Environments

The environment is a game is a huge part of what immerses the player in an experience. Of course, believable scripts and good acting as well as natural movements and believable reactions play a part in helping the gamer forget they’re playing, but if the area or world they’re in isn’t up to scratch, then no amount of authentic screaming is going to help. It’s just going to sound silly.

If it wasn't for the repetative dialogue, you could forget where you were (http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/3036/article/new-skyrim-info-blowout/)

I’ve personally seen this not only in video games, but in the LARPs I’ve attended; Leicester after Dark is held in secret locations, you’re a vampire meeting other vampires out of the way of human eyes and when you’re doing the secret knock to get into the summer venue, you really feel like you are your character. When you’re running through the woods with a sword in hand, you don’t feel like you arrived on a minibus and you forget you’ve got a mobile phone tucked in your belt for emergencies. You’re immersed in the game and your character, and it’s the scenery and environment that get you there. There’s a reason we spent three hours arranging candles in the rafters of the Tavern building; When we sat and ate food off tin plates in the light of our lanterns, you were in that fantasy tavern, not just pretending. And that’s ultimately what game designers hope to achieve in their games – for at least a little while, whilst you’re playing they’re attempting to suspend your disbelief and let you live the story through the eyes of your character. You’ve got to see what they see and fight what they fight but you’ve also got to feel what they feel. Set dressing, atmosphere, backgrounds, lighting and music all come together to immerse the gamer in the world they’re experiencing. It’s all about making the players gasp when their character would gasp, startle, jump and panic when someone experiencing that situation for real would do the same. It’s a tough balance to hit, but when you do hit it, there’s a lot to be said about a game you can just fall into.

Post apocalyptic nightclub in Futurisic Rome, wouldn't be the same if the game was held in someone's front room. Immersive environments apply to any game where you're taking on a role

Now the primary function of the environment is to help the player navigate the game. It can’t be too intrusive, but at the same time it’s frustrating if the player is running in circles with no direction. Having interactive items is one way of showing the player this is where they’re meant to be, or a ‘beacon’ style object for the players to head towards. At it’s most extreme a player may be herded towards the goal – put a man at the end of a canyon, where else can he go but the other end? But for some players this can feel annoying and condescending, especially if it’s done by putting invisible barriers over possible side routes. Some games also have in-game threats that prevent wandering; in Okami any attempt to leave the shore by swimming out to sea will either result in drowning (the character can only swim so far) or being eaten by a giant sea dragon.

This area is out of bounds. (http://13xforever.gamerdna.com/images/EW81oblE/sea-dragon)

The game environment is tasked with creating emotions and reactions felt in the real world. However the range of senses available to it is limited; when all are utilized in the real world to trigger emotion and response, in a video game the only available ones are sight and sound. To a limited extent touch is being used now, controllers that buzz and vibrate, or ones that require the players to move in a certain way are used but there’s no facility available to make an in-game rock feel like a rock, and you certainly can’t smell the grass of Hyrule field as you ride across it. Through careful lighting, colouring and positioning of elements the game can create feelings and impressions however which almost leave you feeling like you’ve touched and smelt the fictional world; Buildings close, with dark colours and evening lighting or even night time settings can produce feelings of foreboding whilst open vistas, the clean light of a spring day and the sounds of the wild elicit hope and wonder. In an out of cinematic cut scenes these effects are used to tell the player how to feel.

Flower's camera angles put you in the moment, and it's music produces emotional response. (http://www.bendevane.com/VTA2012/youngvga/2012/05/03/game-music-and-emotional-response-flower-flow-and-journey/)

And these techniques can be used to train the gamer as well; over the course of the game (Much the same as films etc.) the player can be conditioned to see certain colour schemes and tones as ‘safe’ or ‘unsafe’. These techniques aren’t exclusively used in the visual side of the environment; gamers will often comment on how they know an enemy is coming on how the music shifts. This can be a simple increase of tempo leading to subtle dread, or a full-on startling change of song the ‘fight music’ in games like Pokémon, for example.

The video game environment is forever striving for a sense of believability and it’s divided opinion whether using stylization in this endeavour is good or bad. Game graphics have become more advanced over the years, but trying to be as realistic as possible really puts them in danger of falling into the abyss of the uncanny valley; those characters are trying so hard to be human, but they’re just not quite there. So what are they? It makes us shiver. It’s a primal instinct that warns us there’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing and if you’re talking to your game character’s wife who’s going to die in chapter five, it’s not the emotional response you want.

The uncanny valley

This is the same for environments; if the player senses it’s weird or trying too hard to be normal, they’re going to be looking out for something bad to happen, and that’s only good if that’s what’s going to happen. Stylization removes this problem; if the player becomes used to a quirky game world, then that becomes their new normal and they won’t be phased by it. They’ll also notice peculiarities and hints to the plot when you put them in. It removes the uncanny valley experience by not trying too hard, and it also creates a distinctive look for your game that can be remembered easily.

You've got one guess to guess the game (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/195145/previews/animal-crossing-city-folk/)

One of the environments that’s stuck with me the most is the environments from Portal 2; Designed by Valve, it draws from scientific labs as well as office buildings from various eras – from the fifties and sixties and modern day leaning towards futuristic it draws office furniture and construction as well as fonts, styles of art for posters and signs. With minimalistic music, and colour schemes to scenes that instantly allow you to recognise which part of the facility you’re in; blue and white are controlled by GLaDOS, the dank grey areas are service tunnels and the more orange and brown present, the further you are into Apertures past, the abandoned sub-sections of the facility where the ghosts of the company live on through their pre-recorded tannoy messages.

I know exactly where I am. And I am not thrilled to be here (http://forums.thinkingwithportals.com/community-releases/cassata-chamber-1-v1-0-t2436.html)

Character Design

There seems to be a misconception these days that characters in books, films and games are only good characters if they’re likeable or relatable.

 

I think personally this shows a fundamental inability to recognise that you can like a character without agreeing with their principles or actions.

 

Yes I understand it's a video of a man playing fifa 11 but trust me, he's talking about the likeability of characters.

 

Is a big thing to be able to relate with characters, empathise and become emotionally invested in their story and actions. This and the desire to know more about a character are large parts of what drives many gamers to pursue the game and it’s storyline. A good character is adored by fans and is the centre of not only his own story in-game, but also fan theories, fan art and fiction written by fans. A memorable, beloved, character can be the driving force behind a successful game, film or book franchise; think of Lara Croft, or Harry Potter. All icons in their own right, their franchises would be just another drop in the fictional ocean if their figureheads hadn’t been so memorable to fans.

Curse of darkness Castlevania; generating memorable character with girlish hair (http://castlevania.armster.org/scans_cod.php)

As a child most of my favourite characters came from fantasy Literature – Garion of the Belgariad, Harimad –Sol from the Blue Sword and Gil and Rudy from the Darwath Trilogy. It’s certain what made them memorable for me; normal people, often young, brought up in a normal setting and risen to greatness and adventure through time. It’s easy to see how these characters would interest and inspire a young mind who’s grown up in the same little village for her entire life. They’re relatable; everyone’s felt like that little person before. Aimless, small, pointless. To see a character break from this gives the reader hope that they can too. They may not even have to; living through the character is often enough and this investment in the character’s success and failure. This is a simple wish fulfilment technique.

As I’ve gotten older, my taste in characters has changed; though still firmly routed in the fantasy genre, it’s diversified in terms of character type. I no longer need to find a character I relate to personally to generate interest in them.

Finding a decent picture of Garion is suprisingly tricky

One of the characters I find most interesting right now, along with half the internet, is Loki Laufeyson. Not only from the Avengers Assemble film but also from Marvel comics, particularly journey into mystery’s recent Kieron Gillan run. Loki’s actions and Loki’s origins are by no means relatable; he’s stolen, murdered and generally proven himself time and again to be a reprehensible character not to be trusted or sympathized with. But that’s not the only things that make a character memorable; Loki is characterized by his ruthless nature, sharp cunning and distinctive dress sense. He’s an antithesis to Thor the hero and he’s equally as beloved despite a nature that should be repellent.

Loki's in your City, destroying your infastructure and coveting your Tesseracts

The ability to do things the reader might want to do but knows is unreasonable is another good reason for a memorable character; remembered for their actions and the shock they cause, they also fulfil the wish fulfilment part of the human psyche; the character will do what you wouldn’t dare, and you’ll love them for it; for who doesn’t desire to be at least a little wicked?

Of course it’s the character’s design that makes them recognisable; at a glance you can differentiate between Link, Sonic and Mario. It’s the design that makes you notice and recognise, but it’s definitely the job of the script and the acting to make the character memorable. With the best design in the world, if a character is one dimensional, wooden or boring then all the fans will say is ‘What a shame; they looked so promising’.

Art Directors

At the head of the game design team, sits the art director. It’s their job to make sure the game gels together and feels like a unit in terms not only of art style and feel, but also the way gameplay is handled as to how the player interacts with the game. Both Concept art and game elements are under their control and not only does the Art director provide a creative service; as the head of a team of designers they will work with them to collaborate on certain elements and are needed to give advice and make decisions that will effect the look and feel of the resulting game, but the art director must also be an excellent businessperson as well as a manager and supervisor. An Art director will take control of a team containing a number of different people with their own strengths and weaknesses and it’s up to them to use their team to the best of their abilities so that whilst they may be away working separately they are all working towards a common, single, goal. In the end, the Art director is at least in part a little responsible for every object in the game. They’ve got to set the standard for the entire project and through people management they need to see it’s been upheld. They must juggle each in game object, thinking of it in situ as well as on it’s own, as well as considering how each will be seen by players and interacted with by game characters and objects. This coupled with the need to be in control of a group of people means the job is not only for a creatively minded person but also one with a keen head for time and person management.

Matt Carofano - Skyrim Art director (http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/01/26/the-art-of-skyrim.aspx)

Art Directors also have a role in films. Though they do not have to take into consideration the budgets that a game might have - textures, tris and memory for example, they hold a similar role in that they are tasked with delivering a story to an audience in a clear, thought provoking way. They also have to tie the film together consistently. It’s all about suspending belief.

Perhaps the main difference between the art director from Films and the art director from Games is that in a game the person intended to view the content is much more invested in it; they interact and dictate how and when things happen, so the art direction must compensate for this. It’s the Game director’s job to make sure the player is going about what they should be in the game without it feeling like railroading, shepherding or treating the player like an idiot. In order to produce a game that flows and operates as a unit, the art director must exhibit all the qualities of a fine artist, a storyteller and a designer, sometimes even a psychologist. They use these skills, coupled with management at the head of a team to bind the project together. It’s qualities like this that someone wishing to be a game designer in the future should hope to cultivate.