BACKBONE

An immersive horror, first-person stealth exploration game spanning approximately 30 minutes, rendered with NTSC analogue-style graphics that mimic the rainbow iridescence of 1970s television. My contribution to the C.H.A.I.N. 3 network, BACKBONE continued directly from the start node and dramatically expanded the exposition, connecting to three other nodes in the collaborative graph. The game recreates an early 70s midwestern basement—a childhood memory of one of the lead characters—using modular architectural assets to build an atmospheric period environment. Technical features include an inspection system for environmental storytelling, a phone call system for delivering dialogue sequences, and stealth gameplay driven by enemy AI running on a finite state machine with procedural and physics-based animation. As a critical structural node in the network, BACKBONE bridges multiple narrative threads while establishing key mechanical systems for subsequent developers.