Players Perceptions on a Scene

  This thought and concept is a very scrutinised topic and the effect is only really carried out in the sub-conscious of the player unless they apply the utmost scrutiny to the mechanics and ideas behind Evergo.
  There are some scenes in Evergo that we want to really have an effect on the player. The first scenes of the game are very important as it sets the players expectations and feel for the game ahead, so some deep ideas and mechanics need to be thought through to influence the players perception of the scene ahead of them, specifically when they enter a significant room or area. Primary and obvious things that achieve this are things like the shape of the room, the gloominess, the atmosphere e.t.c But delving even deeper into the players sub-concious perception of the scene in front of them involves the mechanics of the brain when an individual sees a piece of artwork, literature or, as we are exploring: a scene. This theory is culturally biased, but only mostly towards Asians (that does sound harsh). Now, most races, especially English, read a piece of writing from the top-left, to the bottom-right, whereas Asians (Chinese not Japanese) will read from the top-right, to the bottom-left. This, in the sub-conscious, also can apply to an image. In a piece of artwork, we usually observe it like a piece of writing: top-left to bottom-right. now if you went and tried this you may notice it or may not because you are now concious of that fact. So when its comes to 'painting a picture' in an important scene from Evergo, this theory/concept is used. So with this implemented, the scene has to be arranged and designed to feed information to the players eyes on their presumed path from top-left to bottom-right. So, if we want to bring out a sense of confusion and messiness, before a feeling of the unknown... we would probably have rather dirty and messy feature on the left wall (to weakly influence confusion and messiness) and then have a corridor leading of to the left (to create a sense of the unknown). This is a basic example and can definitely go deeper, like a  painting within a painting within a painting... psych!
  It may be hard to understand and is a minor-looking idea but in the end it is effective to use and can deeply influence the players feeling about what they see before them.

-Jonathan Ravesteyn (Lead 3d modeller, sound engineer, founder)

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