Media Test - Art Style

When it comes to immersion, there is lots of different factors that can affect how immersive a game is. Usual, people become immersed in games that attempt to be as realistic as possible and this includes in art style. With graphics improving beyond belief in modern games, developers are doing their best to make their games as real looking as possible in order to immerse the player in the game.

Among The Sleep

Among The Sleep differs from this as it's art style is very stylistic. It has avoided realism completely and gone for a more fun, vibrant looking style. This however, still helps immerse the player within the game. The reason being is that the art style fits with the scope of the story. As you are seeing through the perspective of a toddler, it makes sense to have everything look bright and vibrant and thrilling too look at. It even manages to capture this 'vibrantness' when the environment becomes dark and creepy. Everything you see is still interesting to look at.

'Among The Sleep' by Krillbite Studios

Media Test: Art Style

I began by finding a reference image online and quickly modeled it, ready to test some textures on it. The textures were kept reasonably close to the reference image. Basing my first test on 'Among The Sleep' I made the textures vibrant and much more interesting to look at. Admittingly this was difficult to accomplish with just a hallway. However I continued and after that I de-saturated the textures to attempt to create a more interesting hallway with a sinister feel to it.

Media Test: Art Style

Learning Outcomes

After carrying this out I discovered that the art style was rather difficult to achieve. I tried making it look vibrant but in my opinion, its not obvious. However, I got a fellow coursemate to check it out and he mentioned that with furniture and other pieces placed in the scene may help bring out the art style more clearly. He also suggested removing a light as lighting is effective for making a scene more interesting and therefore more immersive.

Personal Notes

Next I am going to place some added pieces into the hallway and keep to the vibrant style. Hopefully this will make the environment a lot more interesting. I also want to create another room except this time the artistic style will be more realistic looking at influences such as, Outlast and Silent Hill's Playable Trailer. After this I can compare environments and discuss which is more immersive for a player.

I must also not that a lot of factors result in immersive gameplay. This is my attempt at trying out different theories and testing different techniques in order to help create my own, immersive interactive experience.