Channel: Death

Presented in collaboration between Night City and Big Sir Games:

It's the night of the Broadcast Killer, a sinister sadist who entices you to tune in just before the gore reaches its gruesome climax. Can you rescue the impending victims from certain doom before time expires? 

Engage in macabre and mind-bending puzzles to rescue the next hapless soul about to meet their grisly fate on the chopping block.

Channel: Death presents an interactive digital ordeal that challenges brave audiences to clutch the television remote and defeat the Broadcast Killer. 

There's no room for casual channel surfing here; only channel sleuthing will unlock the secrets to thwart the Killer's nightmarish program.

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As seen in:

Channel: Death is an installation-based digital escape room where players use a vintage television remote and an old-fashioned pen and paper to solve puzzles, complete minigames, and thwart the nefarious Broadcast Killer. Designed for in person festivals, players work together over the course of an event leaving physical notes to track clues and collaborate with successive players. The TV remote interface synergizes with the game's mechanics, narrative, and aesthetics to evoke a unique gameplay experience inspired by the channel surfing in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Controls

This game was designed for a special TV remote controller as part of Chicaghoul 2023.

You can still play with a keyboard, but the controls may be awkward. This is something we will address eventually, but the target experience for the game jam was in person audiences using a real TV and TV remote.

Changing channels

Channel up and down on the TV remote is mapped to up and down arrows on keyboard.

Directional input

On the remote, 2, 4, 6, and 8 buttons control directional input. These are mapped to WASD on keyboard.

Volume up and down

One of the minigames uses volume. The volume can be adjusted with + and - on the keyboard, or ` to toggle mute.

Zoom in / out

One of the minigames uses a special set of arrows on the TV remote for zooming in and out. These are mapped to [ and ] on the keyboard.

Jump + Sleep

One of the minigames uses a special button on the remote labeled "JUMP" and another labeled "SLEEP." These are both bound to the spacebar on keyboard.

Power

One minigame uses a special button on the remote labeled "POWER." This is bound to P on keyboard.

Webcam Warning

Part of the game will try to use your webcam. It might crash if you don't have one or it's not working. Obviously, this is something we'd like to fix, but it will be cool for the in-person event the game was designed for!

Credits

Game created by David Antognoli, Ian Beckman, Michael Vaughn Green, and Mack Pearson-Muggli.

External assets

"Sawblade" (https://skfb.ly/69HUy) by azzajess is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

"Simple rubber conveyor" (https://skfb.ly/6RUV9) by scailman is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). 

Screen blood splatter: https://youtu.be/Qk-Y1N1mz7g

FluXY - 2.5D fluid simulator | Physics | Unity Asset Store

Animations and characters from Mixamo

Unity VFX Graph - Blood Tutorial (Procedural Shader) - YouTube

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Random names: https://sl.bing.net/d5iyZb79msm 

https://sl.bing.net/hpZLssAXTb2 

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