Essay process（Wednesday）

 Scene Concept Art In Games: How To 

Use Real Elements?

 

 

Table of Contents

 

 

Introduction

Part 1: Elements and importance of game scene design

Part 2: Virtual scenes combined with display element design examples

Part 3: Other elements that influence scene design

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

 

 

In today's world, all kinds of entertainment activities emerge in an endless stream, and games are widely popularized in the world. Game design has become a mature industry and formed a unique cultural carrier. With the gradual development of video games, which were born in the late 1960s, this kind of entertainment, which is different from the traditional movies and animations, allows people who are not interested in games before to try it, and the number of game players also increases dramatically. Nowadays, with the expansion of the Internet and the increasing maturity of computer technology, the development of electronic games has also shown a trend of rapid progress. From the initial simple platform jumping games, there are various kinds of games with story, narrative, interaction and simulation performance, so that players can immerse themselves in them and even get spiritual satisfaction by playing various roles. Taking digital media art to the next level. At the same time, the performance of the game screen is becoming stronger and stronger, from the early pixelated games such as《Pac-Man》, to the current 3A masterpiece such as《Mysterious sea》series, greatly improving the visual effect and the sense of immersion of the player, so that people are immersive. It can be said that the development of the game industry cannot be separated from the development of game scene design and visual effects. Based on this, this paper studies the development status of game scene design and tries to find inspiration for the development of game design through the analysis and understanding of excellent game scene design cases.

 

Key words: game scene design; Color application; Reality and virtual

Part 1:Elements and importance of game scene design

 

 

Scene is the core carrier of all game elements, and it is an important element to enhance the artistic effect and enhance the appeal of the game. Scene design refers to the design of everything in the game that changes with time except character modeling. The first thing that captures users' attention is its picture. A good scene design can enhance the beauty of the game, strengthen the rendering theme, enhance the added value of the game, and even directly affect the style and artistic level of the whole work. A delicate, exquisite game scene can play a role in setting off the overall game atmosphere, bringing the player into the game story, so that the player can understand the game designer wants to convey the game connotation. Therefore, game scene production is an indispensable part of game design.

Game scene design is a complicated and systematic work, which must consider a variety of factors comprehensively. Designers should have both creativity and artistry. Compared with the simple scene painting, the scene design of the game is different from the traditional scene depiction and design environment, it is a dynamic scene effect. Therefore, the design scene should carry out a specific and comprehensive analysis of the character's activities, and design the corresponding scene according to the environmental atmosphere that the activities should have. Only the scene design with a high aesthetic and creative level can inject more aesthetic and spatial sense into the scene modeling of game animation, so that players can get a unique, diversified and rich game experience.

Nowadays, the creation of many games is based on existing works and cultures, which requires designers to be reasonable while being innovative and unique. In the design of virtual scenes, whether it is games or animation, the design of these virtual scenes must be "credible" under the premise of creativity, that is, it needs to follow the characteristics of real scenes. And create on that basis.

Part 2:

 

 

 

The movie 《The Lord of the Rings》 provides a good example of combining realistic elements with fiction. In the original, the ancient human capital of Minas·Tirith is depicted as a magnificent and magnificent castle. Several towers and forts stand on the walls, symbolizing the power and rule of the Highland Kingdom. The entire castle is built in white stone, which gives it a dazzling glow in the sun, giving it a solemn and spectacular feeling. The film production team's conceptual understanding and design depiction of the building are also full of visual shock, combined with realistic architecture: Mount Victoria, located in Wellington, and Mont Saint-Michel in France，also refers to the Romanesque architectural style characterized by narrow semicircular arches, uses a large number of "Lombard belt" co-decoration, interspersed with domed structures and towers, and combines Western Roman and Byzantine architectural forms, emphasizing the heavy, stern and solid feeling, and matching the theme tone of white. Through exquisite special effects and architectural details, the grandeur and dignity of the castle are shown.

A SCENE FROM《THE LORD OF THE RINGS》, THE ANCIENT CAPITAL CITY OF MINAS·TIRITH

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PHOTO OF MOUNT VICTORIA, WELLINGTON CORINTHIAN COLUMNS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PHOTO OF MONT SAINT-MICHEL, FRANCE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CORINTHIAN COLUMNS

As you can see, the building of Mount Victoria in Wellington provided the inspiration for how to embody the residential areas of the castle-like capital in the film, while the French Mount Saint Michel provided the inspiration for the appearance of the white stone described in the book, the whole castle combines the characteristics of the ancient medieval castle with the magical elements of the magical world. It's impressive.

Setting can also affect the plot. In line with the transformation of independent videogames from a subculture to an industry with its own aesthetics (Juul, 2019), a new generation of game developers is engaging more earnestly with their cultural heritage. We are increasingly seeing games which draw on local culture and artistic specifics as sources of inspiration in their design. Indeed, annual reports on the state of the game industry illustrate the potential growth in the market for diversity-focused games and their ability to appeal to a wider range of players (ESA, 2018; Dickey, 2019; GDC, 2023). There is a moderate but steadily growing demand for games that represent a diverse range of cultures and perspectives, and this trend, it is argued, is likely to continue (ibid.). Indeed, players are increasingly seeking experiences that resonate with their own identities and backgrounds (Passmore et al., 2018; Newzoo, 2022, 2023). 

For example, in ancient China, the country had strict regulations on the scale and shape of buildings. People needed to choose suitable buildings to live and live according to their identity, and the scope of activities would also be limited. The plot should be developed according to these scenes. For example, the recently popular Chinese game《Black Myth · Wukong》has attracted the attention of countless players for its exquisite scenes, and the design of the game scenes draws on traditional Chinese architecture and characteristic landscapes. For example, in the game, the Leiyin Temple where the protagonist Sun Wukong fights with the dragon Dragon is based on the Guanyin Pavilion of Dule Temple in Jixian County, Tianjin Province, China.

 

 

LEIYIN TEMPLE IN THE GAME 《BLACK MYTH · WUKONG》(MODELING，2024)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GUANYIN PAVILION, DULE TEMPLE, JIXIAN COUNTY, TIANJIN PROVINCE, CHINA (LIVE PHOTO)

 

In the expression of details, the production team also draws on the characteristics of many ancient Chinese buildings and integrates them.

 

 

 

LEIYIN TEMPLE SPECIFIC DETAILS REFERENCE

 

Professor Yang Qi from the China Academy of Art, the leader of the art production team of 《Black Myth · Wukong》, mentioned in an interview：“ that in the process of game scene design, in order to ensure the accuracy of the scene, he traveled all over the country to scan ancient buildings and embed the great creation and historical legacy of excellent traditional culture into various scenes of the game. Even a small inscription or a humble kettle may have great sources. Although some of the architectural shapes in the game do not fully conform to the structure of ancient buildings, it combines fantasy colors and historical expressions, and becomes more in line with the ‘dwelling place of monsters’" described in the original.

Therefore, in the design of game scenes, reality is important, but imagination is also indispensable.

 

Game designers should grasp the balance between reality and exaggeration, and know how to choose the proportion of reality and exaggeration according to the positioning of the game. If it is a realistic game such as a cultivation or survival game, the realism should be higher, the object in the game is best made in accordance with the proportion of the object in reality, and some details can be added, such as scratches on the surface of the object, cracks in the wall and weeds in disorder to increase credibility, such as the game "Call of Duty", "The Last of Us" and so on. Give the player a sense of freedom to do whatever they want in the real world; If it is a fantasy or science fiction game, it needs to increase the proportion of exaggeration, which is more conducive to showing the game's world setting. Andri Gerber, in his book《Architectonics of Game Spaces: The Spatial Logic of the Virtual and Its Meaning for the Real》say, Virtual materials in a game engine are entirely different to real-worldmaterials, despite heavy investment in technology to simulate reality asconvincingly as possible. Even the most realistic looking concrete or brick,upon which light falls believably in-game, will be constructed from multi-ple fat image fles that contain information about color, refectivity, shad.ows, and so on. This is still the case, even when the construction of game. (Andri Gerber,2019,02,04)

Part 3: Other elements that influence scene design

 

 

In the scene design, the designer can make the sense of space stronger through the construction of the scene, and also make the sense of distance and depth stronger through the shaping of light and shadow. Designers can show different building atmospheres by changing the size, height and perspective of buildings. In the book "Architecture and Level Design", there is a reference to "huge structure". What is a "giant structure"? People are the scale of all things, people usually have a clear understanding of the magnitude of the meter and decimeter, and construction beyond a certain scale will bring people indescribable fear, such as pyramids, Parthenon and other huge buildings tend to bring people a sense of domination and conquest; The feeling brought to the audience by the game screen is a combination of various elements, which makes the player nervous, sad, happy and excited with the development of the plot. However, in the process of appreciation, the audience most directly felt the complex emotions conveyed by the scene design.

 

In the scene design, the use of color can also play a great help.

First of all, it can construct spatial awareness. In the game, the color of the near grass, road and other objects is bright and clear, and the distant scenery such as mountains and rivers will appear more dark and unclear. This is because the color has a perspective change law, this law exists in the viewer's subconscious, even if you can not clearly say the reason for the perception, you can actually feel this change. Therefore, the color design makes the game have a basic sense of space, so that the game screen from the plane into three dimensions. Of course, if you want to break through this law, you can innovate under the premise of following the basic law, so that the color changes of cold and warm and light and dark are reversed. [1] Liang Jinghong. Liang Jinghong on the Law of Color Design [M]. Beijing: Posts and Telecommunications Press,2015,(13):15-20.

The use of color can also create a game orientation. During the course of the game, the concentration and dispersion of colors will guide the player's eyes to indicate where they are, and use prominent colors to guide them to the next stage. Some games use a lot of unsaturated gray and black to create an oppressive atmosphere, and the player will naturally move in the direction of light; If dark, intimidating colors are paired with warm, bright colors for direction, the player will obviously go in the bright direction, and this tendency is caused by the presence of biological effects. An example of a biological effect is that when a viewer sees red, the red light is focused behind the retina, which forces the lens to become more prominent, thus stretching the viewer's visual center forward. This could explain why, for example, a warm color next to a cool color (like blue) will give the impression of advance. This type of color design can be used in games to distinguish their important environments and components.( Pan Zhangmin, Zhang Xi. Analysis on the application of high saturation color in movies 1. Chinese Character Culture,2018,11.)

 

The game "Overwatch" pays great attention to the use of color in the production of scenes. In contrast to other realistic games, bright colors are a highlight of Overwatch's art style. For example, when the weather is sunny, the more high-saturation blue is presented in the game, and compared with the sunny day in reality, the sky in Overwatch has also added a rare pink purple, which is out of the completely realistic style, but through color control, the world in the game looks sweeter. In addition to colors, the game also uses a large number of colors that are not common in reality and are highly saturated, giving people a sense of illusion and future. The bright sky color, strong penetrating light, and highly saturated futuristic color make the game as a whole show a clear and bright color sense different from reality, helping to express the beautiful vision of humans and intelligent machines to change the world together.

 

 

 

 

SCREENSHOT OF THE OVERWATCH GAME

Conclusion

 

 

To sum up, compared with planar game scene design, 3D scene design is a qualitative leap in game presentation and game experience, which has a great role in promoting the development of the game industry, but the difficulty is also greatly increased. Game scene designers should fully understand the core function of scene design and its importance to the game. Consider a variety of factors in the design, pay attention to the use of skills, and make innovation at the same time can not be divorced from the reality, nor can be divorced from the established direction of the game style. In this way, the scene of the game can be more spatial and aesthetic, the atmosphere is stronger, the theme is more distinct, and the game players can get a unique and diversified game experience, and devote themselves to the interesting and broad, colorful game world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

 

Eklund, L., Gluzman, R., Jørgensen, K., Kayali, F., Roinioti, E., & Pnueli, V. (2024). Games for the Pluriverse: Exploring the Use, Opportunities, and Problems of Drawing from Local Cultural Heritage in Video Games. Games and Culture, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120241234126

 

 

Andri,G.Ulrich,G. (2019,02,04).《Architectonics of Game Spaces : The Spatial Logic of the Virtual and Its Meaning for the Real》，https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uclan-ebooks/reader.action?docID=6684682&ppg=305

 

 

Liang Jinghong. (2015,(13):15-20). Liang Jinghong on the Law of Color Design [M]. Beijing: Posts and Telecommunications Press

 

 

Pan Zhangmin, Zhang Xi.(2018,11). Analysis on the application of high saturation color in movies 1. Chinese Character Culture