Introduction
I’m choosing the theme of my environment for my project. My options for the theme of my environment are post-apocalyptic, fantasy and Sci-Fi. At the end of my research, I will have the looked into each one of these themes and chose which theme I will use for my project.
Research
This is an example of a post-apocalyptic environment that I could base my environment. This is a more overgrown version of a post-apocalyptic environment this style has a modern feel to it but is run down and overgrown. This can create good opportunities for lighting. Although, there is not a lot you can do when it comes to game-play elements there is not much I can do. This is an environment from fallout and shows the 80’s style in a post-apocalyptic setting. This setting means that I could base assets off things in the 80’s and it also creates cool visuals in the game. The lighting would be a lot darker but would look good in this theme. However, the problem with a post-apocalyptic environment is that they usually have to be a much larger environment to look good so on my time constraint, it would be too time consuming. But if I did have enough time I may be more willing to do this theme.
This sci-fi environment is detailed and has a grimy feel to this. The lighting in this environment also adds to it as it is darker and poorly lit. This adds to the feel of the environment. The other image shows an environment that Is cartoon based and everything is very colourful. When creating a cartoon environment like in this image it is key to use bright colours. The lighting is also very bright to match the rest of the environment. I like this cartoon style as simpler assets can look a lot better in this style. This theme would also allow me to have a wide range of ideas for an environment. But I do think the realistic style looks better as for a sci-fi theme. Whereas, other environments are more limited in the ideas from the setting of the environment.
This is an example of a fantasy environment with a foggy background and almost no lighting. The castle is a good background for the small environment in the front of it. The castle would be a hard background to do on the limited time I have. This is an example of a fantasy environment. I could do a small interior of a castle for my environment. This might look quite good as there is a lot of references that I could use to help me when creating the environment. Depending on the style of the game a fantasy setting like this would use a bight colour pallet and not may dark areas in the game. A fantasy environment like that would also allow me to be more creative with what I could add to it to make it look better. But getting some of these fantasy elements in my environment may take me too long to add.
If I were to do any of these themes I made sure to have some reference photos that I could use for inspiration when creating the environments. For the sci-fi section, I have chosen images with more futuristic and alien-based technology instead of basing it off reality. I like this approach as it gives me more creative freedom when creating background assets for the environment. I have also chosen some images specifically for the lighting in the scene as I like the different ranges of lighting that I could use in my scene. In the fantasy section, I choose images with a more ancient background to them. I used multiple examples showcasing large castles. I also included some images for their background assets that I could use to detail my environment. For the post-apocalyptic section, I used images that involve a city or street as I think it portrays the atmosphere of a post-apocalyptic wasteland a lot better than other environments. I chose some images for their use of background assets (such as cars) and how they are in relation to the world.
Conclusion
The theme I have chosen for my project is sci-fi as I think I can do a lot of things with this theme. I like the darker style with more realistic assets with clear colours this allows me to not spend as much time on creating my assets. I also would like so add an abandoned feel to my environment as I think it makes the gameplay more interesting. The game-play for a sci-fi environment I can add lots of interesting mechanics. Whereas, other themes interacting with the environment doesn’t make as big of an impact or as important as in a sci-fi scene.
Games Design 