WORLD DESIGN THEORY - BLOG POST #1 - lighting as a Navigational tool in Bioshock - Conrad Turzynski4/4/2017 Lighting in Bioshock is one of the games strongest features, and it is used constantly throughout the game to subconsciously guide the player through the labyrinthine halls of Rapture. The player begins their journey spluttering in the sea amidst the burning wreckage of the sinking plane they just crashed in. Immediately, the player is used by the guiding light of the flames of the wreckage; there is a gap in the wall of flame, and this negative space, or lack of light, is what leads the player through this scene (see image_01). This proves that not only light, but the lack of it, can be a powerful too when guiding a player. The next thing the player encounters is the lighthouse, a monolithic landmark, silhouetted by the moon. The colour palette used for this lighting is very cool, but still very bright, and this cool light contrasts heavily to the roaring orange and gold flames of the planes and wrneches the players eye upward to ward the next place they need to go (see image_02). Upon scaling the steps of the lighthouse, the player is confronted by a massive, ominous door, inside of which the room is pitch black. The only light the player sees is a slit of light crawling in through the slightly opened door, and this light works as a line for the player to follow inside (see image_03). Once inside the room is lit up, revealing a rich golden environment, and a confronting statue of the games primary antagonist, Andrew Ryan. The player then heads downstairs to find a bathysphere, with a rich golden mist steaming out. The light from inside the bathysphere catches the mist in the air, and acts as a golden glow to beckon the player in from the dark room they currently stand in (see image_04). After travelling down to the bottom of the sea in the little subnuatical, the player is introduced to neon lights, which guide them into Rapture. Neon lights are another powerful tool that is used in Bioshock, and effectively highlights objects in the world (see image_05). The next scene players find themselves in, is their first hostile encounter in the game. From the apparent safety of the bathysphere, players watch as the silhouetted figure of a man is torn to shreds by a woman with what appears to be hooks for hands. The scene is almost pitch black, aside from a window directly adjacent to the player, across the room. This window casts light towards the scene from behind, creating strong silhouette, and the light passing through the window sets up a stage for the scene on the floor See image_06). The player then escapes the bathysphere and heads off through the halls of rapture, finding weapons along the way and fighting splicers. The final notable use of light used in the Bioshock demo is towards the very end, where the player must acquire their very first plasmid, electro-bolt. The game leads the player into a room, towards a broken door, with a malfunctioning lock, sparking with live electricity. After noticing the lock, with it's bright sparks, and going over to inspect it, the player has no choice but to turn around and look for another way, or a solution to the broken door. Upon turning, the player is shown a sign that they cannot miss (see image_07). A large neon sign, depicting a hand firing lightning from it's fingertips, with the words 'Plasmids' strewn above it, guides the player upstairs to their first plasmid. The players receives their plasmid, and is shown a brief cut-scene where they inject the plasmid into their arm and have an adverse reaction to it, falling down from the upstairs level to land right in front of the broken door. The sign, whilst seeming a little blunt, is actually blended into the world contextually, and so instead of seeming tacked on, the player simply accepts it as a part of the world, and so subconsciously follows it, as opposed to consciously.
Having played through the entirety of Bioshock myself, I can safely say that the lighting techniques used in this demo are continually re-used and developed throughout the rest of the game to great effect. Bioshock is a great example of how lighting can be an extremely powerful navigational tool in games, and how a world can be built with lighting in mind and incorporated into the world itself. Lighting is something that we as humans take for granted, and so when it is manipulated in clever ways, we really don't notice, and this allows game designers to lead players through complex places without having to hold their hands. |
World design theory (WDT)DevelopersThe goal of this blog is to relate current and past attempts at world design to further improve our understanding. Archives
October 2017
Categories |