As part of my MA studies in geography, I'm doing a course assignment on landscapes in computer games. I love adventure games, and this forum is interesting in particular because many of you have developing experience. Would you please help me gather some information in my quest for passing this course? ;)
For me, landscapes and sceneries are a major part of a game, and I love it when places in a game (cities, forests etc.) make me FEEL something.
What do you think is a good landscape in a game?
When you consider games you've played, which places in the game made you FEEL the most, and how?
Which aspects of the landscape made you feel that way?
(For example, parts of the D'ni city on "URU- Ages Beyond Myst" made me feel the emptiness: The large open spaces, the dim lights and also signs of reconstruction in progress such as the road cones and blockages).
I think this can develop into an interesting discussion, because I didn't see this topic in forums anywhere. I will post this discussion in several forums because I need to gather lots of information in a short time. Please don't answer twice...
Please elaborate as much as you like, or be brief if you prefer. Anything goes. If you can supply a link for that game, or even better, a picture of the landscape you talk about, I'd be very grateful indeed. :-*
Thanks a lot, in advance, for cooperating
Tally
Right off the bat I'd say one of my favorite landscapes that made me truly feel something is the colorful yet gloomy atmosphere of some of the areas in THE DIG.
(http://www.tripbase.com/articles/images/stunningVideogame/The%20Dig.jpg)
Really, does an atmosphere get more potent than this? The stunning palette and backdrop animation combined with the awesome soundtrack creates a totally unique balls out bombastic and original mood I have encountered nowhere else. Robert Patrick's brilliant lonesome yet brave voice acting probably also goes a long way in making this area really feel like a hostile yet beautiful world to explore.
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Another gorgeous location is the port town of Rubacava from Grim Fandango. This isn't really a landscape but still is an area that shouldn't be missed by anyone.
(http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/2196/237099-rubacava_overview_large.gif)
Rubacava's beauty lies in the seedy people that inhabit the place equally as much as it's lovely art and music.
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Anyhow... It's safe to say that in both cases it's the combination of different arts that create a good landscape that truly draws you in. I'm sure this goes for all landscapes that have truly made an impact on a player.
Insofar as landscape goes (not a subject I think of a lot when playing adventure games), my favourite would probably be the Kyrandia series, especially in 2, I guess. It's a bit fantastical, obviously, but awesome nonetheless.
I have an unexplained affinity with exotic locales, so anything mediterranian quickly catches my fancy. I can never get enough of Ketch's Landing and Zombie Island in Broken Sword 2, I frequently take a stroll along the beaches of Crysis, and the Marrakesh levels in Lost Horizon just filled me with glee.
Another unexplained phenomena is that I love games set in hotels and the like. I spent hours in the Thermal Bath Hotel level in Hitman just walking around, pretending to be a guest. I suppose it's a place inheritly filled with stories.
Windy british isles also do it for me, especially in the Victorian era. There's some inherit mystery to those places with their fog and waving wheat. Go watch The Ghost Writer and you'll see what I mean.
Snow, on the contrary, leaves me cold (hurr). I don't know what it is, but stuff like Tibet and the like, it's not my thing. I love Uncharted so much I could stomach it there, and Lost Horizon somehow eludes many of the factors that make me dislike those settings, but when The Mummy 3 went to Tibet, it was dead to me.
Oh and Paris. I'm in love with Paris. (although I can't stand the French)
I like a sense of decay -it really adds to the sense of place. Clean cut and well-kept is for me boring, sterile; a place that's falling apart has character, stories, atmosphere. Examples (I'm in a sci fi mood tonight):
(http://www.infoaddict.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/space-quest-3.jpg) Space Quest 3
(http://img.squakenet.com/screenshot/space_quest_4.jpg) Space Quest 4
Oh yes, good point. I wrote a whole paper on how the wear and tear of an environment can tell you its entire history without using a single word. Just look at Bioshock. Environmental storytelling is a powerful tool.
Theo posted the exact screen from The Dig that came to my mind as soon as I read your post, it really is one of the most memorable backgrounds in any adventure game I've played, and really demonstrates the fact that animating a scene can take its atmosphere to the next level. A good example of how animation can do this is the title screen of Infinity String (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=901) - my breath was truly taken away when I first saw that.
Another LucasArts game that sticks in my mind is Full Throttle:
(http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/9228/90573fullthrottlewindow.jpg)
For me, the strong use of lighting was very evocative, and really took the feeling of being in a futuristic wasteland to the next level. One of these days, I plan to play through the game again and screen capture every single background for my own reference - it really left that much of an impression on me.
One of my all time favorite settings ever was that of Beyond Good & Evil:
(http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/9288/70135beyondgoodevilwind.jpg)
Here, it wasn't just the graphics that made the locations so memorable - they were full of strange creatures (which the game rewarded you for finding and learning about), beautiful music and lovely lighting effects. From the deep mining caves, to colorful Hillys City, to the enormous neo-industrial factories, the game is full of memorable locations.
One more, although it's not *really* an adventure: Planescape: Torment. I'd really love to see more games set in the Planescape universe, simply because it's so surreal. Torment really worked with this and created a game that is full of totally unique locations that are as memorable for their concepts as they are for the landscapes themselves. It goes to show how much more interesting a location becomes when you start to walk around it and learn about its secrets, how much more the addition of knowledge about a place can help us really appreciate it.
Thank you very much and a big hug for your posts. You've been a great help! ;D
I apologies for not getting back at you sooner, I was busy sorting through the answers I got here and in another forums I posted this thread in.
You talked about beautiful landscapes, exotic locals and relaxing settings, but also, particularly in this forum, put great emphasis on landscapes that evoked "negative" feelings: gloomy, decaying, and otherwise dramatic. You talked about "stories" such places have, their mood and atmosphere.
After carefully reading all you said, I suggest that looking at how people see landscapes in adventure games can show us what people need in their lives. I found that positive moods in adventure games can be classified in 4 types: beauty, relaxation, wonder and adventure. I think many people use adventure games as means to get those things, which we don't have enough of in our daily lives. I also found that "negative" feelings associate more with post-apocalyptic settings and sci-fi, and the "positive" emotions more with fantasy and nature.
I think planners of real environments can look at games and find inspiration to make the places in our real world more inviting. What do you think of this?
As always, I would like your input on anything I said. Feel free to criticize, too!
Thank you again :-*
Tally
Quotewas that of Beyond Good & Evil:
It's like a more epic version of Scid and SpacePirateCaine's remake of Red Flagg! :D
Naturally the Dig and Full Throttle are big contenders in "background that makes you :D". I always remember playing BASS off of two 3.5 floppy disks and just seeing that opening shot with the chopper was just like :D how did they get that on to 2 discs.
Hate it or love it Myst had a great feeling of loneliness, the desperation to find some sort of human contact got to me as a kid.
Quote from: Chicky on Fri 25/02/2011 00:37:42
Hate it or love it Myst had a great feeling of loneliness, the desperation to find some sort of human contact got to me as a kid.
Even without being a kid -- after playing all the Mysts, then the first time I arrived in "Spire" (Myst IV) I was breathless! There, it's the pale sun, the sea of clouds and the sad and mysterious music that did it for me!
(http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/spire_440_1097729909.jpg)
You've got to see it animated (and hear it) to understand : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvR-P1N2fC8
(http://www.cheats.ru/uploaded/e/elderscrolls4oblivion/elderscrolls4oblivion0410.jpg)
The Elder Scrolls IV landscape sucked greatly. In fact you could say it sucked more than a Dyson DC11. The landscape was boring and uninteresting because everywhere was the same; horizons were repetitive, and there was only one species of tree.
Bethesda made an algorithm which saved them lots of time, because they didn't have to create everything by hand (bearing in mind it had about 4000 square kilometres to explore). This may have saved them time but it did more damage than good, because the surroundings lacked originality and were blatantly computer generated.
There was no attention to detail. It was supposed to be a fantasy world but I didn't see anything magical in it. This is a good case of the landscape not reflecting the essence of the game.
I'm gonna say Morrowind. Everything around it was awesome. I caught myself many nights looking up the beautiful sky.
Quote from: Atelier on Fri 25/02/2011 12:01:37
The Elder Scrolls IV (Oblivion) landscape sucked greatly. (...) because everywhere was (...) computer generated.
Quote from: Dualnames
I'm gonna say Morrowind (...) was awesome.
Wasn't it Oblivion that was created by hand with great attention to details, while Morrowind was computer-generated and disappointed everybody? That was my belief so far.
Quote from: Ouxxey_games on Fri 25/02/2011 14:42:56
Quote from: Atelier on Fri 25/02/2011 12:01:37
The Elder Scrolls IV (Oblivion) landscape sucked greatly. (...) because everywhere was (...) computer generated.
Quote from: Dualnames
I'm gonna say Morrowind (...) was awesome.
Wasn't it Oblivion that was created by hand with great attention to details, while Morrowind was computer-generated and disappointed everybody? That was my belief so far.
I think you're talking about Daggerfall. Which was computer generated and very buggy. It was also an awesome idea and featured a gameworld the size of england.
I wonder nobody mentioned CMI yet.
(http://www.freewebs.com/minorway/BloodIsland-overview.jpg)
combined with the awesome music the whole atmosphere ob blood island was IMO never reached again. You gotta love bill tiller.
Quote from: mode7 on Fri 25/02/2011 18:52:30
I think you're talking about Daggerfall. Which was computer generated and very buggy. It was also an awesome idea and featured a gameworld the size of england.
Daggerfall did indeed suffer from a horrible case of "cookie cutter" dungeons. The only dungeon that was even memorable was the one at the end.
One of the reasons I started (and still sometimes) play World of Warcraft is because of the - often brilliant - scenery. Turn up all the details, max out the draw distance and it sure has its' fair share of 'wow' moments.
Yes, CMI backgrounds (and look overall) are just brilliant, so much so that I was a bit dissapointed cause expected much more interactions.
mode7: I remember spending hours just looking at the blood island overview map and drinking the ambiance with my eyes and ears. Good times! Bill Tiller has truly contributed to the adventure game scene.
Just wanted to let you know I've completed my quest and passed the course with flying colors (a surprising 95, and first in my class)!
You've been a great help. I couldn't have done my assignment without you! I mean it, litterally!
I also learned a few things about how people relate to landscapes in my favorite type of games. Also, I have a list of terrific games I should play in the future! ;)
Thank you all for your cooperation in this thread, and a big hug :-*
Tally
Congrats!
I've been following this topic for a while because there are some interesting things discussed. Are you willing to share your assignment with us? I don't know much about geography but that might be an interesting read too. :)
Agreed. I think all of us could benefit from your research on our medium. There definitely needs to be more of this kind of thing out there for designers & gamers alike. :)