Transbordo en Indios Verdes

Transbordo en Indios Verdes

Transbordo en Indios Verdes is impossible. Indios Verdes is the end of the line of one of Mexico City’s busiest subway routes. There is no transfer here. In this confined space where apparently nothing of note happens an alternate reality surges and offers an unexpected escape, although not through a door.

Transbordo en Indios Verdes (TIV) is a virtual reality video game in the form of a walking simulator in which the player must move between two superimposed realities in order to overcome the challenges posed in each level.

The visitor is immersed in a series of everyday urban scenes, within which they can explore extensively to solve puzzles and escape the antagonist of the game: the architecture itself. They will soon come across a curious artifact, a taco shaped switch called the Tacoswitch, that, when interacted with will give them access to an alternate reality similar to the original, but visually saturated and inhabited by beings shaped like traditional mexican alebrijes, wooden sculptures of strange creatures. This altered version of the TIV world contains different forms of gameplay and another new plane of contemplation.

On their way, the player begins to encounter difficulties: doors that suddenly close and confine them, areas that return them to another point in the journey, written threats coming from TIV’s architecture-antagonist. Opposite to this are the inhabitants of the alternate world, who give clues and relics of their reality to help the player continue their journey.

The two realities of Transbordo en Indios Verdes represent the layers that make up places that captivate us, their history and their ghosts. The inhabitants and architecture are specters only perceptible to the ones who embark in the journey of TIV and acquire the ability to jump between realities. In the original reality, a more familiar one surrounded by Mexico’s cultural identity through painting and objects, nothing strange is perceptible other than the damage caused by time. The alternate world, with its saturation and strange phantoms, is where the player needs to follow clues and obtain key objects to contemplate the full experience. It is in this other reality that events take place, allowing the visitor to progress through the game.

For this project we decided to represent locations in Mexico City because of our familiarity with them and to anchor the experience in the reality that we, the authors, experience everyday. It is also an opportunity to represent a city not commonly seen in video games, which offers an interesting cultural perspective of Latin American culture.

Detailed gameplay

There are three main levels in TIV. These locations were chosen for their unique stories and not so well known status. The first place is an abandoned house in Roma Norte, a popular neighborhood, the second one is the interior of this house, and the last one is an old 1949’s cinema in the San Rafael area.

The house exterior is where the player first receives the Tacoswitch, when they interact with a character inspired in a taquero, a food vendor that is an iconic fixture of Mexico City’s streets. Upon receiving the Tacoswitch the player can start switching between realities. The architecture in this level is influenced by the Mondragón house, an old abandoned house in the Roma Norte neighborhood that is known for serving as a typhoid disease hospice during the Mexican Revolution and later being set on fire.

The house interior is an ample architecture influenced by an abandoned and empty house aesthetic. In this level there are five alebrije characters each of which will give a gift to the player. The player can only see and interact with the alebrijes in the alternate reality, and the player will keep and be able to see these gifts in the original reality as well. When the player has collected all the items they will be able to see in both realities a portal that will transport them to the metro station. Although there is a danger lurking: the house will lock the player in rooms and change the colors and visuals of the environment as it sees fit; perhaps it perceives this visitor as an intruder. The only escape is through the gifts from the content alebrijes.

The metro station is a transition level. Its purpose is to transport the player to the next location with a subway trip with a captivating view. The station is inspired by those of the green line of Mexico City’s subway system. Even though it is a small level, its visual appeal accompanied by graffiti and illustrations provides the player with an appealing sight.

After the subway trip the player arrives at the cinema level, which is fashioned after the 1949’s Cine Ópera which is now abandoned, the cinema closed its doors definitely in 1998 due to a disturbance during a concert. Like the house level, the cinema is a large architecture with colorful characters. The gameplay is also the same as in the house: explore using your Tacoswitch and collect all the gifts from the alebrijes to return to the metro station. Here, the threats from the architecture are in the form of unwanted teleportation and, again, the player must rely on the not so hostile characters to beat the level.

Upon completing the challenges at the cinema, the player is able to return to the metro station to travel and keep exploring all experiences of the game, which are now open.

Distinctive Feature

For this project we sought to develop an unusual and not so common game mechanic that goes beyond solving puzzles, or mechanical challenges. This feature is the ability of the player to switch between realities, perform different actions in each, and extensively explore and get to know both of them and all that shapes them. This ability given to the player to escape a lineal set of events as they wish is what distinguishes TIV as a different narrative experience.

We also aimed, as a personal challenge, to make all assets in the game from scratch, and thus all content in the game is original: 3D models, textures and illustrations.

Aesthetics

The aesthetics of TIV have two visual designs, one for each reality that the player can observe.

The original reality has an abandoned, neglected and conventional look; in contrast to this, the alternate reality has saturated colors and eye-catching visual effects.

Some of the details that can be seen in the ordinary reality are original illustrations with references to Mexican dishes and classic paintings, this serves to visually enrich the environment and provide opportunities for the player to contemplate.

Sound

In the original reality, the player approaches different architectures with the peculiarities of the urban soundscape of Mexico City: the gas man, the woman that buys old iron, the tamalero, among others. Inside the house and the cinema, they are accompanied by the sound of rain and sound guides that pair with some interactions.

In the alternate world everything has a touch of distortion, the inhabitants produce strange noises and the architecture, when attacking, resounds an alarm.

Project creators:

Elisa Hernández Perezgómez

Mariana Mena Tello

Special thanks to Roberto Cabezas and Bruno Díaz for their assistance.