Task 4 - The Visuals and Sounds of the Game 14.1.18

The Visuals and Sounds of the Game

The main storyboard have been created and now my focus is on the visuals and sound for the scene. This will aid with the flow of the story and further explain to the player what is happening to the scene. Here I will be covering all of the lighting, shadows, particle effects and all the sounds I ahve used for the story.

Lighting and Shadows

The lighting in scene 1

The most important task for me to remember when I made the lighting is that any environmental lighting has to be done in the persistent level. That way they will work with the other levels I ahve made.

My main goal for this scene is to follow a cold and isolated theme. I made some adjustments to the post-processing to add more blue to the global lighting. Following my research from colour theory I used cold colours such as grey and blue to help create the illusion of a cold environment. This will also help to establish the mood for the game itself.

The post process settings

But I did more then just lights to adjust the mood. By adjusting the bloom of the game, I can add some fog in my viewport. I also made some adjust to the tonemapper and more importantly the colour LUT map to make the setting I am after. It is supring to see how much the post-process can dramatically change the scene for a game project.

Audio

The audio in my game

The audio that I have used have all been taken from the internet and altered in some form. In total I have used a button press, scanner, hover and walking sounds to all help with the actions of my game. Their purpose is to tell the player what is going on. I also added in some environment sounds to help further establish the mood for this game. In addition to this, it hove the cut-scene more immersion rather then having just an empty video.

Particles

A particle emitter in my game

To add more action to this game, I added in some particle effects. Just like the audio they are there to tel the play what is happening. For example the steam coming from Orion's back, tells the player that that drone is being removed. It is a great way to tell a story rather then just using the sound for all the reactions. I also used the particles effects for the crystals too, giving them a sense of life.

Art Direction

The scene in game (bottom-right) and the art reference (top-left)

The main flow of this story is the exploration. Each planet has its own theme and so the variety of styles I can choose is limitless. For this game, I went for a barren style. I decided to use my references to make this environment, but in a different perspective. While this image uses warm colours, I went for a cold ones to create an arctic-like scene. Having this kind of scene helps build the emptiness of the landscape, just like a dessert theme. I also wanted to make it a bit gloomy to further reinforce the environment. That element of reduce vision adds to the state the player will be in when he/she explore this world (confusion, loss). But more importantly I want the player to feel like this world is one that needs to be explored, so I made sure it has that awe-inspiring presences, such as the large crystal pillars. It that's sense of wonder that will drive the player to move forward into this landscape.