Element of game design: environment

There are three main elements for games design: game play, characters and environment. As I have previously spoken of the first two, I shall now speak of the last. Characters and the story would be nothing without a world to interact with.

The first thing to think about is, that different areas have to create different moods. The dark cave in Tomb Raider creates a spooky chilling effect, whereas the Green Hill Zone on Sonic gives you that urgent competitive feeling. Environments are the best narratives, as environment tells their own story, and has included so much information just by showing you. If an area of a game has a long table, with various bottles behind it, then the gamer automatically know it is a bar.

Different genres need different environment for different purposes. They may seem similar, but one environment can not support Spyro the Dragon and Quake. Even similar games have completely different environments, because of different characters, storyline and interaction. The environment is created to included all of this.

The environment reinforces and reshapes the entire story, and the characters within it’s world. Like I have said above, items give the gamer an indication of what the area is, what the purpose of it, and most likely it’s history. However, it does restrain and restrict movement. In games though, the person experiencing it, explores, whereas with film, they watch. With exploring, comes the chain of events, which only can happen if the environment is set up for this to happen.

Giving the gamers a choice is an excellent option with environment. Certain areas on games are either restricted until later play (Grand Theft Auto) or during certain days (Pokemon), which makes the gamer determined to beat whatever they need to beat to unlock this, just to explore this new environment. Everything in the game reacts with the environment, so getting the balance right is crucial.

The main thing about environment is to get a good balance. If a game is fantasy, obviously they want the world to contain some realism in it to make the player relate to it, but still keep it magical and fresh. A few artist like to use water in their pieces of environmental artwork due to the water reflecting the light, making it a mirror and creating a lot of light.

Personally, I never pay much attention to environment, not as much as I should. I have already previously stated this in my last posts. One environment that does stand out is the Kingdom Heart games because they change constantly to suit the new level you have entered, which I think makes each level stand out to the gamer. I prefer books, as you can paint your own environment, with as much or as little help from the author, there will still be some gaps missing which makes your mind fill in the blanks which is an exercise that video games can never achieve.