Immersion and theme

It was a goal of mine to choose specific textures that would evoke my theme while enhancing player immersion. Being that the setting was set up in an ancient cave with ruins, I wanted to have textures that were darker and have colors that would mesh well with other darker textures. Some of my textures were clay, rock, metal, and other type of cave-like textures. In contrast, I wanted the stairs to have their own look to them and to be distinguished to the player, so I had wanted those textures to be their own color scheme. In addition to the textures of the brushes, I had wanted the water in my level to have the same type of aesthetic as the color of the textures of the rest of my level, so I had wanted to give the water a darker, swampy feel that you would normally find in an old cavern.

In the above screenshot, the dark textured water in addition to the swampy terrain creates that feeling of my theme by having textures that have similar color palettes to each other on the floor, ground, and walls. Those textures best contrast those specific colors without becoming an eye sore.

Guidance and orientation

I had wanted to make texture decisions that helped guide and orient the player by having certain textures represent certain objects. For example, for the stairs, I wanted them to stand out, with somewhat of a blue marble color to them so that the player can relate that color and texture to that specific affordance of stairs and what they are used for in my level. I had also wanted to keep things consistent, like having the ground be the same texture as well as some walls on different floors. I wanted the player to get acclimated with the theming of the level, as I figured that would help them understand the focus of the level and also help them with the gameplay of the level at the same time.

In these two screenshots from above, these are examples of my level helping to orient and guide the player by showing them that they are in an area with different paths, as the walls and floor stay consistent with their textures. I did not want to add too many elements or colors that would re-focus the players energy to ask why different themes are mixing together, as that would draw focus away from the gameplay element and aspect. In addition to that, I also wanted the player to know where they can be able to go to the second floor, as the stairs have a bright blue texture to indicate that. The ground level and second floor of the map also have different wall textures to let the player know which floor they are on, as that would help them differentiate the floors and their themes for each room as well.