The importance of environmental design in gaming as a media form is significant.First and foremost, it's crucial to understand that scene design is one of the fundamental components of game design, alongside character design and systemdesign (gameplay design), which mutually influence each other to create a completegame, akin to the primary colors in painting.
Players, as the main characters, are present throughout the entire gaming process,and system design dictates their modes of activity. However, all of this hinges onhaving a stage compelling enough to allow players to freely interact. In games,everything that players can visually perceive (i.e., see) apart from characters can betermed as "game scenes," making scene design a broad category encompassingcultural environments and historical backgrounds.
To craft a sufficiently outstanding scene in game design, game developers not onlyrequire considerable technical prowess (lighting, color tones, rendering, etc.) butalso a plethora of creative scene design ideas (as seen in "The Legend of zelda:Breath of the Wild"") to complement gameplay and the environment.
Of course, the role of "scene design" goes beyond the aforementioned. Taking "RedDead Redemption 2" as an example, how does scene design manifest in the game?
Answer: It establishes the era's background.
lt must be said that Rockstar Games did an exceptional job in recreating the era'sbackground and scene characters.Apart from possessing sufficient technicalcapabilities to bring scenes to life, various details immerse players in the world'sauthenticity.
In the United States of 1899, as law enforcement began cracking down on remnantsof outlaw gangs, the wild western era ushered in its final twilight. This sets theoverarching background, and we'll focus on the game's largest city: Saint Denis.Located in the lower right corner of the game map, Saint Denis' proximity to the seasignifies its eligibility for large-scale maritime transportation. Indeed, this is evidentin the game, as Saint Denis boasts the largest port in the entire game, with evenaffluent individuals renting steamboats for waterborne excursions. Moreover, toensure the game's realism and alignment with the era's background, Saint Denisclearly draws inspiration from the state of Louisiana's New Orleans city.
After the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783, many Frenchmen who hadcrossed the ocean to support America began staying in Louisiana.In 1803,Napoleonsold the well-known French territory of Louisiana to the Us government at a lowprice, prompting many French colonizers to remain in Saint Louisiana.
This aspect is also evident in the game, with Saint Denis populated by a plethora ofFrenchmen. When players wander around Saint Denis, they'll frequently encounterNPCs greeting each other in French.
