The art style for the environment in my game "Change our Fate" should be relatively simple and have a few distinguishable features in each game scene that present how our planet is changing as a result of climate change. I don't want the details to be overcomplicate as the I think the focus should be on the narrative and in-game decision making.
As I have designed this game to be 2D and side scrolling, layered elements fading into the background could work well in presenting the idea of a changing WORLD, rather than just one specific place. I have tried to visualise this in my own environment designs. For example, in the image below, there are 4 layers: The foreground which is the platform the character will move on, two hills fading into the back and a city peeking over the hilltop.
This tells the player more about the scenes location. Its distance from the city and the hills suggest that it is a rural setting. There is limited colour and detail so there is not too much to look at. This helps to get the player to notice the few KEY details that I really want them to see, which is the location of the city and wind turbines over the hills.
Here are some examples of games that have styles I think would be appropriate for my game idea.
I think that these styles are appropriate and effective for my game environments because they use very simple colour palettes to make up beautiful environments that still do not distract from the foreground. The detail is limited but they are still visually stunning.
I have explored some colour palette creation with my games tone and player experience in mind, supported by colour theory. For each environment change I have created simple colour swatches that represent the tone and feelings I mean to evoke through the visuals.
And here is my chosen key palette for each setting: The basic game environment, the loss outcome environment and the win environment. I have included the colour values ready for it to be implemented into my games design document.
