FRACKED: Research & Destroy
As an entrepreneur with an endless thirst for knowledge, Finch, the owner of Finchteq - headed up a high-tech facility with the purpose of studying the crystals and their effects. Of course, he researched the possible industrial and military applications to expand his economic empire too. This area is a much more modern aesthetic to the preceding copper mine and caves, and contrasts heavily with both. Here, we also see the experimentation with "Finchalis," a yellow bulb flowered plant that occurs naturally in the area and shares a curative relationship with the crystal.
The narrative reveals Finch's intention was to infect humanity and use Finchalis as a "cure", monetising its properties, while keeping the working population subjugated and compliant with crystal. The player can also use the plant's curious properties to their advantage, giving them enhanced senses and eventually forming the basis of a powerful bio-bomb to take out the facility.
The use of yellow was deliberate; linked with many interactive elements, even in Rosales' helicopter! Yellow is the primary colour of the player's "Battlefield Intuition," a HUD overlay that highlights interactive surfaces the player can grab and use as cover, as well as highlighting climbing points and enemies through solid surfaces. As well as its more practical use, we used the colour yellow to symbolise spiritual redemption as much as a physical cure. Contrasted with this is purple - the colour of the crystal and used to signify danger and the enemy.
Special mention should go to the "Funicular" station sequence and the train itself. They're used as a stage for a vertigo-inducing moment as the player is forced to climb around the carriages with a drop of thousands of feet below should they fail - another reason to experience more VR games!
Following a furious battle at the station's entrance, you take a funicular train up to the Labs Complex. In case you're wondering, a "Funicular" is a paired, counterbalanced train that ascends/descends steep gradients. We didn't make it up, we swear!
Some Funicular concepts, as well as the station entrance that serves as a battle arena.
Don't look down! A concept of the rickety-looking rails up the mountain. Hopefully, the journey will be uneventful, with no explosions to speak of.
Exiting the Funicular, you wipe the sweat from your brow and enter the Labs Complex. This key art piece shows the wide central "street" which was presented in a way to give a Wild West showdown style experience, promising a memorable gunfight to come.
Exploration sketches for the laboratory buildings. This area evolved from a simple research outpost to a full-blown scientific facility over the course of development
Another exterior screenshot/paintover illustrating the vivid reds of the Labs exterior against the natural world bathed in a purple hue.
Production Sketches of the interior of the lab.
Screenshot of lab machinery depicted in previous concept sketches. Note the blues and complimentary yellows - a stark difference from the reds of the outside structures.
The hydroponics area was deliberately swathed in yellow to match the yellow theme of the Finchalis plant that the player uses to augment their perception of the world.
Early concept of the hydroponics units - the greens were eventually replaced with yellows.
Concept painting iterations of the curious Finchalis plants.
Close up of Finchalis plants in a hydroponics pod.
Lots of different sketches were produced for the interactive machinery found in the Labs. This is just one example.
We storyboarded the many interactions that went into the bio-bomb building sequence and show the physical interactions that make Fracked such a tactile use of VR.
Concepts for the "bio-bomb" that uses condensed Finchalis extract as its key component.
Up until this point in the game, Raymond Finch has always been presented as the "Big Bad," so it's a big surprise to find him dead in his office in the lab, surrounded by information that reveals the wider story.