Play Me Here: https://www.birdnest.org/riveras2/trajan/index.html
I AM TRAJAN is an interactive website where type is the main focus.
The site leads players through three different levels in search of who TRAJAN is. Each level is based on a popular horror movie where the main elements from the movie dictate the page.
The Conjuring is the first level and opens up in a pitch black page where the player can use the cursor as a match to see through the dark. The player is prompted to play Hide and Clap, a game played by the characters in the movie, where the seeker is blind folded and has three chances to ask the hider to clap. The claps can be heard throughout the site, some sound closer while others far away. The player can only leave the level until they find and light a candle.
When designing and developing this page, I wanted to capture the most iconic moment from The Conjuring. The Hide and Clap scene where the mother gets trapped in the basement is a scene that anyone who watched the movie remembers and for anyone who hasn't seen the movie, it still evokes that feeling of unease that I was going for.
Sinister is the next level and is based off of VCR tapes and technology glitches. The movie centers around a demon who kills people when they watch its cursed tape. Unlike The Conjuring level, this level was designed from the overall feel of the movie. All of the elements are glitching out and moving erratically. TRAJAN is also talking to the player more in this level and toying with them. To solve the level, the player has to solve a game of hangman if they lose they watch Sinister's cursed tape and cannot leave the level.
The Sinister page was dedicated to the entire feel of the movie rather than inspired by one scene. I knew I wanted there to be more dialogue between TRAJAN and the player because in the movie, Sinister is playing and hunting the main characters. Overall, I wanted there to be a lot of unpredictable movement especially in comparison to The Conjuring page.
While doing this level, I worried that there wouldn't be enough continuity between each level. It was a balance finding a way to show three distinct levels while also designing them in a way that felt connected. I found that doing an introduction page for each level helped tie everything together while also keeping the same type structure for each page.
Nightmare on Elm Street is the final level and was dedicated to the sleeping aspect of the movie. Freddy Kruger is a monster that can only attack his victims in their sleep, usually waiting for the third night to kill them. This page is a bit disorienting for the player, the foggy text and moving letters is to make the player feel like they are falling asleep. To solve this level, players have three chances to find the anti-sleep pill card. Each time they fail the player will fall more asleep, the screen gets blurrier and blurrier until everything goes black.
The Nightmare on Elm Street level is both designed after the feel from the movie and a certain scene. To keep awake and alive, the main characters are trying to find a bottle of anti-sleep pills before they fall asleep. This levels game was probably the one that I had to troubleshoot the most, I had a vision of how I wanted it to work and I really did my research so that I was able to bring it to reality. I love that this level is not inherently creepy or scary, but still is disorienting for the player and makes them uncomfortable.
Finally at the end of the site, the player finds out who TRAJAN is.
My project prompt for this site was to pick a font and create a website that brings meaning to the emotions attached to certain fonts. The Trajan font face is used a lot in the horror movie industry so I chose three of the most popular movies that Trajan is featured in and used them as elements to show people the power of a certain font.
Overall, I am very pleased with this website. I learned so much while designing and developing it and I hope others find it as enjoyable to play as I did creating it.
