Netflix IP on Roblox

GAME DIRECTION
ROBLOX DEVELOPMENT
ART + AUDIO DESIGN

Buoy Studio partnered with Netflix to produce a branded Roblox hub and individual game tiles for well known IPs. My role was Game Director for the Stranger Things and Rebel Moon experiences. Using more AAA art production techniques, we were able to create striking visuals and pair them with SFX and OST music to give an immersive Stranger Things experience for Roblox players. Headphones recommended for the best experience!

Stranger Things: Escape From Hawkins High

First person suspense game set inside Hawkins High School around the events of the Season 4 timeline.

Creative Director: Joey Jeter
Executive Producer: Chris Totushek
Lead Gameplay Engineer: Mysarah Awwad

Game Loop:

The player is a student attending a school dance while supernatural events take place and creatures from the Upside-Down occupy the halls. The end goal is to find a working phone within the school to call for help. With Dustin’s guidance, he gives the players objectives (Assignments) that have a variety of tasks to sneakily create noisey distractions to displace enemies from the rooms with phones.

Diegetic UI:

To enhance the sense of immersion, we chose to use physical objects that provide information to the player. This reduces the amount of HUD elements during gameplay and brings a sense of realism.

Walkie Talkie

The walkie talkie is the device through which Dustin provides narration and guidance. Noise is an integral aspect of gameplay and this acts as the player’s noise meter. You will also find the hotkeys to equip the other tools and the current assignment (A,B,C) indicator.

Notebook (Trapper Keeper)

The notebook is the player’s way to view the current objective (Assignments), the tasks needed to complete the the assignment and the locations.

Fire Escape Plan

The Fire Escape Plan is the player’s map and is the primary source for wayfinding. The personal map shows markers for the current task locations. If the player wants to know where they are located, there are static maps placed in different areas of the school and clear room number labels.

Environment

We set out to showcase the full potential of Roblox’s fidelity using a more AAA art asset creation approach like baking down high-poly details and PBR textures. As part of the gameplay mechanics, we developed a system that allows players to pass through a “Rift” to traverse in both the Normal and the Upside-Down version of the school. By creating different materials on the same environment objects for each world, in combination with specific lighting parameters, we essentially doubled the gameplay area using the same level footprint.

Demogorgon and Friends

This is our version of the iconic Demogorgon, Demodog, and Demobat. We retopologized a high-resolution sculpt and baked the normal details to create a game optimized model for animation. These shots were taken directly from Roblox Studio using the PBR surface material setup.