I played through Dear Esther fully as this is the main game that inspired me to do this piece of work I went thorough it slowly and carefully examining every little detail from the particle effects of the caves to the intricate detail of the hill tops. Here's what i got from the game and will use this informative research and analysis to include things such as these in my game level-
Narration - It was very well spoken, timing was key and the narrator took his time in what he was saying, it flowed very well visually and audio-ably. This is something i have to achieve in my game level, narration is absolute key in this piece, if i don't find a suitable voice that flows with the style and tone of the piece it will all look misplaced and not create the desired effect of sorrow and tragedy.
Music- The music was constant and beautiful there was attention to detail in the mixture of sounds such as the waves crashing against the shore, the wind blowing down the caves, all these little details added realism to the game which is something i want to achieve in mine. I will defiantly be adding the wind feature in unity and compiling a whole selection of sounds to script into the level. I noticed that the music was kept at a certain level so as not to distract the player from the narration being told, a surge of music also played when the narration was being read as if to create more feelings and an atmosphere to show the importance of what was being said. It also faded out after he stopped speaking which was good because it made it flow well instead of it just cutting off and stopping. Sound is another important thing which will make or break this piece of work so i need to find someone or more than one someone who is capable of producing something beautiful for my games level. I'm wanting to collaborate with another student or professional here to expand the style of the piece, someone else will know much more on sound than i do, i have already found two people who are looking into doing it, i just need to find a narrator now.
Scripting - The scripting is done very well in this game little details such as only hearing things through one headphone and how things don't repeat themselves if you walk back into the invisible box collider, this is something i must put into my work as the last game level i did if you walked back into it it played it again and this will not work with the poetry, i only want it to be read once so i need to script in that it must only be played once.
Textures - The textures in it reminded me slightly of Morrowind, it's realistic but at the same time its got a certain cartoony feel to it. I may do a test on cell shading and see if it fits the style and tone of the poem. No harm in testing. They we also very full and well thought out for example the bathroom tiles had three parts, someone took the time to create three different textures of cracked tiles, skirting board tiles and normal tiles, combining these together gave the texture a much more realistic and visually pleasing effect. I will be spending a lot of time on my textures in this project, i don't want to automatic map everything so i will be cutting UV's to the best of my abilities.
Tactile effects- I noticed that tactile effects changed suddenly in dear esther this was interesting to see, such as the light flashing on suddenly for a torch but there being no torch in the players hand. I personally thought there should have been a torch there to make it make sense so i think if i use tactile effects such as modelling a weapon for the character or a flame torch to carry around i will use them more effectively.
Lighting - It was done really quite well in this game using shadows and scale to size they were able to create a very well lit game wether it be in a small hut or in a cave. I need to pay attention to lighting a lot in my level, Matt pointed out to me that scale must be accurate or the lights in unity won't work which i totally forgot about and makes complete sense to me why i've struggled with lighting for two years now :/
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