Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
The cultural context also includes the game's backstory. The backstory of a game is
the imaginary history, either large-scale (nations, wars, natural disasters) or small-
scale (personal events and interactions), that preceded the time when the game
takes place. This prior history helps to establish why the culture is the way it is. A
warlike people should have a history of warfare; a mercantile people should have a
history of trading. In designing the backstory, don't go into too much depth too
early, however. As Chapter 3, “Game Concepts,” warned, the story must serve the
game, not the other way around.
For most game worlds, it's not necessary to define the culture or cultures in great
detail. A game set in your own culture can simply use the things that you see
around you. The
SimCity
series, for example, is clearly set in present-day America
(European cities are rarely so rectilinear), and it looks like it. But when your game
begins to deviate from your own culture, you need to start thinking about how it
deviates and what consequences that deviation has.
PHYSICAL SURROUNDINGS
The physical surroundings define what the game actually looks like. This is a part
of game design in which it's most helpful to be an artist or to work closely with
one. In the early stages of design, you don't need to make drawings of every single
thing that can appear in the game world (although sooner or later someone will to
have to do just that). For the time being, it's important to create concept sketches:
pencil or pen-and-ink drawings of key visual elements in the game. Depending on
what your game is about, this can include buildings, vehicles, clothing, weaponry,
furniture, decorations, works of art, jewelry, religious or magical items, logos or
emblems, and on and on. See
Grim Fandango
(
Figure 4.9
) for a particularly distinc-
tive example. The game's culture influences constructed artifacts in particular. A
powerful and highly religious people are likely to have large symbols of their spiri-
tuality: stone temples or cathedrals. A warlike nomadic people have animals or
vehicles to carry their gear and weapons they can use on the move. (Note that
these might be future nomads, driving robo-camels.)
Nor should you neglect the natural world. Games set in urban or indoor environ-
ments consisting entirely of manufactured objects feel sterile. Think about birds
and animals, plants and trees, earth, rocks, hills, and even the sky. Consider the
climate: Is it hot or cold, wet or dry? Is the land fertile or barren, flat or mountain-
ous? These qualities, all parts of a real place, are opportunities to create a visually
rich and distinctive environment.
If your world is chiefly indoors, of course, you don't have to think about nature
much unless your character passes a window, but there are many other issues to
think about instead. Where does the light come from? What are the walls, floors,
and ceilings made of, and how are they decorated? Why is this building here? Do
the rooms have a specific purpose, and if so, what? How can you tell the purpose of
a room from its contents? Does the building have multiple stories? How does the
player get from one floor to another?
