Dead Inside

Dead Inside is a darkly comedic VR game where you don’t kill zombies. You’re their therapist, you unpack their trauma, decode their past lives, and save what’s left of their humanity.

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Inspiration

We wanted to subvert the typical zombie shooter formula. What if instead of fighting the undead, you had to understand them? Dead Inside is inspired by Call of Duty: Zombies, The Last of Us, and therapy-based narrative games like Papers, Please and The Stanley Parable. The idea: confront horror not with weapons, but with empathy.

What it does

Dead Inside is a multiplayer VR game where you provide therapy to zombies instead of killing them. Using voice input, emotional inference, and real-time choices, players conduct 1-on-1 sessions with the undead. They unpack trauma, discover backstories, and try to preserve fragments of their humanity. Zombies respond with AI-generated dialogue, facial expressions, and branching behavior based on your decisions.

How we built it

  • Unity (URP): Core VR experience with Oculus/Quest SDK for hand tracking and scene design
  • GPT + Emotion Logic: Custom dialogue engine blending GPT responses with emotional state tracking
  • Redis: Temporary game session database
  • Whisper ASR: Real-time transcription and sentiment parsing of player voice input
  • Blender + Mixamo: Zombie models and animations rigged with subtle microexpressions
  • State Machine AI: Each zombie has a procedural emotional arc influenced by player choices and tone

Challenges we ran into

  • Syncing real-time voice input with branching narrative logic
  • Creating zombie models that were unsettling yet expressive (without breaking immersion)
  • Balancing tone: ensuring the game was darkly comedic without trivializing mental health themes
  • Optimizing GPT calls and fallback responses for lag-free interaction in VR

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Designed a fully immersive VR narrative mechanic that felt emotionally impactful
  • Built a functional in-game therapy system using AI and real-time voice feedback
  • Created believable undead characters with individual backstories and emotional variance
  • Balanced horror and humor without leaning too hard on tropes

What we learned

  • How to integrate LLMs meaningfully into non-linear gameplay
  • The nuances of emotional storytelling in immersive spaces
  • How to optimize VR performance while maintaining high-fidelity interaction
  • The importance of subtle visual and audio feedback in building empathy

What's next for Dead Inside

  • Deeper storylines with memory flashbacks and patient files
  • Multiplayer mode: two players act as co-therapists with different approaches
  • Voice affect detection to better parse player tone and emotional intent
  • SteamVR and Quest standalone release, with open modding support for new patients

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