My role in Star Gazing

This project was created in collaboration with a peer who handled audio and vector art. My goal for this project was to utilize the multi-media strengths of video games to create a cohesive, historical experience.

• System design: I researched game design of the DOS Era of gaming to be accurate to source material
• Content design: I researched the renaissance era to create a historically accurate experience which captures the immagination of the player

System Design

To create a strong atmosphere, I had to form a solid understanding of DOS games. Digital archives proved incredibly useful to allow me to study the differences between DOS gaming and today. A take-away from my research is that this era follows a subtractive philosophy of design. For example, where you would see multiple screens of menu elements, a DOS game would condense into one where necessary.

This was implemented with credits appearing on the title screen which enters straight into gameplay with no tutorial or cutscene. Upon ending the game, the music returns on the end screen and continues playing when the player returns to the title screen, with credits playing just as a player would expect upon finishing a game.

Content Design

Plenty of research also went into the cultural contexts of the renaissance era. I poured into illuminated manuscripts just as Obsidian Entertainment had before releasing Pentiment the year before. To create an atmosphere which immerses the player, the world must be believable, and in this case historically accurate. We poured ourselves into cosmology so that we could build our mechanics off a solid foundation. If we hadn't, progression would have been based on an inaccurate understanding of celestial spheres.

An element which now feels crucial to the game is the inclusion of “drollery,” the doodles of creatures found in margins of illuminated manuscripts. I created sprite work of authentic drolleries which appear when a constellation is formed. They connect the player to a time they cannot relate to with an emotion all people understand: childlike imagination.