Environment Design of There is No Light
Greetings! Our today's update is dedicated to our unique approach to environment and character design. This update is divided into two parts, here is the first part of the update.
[h3]Working on 2D Environments[/h3]
When creating an environment, we use a large number of references. This is especially true for the subway, Central Station, technical and office premises. Locations that should resemble real-life places require special attention, as they should form a connection with our world.
Each location has its own color palette that helps determine what emotion the player is supposed to feel there. This is achieved through the placement of light sources, accentuation, and sound effects. We also use post-effects to help stylize the picture for the mood we need.
We follow the rules of “real” pixel art, putting each dot manually, but not limiting ourselves to a number of colors. Likewise, graphics do not follow the “only pixel” rule. Many shadows and lights in the game are gradients created in Photoshop and then turned into light sources by the engine.
[h3]SFX[/h3]
All sounds without exception are created specifically for the game, so there is no difficulty in "synchronizing" the sound with the picture. The sound designer is given the necessary animation to get the timing right and the gameplay video to understand how it all looks in the game. And, of course, some lore is provided in order to understand what feelings the sound should evoke in a given situation. Voice actors are sometimes involved as well so that the characters and monsters in the game could have their own voices and individuality. Basically, all of the above applies to the background noises and ambiance of the location.
The required sound is created by layering many different sounds, editing them, and applying various effects. The screenshot above shows the sound for the opening of a large metal gate. More than twenty-five different sounds are involved here: various scraping of iron, the clanking of gears, creaks, crunches, rumble, and much more.
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[h3]Working on 2D Environments[/h3]
When creating an environment, we use a large number of references. This is especially true for the subway, Central Station, technical and office premises. Locations that should resemble real-life places require special attention, as they should form a connection with our world.
Each location has its own color palette that helps determine what emotion the player is supposed to feel there. This is achieved through the placement of light sources, accentuation, and sound effects. We also use post-effects to help stylize the picture for the mood we need.
We follow the rules of “real” pixel art, putting each dot manually, but not limiting ourselves to a number of colors. Likewise, graphics do not follow the “only pixel” rule. Many shadows and lights in the game are gradients created in Photoshop and then turned into light sources by the engine.
[h3]SFX[/h3]
All sounds without exception are created specifically for the game, so there is no difficulty in "synchronizing" the sound with the picture. The sound designer is given the necessary animation to get the timing right and the gameplay video to understand how it all looks in the game. And, of course, some lore is provided in order to understand what feelings the sound should evoke in a given situation. Voice actors are sometimes involved as well so that the characters and monsters in the game could have their own voices and individuality. Basically, all of the above applies to the background noises and ambiance of the location.
The required sound is created by layering many different sounds, editing them, and applying various effects. The screenshot above shows the sound for the opening of a large metal gate. More than twenty-five different sounds are involved here: various scraping of iron, the clanking of gears, creaks, crunches, rumble, and much more.
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