The Chinese Room - Dear Esther - an analysis

Dear Esther is something I spent ages analysing for my last module and this one. It is a fantastic game and completely down my street in terms of a specialist practise. Dear esther is all about the visuals and the environment, there is not one visible character in the game throughout and this is something that intrigues me to a great deal because games that can do that without have visual characters but can still hold a good storyline and feel to the game are ones that are special. Here are some of my thoughts on the game as I played through it and wrote down parts that were essential to me and production.

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.

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. 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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

The chinese room are very good at what they do and I will be looking for if they ever have any positions available for anything, Games Tester, environment and level designer (if my portfolio is good enough by that time) If not I will just Games test, once you're in, you're in.