerous letters from previous visitors and naysayers, begging for Robert’s forgiveness and asking him to remove any hex he has cast"

Despite being in a glass box, Everyone has to cater to him. Visitors have been in accidents and caused major problems for some of the people who have visited him. This is more than likely due to the visitor not believing in what others say Robert could do and then proceeding to “disrespect” him. This all fits well with my story where the main antagonist isn’t seen outside her house and resides in the Manor, while still having control of what the residents do, along with punishing those who do not follow those rules.

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Slappy - Goosebumps

"Slappy the Dummy is a recurring villain in the Goosebumps franchise. He is a living ventriloquist dummy that comes to life when the words "Karru Marri Odonna Loma Molonu Karrano" are read aloud; the words mean "You and I are one now", and they can be found on a sheet of paper in Slappy's dress jacket pocket. After coming to life, Slappy will try to make the person who brought him back to life serve him as a slave."

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The boy

The boy is a horror film where character Greta has to babysit an 8-year old called Brahms. The boy turned out to be a life sized doll. Throughout the film she had to follow specific rules such as playing music loud and never throwing away food. Initially the watcher may think its all super natural but in the end, it turns out the real Brahms was living inside of the walls.

The porcelain doll acted as the personification of the human Brahms in the wall. When that doll was mistreated, Brahms was mistreated. This is why when the dolls head gets smashed, Brahms reveals himself and takes revenge on the people located there at the time. One of the most memorable parts of this film was when the doll was in a chair, it was raining and the shadow of the raindrop on the doll face made it look like it was crying.

The film relates to my project in a way that all the rules are in place for Brahms. If the babysitter went against those rules there was punishment. The Parents of the doll were also under his control, only feeling free of it when they passed over responsiblity Greta and drowning. This way the person who makes all the rules is never seen (until the end) but is still very much in control of the house.

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The final display of the 3D model. For the base, I cut up popsicle sticks which were then very lightly dry brushed with brown paint. I did sand some of the ends down but the sandpaper I had wouldn't sand the wood well and if I wasn't extremely careful, it would split and splinter. These were then glued onto the base. I used small spare buttons to fill in some empty space and used some scrap fabrics (One that I coloured with a liquid pen) that I rolled up and placed near the character. This was then placed on a shelf. I liked the base more than I thought it would, and it adds a little more to the atmosphere of the project. 

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Watercolour Artists

Chris Hong

The Lineless and soft look of the watercolour is an interesting technique to try. It involves the ability to make parts stick out with colour variations. Something I need to learn from this artist is to use more varying tons to create definition without relying on line art. 

Marija Tiurina

These artists work is incredibly full and detailed. Every time you look at it you can find something new and while there is so much going on you can still see the main focus and the colours work really well. The use of the objects to the left being lighter and warm and the ones on the right being colder and darker helps keep the light and shade of the main focus and overall piece well put together. This artist is another example of using a more varied tone to add interesting depth. This is something I need to learn. 

Amber Ma

This artist is another example of lineless work that is very effective and pleasing to look at. You can see the technique where you plan out a shape with water and then drop pigment in to fill it in. This creates a textured effect and almost gradient look. While the overall style of this artist can be considered simplistic, it is very effective and the composition is very clean and clear. This technique would be fun to test out on my character silhouettes. 

Dima Rebus

This artist is one I have previously researched before. She has a very grimy style and has a very polished style of watercolour. It has clear shading and a softness to it. Out of the other artists, this is more on the realistic side, but testing out this artists shading technique should be able to add much more to my own work. The artist is an excellent example of how texture can vary, as this is much smoother than some of the other examples. 

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Further interactions

I wanted to explore more about how the characters would react in certain situations. This involves Ivy displaying her discontent in having to create the watcher, How characters would report behaviour, buttons and his relationship with the watchers, how specific characters moods can flip when they are being watched, Lilith and her anger towards buttons or the voodoos, and Rowan helping find Junipers arm. 

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I wanted to try and create a super simplistic poster, using the silhouette recognition method I used to create my characters. Overall, I wouldn’t use a poster like this since it doesn’t match the theme of the game at all and feels too modern and movie poster like. If I were to create a poster for the game I would want to use brighter and varied colours as well as making it texture like fabric. 

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Annabelle

Annabelle is a well-known horror film, while the story and original doll are a little less well known.

“In 1970, a mother purchased an antique Raggedy Ann Doll from a hobby store. The doll had been a birthday present for her daughter, Donna. Donna was preparing to graduate from college with a nursing degree. She lived in a tiny apartment with her roommate, Angie. (a nurse as Pleased with the cute raggedy-Ann doll, Donna placed it on her bed as a decoration and didn’t give it a second thought. Within days both Donna and Angie noticed that there appeared to be something very strange and creepy about the doll. The doll mysteriously seemed to move about the house, relatively small movements at first, such as a change in position, but as time passed the movement became more noticeable. Donna and Angie would come home to find the doll in a completely different room. Sometimes the doll would be found with legs crossed, arms folded, other times it would be found upright, standing on its feet. Several times Donna sometimes left the doll on the couch before leaving for work and would return to find the doll back in her room on the bed- with the door closed. “ - Link

Annabelle is an example of the classic Ragdolls (Raggedy Anns), Where the noticeable features were the embroidered face, yarn hair and often had some form of pinstripes on the clothing. The film version plays on the fear that comes with porcelain dolls. I used to have porcelain dolls that I used to play with as a young child but eventually grew to hate, because the lights outside the window would make them look like they’re moving behind my curtains or that they were watching me. In a sense, I wanted there to be the constant fear of being watched in the game, which is why I wanted Lilith to be looking out over the town and why she has her “Watchers”.