Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 4.17
First four screens of
Monuments of Mars
show a change in landscape.
Where the Martian landscape ends and the structure begins, there's a shift in the appearance of
the shapes, from a rough, pebbly texture to clean, symmetrical girders. But there's also the sym-
metry of the fourth scene itself, a marked contrast from the irregular surfaces of the previous
scenes. Symmetry, here, speaks to the artificiality of the structure: here is something designed.
The robots move back and forth and hurt the player if she comes into contact with them. In the
wasteland scenes, they move through open air, through ditches and pits, often more incidental
than threatening. At the Martian structure, they move back and forth along the top like soldiers
patrolling the walls of a fortress. They're incorporated into the symmetry, moving inside those
octagons like pieces of a clock. This is the place they come from, to which they belong.
The horizontal symmetry of the first three scenes points to the entrance to the Martian base,
the hole in the center of the fourth scene. The vertical layout of the fourth scene, including two
streams of green electricity, guides the player downward into the base. The flat desert scenes
suggest lateral motion. This industrial scene, with its symmetry, shouts vertical.
Variations in composition can also say something about a scene. In Loren Schmidt and Mickey
Alexander Mouse's collaboration,
Murder Simulator
, the terrain alternates between smooth,
straight, symmetrical hallways and rocky, uneven dirt. This suggests an incomplete artificial
structure built into the earth, giving a reason for the scene's irregular geometry.
