This project, created in UDK, depicts a hallway and office
inside of a multistory building owned by the fictitious company Acorn Energy.
The player, assuming the role of a nightly watchman, begins in an elevator
opening onto the third floor; stepping out, he or she enters a spacious, dimly
lit hallway lined with lights that toggle on when approached and off when
stepped away from. The hallway contains a branching path. One way leads to a
sealed door protected by a retinal scanner; attempting to use the scanner will
display a message indicating that the player does not have the authorization
necessary to enter the restricted area. The other path leads to a door that
opens when approached, beyond which is an office space containing six cubicles,
as well as a number of filing cabinets, boxes, and a bulletin board and
whiteboard.
This room, the main focus of the project, is
designed to feel lived in and give insight into both Acorn Energy as a whole
and the six employees that use it during the day. This is done through the
nature and placement of the various items within their cubicles, as well as the
content on the bulletin board and whiteboard.
The six employees who work in the room consist of:
·
-Eric Anderson, an engineer whose failing
marriage has resulted in depression, disorganization, and a lack of commitment
to his work.
·
-Amy Mills, a misanthropic conceptual
researcher whose disdain for people, matched only by her love of animals, results
in project ideas that tend to be both ludicrous and dangerous.
·
-Maria Stephens, an orderly, by-the-book
data analyst whose no-nonsense attitude and insistence that her fellow
employees follow all regulations, however minute, has often resulted in the
annoyance of her co-workers, who reply in kind through pranks and sarcastic
messages.
·
-Ben Rhodes, a marketing executive who
has utterly bought into Acorn Energy’s hype, resulting in an obsession with the
company that borders on insanity.
·
-Jeremy Gibbs, a member of the financing
department who has been satisfying his expensive tastes by embezzling money
from the company since he was hired.
·
-Kathie Klein, a human resources employee
who fancies herself a great detective and constantly monitors her fellow
employees to the point of being a borderline stalker.
-Acorn Energy itself is a company that values its
employees but otherwise possesses very little regard for human life, resulting
in a number of bizarre and unethical policies.
As suggested by the above descriptions, the tone of
the content in the office space is largely one of dark humor. Only Eric
Anderson, who indirectly serves as a sort of world-weary straight man
surrounded by madness, was not given content meant to be humorous. Such a tone
was chosen in order to give the space more personality, and ultimately make it
more enjoyable, than it would have if driven by more mundane realism. Moreover,
the humorous details give the project as a whole a sense of irony, as the
hallway, with its detailed surfaces, high ceiling, and paintings, is designed
to come across as dignified and professional, while the office, on first
glance, gives the impression of a normal workspace. In other words, the broad
design of the space contrasts with its details, resulting in player experiences
that can radically differ depending on the amount of attention they pay to the
environment.
