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.
