The Great City Tartarus.

The Great City Tartarus.

Taking inspiration from old greek mythology as Milton did I have named the devils prison city Tartarus although all the many areas within it have different names and their own look based on various aspects of different mythologies and religions. In this way I neither approve or disprove any religion, my devil is as much a malleable faceless force given form(s).

Story.
The devil created a prison world in the form of a small puppet theatre which is the only doorway in or out. Inside the puppet prison is a fake world which prisoners come to believe is their own real world, in this way they are tricked into staying there endlessly searching the great puppet world.

The look.
Tartarus is based on many different places, I have looked at baroque architecture as this is my feeling of what hell would look like, a place of excess and beautiful wonder with a kind of broken jumbled look about it, think an old museum with long red velvet curtains and junk everywhere. Less a place of fear and more just a place someone could get lost in forever.

I looked at babylonian and old sumerian ruins although I only took pieces of babylonian architecture in the end. I looked at specifically old english baroque architecture and prague's many beautiful buildings. My version of hell would incorporate these styles asian and european together. A mish mash of world culture to create the devils fake city.

Other areas have slightly different looks but I'll come to these later.






This was my first mood board, I really felt baroque domes should populate the main cityscape the player sees upon entering tartarus. With it being a kind of half limbo type prison I looked at willow trees being its main type of vegetation  this is certainly not a christian version of a hellfire prison and nor is this hell, my devil old scratch fashioned this realm himself so its design can bend any rules that may constrict my design.

The babylonian black and white image gave me the idea for a series of towers over the city which light this fake world (which obviously has only a fake sun.)

The Tower of Maalik.
The tower of Maalik is based upon the Islamic tale of the angel Maalik who guarded the hellfire with his 19 mysterious followers. His 19 followers are the stone angels atop 19 towers over the great city that light it. The tale of Maalik tells how he told the wicked they must remain in hell as ''they abhorred the truth when the truth was brought to them'' (from the Qur'an)

Maalik will feature in the story. I won't give too much away here but its ethically important. The tower of Maalik will be a playable area.

Another mood board collecting a few ideas for the tower of Maalik and the gardens (more later)

Concept art Depicting the main square of Tartarus, This area will lead to every other area the player will travel too and the player will need to return here a lot to cross over to other paths. While very eastern in style There will be plenty of european baroque references added, This is merely a concept rough

Inspiration.

                                   

                                     

I drew inspiration from journeys architecture Which brought together many aspects of different cultural designs. Their beautiful renditions certainly helped me think about the importance of the shape and form of buildings in regards to play.







I also drew alot of inspiration for my asian/european devil prison from Mike Mignola's concept art for the city of Pandemonium based upon the works of Milton. The domes and intricate details conveyed in silhouette are very powerful and his designs here are just stunning. I think my own city will swap the majesty and roman look for a more scottish look. Epic square cut cliffs and standing stones, While the devil built this prison and would have tartarus built in his own style the prison must serve the function of distantly persuading its prisoners that they are still in their scottish homeland, the areas they are kept will show this more than the city. After all this prison is a vast fake world with its own culture derived from as many religions as have trickster gods.

A few colour palettes for the first area. The one on the left is more for decoration while the one on the right is for the eastern design of Maalik's tower and his guardians. The european sections will have warmer greys.

Sam.

Mood boards (1-4)

 

   Mood boards for LEVIATHAN.

(1-4 in order vertically)

1. This was more of a general mood board, my game summed up in a few pictures with art and inspirations.

2. more of the art style and feel of the game. saturated in black, mystery.

3. Really delving into the feeling of the game, I'm hoping to generate most of this using music rather than visuals.

4. More of the Scottish lonely sea feeling. I want to capture the sort of beautiful archaic mystery that I find in not just the Scottish isles themselves but in its folklore.

Ethics?

                                                                     
      Ethics.

Throughout week four I have been going over what I have done so far and I worked out that the ethics in my game didn't really work. The way I had my game work out meant that one option always seemed the more obvious choice and the other was almost hidden encouraging the player down a certain route within the game. The game almost played out like I was intentionally trying to trick the player into making a certain choice then later revealing that their was an alternate choice. this of course is not how an ethical game should play.

from what I understand a good ethical game should clearly give a player multiple choices and not judge him whatever he should choose. if the player chooses to do evil the game should not judge the player evil, there should be no good and evil bar, instead the game should provide some sort of feedback that enables the player to reflect on their own actions.

The player should not be punished for doing evil or rewarded for doing good but should be able to achieve the same goals in game through very different methods. neither good or evil should prove easier to play as players do not play games ethically. people don't sit down and switch on a game to think ethically instead they play strategically seeking to complete puzzles in whatever game that may be, in this way an ethical game must be similar in the good and bad choices, one or the other should never make the player succeed less, they should be the same and yet communicate back to the player the effects their different choices have made on the game clearly without the game making judgement.

I have spent a hefty amount of time sifting through game ethics by Sicart and judging other so called ethical games such as the cat and the coup and the majesty of colours seeking to create a fair ethical game that's fun but will allow a player to perceive the results of there own actions.

One of the elements I'm really thinking of introducing is choices that are both good and evil so that the player must choose the lesser of two evils. This to me is the ultimate example of ethical choice as games often portray good choices as solely good and evil as solely evil but life does not work this way and often our choices carry a bit of both

SAM.

Miltons leviathan.

Its nearing the end of  the week and all the individual sprites and art assets have been built, I think next week will be more theory and really nailing how I want this game to play. I'll be doing a few bits and pieces with sound and the background style, at this point I just want to get all the little pieces of leviathan together ready for white boxing,  playtesting will be very important and I really want to start this process over Christmas so I really need the basics put together by then.

Some exciting things in the works.

This is some pages from my copy of Miltons paradise lost regarding the leviathan. the art is by Gustave Dore and is part of my research not just because of the tonal qualities in the picture but also how he frames the vast leviathan, its given me an idea for a similar in game shot. Miltons writing has really helped me think about my game in more of a visual perspective, miltons writing seems very visual to me and replicating this slightly could improve my writing, something to experiment with.