INTO THE PAGE: THE SCOTT INVESTIGATION

Agatha Scott, a private investigator, is assigned to the Zacharias' Mansion, tasked with solving the disappearance of Charlotte, the youngest member of the family.

In this mobile/tablet visual novel/investigation game, browse through a comic book to solve a case, including 2D and 3D interactions with the comic book! 

Made during the year 2019-2020, by ISART Digital students, this game is a graduation project that was completed in 8 months.

The team was composed of 3 game designers, 2 2D artists, 1 3D artist, 2 game programmer, 1 game designer/programmer, 1 sound designer, and finally, 1 producer.

The initial goal of the project was to pay tribute to Stan Lee by creating a game closely related to the world of comics. One thing leading to another, the production team decided to turn the gameplay towards something less action and more investigation, choosing to make a novel visual anchored in a comic book.

The first highlight of the project lies first of all in its very homogeneous graphic direction, whether during the 2D or 3D game phases.

The 2D, and 3D student's artists worked together to obtain a homogeneous rendering, giving the impression, when the player moves from a 2D to a 3D phase, of continuing his or her immersion in the story and the comic book he or she is browsing.

This point was essential to obtain a quality immersive experience, the rendering being very successful at this level.

The diversity of the gameplay that the project offers also makes it stand out in today's environment.

Indeed, as previously stated, the game proposes 2 distinct game phases:

- The 2D phases, where the player goes through the frame, looking for clues in the scenery, and where he can question witnesses through interactive dialogues.

- The 3D phases, where the player ENTERS the frame, in order to be able to go through the whole room in which he is and to be able to solve 3D puzzles allowing him to advance in the story he is going through.

Finally, the general atmosphere of the game is a real asset for this project.

While the scenario has been thought about in order to lead to a great climax at the end of the game, the sounds & other music have been done with precision in order to be able to feel all the oppressive, stressful or even dark sensations that come out of the game experience.

This long term work also allows us to obtain a homogeneous and very complete experience.

The game was praised by a jury of professionals during the final milestone of the project. Its original atmosphere as well as its immersion in a breathtaking adventure were highlighted and the game received good reviews from these professionals.

The game will be available in June on the itch.io platform, a project to continue the game is currently under discussion with the team. The possibility to print the comic in which we played, to add new stories/adventures, or to be able to enjoy alternative endings according to our choices would be the main tracks of improvement to follow.