- Planning
Since the majority of my game is going to be set in the early two thousands i want the environmental design to represent and show that. With my Gameworld being set inside a childhood home it has to perfectly depict that through visuals. I want my Gameworld to be filled with childlike wonder and a sense of nostalgia.
Here i have made a mood board which i feel perfectly captures that childlike essence that i want my environmental design to depict. I did search for references or inspiration of other areas of a house with this same effect but none stood out to me. But despite this i can use these images to inspire the design for the entire environment and it is a very good starting point.
One thing ive noticed across all of these designs is the abundance of clutter and decorations, the appearance of clutter in environments such as this makes them feel more lived in and can make an environment much more immersive to a player. This also plays into the fact that there is a child living there, children typically don’t clear up as much as adults and at least from my experience like to have their favourite toys, teddys and interests on display. Considering my Gameworld relies on the players interactions with objects in order to unlock memories this is something i undoubtedly should include. It not only improves the immersion and believability of the environment but also would server as a way to guide players towards puzzles and goals.
One thing i wanted to do was refer back to photos of my own childhood bedroom and take inspiration from there, unfortunately i was unable to find any photos. But i have photos from one of my friends childhood bedroom to take inspiration from and use to guide the environmental direction.
One thing i noticed was how similar it was to my childhood bedroom in some key aspects. The brightly coloured walls, the posters and clutter of teddies visible, these are all very common and repeated themes through childhood bedrooms of the early 2000’s. One thing i think is objectively a tell of a younger person living there is a bunkbed, they are so iconic for many people in my generation and the generation before. A universal experience.
Initially i was upset at not being able to find my own photos to use as inspiration, but it is good to have and see a perspective outside of my own experiences. Although seeing now that it feels so familiar in so many aspects i am sure if i employ core concepts from these rooms it would have that implication and emotive response of nostalgia that i am searching for.
I’ve asked some of my friends for their most memorable decorations from their childhood bedroom. Since i want the room to feel almost familiar to my players asking my target market about what key decorations they had growing up and then employing that into my own design should be an effective way to create that sense of nostalgia.
Taking inspiration from these rooms i tried to emulate a young girls bedroom during the early 2000’s. I made sure to include some core ideas I’ve explored before to drive home the childish, youthful aesthetic that i wanted to emulate. By including clutter consisting of toys, posters, and general mess as i feel these aspects truly emulates that of an real-world child’s bedroom. I wanted the room to feel lived in, this was difficult to capture through a rough drawing but by simply adding these things its makes the room seamlessly blend into my Gameworld. It is important that the environmental design for the home feels lived in, so to immerse the player and not fall into the ‘uncanny valley’.