Category: Development Journal S20

This project started with a simple word-association brainstorm. I tried to think of as many potential identities for scenes as I could, focusing on both environmental and affective or atmospheric characteristics. I then moved into combining different identities and coming up with simple scenes for each of them, ending up with about five different scenes. However, the scenes I was thinking of and sketching out were narrative or interaction driven. It  was hard to think about a static scene with the sole interaction of looking.

Stuck for a moment, I started thinking about Kentucky Route Zero and the ideas of scenography that Kemenczy talked about as I pulled up images and environments from games that I’ve played or heard about because of their affective qualities. From there I tried to draw a conceptual line through the affective qualities from those games and the scenes that had started to take shape from the brainstorm and landed on solitude. At this point, I started to compile images from the games, abstract and conceptual art regarding solitude, and textures which evoked solitude into a Pinterest board.

Drawing on Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ 100 Years of Solitude, I tried to understand how these environments depicted solitude as opposed to being alone, that is, to visually imply the choice to be alone. Games like Red Dead Redemption, Alan Wake, and The Long Dark do so primarily through playing with space and place.. While the characters’ outfits can imply a decision to isolate out of necessity, so too does the simple empty expanses, the shear amount of space that these games cover. After enough time spent wandering in any of these games, those in between spaces start to feel like a place themselves, a place of solitude, where the world reflects the underlying reality of the characters’ lives. Without the ability to move through a large expanse for several hours, however, I turned back to Marquez’ magical realism techniques, where physical reality and experiential reality have no boundary. With this in mind, I tried to think of the home of someone seeking solitude, and the scene took shape.

The scene takes place in a cave. A waterfall flowing upwards covers the entrance of the cave. On the floor in front of the user are a sleeping roll and burning campfire, its smoke curling up and covering the ceiling. The back section of the cave has been sculpted into dozens of animal heads, with the tools lying on the ground with the rubble from the work. Stacked against one side of the cave is wood, as much as can be comfortably held, with an axe leaning against the stack. Strips of dried meat are fitted into the cracks of the wood pile. On the opposite wall is a tally, implying the number of days the user has spent in the cave. On the floor are several wooden figurines, practice pieces for the animals on the back of the cave. On the other side of the waterfall, obscured from the user’s view is a frozen, moonlit lake with dozens of silhouettes, their glowing eyes staring into the cave.

There should be several interactions, but after the feedback session, I have decided to play with the density of the waterfall and the smoke so that the silhouette’s and the glowing eyes are slightly visible but obscured.

With the concept and structure figured out, I pulled enough assets form the unity store and now have to begin making the scene.

February 17, 2020

After looking through the Unity Asset Store, I found many low poly nature objects such as trees and grass. I did not find a castle that fit with what I had in mind so I switched a few things. The two main points of focus was to give off the feel that one was situated near the edge of a platform with clouds surrounding the user and to create a sense of peace and serenity. I tried to create a medieval feel by having a church and a building with a water wheel. There is also a water closet directly behind the user. In the Human Falls Flat scene, there is a catapult and a bundle of rocks. In response, I just created a pile of rocks. The sun is situated in a way that everything is lit up and bright, with the clouds casting shadows to indicate proximity. Ultimately, I wanted my space to instill a sense of calmness: the entire space is just nature, buildings, and clouds.

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February 11, 2020

For this project, I drew inspiration from the platform-puzzle video game Humans Fall Flat. This was a game I played with my friend last semester and I really enjoyed the art style. The game utilizes low poly for its objects and scenery. The feeling I get from this game/scene is one that is peaceful and serene, but also with a tinge of loneliness.

In this project, I hope to incorporate the scene where the character is falling through the sky as he/she is traversing through levels (Figure 1). I intend to have a character situated near the edge of a platform and behind the user is just space and clouds (Figure 1). I’m aiming to create my own interpretation of the medieval like scene from the game which may include objects such as the castle, bridge, and catapult (Figure 2 and Figure 3). After yesterday’s class, another approach that I thought of separating the various objects (castle, bridge, etc.) and placing them on different islands. By doing so, one would be able to better observe the sky/clouds from all angles.