Inspirations

The first game that I’m inspired by for the environment is Stray (2022). I love how it has realism and that you can explore multiple heights rather than just the floor. I also love how vibrant the colours can be especially where the robots are.

Hollow Knight (2017) was another style I was fond of, though it is stylised instead of realism. This makes the characters seem more cute, which I think is sweet. What I also loved was seeing the art in the background. It is blurred out but creates the illusion that the underground is huge. It uses a technique called parallax scrolling where the background layer of art moves slower than the layers closer to, and including, the foreground. Many game use this such as Terraria, Starbound, Undertale, and Cuphead. It’s something that gives the game more depth and I’d love to use it for my game.

Ori and the Blind Forest (2015) is probably the style I’d think is closest to what I would want my game to look like. It has incredibly detailed, vibrant colours and beautiful visuals. Obviously it would have taken a lot of time, so my game would have a more simple style, but something that replicates its beauty. It makes the wildlife so fun to explore.

I love how Cats and the Other Lives (2022) clearly portrays the mood and tone using the environment. The colours are washed out in the parts of the house that I’ve included in the sketchbook, making the tone more serious and unsettling.

Region

I want to have my game set in the UK. I’ll include a few mood boards that demonstrate the tone and mood that I’d want to present in my game.

The woodland / forest areas

The following mood boards are just to do with UK woodland / forest specific features.

The photos above are some photos I took from a mushroom foraging event that me and my family went to.

The next few mood boards and that I have compiled are photos that I have found on Pinterest and pinned them to one of my albums specifically for this project. There will be some videos, too.