Resident Evil (1, 2 & 3) Research

(Resident Evil 1 Remake for Nintendo Game Cube)

Resident Evil (1, 2 and 3) is a series of survival horror games rendered for use of the Play Station (1) system, also exported to consoles such as Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, and the Nintendo 64.
The games were later ported to the Nintendo Game Cube, along with a remake of Resident Evil 1.

The game tells its story using a series of cut scenes and in game text from mediums such as books, notes and information from observable areas. This style of game play will not work for my project, however it is worth noting.

Graphics wise, the first 3 games (including spin-offs such as RE Survivor, RE Zero and Code Veronica) use photographic backgrounds layered over the models.

(Resident Evil 2 game play)

The walls, doors, and all background scenery is textured from actual photographs.
Allegedly, the game engine use to create the first 3 RE games was a modified version of the Quake Engine.
For my game, I will be using either Blender or the Unreal engine, however the Quake Engine will be covered in later research into game engines.

(Planetary Conversations by Neb Comics)

To give an example of how the textures are applied, I show you this short animation I created to understand how Blender works. The planets were created using UV Spheres with a flat map of the actual planets (released by NASA) added as texture.

A similar thing would have been applied to the backgrounds in Resident Evil using the options in their modified quake engine.

(Resident Evil 2 door transition)

When going to a different room in Resident Evil, people will always remember the classic door opening scene Capcom seemed to use for most of their games (Such as Silent Hill and Dino Crisis).
This scene is triggered when a door is selected in game. The animation is to allow loading time for the next room. Each section of the game will be built up in different scenes and selecting the door will transfer you to the next scene.

This can be replicated quite easily using Blender.
It is possible to place a trigger before doors which activates the doors opening when the player is near it.
Similarly it could be possible to have this animation activate upon a button trigger and have a fixed camera on the animation for its duration. Although systems now'a days can process large world areas without loading screens, the door scene is an artistic decision I feel would help the atmosphere of my game.

The scenery is also a very important part in creating the games atmosphere, so I will be taking photographs from a list of locations to see what area would be more eerie. I don't want like, a scary house or something stereotypical, but areas people tend to find comfort in, which I can tweak to leave a sense of unease.


Next blog will be research on Slender Man and how it creates such an intensive atmosphere.



Bibliography

Web
http://www.capcom.com/
http://z4.invisionfree.com/Resident_Evil_1_2_3/index.php?showtopic=1438&view=getnewpost
http://residentevil.wikia.com/Biohazard_1.5
http://residentevil.wikia.com/Resident_Evil_Wiki:Interview/Famitsu_(1998)
https://www.residentevil.net/en/
http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps/198454-resident-evil/faqs
http://residentevil.wikia.com/Resident_Evil_series
http://www.mobygames.com/game/gamecube/resident-evil-/screenshots/gameShotId,67075/

Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfu3YigK9ro&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysQwK5t6lP8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68lxlH-GdbE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-1nVFFwClw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9_WbKRCpNs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU6506yLGr0