Art Production Guidelines

General Mood

The game’s visuals are extremely varied, due to the narrative nature of the game. 1 Second starts with Moce, an old man escaping hell after a failed suicide attempt where destiny gave him a second chance, but after getting out of hell, the game goes through varied memories of Moce’s life, going back in time until his baby time, with the game taking a more colourful and lively tone over the dark and depressing ones of the early stages. Some of the visual inspirations were taken from the almost entirely flat shaded aesthetics of games like Boson X, Race the Sun (both fully flat shaded), Jalopy (mostly flat shaded with few more complex textures) and Copoka (not flat shaded, but the minimalistic character design should be made aware)

Influences

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

This movie loosely influenced 1 Second’s time regression narrative. The main difference being instead of being born old and dying young like with the movie, 1 Second involves Moce going back in time from his death to his birth, getting younger as the clock goes back.

• Boson X

The striking contrast in colors, flat shaded textures and variety of palettes in Boson X are a welcome element for 1 Second, as Moce’s story progression (or rather, age regression) requires different palettes for each chapter as his character goes into the more lively moments of his life, going from darker, striking tones to lighter, more pastel colors.

• Race the Sun

Race the Sun’s environments are flat shaded in nature, with hard shadows, and mostly primitive shapes. This kind of aesthetic can work with the earliest chapters of the game to show off the game’s 3D environment despite it’s 2D runner nature.

• Jalopy

Jalopy is an interesting case where flat shaded textures blend nicely with fully textured ones, all in models of low polygon count. This is the best course of action on how to present the 1 Second’s visuals, giving more detail and relevance to the elements of the game that matter, while keeping the rest visually appealing yet easy on the eyes.

• Genndy Tartakovsky’s cartoons (Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Powerpuff Girls)

Marking the childhood of many of the young adults of today, Genndy Tartakovsky’s simplistic, sharp designed characters are a massive influence for the game’s target audience. The characters have a blend of sharp and round geometrical shapes, and look simple to look at, yet not dull. The backgrounds are also drawn in a way that when replicated in 3D is similar to Race the Sun’s environments, albeit with actual detail instead of flat gray primitives.

1st Chapter Mood

The first chapter is set in hell, as result of Moce committing the sin of suicide. The environment is barren, rocky, with red tints and plenty of fire to go around. Despite being set in hell, Moce isn’t going to face demons, but rather the problems of an elderly person, with manifestations of stairs, dogs, diseases and modern technology in his path to escape.

Influences

• Constantine (Movie)

The hell of Constantine is the result of blending a post-apocalyptic city with a sky of pure fire and smoke. This fits well as an oppressive mood for the first chapter, telling the player right away that Moce must get out of there quickly.

• Powerpuff Girls (Speed Demon episode)

The episode that still haunts the dreams of some of the show’s fans, Speed Demon shows a depiction of Townsville in a future where the protagonists are gone and the show’s closest depiction of the devil itself, Him, took over. The sky is blood red, the ground is barren, and every structure is either rubble or heavily damaged. This is the closest depiction of what the player should see in Chapter 1, since it’s a good way to show both hell, and the modern day themed obstacles.

Back to Home