# Help decorating for my theme? City at the bottom of the sea (Bioshock)



## HauntedHorror

I am doing a theme of Rapture(Bioshock) which is a city at the bottom of the ocean, it's basically decaying-- it was once a classy place (art deco style-- think Chrysler Building) created as an utopia but it's been semi-abandoned and everything is falling apart, leaking, grimy etc... SO it should not be a dusty old house sort of atmosphere but rather an underwater/swampy sort of decay, but as if it was a stylish art deco city look before it went to rot. It's the city that is the setting of the game Bioshock.

Does anyone have any ideas or props/decorations they might suggest that I could buy or make to help create a Bioshock/Rapture theme for my Halloween party?

There are many different places and environments in Rapture so I won't be able to replicate everything but I just want to get a general feel/look of the place, and then maybe do a few specific ideas or areas in some rooms. For example there is the Medical Pavilion with a crazed plastic surgeon (bloody operating rooms etc)... So I am thinking of going with a look of an operating room for the kitchen. I would love to make the hallway in the middle of my house look like one of the underwater tunnels/walkways you use to go between different areas in the game but I'm not sure how. Other areas/rooms of the house will probably just be going for the general 1940s/50s/Art Deco/run-down-creepy look but I am not sure how to achieve this look.

Especially anything I can buy or easily make to help my house match the theme, as I am not that handy/crafty with making stuff unfortunately!

If you don't know Bioshock, it uses a lot of art deco themes in the game, except with everything being kinda worn out and run down, plus add in water damage since the game is set underneath the ocean.

Here is how my house looked for last Halloween to see kinda what I have to work with:
http://www.halloweenforum.com/general-halloween/100575-halloween-decor-my-pics.html

Here are some examples of Rapture environments from Bioshock:





































More pictures/info:

http://angevonlife.blogspot.com/2010/06/bioshock-environments-misc.html
and
http://bioshock.wikia.com/wiki/Rapture

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## HauntedHorror

Ir wouldn't let me post these in the first post, it kept telling me I had 7 images even though I only had 5 so here are the rest:

Videos:











More images:


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## Sawtooth Jack

By far, one of the most beautiful games ever designed, frightening too.

When you think of Deco, think of bold tiled surfaces, geometric shapes, black and white and gold, lots of textured metal. It's all in the game and as you know, all of that metal is corroded, rusty and green, Slime on the broken tiles, garbage on the floor. Glitz and glamor gone bad!

To get the look, you could buy checkered linoleum and stain it up and then make walls or floor areas out of it. I would also think of how I could add the feeling of an aquarium to that Art Deco flair. Water-filled bubble tubes lit from the top, brass port holes and circular hatches hung on the walls framing weird under-water scenes. I think you could even get away with a bit of Steampunk in regards to medical supplies and gizmos laying around. Maybe odd vignettes with a broken old radio repeating some scratchy call for help, period cigarette boxes and such laying around (you could just print these out and make them yourself).

Another avenue would be to make over-sized and odd advertising posters in the style of the day, think Monopoly-man styled graphics or maybe in the style of old 1930s liquor posters for a bit of sophistication. They could advertise spooky things like funeral goods or the end of the world.

Oh, and you need to find a way to project a watery shimmer on your ceilings and walls, easy right?!

Ah rapture (game joke there, lol)!


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## Hauntiholik

American DJ has a water effect projector.


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## Sawtooth Jack

That water effect is amazing...perfect for the theme. Just add a bunch of whale sounds, creepy drips and creaks and groans of stressed metal and call it done!


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## redg8r

Dont forget the font style used in the game, you have an example shown in the photo above. every time I see that particular font I think of BioShock, lol.

Good luck & document, I'd like to see your results.


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## Hauntiholik

Don't forget to add some music


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## HauntedHorror

Hauntiholik said:


> American DJ has a water effect projector.


Yeah I've seen that unfortunately it is way over my budget 
I've been trying to figure out a way I can do a similar effect but without the $$$! So far I haven't had any luck figuring this out though...

I have a lot of sounds and music saved from the games so I will definitely be using that!

Last year I tried to do just my bathroom in a Bioshock/underwater theme for my party, but I didn't have a lot of time so it was kinda thrown together...
This was the result (if you listen closely you can hear the sound effects including a Little Sister singing!):


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## Haunted Spider

Hauntiholik said:


> American DJ has a water effect projector.


There is a newer version of this projector on Amazon that is LED lit. It runs 170 brand new. I don't know if that is still over your budget or not, but if your budget is much less than $170, it is going to be hard to create much of anything for a whole scene setting atmosphere. What did you have in mind that you wanted to create? props, fascade, music, characters?


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## remylass

I would put water/fish scenes over all of my windows first of all. When we had a western party, I put scenes like that over all of them. It was kind of cool to glance toward a window and feel like you were in the desert. 

When I think of Bioshock, I think of the Big Daddys, of course. I'm sure a diver suit would be expensive. I also think of all the creepy papier mache masks around.


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## HauntedHorror

I am really having trouble with how to convert my living and dining rooms into something Bioshock-like... They are basically typical rooms... My dining room has a round table with a chandelier hanging over it, a desk, and a huge china hutch. The living/dining room are basically one big room together. The living room has a bay window, two couches, a rocking chair, a lot of bookcases, tv, and a faux fireplace with mantle. Now how do I make that look like it belongs in a city at the bottom of the sea lol? Should I just go for an "abandoned New Year's Eve party" look for those rooms since that is a common theme in Bioshock?

I was wondering if I bought something like this "Specter Projector" if I could use it as a projector to give an underwater look? 
I was thinking instead of using one of the images they provide, if I just put a blue film in front of the light if that would work? 
Here is a video of it in use, you can see how the movement kinda would look like water if you took out the provided image and replaced it with just a blue filter:








remylass said:


> When I think of Bioshock, I think of the Big Daddys, of course. I'm sure a diver suit would be expensive. I also think of all the creepy papier mache masks around.


Yeah I've seen a few tutorials for making a Big Daddy costume so I was thinking maybe I could just make the helmet and have it lying around? I don't know if I have the level of ability to construct something like that though.
I am definitely going to have the masks everywhere! I am planning to make a bunch of those (also making them for my guests to use for their costumes). In fact I really need to get started on that!


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## CoolDJTV

Hauntiholik said:


> American DJ has a water effect projector.


It's a matter of personal taste but I have an Chauvet Abyss Led and I think that it looks more like water that the ADJ version.
check it out


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## CoolDJTV

you might be able to achieve that!


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