For this phase of development, we focused on implementing a static chat box for the player to discover and go through by themselves whenever they click on the chat icon. Since our horror game begins by booting up a second-hand computer, we wanted to give the feeling that the player is intruding on the previous owner's personal life, creating a sense of unease from the get-go, like they never really left  

Why a static chat box? 

The chat history in each of the conversations is not just for show in our game, it is meant to give a sense of unease to the player as they are reading someone else's personal text messages that may foreshadow future events in the game 

Atmosphere contributes a lot in horror games, having a chat box with old messages for the player to search through can spark questions: Where did they go? Why did they stop responding? What happened to them? 

As you can see from the photo there is multiple different chats the player can look through at will to create some mysterious backstory to this video game  

Design Choices 

We chose to make the chat box in one chat window with all the different chats in the same place as they are just a click of a button away for ease of use and access. This ensures it keeps the player focused and engaged on the chats and incites them to read them all  

The chat box UI is simple as the player can use the scroll bar on the right hand side to scroll up and down to read the full length of the chats  and then they can click on any of the buttons on the left hand side to open up the corresponding chat