ART STYLE RESEARCH

Friday 26th February - "Question the Creator"

During our question the creator session, Josh suggested looking into the following games to influence our art style and gameplay:

- Professor Layton

- Genshin Impact

- Okami

PROFESSOR LAYTON

Professor Layton is a puzzle adventure video game with puzzles to complete at each point before the story can progress. (Similar to Anima Mundi)

ART STYLE

Professor Layton's art style consists of warm tones and a simplistic cartoon style. The environment as seen above uses light to create a sense of comfort and a homely feeling. This almost welcomes users to play. The colour scheme is not too vibrant however the oranges and yellows harmonise each other to create a friendly feeling. The light within the environment plays an important part in achieving a homely atmosphere.

The main focus of the game relies hugely on the intricacy of the puzzles at each point of the environment, therefore the detail within the environment wasn't a massive priority.

PUZZLES

The puzzles within the game consist of text and images, where players must read the description and progress with next steps. For example as seen below, a puzzle could be as simple as changing the angle of a 'crank' piece or circling the village seen on the map provided.

WHAT CAN WE TAKE FROM THIS?

These puzzles aren't implemented into the environment whereas we intend to integrate each puzzle into the players surroundings. For example players would have to alter their environment in some sense to be able to progress.

However text-based puzzles could be an option. Players could potentially have to read requirements provided by Spirit Guardians before traversing through the region. This could give players insight into obstacles and mythical creatures etc.

GENSHIN IMPACT

Genshin Impact is an action role-playing based game with an open-world environment, battle system and ability to change between four characters. Players can change between characters in order to switch between abilities, skills and attacks during combat.

Josh suggested looking into the art style specifically for Genshin Impact rather than the combat system therefore I will be documenting my research into colour schemes, environmental assets and aesthetics.

ART STYLE

Genshin Impact's art style is beautiful! It consists of vibrant shades of greens and blues to give it that nature feel, as well as orange and red tones for the trees and surrounding architecture. The colour scheme makes the game seem bright and open, enticing players to explore their surroundings.

Similar to our intentions for Anima Mundi, the environment consists of small intricate Japanese huts and traditional architecture for example Shinto Shrines and Temples. The detail in the environment is captured by the use of light (sun) and smaller additions like moving grass, flowers and moving water/streams.

This game is a great example of a cartoon-ish approach on a realistic setting which is a unique art style for a game. The cool tones and intricate detail in Genshin Impact contributes to its appeal and attraction.

Use of sunset - to create ambience, pretty sky, use of colour and warm tones.

Also something to consider is audio. Genshin Impact has a great range of calming/relaxing music which can be used to inspire my own composition for the vertical slice. The video I have linked below consist of great examples for this! I will do a follow up blog for audio research.

OKAMI

Josh suggested looking into Okami art style as this is what he had in mind for his full game. I will be using my research to inspire our own art style and converse with the team to discuss favourite art style to come to a conclusion.

Okami is an action-adventure video game with an adorable Japanese art style.

Okami uses warm tones giving the game a homely feel similar to Professor Layton. The colour scheme is mainly a combination of browns, greens and oranges, with the occasional touch of pinks and reds to accomodate for the blossom trees and Japanese architecture. Thin black outlines and markings are used to add detail and finalise each asset. This style reminds me of Japanese Illustration Art, which could potentially be combined with Okami's art style to create something unique and one of a kind. The thickness of the lines makes the environment look busy and overcrowded, however Anima Mundi wants to focus on the puzzle interactions in the foreground, so we must consider a way around this. (Although the background should still appeal just as much!)

EVALUATION

Taking inspiration from the art styles I have looked into today, it's especially important to include elements from the Japanese theme, such as blossom trees, huts, temples and bridges. These elements can be made interactive and contribute to the main puzzle or be a great addition to the background of our vertical slice.

As Lead Artist, It's my responsibility to define the look of the game and instruct our other 2D artists on how to achieve our desired art style. Using my research I will create inspiration mood-boards and an Art Bible Guide to begin our development of assets.

The Okami art style was the most prominent style and stood out to me the most. From this I will create variations of how the environment will appear as well as getting feedback from my team to conclude on which one works the best for what we are trying to achieve.