Specific Nautical Research

In this section I will researching specific things that relate to what I will be putting into my level.

Mind Map

First I will do a mind map of all the things I need to consider for my prototype including mechanics, assets, and sounds:

This will be useful for me to refer back to regularly to check if there is anything that I am missing. I will also use it to research assets that I would need.

Art Style Mood Board

I made this mood board for a deeper look into the unique monochrome art style that Limbo uses. I found a couple games that have used a similar art style. The top left picture is a game called Typoman, it shares similar aesthetics to Limbo and has the same sort of platforming/puzzles in it. The top right is a game called Albert and Otto, which uses the same kind of dark art style but with the colours reversed. With the ground the lighter colour and the background the darker colour. The bottom left is a game called Monochroma, this game uses a similar art style to Limbo, but with a more 3D look. This looks really nice as its like its a 3D game thats played in a 2D side scrolling game world. The bottom right picture is a game called Inside, which is made by the same developers as Limbo. It uses pretty much the same art style but with a bit more colour.

Nautical Art Style Mood Board

In this mood board I looked at underwater sections of games that use the grey scale art style.

Character Mood Board

I made this board a better look at characters in this art style. I like the look of these characters as they are unique and mysterious. This is because they are just silhouettes and you can’t see any of their features. This is effective for enemies as the player can’t see what they look like. Just their silhouettes. This adds to the suspense of the game and is perfect for the horror genre. I gathered some good examples of characters using this art style and some with adaptations. One I found was a GIF of an attacking animation for a character:

I like the comic book kind of style that is used here with the use of colour for the swing effect. This kind of thing would be good for me to add to my animations for the player in my prototype level.

Next I found an example of an ambient soundtrack that I can use as inspiration for my prototype. I found this sound effect on YouTube and will reference it in the bibliography.

I picked this sound as its a droning theme. Which I think would be a good fit with the style of game I’ll be making. It adds to the suspense and horror for the player and think it would build up tension for when the player is expecting to get scared by something.