Sprint 3: Cutscene Design - UQdeco2800/2021-studio-6 GitHub Wiki

Rationale

The cutscenes have been implemented into the game to help strengthen the story elements of the game. The cutscenes provide more context to the character's purpose and "quest" towards the safe haven, with a consistent reminder of the glow on the horizon. These cutscenes created are introductory scenes for the new level and the safehouse for the first time they reach a safehouse. It is beneficial to the story's flow of events and timeline to have these scenes, as they provide context to the next environment and gives the user a look into the world and mind of the character.

Inspiration

These cutscenes continued to follow the same artstyle as the previous story scenes, such as the prologue. Alongside this basic artstyle influence, the elements within the scenes were often influenced by the assets that already existed in the levels and the environments of the gameplay. This all helps to create a more unified and consistent story and flow within the whole game. The level introduction cutscenes continue to emphasise the glowing light of the safe haven throughout the visuals and take a similar artstyle to previous versions of the glow.

this is an example of the glowing safe haven light from the prologue layers which was influence to these new cutscenes.

The Scenes

Level 2 Introduction

The level 2 introduction cutscene's purpose is to progress the character from the city landscape of the first level towards the forest of the second level. Not only does it provide environmental context, but it also reiterates the goal of the user, which is to make it to the safe haven through the path of the safehouses left by the fireflies.

Below is the storyboard that was created for the cutscene. The main idea of the visuals were to emphasise the glowing safe haven and entice the user to want to travel through the forest and make it to the next safehouse.

These are the final visual designs for the level 2 introduction cutscene. The safehouse in the second image is loosely based off the exterior of the safehouse that is currently implemented in the game levels.

Level 3 Introduction

The level 3 introduction cutscene's purpose is to visually progress the character from the full forest environment of level two to the split forest and beach environment of level three. At this point, the user should be feeling hopeful at how close they are to freedom from the shadowcrawlers, but still wary of the short journey they still have ahead.

This scene had to be designed without a full understanding of what level 3 was going to look like in terms of environment and assets - other than a forest to a beach. So this is the storyboard that was created as a draft idea for the design.

Based on that storyboard, the visual (below) was designed. Using a similar framing style as the previous cutscene with the trees in the foreground, it draws the users' gaze towards the very large and bright glow of the Safe Haven, which is reflecting off the water.

Safehouse Introduction

This safehouse cutscene is first played when the player reaches the first safehouse at the end of the first level. This cutscene provides the user with the context of why they are going inside the safehouse and the interaction that they might be able to have with the person inside - who they discover to be a shopkeeper.

For the design, showing a silhouette of the shopkeeper in the window was a must. It would provide context as to why the character is aware that someone is inside the safehouse.

For the final design, the colours and placement of assets within the scene are based on the exterior design of the safehouse as well as the interior design of the safehouse gameplay. Due to the placement of the shopkeeper within the safehouse gameplay, the placement of the silhouette had to be adjusted, and a countertop was also added.

Future Direction and Reflection

These cutscenes provide another level of storytelling within the game and help provide emotional connections between the user and their character, as they follow through the storyline. However, they can still always be improved on and expanded. Currently, the visuals are all static artworks that help provide visual context to the story - in the future it would be beneficial to include some animated features, even if it was simply the glowing Safe Haven light or the parallax effect on the trees. There is also a possibility of needing to add another cutscene between level 3 and the final boss, however it wasn't possible to implement that cutscene due to the final boss itself only being produced during this same sprint. Overall, it would also be beneficial to have a refinement of the artworks for all cutscenes and the prologue/epilogue scenes as well for a more unfied artstyle. However, currently, these cutscenes meld with the current game artstyle and storyline smoothly and provide a cohesive storyworld for the player to immerse themselves in as they follow the journey of the fireflies.