Real Words - Environment Research Dossier and Level Design

Design Ideas

Before I did anything, I started by making a list of ideas on the environments. Since the setting on my game is on a dead planet, I knew that the main thing I was going to design would be abandoned. I could either go with a wasteland or an overgrown planet. I decided to utilise both these ideas in my work and have some parts overgrown with plant life and other parts looking more dead. I also made a note of some story elements that could influence the appearance of the environment as well as some ideas for buildings.

• Abandoned 'Police' Station - where enforcers are stationed to keep peace.
• Dead Planet/ Overgrown 
• Nightstalker invasion - Signs of struggle, missing evac pods/ ships, barricades
• Ripped Walls/ Evidence of tares 
• Town hall, monuments

Main Inspiration

Here I made a note of various games and films that have similarities in setting that I could take inspiration from. I also noted down my reasonings for listing them.

• Fallout - Abandoned buildings, apocalypse settings
• Metro Exodus - Abandoned buildings, apocalypse setting, sci fi, horror
• Alien/ Alien Isolation - Destroyed space station, sci fi setting, survival horror, feeling of being hunted, corridors
• Telltale Walking Dead - Abandoned buildings, apocalypse setting 

With feedback from Sam, I decided to design a police station and explore both the exterior and interior design.

Mood Boards/ Visual Research

To help me decide on the environment I am designing, I made various moodboard exploring existing deadzone terrain and the sci fi genre. I created mood boards focusing on the designs of police stations in real life and games to assist me in the thumbnailing phase.

Deadzone

Sci Fi Police Stations

Police Stations

Environmental/ Artist Research

Joyce (Zhuosi) Xu

Whilst searching for images for my mood boards, I came across an artist by the name of Joyce (Zhuosi) Xu on art station. She did a lot of environment concepting work for the Telltale Walking Dead games. In a lot of her works, she was supplied with a 3D model to paint over which is exactly what is being asked of me in this project. On top of that, the walking dead is one of the games I listed as inspiration. Her work helped me to understand how to approach my key art as well as how to use textured brushes to add detail. Below is a concept of an abandoned train station that I found extremely helpful in creating that abandoned and tense atmosphere.

Train Station Environment Concepts Interior Night (Joyce (Zhuosi) Xu, 2018)

Walking Dead - Forest Shack Environments

Below is another concept from walking dead that shows shack overgrown with wildlife. The exterior of the shack shows it's abandoned due to the broken chimney and holes in the roof. In the darkest areas, it's pure black which is great technique that reduces the time needed to spend on those areas without taking away from the image. Custom brushes were also clearly used to create the grass. These techniques are super helpful for me if I do decide to design the exterior of the police station.

Shack Exterior(Jan Wyss, 2018)

Abandoned Police Station

This is a piece made from a 3D blockout of an abandoned police station. The detail in this concept help me think ideas I wanted to include in my own station such as the paper on the floor and blood stains 

Abandoned Police Station (Timothee mathon, 2016)

Level Design

Since my chosen genre is Survival Horror, I decided to do some research on what's crucial in level design for this genre. 

Blueprints are helpful in designing the level and I plan to experiment with making these during my thumbnailing process. I know that when it comes to designing the blueprint, I need to make sure that they have lots of thin and tight corridors. In corridors, there normally aren't a lot of places to hide which is a very good way of making the player feel vulnerable. Both the Alien movie and game do this extremely well.

What are some conventions around level design?

For Survival Horror, one of the most important things in level design is creating atmospheric tension. It isn't survival horror if the player doesn't feel fear or exposed in the setting. In World of Level Designs horror/ survival cliché category, they have listed the most common situations designed to scare the player/ audience. Below, I have listed the ones that would most likely apply to my game.

• Dark room with flickering lights
• Abandoned building
• Foggy environment with noises and sounds of creatures awaiting for you just around the corner

These cliché's have been proven to work due to how well known they are. When you walk into a room that's hard to see in, you expect to get trapped. Similarly if you walk into a large open space, you expect a boss fight. This information and knowledge is what makes you panic. World of level design also states that to make these memorable, you have to combine them with something to make them memorable. They listed four elements that make this happen:

• Story and environment
• Relationships
• Anticipation and Pacing
• Moral Decision

For my key art, I will be focusing on the story and environment elements. The other elements are important however, I'm only designing 1 key art and I don't want to overcrowd or overcomplicate it. 

At this point, I had almost finished thumbnailing for the key art. I had decided on making a cut away of the interior of the police station. This is so I can showcase the police chief office and include a view of the corridor. The chief's office is such a good space to include story telling elements. I plan to include a pc in the office which the player could access to help them understand what happened on this planet.

How does level design influence art direction?

Art direction is extremely important for level design. The visual style and layout is key in creating the atmosphere. A player is more likely to feel fear in a darker environment compared to a lighter one. This is due to the fact that darker spaces are harder to see in making easier to rely on other senses like hearing. If you heard a noise in the distance but aren't sure what caused it, you'd be scared of all the possibilities it could be. 

An art direction filled with muted colours would be extremely effective for my game. The entire planet is abandoned with few to none survivors. Abandoned places that exist in real life are muted in colour due to weathering, time and neglect. Even vibrant colours overtime would begin to fade. It wouldn't make sense for my game to have a lot of vibrant colours and it could just make it look silly. This is the opposite of what I'm aiming for.

Realism or stylized realism is the style I am using for my game as well to create this scary atmosphere. This art style is most commonly used as it's what we see on an every day basis so it's a lot easier to make the player feel immersed in the game. 

How might you incorporate these things into your own artwork?

In my key art, I plan to make the atmosphere quite dark so it's hard to see. I am also using muted and dark colours to bring across that the place is abandoned. In my key art, I plan to have papers scattered around especially in between the shelf and door to show that whoever was here was in a rush. Another story telling element I'm including in my environment, is I plan on having a blood trail going through the hallway and having a hand print on the door. This is to try and show that someone had been dragged through there. 

References

Alien, 1979. [Film]. Ridley Scott. Los Angeles, California: 20th Century Studios. [Accessed 6 February 2025].

Creative Assembly, Feral Interactive, 2014. Alien Isolation [Online]. PC. Tokyo, Japan: Sega. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/214490/Alien_Isolation/ [Accessed 6 February 2025].

Jan Wyss, 2018. Walking Dead - The Final Season: Forest Shack Environment [online image]. Artstation: Jan Wyss. Available at: https://janwyss3d.artstation.com/projects/RbGzO?album_id=557446 [Accessed 6 February 2025].

Joyce (Zhuosi) Xu, 2018. Train Station Concept Interior Night [online image]. Artstation: Joyce (Zhuosi) Xu. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/VrnxP [Accessed 6 February 2025].

Timothee Mathon, 2016. Abandoned Police Station [online image]. Artstation: Timothee Mathon. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/oBgyL [Accessed 6 February 2025].

World of Level Design. 2009. Horror/ Survival Level Design: Part 1 - Cliches [online]. World of Level Design. Available at: https://www.worldofleveldesign.com/categories/level_design_tutorials/horror-fear-level-design/part1-survival-horror-level-design-cliches.php [Accessed 6 February 2025].

World of Level Design. 2009. Horror/ Survival Level Design: Part 3 - Environment [online]. World of Level Design. Available at: https://www.worldofleveldesign.com/categories/level_design_tutorials/horror-fear-level-design/part3-survival-horror-level-design-story-environment.php [Accessed 6 February 2025].