Each of the four bosses in the game will reside in their own area/domain of the map, therefore, including the starter area, there will be 5 major areas to explore. The Kingdom will reside in the middle of the map with the four areas surrounding it. Each area will have a specific theme/aesthetic based off of the boss that resides there, therefore I must have a vague idea of what each area will look like before I design it.
The games map will be similar to that of The Kingdom of Hyrule from Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Figure Below)
The Kingdom
This is the starter area, where the player spawns and learns the game’s mechanics. Of all the areas of the game this will appear the most “normal”; green grass, brown trees, blue skies etc. As my game takes inspiration from the exploration and design of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, I will take inpiration from its appearance and aesthetics:
Demon King’s Domain
This area of the game will be a fiery, hellish wastleland. Almost like a physical representation of hell, dark stones, running magma, spouts of flames. The following is a colour analysis of Muspelheim in God of War:
The Queen’s Region
Matching with the Queen’s blue aesthetic, her region will be overwhelmed with ice and snow, she manipulates her underling and enemies using this ice which will be portrayed by the designs of her underlings. This image was taken from God of War (2018)’s Hel.
The Jester’s Parade
In order to suit the Jester’s theme of Humiliation, I felt a moving circus/parade of evil performers, clowns and puppets would be best. The following is from The Secret World’s Atlantic Park.
The Ace’s Prison
As the Ace’s theme is isolation, its only fitting to have his area take place in a dark prison, completely devoid of light. It would be an interesting mechanic to have the player need an item to see in the dark in order to navigate the area (Similar to the Lunarfly Lantern in Hollow Knight). Therefore the image I have chosen for inspiration below is from Outlast using the Camcorder for night vision.
