Media Test - Contrasting Elements

Continuing with Don Carson's theories for environmental storytelling design, I went on to look at 'contrasting elements'. This was a theory he had that in order to keep someone interested in a scene, you need to add contrast in the environment. An example he gave was starting off in a small enclosed room before moving on to a huge spacious room. This contrast keeps the player engaged with whats happening as oppose to becoming bored and tiresome of the same type of scenes over and over again.

Using the hallway I have been carrying my medias tests on I decided to add a huge lobby at the end of it. I found a reference image online and decided to base it on that as it closely resembled my hallway.

Media Test - Contrasting Elements

Here you can see the contrasting effect. It really enhances the scene and in my personal opinion, it is good to have big open spaces as it gives the user a chance to wander more. The issue with a long hallway is it is very linear which is forcing the player in a certain direction. This may aware the player that it is, after all, an interactive experience that is pushing the user in a certain direction which can lose all immersive effect. When creating the environments it is important to think carefully about the environment design. I focused on using modular pieces much like the exercise I carried out in the previous blog. This enabled me to create a quick efficient environment for the purposes of media testing. I plan on using modular assets to create my final piece as it is an effective method that can save a lot of time.

Media Test - Contrasting Elements

Things To Consider

• Vary the environment (in terms of size, lighting etc)
• Plan where you want the user to go and attempt to direct them there in an non-obvious manner
• Take care in texturing as this can add great depth to the scene
• Lighting is such an important factor - take time to work on it and perfect it
• Explore different environment designs - hotels and asylums had fantastic architecture