It was an old, abandoned hospital in East LA that we used for its catacomb-like hallways to depict the supernatural netherworld in which Morgan becomes trapped. Jeffrey: You're probably referring to Linda Vista Hospital. There was one filming location that I felt was haunted. As far as acting goes, I did a lot of research and studied the part. Makeup took a long time, but I didn't mind.
Stephanie: I had so much fun playing Morgan Shane! She had so many different sides to her. What was it like playing Morgan Shane, a young woman who slowly becomes a supernatural entity? Rebecca and I both studied with Marjorie Ballentine in Los Angeles. It turned out that one of the actors auditioning to play the character Anna was my friend from acting class. I got a call back that same day to test read with different actors. Stephanie Ver Eecke: My agent in LA sent me to the audition. Stephanie, what was the casting process like for you? Her dynamic with Rebecca Forsythe (Anna) was so genuine that it made casting both roles an easy decision. Her actions and reactions were always 100% authentic. Stephanie is one of those gifted actors who can easily make you forget she's acting. Instead I gave them situations to react to, sometimes with me as director, often with other actors. In auditions, I didn't give any of the actors lines to read. It's essentially a "found footage" piece, so it needed to feel like real people captured in a documentary, not actors performing in scenes. I knew I was going for hyper-realism in the performances. What was the casting process like and what was it about Stephanie that stood out from the other actors? It's all designed to feel like it really could be happening in your life, playing out over days or weeks. In daemon_9, the game's world is your world - the real world. You're moving through some 3-D world, either in first-person-shooter mode or using some kind of avatar. In most games, everything happens on the other side of the glass - the screen. I saw a way to break through the "wall" that typically separates players from the world in which their games usually exist. That was the number one driving principle. How important was it for you to make the player the main character? The horror elements are drawn from many classic thrillers, mostly from movies: the damsel in distress, demonic possession there are shout-outs to Psycho, The Exorcist, The Ring. That wasn't such a big deal when I first started working on the project, but became a hot topic thanks to the security breaches at Facebook and other big institutions. The theme of daemon_9 is the dangers of online exposure and the porous nature of cyber-security. When you were writing daemon_9, where did you draw your inspiration from? You have to puzzle your way out of danger while experiencing a full-motion video thriller with backstory, characters and events. It's also kind of like an online escape room. It's a hybrid between a game and a movie. How would you describe daemon_9 to players who are hearing about it for the first time?
I thought I'd be able to connect with a well-defined fan base It's a genre that never seems to go out of fashionģ. Once I conceived of that, I realized there were a number of different kinds of stories I could tell through that. The core concept of daemon_9 is its interactive storytelling structure. What made you decide to go in that direction?
But how do you create a horror video game so deeply rooted in reality it becomes disturbing to participate in the events that unfold? To answer these questions, I talked with writer/director Jeffrey Jackson and actor Stephanie Ver Eecke to discuss the process of creating the FMV horror game daemon_9.įMV WORLD: Jeffrey, your very first game daemon_9 is a horror FMV game. This time around, there was no avatar to keep a safe distance between me and the story unfolding before my horrified eyes. In a way, daemon_9 was scarier than all these games, because I felt like it happened to me. During my time as a gamer, it's happened plenty of times: Until Dawn, Left 4 Dead, Dead Space, Phantasmagoria, BioShock. I love being scared it's the emotion that makes me feel the most like I'm part of a video game. In DAEMON_9, you are the hero of the story.
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