Goosebumps HorrorLand -- Get Ready to Play!

We know you have questions about the making of the Goosebumps HorrorLand Video Game, so here are some answers! In this final InkSplot 26 entry about the game, we're giving you Splotters an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at what went into creating the game. For this insight, I went straight to the source! I sat down and got the scoop from Sam, Senior Producer for the Goosebumps HorrorLand video game:

The game features a unique Goosebumps story, and it's your job as the player to earn frights to unlock the five areas in HorrorLand to move this story forward. How did the team come up with the brand new plotline?

Well, the story of HorrorLand has been told in a lot of places over the years, and we looked at all of them. There was R. L. Stine's classic book One Day at HorrorLand, and also the sequel, Return to HorrorLand. In addition, there was an episode of the TV show based on the original book. And of course, there was Stine's terrific new HorrorLand series, which was only partly written at the time we were developing the game.

We took inspiration from all of these, but in the end decided to tell our own story, with our own twists and turns. The game starts with the idea that one of the Horrors (my favorite characters from the books) decides to start a brand new HorrorLand, kind of like making Disney World when there was already a Disneyland. Without any human supervision, this new park could be scarier, deadlier, and crazier than ever, with no exit and a total disregard for safety.

As the Splotters learned from last week's blog entry, each area of HorrorLand has its own theme with different characters, rides, and attractions. What inspired some of these cool ideas?

When designing the game, we started with the idea, 'What if we were making a real horror-themed amusement park? What would we definitely want to see?' We tried to hit all of the Horror staples: vampires, mummies, swamp monsters, evil robots, scary clowns.

Mummy

For the rides and attractions, we started with things you might find in a "normal" amusement park, but with a fiendish twist. So we have a Batting Cage, but it features live bats. Instead of Bumper Cars we have Bumper Carnage, which has a giant pit in the middle of the arena and where the drivers are really trying to destroy each other. The Calamity Canyon ride was inspired by the Cyclone at Coney Island, which if you've ever seen it, looks like it's about to fall apart. I'm sure the Cyclone is entirely safe, but our ride really is falling apart. In fact, the announcer tells you so at the beginning of the ride, and your job is to dodge missing tracks and duck under collapsing overpasses.

We took inspiration from all of these, but in the end decided to tell our own story, with our own twists and turns. The game starts with the idea that one of the Horrors (my favorite characters from the books) decides to start a brand new HorrorLand, kind of like making Disney World when there was already a Disneyland. Without any human supervision, this new park could be scarier, deadlier, and crazier than ever, with no exit and a total disregard for safety.

As the Splotters learned from last week's blog entry, each area of HorrorLand has its own theme with different characters, rides, and attractions. What inspired some of these cool ideas?

When designing the game, we started with the idea, 'What if we were making a real horror-themed amusement park? What would we definitely want to see?' We tried to hit all of the Horror staples: vampires, mummies, swamp monsters, evil robots, scary clowns.

Mummy

For the rides and attractions, we started with things you might find in a "normal" amusement park, but with a fiendish twist. So we have a Batting Cage, but it features live bats. Instead of Bumper Cars we have Bumper Carnage, which has a giant pit in the middle of the arena and where the drivers are really trying to destroy each other. The Calamity Canyon ride was inspired by the Cyclone at Coney Island, which if you've ever seen it, looks like it's about to fall apart. I'm sure the Cyclone is entirely safe, but our ride really is falling apart. In fact, the announcer tells you so at the beginning of the ride, and your job is to dodge missing tracks and duck under collapsing overpasses.

Screen Shot of Bumper Carnage

For the looks of the park and the monsters, we tried to draw on classic horror sources for our inspiration. The vampires, for instance, are loosely based on Nosferatu from the old movies, sort of halfway between creatures and people. These are a lot scarier than the "Count Chocula" style of vampires, who are basically guys with pale skin in capes.

Nosferatu Movie

Early Vampire Concept

Revised Vampire Sketch	Final Vampire

It took over a year to develop Goosebumps HorrorLand, and before even starting to build the game, two months were spent on the "Concept Phase." What did you do during this "Concept Phase"?

This time was spent writing the script, coming up with game ideas, and making sketches of areas and characters. Lots of game ideas ended up in the scrap heap . . . like there was going to be a reverse "Whac-a-Mole" game where you stick your head up through a hole and a giant animatronic mole tries to hit you with a hammer. Our tentative name for it was "Whac-a-You."

Making video games seems hard! So what did you think was the most challenging part of creating the Goosebumps HorrorLand video game? Was it designing the Horrors? Was it writing the script?

The hardest part of developing the story was getting the unique narrative elements from the Goosebumps books into a game. If you've read a Goosebumps book, you know that every chapter ends with a shock or a cliffhanger: "I opened my closet door and a monster jumped out, ready to devour me" — that kind of thing. A lot of times the monster just turns out to be your dog, but it's still scary and it makes you want to start the next chapter right away. We wanted to get that same energy into the game and did it with some of the "cut scenes," which are breaks in the gameplay of a video game — sort of like mini-movies used to advance the plot. In Goosebumps HorrorLand, a lot of the cut scenes leave you at really desperate moments. Without giving anything away, I think the cut scene when you first get into Vampire Village does this really well; suddenly the whole situation becomes much more serious, and you realize that HorrorLand might be really deadly.

Vampire Village

Finally, I want to know what your absolute FAVORITE part of making the Goosebumps HorrorLand Video Game was (after all, everything sounds pretty cool!)?

Bringing the Horrors to life. They were a lot of fun to create because they're not so much evil as extremely cranky and not at all concerned with your safety or well-being. If you run up to a Horror and tell him that your hair is on fire, he'll probably tell you he's on his break. We cast two voice talents for the Horrors, one male and female, and I think they both do a great job of capturing this attitude.

So there you have it Spotters — an insider's look at the inspiration behind the Goosebumps HorrorLand Video Game. The game comes out this week, just in time for Halloween . . . enter if you dare!

— Robin, Scholastic Interactive Staffer

Comments

[Comment #26]

the video game rocks,the books are awsome . life is good

[Comment #27]

i beat the game too

[Comment #28]

i love gosebumps make more books ok!

[Comment #29]

I LOVE GOOSEBUMPS HORRORLAND! I own the game myself, and it is frightning and its challedging level is medium, which is great, because you want a game to be challedging, but not too hard where you can't finish it.

[Comment #30]

I am the BIIIIIIIIGEST fan of RL Stine ,fear street books, and goosebumps and goosebumps horrorlandbooks EVER.NO ONE can beat writing goosebumps books better than RL Stine. The web site is AWSOME.I HOPE u r reading this RL Stine bcause u r the BOMB DIGGATY BOMB LOL :) luv ya

[Comment #31]

i love goosebumps like sooooooooooo much

[Comment #32]

as a witchling,I dare to enter! If I survived the Shadowrealm this one is going to be a snap!

[Comment #33]

i think goosebumps is the best
collection of books in the universe and i think every boy and girl should have the hole collection on there bookshelf and read nothing else but goosebumps.

[Comment #34]

bad hare day is not scary