Storyline

The player assumes the role of an employee at the VR Research Labs, a company
dedicated to the development of Virtual Reality entertainment devices. Security is strict
at VR Labs due to the current feeding frenzy occurring in the hi-tech entertainment
industry, and the fact that VR Labs is within a few months of revealing the first working
model of a Multi-Universe Personal Transporter (MUPT).

Nicknamed the “Hot Seat”, this $14 million dollar machine could graphically simulate
any environment imaginable by man and provide all the possible physical, as well as
psychological, sensations associated with that environment. Of course, no one could
actually prove that there were psychological effects resulting from use of the Hot Seat,
other than unanimous reports of sheer exhilaration. The news media, hungry for
doomsday tidbits to feed the public’s sensationalistic appetite, probed and focused on the
possible negative repercussions of such a device on the human mind. But reliable inside
information on the Hot Seat was scarce, and the statements occasionally released through
VR Labs’ PR department consistently echoed the company’s belief that only positive side
effects could be experienced from the device’s use. The media, however, treated these
reports of psychological benefits as typical hi-tech hype - exaggerations of its inventor
and programmer, Charles “Chip” Reddin.

Chip was a technological genius and, according to others who worked with him, a
certifiable lunatic. In the world of technological research and development, as is
sometimes said of the art world, this is a totally acceptable and harmless combination.
In Chip’s case....it was to prove deadly.

One of Chip’s hobbies was horror films. There wasn’t a horror film ever made that he
didn’t know all the details about, even as far back as silent films. But the one series of
films he favored the most was the Hellraiser series. He knew how many nails protruded
from Pinhead, the speed in miles-per-hour at which the Chatterer Beast traveled along
walls and ceilings, the calculated distance from the Catacombs exit to the base of
Leviathan, and how many chains hit or missed in each film.

And he realized the potential power of the Lament Box.

The exact configuration of the Lament Box could not be determined from the movies, but
with the computer equipment and knowledge at Chip’s disposal, it was possible to
calculate its structure and reproduce it in a 3D program. It took him approximately ten
months to complete the 3D Box and this was using one of the most powerful computer
system in existence. The same computer system that was used to develop the Hot Seat.

No one at VR Labs knew about the Box. No one even suspected that Chip had
programmed the Lament Configuration into the engine that powered the VR device. He
had been careful enough to prevent its accidental access by including special coding that

Hellraiser: Virtual Hell Doug Barnett 1

required a trigger key to be pressed at a precise moment in the running of the MUPT
program. As a secondary precaution, a series of passwords were required in order to
access his personal journal, which did not mention the trigger key, but did record the
progress he made on the Lament Configuration and this information would certainly
reveal the MUPT computer system as the hiding place. A capable hacker would find the
possible existence of a trigger key in the Hot Seat far too tempting to dismiss.

Janet Perkins was just such a hacker. In fact, it was for that very reason that she was
hired by VR Labs: to put the Hot Seat through the most critical tests possible and expose
any programming bugs that might exist in Chip’s coding. Janet was the senior code
tester for VR Labs.

Janet worked closely with Chip on the project, perhaps closer than anyone else. They
were the Odd Couple of VR Labs. Chip rarely spoke, spending every available moment
tapping away on his keyboard, even during lunch breaks. Janet’s lunch breaks were
spent slamming the sides of the cafeteria’s pinball machines and cussing up a storm
whenever she failed to beat her previous scores. Her extreme behavior associated with
an imperfect pinball score discouraged anyone from playing along with her. Which was
fine with Janet, since she considered everyone else to be far inferior to her anyway and
their turn at play would only be regarded as an annoying waste of time.

Both Chip and Janet enjoyed full security clearance at VR Labs and spent many late
hours working on their baby. As soon as Chip updated the code, Janet would strap
herself into the egg-shaped chair, attaching all the necessary nerve nodes, set the control
panel to Full Run and put the new program through a rigorous test. No major bugs ever
showed up during the tests. Until that one fateful morning.

It was in the middle of August and both Chip and Janet preferred working after dark,
when it was cooler and quieter. The thick, metal doors of the VR Test Room separated
them, allowing Chip to tap away in silence and Janet to shriek and holler as she sailed
through the Hot Seat’s virtual reality worlds. Time passed quickly during these hours
and 3:15 am would have gone unnoticed had it not been for the strange signal that
appeared on Chip’s computer screen.

Something was wrong. Chip had the computer at his desk hooked directly into the Hot
Seat and he had installed an alarm system to warn him of unusual behavior in the
program. What was Janet doing to trigger the alarm? Had she found a bug in the new
code? Had she reached the limits of the Hot Seat’s abilities and crashed the program?
No. Impossible. The Hot Seat’s virtual worlds and complex linkage into the Internet
were so extensive that it would take years to explore them all. Which left only one other
possibility: Janet had discovered the trigger key!

Immediately, Chip switched his system to monitor mode. His computer screen filled
with the image that Janet was currently experiencing. Janet had indeed broken into
Chip’s secret area of the system! Displayed on the screen were 3D images of Janet’s
hands holding a perfectly rendered virtual Lament Configuration Box.

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Chip instinctively reached for the shutdown switch. His fingers hovered over the switch.
Did he truly believe the 3D Box was dangerous? Or was he just afraid Janet would solve
the puzzle of the Box....a feat Chip himself had not yet accomplished?

Chip withdrew his hand from the switch and watched. He watched as Janet’s hands
manipulated the Box. Incorrect move, try again. The Box returned to its original
position. A few minutes passed without movement and Chip could almost hear Janet’s
mind calculating the next move. The hands rotated the Box and her fingers slid into new
positions. Click. The Box shifted.....bluish sparks escaped from the gaps of the Box.
Again, Chip watched as Janet’s fingers maneuvered slowly into new positions then
stopped.

This was a far as Janet would get, thought Chip. He noted the positions of Janet’s
fingers and smiled. That move had already been tried. It wouldn’t work. Chip knew
more about the Box than anyone, certainly more than Janet, and this was as far as Chip
had gotten. Janet’s fingers moved again into new positions. What was this? What could
moving the thumb in a circular motion over the center of the Box possibly accomplish?

Click. Beads of sweat began to stream down Chip’s face. My God, he thought, what
have I allowed to happen? The Box, responding to the circular motions, suddenly rose
above Janet’s hands. Part of the Box slid upwards, stopped, then rotated clockwise and
stopped again. More sparks shot out from the gaps. Papers suddenly flew off Chip’s
desk, as though a window had been opened and a strong wind had swept through the
office.

Chip was mesmerized. He stared at the screen and watched the strange distortions
occurring in the background of the Box. The Box rotated again and the separated section
slid back into the other half. All around the still Box blue lightning-like streams shot out
and the entire virtual world twisted and morphed into a chaotic mass of colors. Then, just
as suddenly, it stopped. The Box tilted toward the screen. The round, gold center of the
design began to open, like a flower awakening to a new day, exposing an interior so
black...so deep...that it seemed to stretch into Infinity. Chip leaned forward and gazed
into the hole. A shape was forming. A face.

Pinhead!

“Welcome to Virtual Hell......now......let’s really play!”

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Plot Summary

Pinhead has indeed been released, but not into the real world. Instead, by creating a
replica of the Lament Box in the MUPT software program, Pinhead is loose in the
limitless virtual world and connected directly to the Information Superhighway.

Within this virtual environment, Pinhead recreates a Virtual Hell, much like the one
depicted in the films. Since the MUPT (Multi-Universe Personal Transporter) system is
also directly linked into the telephone system, and thus to computer systems all over the
world, Pinhead now has a means with which to lure unwary souls. Chip and Janet have
been drawn in and Cenobitized into the Virtual Hell environment.

It is the Player’s task to discover the secrets that will enable entry into the MUPT virtual
environments and defeat Pinhead and his cronies before they find a way out into the real
world. The Player must traverse the now dangerous Superhighway and find the location
of Pinhead’s base of operations: Virtual Hell.

Pinhead, realizing that the irresistible lure of a challenging game is a perfect way to draw
in new victims, creates a hellish - and brutally fatal - game environment of his own. He
knows, too, that once a connection has been established with an unwary surfer, the means
to extend his gruesome world into the real world becomes a possibility. A horrifying
game of fast-paced chases, clever opponents, nerve-wrenching puzzles, vast Catacomb
mazes, merciless Cenobites, devilish traps and a final confrontation with Pinhead, the
Chatterer, Pinball and Leviathan.

Getting into Pinhead’s chaotic Virtual Hell is fairly simple.....defeating Pinhead and
destroying his hellish environment, getting out alive, and closing the links to the real
world, is a whole different story.

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Design Summary
The design of Hellraiser: Virtual Hell is quite different from other CD-ROM
products that have been released. Rather than restrict itself to one particular style,
Hellraiser uses various styles of play and “pace” to enhance and make the most out of a
situation or environment.

Occasional reference will be made to other products by name to help in the

visualization of an aspect of Hellraiser, but by no means will that indicate a “rehash” of
methods already used by these other products. Hellraiser is intended to be unique, both
in scope and execution.

The game uses both 1st Person and 3rd Person perspectives to create tension and
exploit certain events. For example, the 3rd Person perspective would be used to
dramatize the player suffering setbacks or death.

Sound effects and the changing mood of the background music will play a vital role
in the gameplay of Hellraiser. There are situations (such as in the Catacombs or Hell’s
Lobby) where the sound effects, if ignored, will prove the demise of the Player.

To help the Player understand changing environments or the “why” behind certain
game progressions, a new method will be used:

Thought Interface.

The Thought Interface is simply the careful use of a “Player Voice-Over” (audible Player
thoughts) to enhance tension and carry the current action on to the next stage.

Example: When the Player moves from the Office environment to the Programmer’s
(Chip’s) Home a voice will be heard (almost a whisper) that justifies the logic behind the
move. In this way, the Player will not feel as though he has been forced or pulled to a
particular location in a linear fashion. It will make perfect sense to the Player to “follow
his thoughts”.

Another helpful purpose of the Thought Interface is to provide subtle hints or help in
certain situations that otherwise couldn’t be explained without extensive and wasteful
graphics, programming, etc.

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 Special Features

A few of the unique special features to be incorporated into this product are:

• The player may become Cenobitized and fall into the ranks of Pinhead’s cronies by
making too many mistakes throughout the course of the game.

• For the first time, a game of this genre will accommodate multiplayer involvement,
both in the form of head-to-head modem play and links via the Internet.

• The game may be played in either PG or R rated versions to allow a wider audience
acceptance and participation.

• Players will be able to actually manipulate a 3D replica of the famous Lament Box to
enable a multitude of special capabilities.

• No two games will be exactly alike, allowing replay (in all modes) to remain
challenging, thus significantly increasing the shelf life of the product.

Formats

This product is designed for all interactive entertainment media, especially the IBM
CD-ROM format (largest installed base). Design alterations have also been
conceptualized for other formats, such as Nintendo 64, Sega Interactive CD and the
Internet.

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