Development Diary

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Simple World D&D Development Diary

Tasked with creating my own Simple World game, I originally began with a clear game in mind; a dating simulator. The plan was to create it in the parody style of shows like The Bachelor and Take Me Out, allowing players to be as weird and wacky as possible in order to create funny and unique game play experiences in each campaign. However, a simple dating simulator seemed too vanilla for my taste, so I tried to mix it up a bit and change the overall goal of the players, so instead of wanting to win the heart of their Bachelor (controlled and acted by the GM), they instead wanted to ensure their loss because he’s actually a bit of an ass hole. This, in theory, would allow players to attempt funnier actions in play than just “seduce him” as they attempt to make themselves as unattractive as possible. It also meant that the sabotage element would still be in the game, but instead of trying to ruin the chances of the competition with the Bachelor, they were instead trying to make them out as the better woman. The hope of these ideas were that they would create a fun and interesting game that would result in wackier outcomes for everyone in each play through, but when it came to testing I discovered that throughout the multiple instalments I tried to design (i.e. changing the ‘combat’ mechanics, altering the narrative structure, editing the dating format) it just didn’t produce the desired outcome I was hoping to gain from the game play. I toyed with the idea of trying to change the format to a more fantasy-esque world in the hopes of encouraging players to attempt more outlandish actions, but it eventually proved to over complicate existing mechanics and game structure to the point I decided it was best to give up on the idea and try again. The overall game proved too difficult to balance, and I found that the fun of the game was almost being forced onto players and it never created quite the reaction that I had wanted. 

For my second idea, I decided to try to keep the wackiness of my previous game (or at the very least, to keep the aim of creating it) with a newly inspired game idea; Escape and survive IKEA. IKEA is well known for being a maze of rooms that take almost hours to get through, as well as being a well known brand that everyone knows for it’s weirdly named furniture (even if it is just Swedish). I thought it would be funny to take this, and mix it in with something like Doom which features hordes of demons that you have to beat up and kill in over the top violence that can’t help but satisfy the player. I figured this would mixture between well known reality and completely over the top fantasy would creating an interesting contrast and an even more interesting concept. So with this new idea in mind, I began developing the game and testing it on whoever I could convince to play. 

Now originally, I began with only one set of monsters that would appear in every room, which would later be replaced by unique and individual monsters that I mostly tailored to the room they were found in (i.e. Possessed toys in the Children's Room). Throughout the testing process, I tried to base the combat system around the Generic Universal Role-Playing System (GURPS), not quite following it to the T, instead opting to try and simplify it down because I wanted my game to focus more on the wackiness of roles and not be limited as much for player actions. As the testing process went on, and various mechanics were developed to create more difficult game play, the combat system eventually developed into something more similar to the Yogsquest style of mechanics, but with the skills simplified again so that the players can focus more on the moves they want to perform than what they would have to use in order to be able to achieve it. 

As development went on, I also had to edit the map over time. Originally, during early testing, I had only used one of the three floors I had made so that I could more easily test out the monsters and mechanics. Over time, I introduced more floors to players, and I eventually kept getting the same feedback; the map should be more maze like. So with this in mind, I redesigned the map so that the rooms were more accessible between each other, as well as forcing players to create their own maps as they make their ways through IKEA. This way, players didn’t have an easy glimpse at the route they wanted to take, and it also meant their was a risk of player mistake in that the players themselves mess up with their map creating a bigger sense of loss. With this new process in play, testing proved that it had a better response, but as to how enjoyable it was in the long term play I never got the chance to properly test out, so the possibility that some players may get more annoyed by the maze like structure of the map then enjoy it is a potential risk, especially as I hadn’t implemented any kind of mechanic that re-spawns enemies in rooms you’ve already cleared. Instead, they remain empty after you’ve defeated them. Given more time, I may have tested out some changes and seen how I could potentially change that, but as it stands I imagine the lack of re-spawning limits the game play in a good way, allowing players to retrace their steps without hassle. As well as this, games do have to end eventually, and so implementing re-spawns would just create an endless game play that would take away from the enjoyment of the game, particularly when the design of the unique enemies revolves around their one time unique fight. 

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Unreal Engine Game Prototype: 5 - Final Implementations

With everything in place, the only thing left to do was relocate the invisible walls to help align the player to where they need to go, as well as reschedule time of the matinees in place to align with the length of the voice lines used in time with them. Playing it all in one go, I found it played smoothly and as intended, and found that discarding the original teleport blueprints potentially helped make the game smoother as they may have come across as disjointed and the point of them lost on the players. 

Overall, I was quite happy with the end product of my prototype, though I will say I wish I had more time in which to lengthen out the game play as it only just met the minimum of 2 minutes requirement. 

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Unreal Engine Game Prototype: 4 - Grapple Hook

The grapple hook proved to be extremely complicated, particularly once the HUD blueprint interlocking got involved. The aim was to create a grapple hook that came directly from the players body that would drag them up to the grapple points, but creating enough momentum that would throw the player up over the grapple point onto the cliff face without throwing them too far over. When I first implemented the grapple hook, I had to mess around with length and power in order for the player to be able to use it effectively, but along the way I found an issue that upon spawning, the player would begin bouncing (most likely caused by the momentum physics from the grapple hook I mentioned before). The only way to stop the bouncing would be to use the grapple function (’E’ button) once, and then the character would walk as normal. Eventually, I managed to undo the bug, but there were points in which if the player character touched the invisible walls placed in a certain way the bouncing would start again (until you used the grapple hook once more). Otherwise, the grapple hook worked just as intended, and once the HUD was implemented to have an energy bar attached to the grapple hook, the players would have only 10 uses of the grapple before they ran out, and so they would have to be conservative with their uses. This helped prevent players from just spamming the ‘E’ button to climb up the mountain sides and skip the entirety of the map. 

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Unreal Engine Game Prototype: 3 - World Building/Matinees

Through the landscape tool, I set out and built up an almost mountain-esque island landscape with smaller islands surrounding it just to provide less of an empty environment. At first, I wasn’t sure how much of the island I would use, but in the end only about half of it was used within the end result of the prototype build. In this half, the pathway was shaped out to give a clear sense of direction, and basic models were created to give a sense of man made structure. 

With the landscape built, I set about implementing the matinees on the start/end points. They were relatively simple to create, as for the most part all I needed was a fade to black, or the reverse for the start. Upon beginning the game, the screen would start off black and once the respective voice line had ended the screen would clear and the player would no longer be frozen in place, allowed to move and explore the map. The opposite was implemented for the end, in which once the player entered the trigger box set up the player would be frozen in place (minus the camera which could be moved around to examine the ship). The ship would start descending on the matinee, but before it got too close to the player character, the matinee would fade to black and the final voice line would start. 

It should be noted that the voice lines were each tailored to their point in the game, with each line of dialogue inadvertently reflecting the obstacle/event the player will meet with upon passing through the trigger box. 

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Unreal Engine Game Prototype: 2 - Change of Plan

Now just before I began attempting to create my prototype level, I came across multiple issues. 

1. The collapse of the building was proving too difficult to figure out how to blueprint, as it required; multiple trigger points from the obelisks and end button; translation of the tower to the ground; and lining up the window of the building to the player location. 

2. The game idea proved to be too much of a walking simulator, which was against the objectives of the task. It lacked any kind of HUD or character blueprints (i.e. sprint mechanic). 

So with this in mind, I decided it was best to change my idea to a separate entity, this time opting for a more interactive experience with a more narrative driven goal than just abstract walking. This resulted in my second prototype level, The Island, as I called it. Here, I listed the following new blueprints to include within my game; A grapple hook (character blueprint); trigger box blueprints for voice lines (environment blueprint); teleport trigger box (environment blueprint); and both a beginning/end fade to black matinee. As a step by step plan, the player would fade from a black screen into the world, where they would follow a mostly linear path through the island. As they progress they will pass under multiple archways that will teleport the player to a closed room with foreboding lighting. In the enclosed room, the player will be frozen in place and forced to look at a empty character model with a voice line attached to them. Once the voice line ends, the player will be teleported out at the following archway after. Shortly after the first set of archways, the player will have to grapple up the landscape in order to progress to the next checkpoint. Once more, after the grapple points, there will be another set of archways with a similar function to before. With the archways passed, the player will come across a final pedestal which will trigger a matinee, forcing the camera upwards as a ship shaped object moves down towards the player location. Simultaneously, a voice line will play and before the ship gets too close the camera will fade to black and the game will end. However, as time went on, the teleport trigger box was eventually replaced in favour of a simpler blueprint where instead of the player being teleported elsewhere to listen to a voice line, they instead would trigger the voice line when going through the archways. 

[alexanderhardmanfutureworks-blog]

Unreal Engine Game Prototype: 1 - Idea Development

When first given this task to create a game level that contained at least 3 minutes of game play, the first thing I did was plan out any ideas I had and what kind of blueprints I would use in order to structure them and figure out how I would be able to implement them into the game. Now originally, I had planned to make a weird, abstract game level centred around a desert like environment with strange building like structures scattered around. The player would be guided by remnant of the eroded structures and the grooves of the sand shaped similarly to pathways, as well as the large building like structure that would tower over the rest of the environment. Whilst trying to plan the step by step on just what kind of interactions I would want, And in turn what kind of blueprints I would need to use, I came up with the following; trigger box obelisks; matinee trigger button; collapse building through sequences; And a teleport mechanic with a fade to black matinee to hide the sudden location change. 

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Creative Thinking Development Diary

For my assignment, I chose to write a story that would explore both the process of grief, as well as the portrayal of mental illness. 

To begin with, I started off with a basic idea about someone dealing with the aftermath of their mishandled/ignored grief during the anniversary of a close friends death. From here I had the options to explore and develop not only their relationship, but also their personal character growth throughout the story. I also knew that I wanted to create something that tailored to the players beliefs and wants from the story, especially since the Twine aspect allowed for multiple choice, and so I wanted to adapt it so that the choice between believing if Katie was a ghost or a figment of the mind caused by a declining mental state. 

To try and make it as accurate a portrayal as possible, or at least to make the story as realistic as possible, I decided to research into the various stages of both mental health disorders like Schizophrenia, Depression, and Anxiety, and grief, such as denial, anger, and bargaining. In particular, I found that the five stages of grief was really inspirational in the flow of my overall narrative structure, creating an overarching theme of grief where each chapter would represent a different stage of grief. So for example, the first chapter would represent the stage of denial, and throughout the chapter the main protagonist would have to confront their denial of a particular issue with Katie's death that has prevented them from being able to move on healthily. Depending on player choices, if they were successful in confronting the issues then they would be able to progress onto the next chapter and progress through the story, where as if they were unsuccessful they could either end up looping in a series of connected story points or even die, the death itself being somehow tied to the stage of grief in question. I also wanted to be able to foreshadow the potential deaths during the build up at the wake. So for example, when the actual cause of Katie's death is mentioned (a heart attack), the final death would have the player die of the same cause as a sort of reflection on Katie for failing to successfully move on from her. 

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Limbo Trailer Development Diary

This blog post reads the development process I went through when creating the sound design for the Limbo trailer, following my idea development and sound creation process through to the edit of the end product. 

Upon being given the assignment, I immediately started to jot down any and all ideas I had, ranging from multiple different styles of genres so that upon developing an idea I had a good basis on which to cement my main ideas from. So before I had committed to the idea of creating a Rom-Com Parody style trailer using Meatloaf’s “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)”, I came up with a series of alternate ideas that I could have used for the Limbo trailer. These ranged from: Horror through creepy lullabies; Humour through ironically cheery music and overly dramatic commentary; Suspense through a slow build up of music; and Romance using orchestral music with a lost lovers commentary. For each of these genres I attempted to form some kind of idea around in order to see which of my choices appeared the strongest and which seemed the most original. It was this reasoning for originality that I chose to go against doing a Horror or Suspenseful Trailer Genre as I felt that it was too easy and too close to what the original trailer was trying to convey in the first place. So with this in mind, I chose to develop my ideas for either a Humourous or Romantic take on the trailer as they seemed not only more original, but also more challenging to create. With this, I began to research into the tropes of both Romance and Comedy trailers/movies for Games and Films alike, analysing different trailers I could potentially use as inspiration in the future. Originally I used references I had already been aware of such as Child of Light and Little Nightmares as a source of parody and horror inspiration respectively, and worked my way through to trailers I was less familiar with in order to gain more inspiration on where I could go with my trailer idea. The general mockery of romance I wanted to convey through the irony of the entire trailer due to it’s dark contrast and lack of similar conventions was taken from the mild inspiration I had taken from “They Came Together”, a romantic comedy that makes fun of the tropes and stereotypes found in your everyday generic Hollywood romance film. It was overly cheesy, exaggerated in its approach to tropes, and contains multiple examples of Extraneous Inclusion, all of which I wanted to attempt to convey through the sound design of my trailer. My later implementation of the beginning monologue was inspired by Child Of Light, the monologue allowing me to convey clearly the romantic aspect of my trailer which hadn’t been immediately apparent in my earlier drafts according to the feedback I received. I also looked into parody trailers for movies that openly made fun of the stereotypes and tropes of the very movies I was originally researching, and looked into adopting the humour into my own trailer. My reasoning for researching into this is because I felt that it fitted into the theme of my trailer, as the stark contrast between the colourful cheery Romance trailers and the monochrome dreariness of the Limbo trailer created a sense of irony that matched that of the parody trailers. 

In terms of choosing a romantic parody as my genre choice, I believe it fit well in terms of the ironic contrast between the monochromatic silent world of Limbo and the stereo-typically bright and colourful world of the romantic genre. But despite this, the trailer does follow some conventions of both romantic and comedy trailers. For example, the camera’s view point is very focused on the protagonist, as it is their journey alone to find the love of their life (as is what my narrative tells). There are also a lot of nature orientated shots in these films, which is also apparent in the Limbo trailer, particularly at the start when the protagonist is most sure of his love. I used this connection between the nature and love in the trailer, as the world around the protagonist slowly becomes more industrial he slowly becomes less sure that his many encounters with death are worth the trouble of saving his missing love, and in the end he decides once and for all that the answer to that question is in fact no it isn’t. 

When it came down to song choice I knew that I wanted something upbeat and romantic, and originally I had wanted to use “Come on Eileen” as Preacher had done in it’s trailer, but not wanting to outright copy it I decided to look around for something else. Because of my Idea being centered around the irony of a romantic narrative in a dark and silent setting, I began to look for songs with traditionally romantic lyrics that would easily convey the romantic message I wanted to get across during the Limbo trailer. It was with this aim and idea in mind that I eventually had the epiphany of Meatloaf’s “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That”. I knew that because of how old the song is in comparison to modern pop that it would be both unexpected and original compared to others ideas, which was one of my aims from the start. I also knew from listening and watching it that the lyrics gave me room to not only play around with the arrangement of the song, but also fit perfectly for the kind of romantic narrative I was going to implement into my trailer. Rather then gaining the unrequited love of the protagonist’s desire, my trailer had the protagonist searching for his lost love and under going dangerous trails of life threatening traps in order to get her back. Throughout the trailer the lyrics “I will do anything for love” will be chanted in the background, building up in volume as the trailer goes until it reaches the point where the almost montage like cuts between the near death encounters the player will face in the game appear, at which point the volume will peak. Here the trailer, alongside the high tempo chorus backing it up, will reach its peak in terms of immersion and atmosphere. But of course, because didn’t want it to be a typical romance plot, this will also be where the twist happens. I originally intended for the song to abruptly stop at the end of the trailer when encountering the spider for the second time. Just before this abrupt stop, however, the lyrics “But I won’t do that” will have been timed perfectly so that upon the main protagonist waking to see the spider looming over him the line will end in time with the trailer itself cutting to black. This allowed for the ironic twist that I had wanted where, opposed to the typical lover boy saves lover girl story line you typically find in games particularly, the protagonist just gives up upon coming face to face with a giant spider, which in all fairness I think most people would. It gives a realistic grounding to the story that, due to its setting and set up, actually comes out completely unexpected and in turn humorous. However by the end of the editing process I found that, although the long length of the song track meant there was a lot to work with at 7:45, it also meant that some of the lines sung took too long to finish when trying to fit it into the 1:00 trailer. This same problem applied throughout all the sound editing process when creating the trailer, but would later resolve upon a last minute brainwave I had which I will get onto later. 

Now with a plan of what I wanted from my trailer in place, and the necessary research done in order to know what kind of sounds would help suit the genre I was trying to create, I set out to make a list of all the sounds I would need to implement into the trailer. This was easy part as all I needed to do was watch through the original trailer to see what I could recreate from the original content in my own style, then watch again on mute to see what I could potentially add to it that the original hadn’t had. In the end, I had a rough total of around 40 sounds listed to be recorded, although I was not able to record some of them first hand. Sounds like the glass shattering I had to source second hand primarily because of the safety issues that comes with recording it first hand. Because of the way the recording devices (A Zoom H4n) worked, you would have to hold the recording device close to the bottle as it smashed, and the potential glass fragments ricocheting off the initial smash could have caused me significant harm so in the end I decided it was safer to get it second hand. The other secondary sounds were mainly sounds I failed to recreate successfully during my attempts at sound recording in the Foley Studio, a room specifically designed for recording sound. It was here were I recorded a majority of my sounds, using multiple different equipment provided in the room in an attempt to create the sounds I had listed, some examples including; Bug Sounds; Tire Bounce; Ladder; Foliage rusting; and so on. For the most part I believe I was successful in my attempt to recreate these sounds, but for those that didn’t come out as strong I ended up scrapping or, as I mentioned before, replacing with second hand recordings. 

On top of this, I also needed to create a script, albeit a small one, for the monologue of the protagonists lover at the very start. Similar to before, I drafted out whatever lines I could think of that fitted in with the cheesy rom-com style I wanted to convey from her but whilst also limiting the length of time it took to say the lines to fit into the 14 second margin I had set up before the main bulk of the song starts playing. In the end the final script I had gone for had even quoted the main song playing throughout, in an attempt to sound authentically cheesy. For the most part, this took inspiration from the various romantic film trailers I had researched, as well as the Child Of Light trailer in which the narrator tells a story that provides the player context to the games narrative so they don’t feel out of the loop, which was exactly what I was trying to accomplish in my trailer after receiving the initial feedback that my narrative had been a bit vague. When it actually came to recording the voice actress, I attempted to make it easier for them by having them read the lines out one by one, getting familiar with the script without the pressure of trying to spurt out the lines within the 14 second time limit set. This meant all I really had to do was cut it together in the post production when editing all the sounds into place. In order to make it sound more natural sounding as well, I tried to make the recording session as natural as possible and let them take their time, reciting the lines back to them self over and over. As they did this, I recorded them without realising so that way they didn’t feel as awkward or pressured by the idea of me recording. This did cause the issue that the recordings themselves weren’t very loud in post, but I easily remedied that through editing. 

As a whole, the sound editing was a somewhat painful experience. My choice of software was premiere pro, and here I found that although I had basic experience with it in terms of cutting sounds and putting them into place with the times they needed to sound off in reference to the video, the actual sound editing was a lot more difficult to adjust to. But once I experimented around with different effects like Bass, Pitch Adjusting, and Voice Enhancing, I eventually came to grips with the process of sound editing and I believe the end results for the most part came out quite well. The main issues I faced in terms of editing was with the song itself and trying to get it to fit in with the video. Originally, the cuts of song lyrics transitioned (quite poorly might I add) into each other in an attempt to make everything fit together, but in a last minute brain wave I decided that instead I would edit it together so in each cut during the death montage towards the end, a loud thud or something similar would sound between each cut, implying that the protagonist died. Every time he died, the current line playing would reset until eventually he seem to hit breaking point after nearly getting killed by a saw. At this point the silent protagonist breaks his silence with a simple “nope” and all music and sound stops in time for him waking up the spider. It’s at this point where the protagonist just nopes out of the situation despite the lyric “I would do anything for love” having played over and over in the background before, creating the humorous plot twist to the love story I was trying to create. It also fit better in timing than the line “But I won’t do that” which I had originally intended to use as each time it was sung it dragged on just too long to fit neatly. 

To conclude the development on my Romantic Comedy Parody of a Limbo Trailer, I believe that despite the obstacles I faced in creating it that the end product came out to a reasonably high standard, though of course improvements could be made if I had had better resources at hand to create sounds with. But other than that, my trailer conveyed exactly the narrative and irony I had wanted it to and for that reason I consider the trailer a success. 

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Limbo Trailer Bibliography

Research References

Victoria Sturtevant; Parody and the Postmodern; http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Independent-Film-Road-Movies/Parody-PARODY-AND-THE-POSTMODERN.html

http://www.differencebetween.info;  Difference between Spoof, Parody and Satire; http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-spoof-parody-and-satire

JLaurenceCohen ;  The Art of Parody: Imitation With a Twist; https://the-artifice.com/the-art-of-parody/

Alisha Rattu;  COMEDY: GENRE AND TRAILER ANALYSIS.; 29 September; https://a2mediaalisha.wordpress.com/2015/09/29/comedy-genre-and-trailer-analysis/

charlotteaddison;  Teaser Trailer Analysis- Romance Genre; 3 October 2014; https://www.slideshare.net/charlotteaddison/romance-genre-analysis

Charlotte Gray;  Conventions of the romance genre; 29 September 2014; http://charlottegraya2media.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/conventions-of-romance-genre.html

tobyhawkins1998;  Codes and Conventions of Comedy Film Trailers; 9 September 2015 https://www.slideshare.net/tobyhawkins1998/codes-and-conventions-of-comedy-film-trailers

Trailer References

David Wain; They Came Together; 22 May 2014; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPzHRXUcUWU

CD Projekt Red; The Witcher 3 | Epic Cinematic Launch Trailer; 15 May 2015; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt_65k-gv1U

Ubisoft; Story Trailer - Child Of Light [North America]; 30 April 2014; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYOfW-ae5sk 

Bethesda; Dishonored Trailer - E3 2012; 1 June 2012; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4b_pKoTebk

Bandai Namco; Little Nightmares Launch Trailer; 26 April 2017; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOadxZBsPiA

 Capcom;  Resident Evil 7 Biohazard Official Launch Trailer; 24 January 2017; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1OUs3HwIuo

AMC; Preacher Season 2 Trailer; 3 April 2017; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_HcSSgJJqw

Sound References

Meat Loaf; I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That); https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X_ViIPA-Gc

ZapSplat; Taser gun electric clicking, zaps, sparks 4; https://www.zapsplat.com/music/taser-gun-electric-clicking-zaps-sparks-4/

Blastwaver FX;  Arc welder spark, operate; https://www.zapsplat.com/music/arc-welder-spark-operate/

ZapSplat;  Flamboyant Tree seed pod snap, break 4; https://www.zapsplat.com/music/flamboyant-tree-seed-pod-snap-break-4/

ZapSplat;  Band Aid, plaster strip snap off roll 1; https://www.zapsplat.com/music/band-aid-plaster-strip-snap-off-roll-1/

BlastWave FX;  Large glass shatter, crash, smashing; https://www.zapsplat.com/music/large-glass-shatter-crash-smashing/

Blastwave FX;  Car drop from height onto ground, crash, smash; https://www.zapsplat.com/music/car-drop-from-height-onto-ground-crash-smash/

ZapSplat;  Medium ocean waves crash onto stoney beach, stones pulled back with waves ; https://www.zapsplat.com/music/medium-ocean-waves-crash-onto-stoney-beach-stones-pulled-back-with-waves/

SoundBites;  Chains movement, tighten ; https://www.zapsplat.com/music/chains-movement-tighten/

Limbo Trailer Used

PlayDead; LIMBO Trailer; 10 May 2010; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4HSyVXKYz8

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Napoleonic Era Game Mechanic

Compressed between the years starting from the 9th November 1799 to the 28th June 1815, the Napoleonic Era is a period in the history of both France and Europe. 

One of the main game mechanic will focus around the around the interaction between the player and the paintings depicting key significant events from this time period. By interacting with the paintings the player will be transported into that same event and will be allowed to experience the key historical events as they happen, thereby learning about the history of the era through the narrative.

As an introduction, the player enters a museum and gains access to the Napoleon Era section where each room will have its own painting in chronological order that the player must unlock by entering a painting. This is done via the audio system in which the player will plug in a pair of headphones into the exhibit and take a seat, and as the narrator describes the painting you as the player are slowly dragged into the painting. 

Throughout each event depicted in the painting, you will take on the role of one of Napoleons closest advisers and friend (which although not necessarily historically accurate, it allows the player to have a first hand experience of history). As an adviser, you can attempt to sway the tides of history by implementing your own opinions into the key events, but the only thing your opinions will have an affect on is your standings with Napoleon. If the players choices differ from that of history, those you consider allies will slowly turn against you and at the end of the penultimate painting your choices will ultimately decide whether you would have survived the events of history or not as your former allies potentially turn against you. 

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Colour Theory: The Witcher 3

As seen in the example below, The Witcher 3 makes use of complementary colours in all of it’s promotional art, using the contrast between the dull cold blue of the settings with the vibrant warm orange of the fire to create the feel of the intense action of the game. It also represents the conflict of the game, the dark blue hue of the surrounding nature versus the burning orange highlighting the severed heads of unnatural monsters. It shows the contrast between what is natural and unnatural, and the fight that goes on between them as Geralt stands in between them, representing a form of barrier between the two. This reflects his role in the game as a Witcher, who’s job is to fight the mystical monsters no one else is capable of fighting themselves. You could also say the same could be said for Geralt himself, with his human like appearance matching the cold blue setting contrasting with his bright yellow eyes that show the hint of unnaturalness about him. 

This also reflects onto the combat of the game, where Geralt’s abilities and weapon enchantments have the same vibrant glow (though not always orange) that contrast to the duller surroundings around him. This associates the bright colours with the unnatural magic of the world of The Witcher. It also helps distinguish whether the spells used are still in effect as the colour associated with the spells (Yrden is bright purple compared to Quen which is bright yellow) show on the character models. As seen in the example below, you can tell the Igni spell is still in effect as the monster has the bright orange flames still on the enemies character model. 

The same colour contrast is used for different sections of the map, places like Velen which is war torn and poor is a lot more bland and drained of colour compared to that of Beauclair which is rich of money and colour. You can see the contrast between the two levels below.