The Last of Us: Winter Hunt

You play as Ellie, hunting for food in the cold of winter.

Use the num-pad or left or right arrow keys to aim Ellie.

Press 'SPACE' to fire.

This project saw many iterations and multiple fresh starts. It began life as a simple poster in the dark that could be seen with a flash light (that had some bad batteries). It then moved onto a click the firefly game (also the source doesn't actually contain real fireflies), but didn't have a good visual to it. It then went very experimental with a "stop the ivy from reclaiming buildings for nature." When all of those either failed or were lack-luster, I decided to embark on an ambitious journey to recreate a pivotal and tone setting scene as a mini-game.  (I was inspired by 90s/00s flash games that advertised bands or shows)(there is also obvious inspiration from Oregon Trail as a major part of the Last of Us is a cross country trip) This is where I decided to use tLoU's strongest art tool to inspire it's poster, ambiance.  Using a mini game to hold the player's attention just long enough to throw the ingredients of a mood at the player was the intention of the interaction. As they play, the music (sourced from the game (listened to the soundtrack on repeat for hours on end) creates a lonely yet peaceful and contemplative mood. The deer is then introduced to whip that mood in a frenzy, just so the title can come in a place a brand on all of what they just felt.

The overall summarized goal - Show the player that The Last of Us can deliver feelings of isolation and suspense, all while being wrapped in a fun and minimalist UI just like the source material.

You should have experienced:

a controls screen - a season screen - the main game - and a cut to the title with the final strum of guitar from the song. Minimalist and Retro inspired.