Elements of Game Design Part 4: Envrionments

Here is the last part of the Elements of game design, and I’ll be discussing how environments influence atmosphere, immersion and how it’s designed.

Over the years environments have become bigger, more colourful, dynamic and 3D, and with better technology coming out each year, and with the benchmarks and visuals for big budget AAA games nowadays. They can create incredibly realistic, believable environments, breaking the boundaries between cinema and game play.

 Before it used to be just 2D black and white side scrolling games like Mario or Megaman on the Gameboy and NES but now we see huge new worlds, as seen in MMO’s like Tera, WoW, aswell as big AAA games like Crysis 3, Tomb raider, and upcoming releases such as Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty Ghosts for the new generation consoles.

Again, with the same principle as character but larger and more important in my opinion, the environment can make a scene moody and dull, to scary and atmospheric, to action packed and dangerous to really immerse the player into the game, even more so than the storyline and dialogue, It’s half of the immersion in my opinion.

MMORPG’s use environments as one of their main selling points for their games, the whole world is open for the player explore in, so it would make sense to be as entertaining as possible as well as tell a story through the environments, monsters, lighting and architecture.

Cevat Yerli, The CEO of Crytek talks about Crysis 2 in an interview with Gamasutra 

“The choreographed sandbox combines the freedom of Crysis 1, so you still have free-form gameplay, with choreographed moments that are interspersed into the experience. You have a more intense feeling -- a more action packed, intense feeling of a linear shooter. It's more accessible and more cinematic.

At the same time, you can use the world full of freedom; you can traverse it horizontally and vertically using the features of New York. The world is filled with objects that have logic behind them; you have cars, barrels, and breakable stuff that you can pick up and slap people with, and you can also have the intrinsic ability to play stealthily without the stealth suit.”

A lot more games are taking the Sandbox Free roaming approach to their games, as to let the player explore and go wherever they want, becoming part of this new world and escape the clutches of reality. And with items being dynamic and interactive it further increases the depth of the world of the game. I think more games should try and be sandbox instead of linear and story driven, mostly because it gives no opportunity for the players to fully absorb and experience the art, environment and atmosphere. It also increases the amount of hours of play the game can offer significantly, rather than the players rushing through the levels to get to the end. 

One of the first sandbox games I played was Super Metroid on the SNES, while it didn’t have amazing graphics, The combination of the charming art style and creepy ambient music really took me into the world of Super Metroid, I remember one point I was lost near the end of the game and I couldn’t find a way out of this maze and I cried because the music got to me and it was so creepy, like I would be stuck there forever. But hey I was about 8 years old back then haha

One of the more recent games I played was Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and oh god that was the scariest game I have EVER played in my life, the environment and the atmosphere of the broken down olden rotting castle, with the creepiest ambiance music and dark lit hallways in combination makes this game a fantastic example of how big environments can impact the player. The whole game was literally making me paranoid just because of the atmosphere even though I was fine, I was terrified there was something unknown out there.

http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/categories/game_environments_design/silhouette-design-game-environments.php

The website here explains how some environment artists use silhouette designs to block out the initial ideas of their environments, It helps them focus on the shapes and forms as well as visual appeal without worrying too much about the details, colour or line quality, its all about letting the creativity and imagination flow through the artist onto the paper. 

I hope to see the day when environments are so realistic that they are indistinguishable from real life, though it might lose its charm that way but it would be an incredible feat and to go to the next big step, getting virtual reality right and making a fully interactive environment with touch and smells combined too. 

But that’s way too far into the future… Or is it?