###### tags: `Interdisciplinary Practice` `Games Art` `MA Games Art`
(https://hackmd.io/@JunoFBX/HJBQUp9R0)
### Interdisciplinary Game Practice 1 (1J7V0030_2425_9F)
### Games Art (Masters)
### Junaid Sheikh

# The language of Environments and their role in storytelling
### Speculative Futures

## 1. Abstract

Storytelling has served as a powerful tool for numerous artists, performers and entertainers to engage and leave a lasting impression on their audiences. As the gaming industry grows, so do the expectations of an even larger, more immersive environment which puts a strain on the effectiveness of building a strong, captivating narrative.

This project's intention is to explore the application of storytelling within environments by focusing on level design, post-processing, and atmospheric generation techniques in the production pipeline.

## 1.1 Introduction
Speculative Futures is a thematic that explores current practices within the industry and challenges these, speculating on current methodologies by finding new relevant innovations to these practices and how they have impacted the development of work. It remains essential to evaluate the narrative potential of environments in games, particularly as the popularity of open-world exploratory games continues to grow.

As environments have scaled up in size, they tend to feel more impersonal, as landscapes can be generated easily and may not provide informed responses that are characterised by our real-world environments. To tackle this, 'multiple channels of sensory information' [1] can be used to provide players with enough stimulation to remove the possibility of imagination filling the blanks.

### 1.2 Project Brief
Speculative Futures as a project provides an opportunity to assess the viability of games art pipeline practices used for twenty-first-century digital games. This will allow for me to explore a variety of influences that could advance my creative and technical practices for Games Art.

For this project, my objective is to develop a stylized fighter fantasy game with gothic influences. I will emphasize the creation of compelling thematic narratives that engage players through thoughtfully designed concepts and levels, fostering a connection to a relatable virtual, stylised environment.

### 1.3 Project Goals
My aim is to explore existing practices for developing a fighter game, finding new relevant innovations to those practices and technologies that impact those practices.

- Investigate industry workflows that support the development of story-driven environment development.
- Explore the historical development of fighter games, innovations to technology through the eras and the current climate of fighting games.
- Create environments informed by thorough research.
- Learn techniques for creating stylised environments.
- Learn of Nanite and Lumen systems and uses of their implementation.

# 2. Literature Review
## The Influence of Technological Innovations on the Development of Fighting and Beat-em-Up Games

### 2.1 Introduction

Fighting and beat-em-up games have been central to the video game industry since the rise of their popularity in the 1980s. Originating from arcades in the 1980s, they have grown to provide photorealistic experiences, drastically reinventing the capabilities of games and their potential. Technological advancements across the ages have played a vital role in the evolution of fighter games, impacting realism, character designs, environment designs and player immersion.

This literature review will explore the evolution of fighting games in three separate parts, focusing on the impact technology in each time period and examining working practices that shaped the genre, before concluding how further innovations could be made in the future.

### 2.2 Setting the foundation: Pixel Fighter Games in the 1980s

The origins of fighting games starts as early on as 1984, with the release of *Karate Champ* (1984) and *Kung-Fu Master* (1984), which set the pathway for later games. The limitations of hardware meant games of the time were predominantly 2D sprites with staggered animations. Environment design for these games were very static and repetitive, serving primarily as backdrops for the fighting scene.

Despite the limitations, these games became popularised for their competitive appeal. These games were the first to introduce key elements to fighter game composition, such as health bars, combo moves and special moves, which are staples of the fighting genre today. The technological limitations of the time meant certain considerations were not particularly engaging beyond gameplay and any form of storytelling would have been through dialogue as opposed to intuitive environment design.

### 2.3 The Golden Age: Arcades in the 1990s

Developments in technology revolutionised the fighting genre, bringing iconic titles like *Street Fighter II* (1991) and *Mortal Kombat* (1992) to the arcade scene. Improvements in hardware allowed for smoother animations, more detailed character sprites, and lively environments. The introduction of '8-way directional movement' by Takashi Nishiyama [2] allowed for more diverse movement.

*Mortal Kombat (1992)* utilised the digitisation of live actors to kickstart the beginnings of motion capture data, a first for fighting games. This brought a surreal level of realism to the arcade screens and allowed developers to achieve a new level of detail that was not possible with 8-bit games. More intricate designs for characters emerged, allowing for more memorable character designs to be concepted.

Environment design also evolved significantly. *Street Fighter II* (1991) brought the innovation of a visually animated background that was separate from the fighting area but brought liveliness to the scene. Other games like *Streets of Rage* (1991) featured scrolling backgrounds, interactive objects and dynamic lighting, creating heightened immersion. Despite the significant improvements to set design and graphics quality, majority of arcade games of the time featured linear level designs and repetitive assets.

### 2.4 A shift towards realism: 3D Fighters in late 1990s and early 2000s

A shift towards 3D marked a new era for fighting games as titles like *Tekken* (1994) and *Virtua Fighter* (1993) pioneered the use of polygonal graphics. This allowed for the development of fully 3D environments and character models with smoother animations with realistic physics. This further boosted the capabilities of making exceptionally realstic fighting games with depth to the gameplay.

Environment art benefitted from polygonal modelling processes as it allowed for 3D rendering of destructible assets, dynamic camera angles and more lively environment layouts that could engage with the player even more. The increased power of consoles like the PlayStation brought these experiences from the arcade to peoples' homes and with the ability to play these games in multiplayer, fighter games became an exceptionally popular staple in many households.

### 2.5 Modern Era: 2010s to Present

Current technological capabilities in the modern era of fighting games have brough the development of advanced AI, hyper-realistic graphics and online playability on a global scale. The popularity of fighter games have transcended the arcade and home tournaments and now has reached the E-Sports scene, generating a huge amount of popularity around games such as *Tekken 7* (2015) and *Mortal Kombat 11* (2019).

Character design has reached a new level, allowing for developers to design them with exceptionally high levels of attention to detail, crafting their own unique cultural references and unique personalities for each character.

Environments have also become more immersive by allowing developers to use advanced rendering techniques like ray-tracing and creating dynamic weather systems like volumetric fog. Fighting stages fully incorporate interactibles and destructible terrain which contributes even more to player immersion and engagement. The online multiplayer scene has transformed the possibilities when it comes to the experiences players have with fighting games. The integration of these technologies and a shifting focus to the competitive tournament scene makes fighting games more accessible and enjoyable across the globe.

With these innovations, it is likely that as fighting games continue to develop, so will the requirement to reach peak realism. Despite the success of realistic games, various other names have taken the spotlight of fighting games with a stylised approach.

*Streets of Rage 4* (2020) still prides itself as a sidescroller 2D beat-em-up style game with even more enhancements to its stylised approach. With clean graphics, fluid animations and unique environments, each stage have their own interactible elements, signified by thicker line art and twinkling effects to convey that information to the player.

### 2.6 Conclusion

The advancement of fighting and beat-em-up style games can be directly linked to the advancements of technology through the ages. Through tecnological advancement, game developers have been able to develop work from pixel sprites towards hyper-realistic graphics that exhibit unique levels of personality, atmosphere and engagement for the player. The fighting genre has significantly improved since the implementation of better hardware and rendering options, consoles capable of bringing the fighting entertainment scene to the home, motion capture allowing for even more realistic animations and interactions, and the opportunity for digital software to allow for stylised generation of digital environment and character art.

These significant developments have massively changed the fighting game scene allowing for games such as *Guilty Gear -Strive-* (2021) to use stylised shaders and create exceptionally intricate rigs for characters, even allowing for fans of the games to start creating their own re-skins or create educational material based off game rigs [3]. Further innovations to the fighting game genre could allow for photogrammetry implementation as the use of VR and AR technology immerses us even further.

Games that have engaged the player in physical movement like the boxing minigame in *Wii Sports* (2006) gave players the ability to fight like a boxer with the use of a remote and nunchuck which could be re-invented for the VR world, potentially innovating a new possibility for fighting games. As technology advances, the dependency on motion capture and desire to endlessly immerse the audiences with captivating visuals, fluid animations and immersive environments could bring the fighting scenes even closer than we could imagine.

# 3. Methodology

To fully engage with the project, I have established a methodology that serves as a step-by-step guide to achieving my project's objectives.
This approach will enable me to concentrate on researching relevant materials, developing an environment diorama based on specific inspirations, creating my own assets, and planning for the future development of this project upon reaching those milestones.

### 3.1 Developing a storytelling focused workflow

To fully understand the professional development of games, I have chosen to look at the GDC talk 'Dead Space: Harnessing the Power of Light and Darkness' (Goudreault, 2023), on the development of *Dead Space* remake.

#### The Concept of Establishing "Art Pillars"

Throughout the entire presentation, Guillaume Goudreault emphasised the importance of having structure when developing a large scale project, through the use of "Art Pillars". These pillars would serve as a foundation for understanding major tasks within the games pipeline, providing the ability for artists to understand the vision for the project and make better informed decisions when extending the application of art pillars to their own work.

Applying these "Art Pillars" at each step of your workflow can help make certain that you understand the following:

- What you are trying to accomplish
- The visual style
- The audience and its thematic

The 3 "Art pillars" that contributed to *Dead Space*'s (2023) Art Direction were':

- Horror - how the choices will impact storytelling, focusing on the element of horror.
- Immersion & Believability - captivating the player in a relatable world, not overloading with unrelatable designs.
- Creating a lived-in world - set 500 years in the future, but the environment is weathered, garbage and discarded apparel litter the corridors which help to add a sense of relativity and aid the audience in breaking down the environment through context.

#### Lighting Art Direction for *Dead Space* (2023)

When considering the correct lighting for horror scenes within the game, Goudreault explained three important Art Pillars of *Dead Space*'s Lighting Direction:

- Horror Lighting
- Limited Colour palette
- Diegetic Lighting

##### Pillar 1: Horror lighting
By looking at thematic examples from the likes of *Se7en* (film, 1995), *Alien* (film, 1979) and Pandorum (film, 2009), the key points were to focus on pools of light, effective use of dark environments, hard lighting and atmosphere.

Pools of light are an 'effective means of tourism' [4], guiding the player and controlling the players visual field can be a powerful narrative tool. Creating pockets of darkness can create an effectively uncomfortable atmosphere, keeping the players on edge. Hard lighting can help to reflect the environment's tension in game and keep the players' attentions focused on a point of interest. Atmospheric ambient fog can provide soft movement for the environment, create density and change the player's experience when layered with hard lighting.

These powerful uses of lighting can help build a narrative through function rather than dialogue, prompting the player to understand their environment based off the availability or lack of lighting. As well as this, the player's experience can change drastically when they are given or had their senses taken away, which is effortlessly done through lighting controlled environment of *Dead Space*.

##### Pillar 2: Limited Colour Palette

The limiting of a colour scheme kept the player immersed in an oppressive experience, supporting the dark nature of the storytelling within *Dead Space*. The key points for creating the horror thematic within *Dead Space* were using Neutral Lighting and Colour Coding.

Colour coding allowed for game developers to give hints to the player and provide information by design principles. For example: A blue door is unlocked; orange light is locked. Keeping to rules of colour palettes and assigning functions to colours in game could inform the player of critical information when necessary. These sources of information allow for the environment to become the focus for the player, instead of dialogue or HUD popups, further immersing the player in the environment as all the tools at their disposal is within the environment entirely.

##### Pillar 3: Diegetic Lighting

The focus of Diegetic lighting aims to understand lighting that originates within the world of the story. For *Dead Space* it was the practical sources of lights like floodlights, and dynamic lights such as flickering lights and quaranting lighting that helped to provide a realistic environment that was dynamic enough to provide a sense of life and aid in plot devices like jumpscares.

#### Key points of the *Dead Space* GDC Talk by Guillaume Goudreault, (2023)

- It is vital to establish "Art Pillars" as soon as possible to understand the importance of sticking to a thematic and creating a well informed response to the desired outcome.
- Understanding three core values (What you are trying to accomplish, the visual style, the audience and its thematic) can help to focus the project more if it is lacking direction.
- Lighting can be used as a narrative device, giving information through colour coding and as a tool for plot development. You can remove a player's source of light to challenge them and force them to adapt to a unique scenario.

---
### 3.2 Developing my understanding of stylised workflows

When considering a stylised workflow, it is important to understand core principles that factor into creating a game environment that replicates stylised aesthetics. In order to fully understand stylised art, it is important to consider what is stylised art and how it is characterised.

Stylised art is an artistic interpretation that emphasises the deliberate use of abstract and exaggerated forms and is often simplified to achieve a distinctive and visually appealing aesthetic. This form of expression often allows for an artist to convey moods, themes or narratives in a more expressive and engaging manner. This constrasts with realism which aims to depict a world that replicates the environment around us. It is important to prioritise a unique interpretation and focus on visual storytelling for maximum potential for developing a stylistic approach, especially for environments.

#### 3.2.1 Creating a Stylised Environment

In order to do this, I will look at the workflow of Victoria Zavhorodnia, an artist who developed their own stylised environment scene (Zavhorodnia, V. Creating stylized Violet House in substance 3D Painter & Unreal Engine. October 2022).

Zavhorodnia began her process by looking for an inspiring piece of stylised concept art. She explained that despite the necessity of compiling plentiful reference imagery, she was confident in producing a 3D diorama based off one particular piece of artwork by David Merritt.

She began the process by producing block-out that helped convey those forms in Unreal Engine 5 and set the composition for the scene. After producing the block-out, she began to add extra details within Maya, working with an iterative workflow until she achieved the desired outcome.

*Figure 3.2A: Iterative workflow of Victoria Zavhorodnia, her project 'Creating stylized Violet House in substance 3D Painter & Unreal Engine', October 2022.*

For Zavhorodnia, working with a modular approach to building an environment set worked best, especially for stylised modelling. She would create a few smaller modular kits that could be pieced together to make the rest of the object. She separated each part of the model into six groups, allowing her to focus on efficient sculpting, better texture quality and ease for texturing her work later down the line. When it came to making her work more stylised, she brought her work into ZBrush and used the "TrimDynamic" and "OrbCrack" brushes to imitate the flatness of planks and cracks for detailing.

*Figure 3.2B: Utilisation of the "TrimDynamic" and "OrbCrack" brushes in ZBrush to create stylised detailing on simple models.*

After creating her structure, Zavhorodnia focused on the development of her natural terrain, but not without some challenges. She applied the workflow of *The Environment Artist’s Survival Kit* (Andre Felipe, 2021) and Marpetak Dev's TreeIt tutorials but was unable to find a solution until she received feedback from the community. Using Photoshop, she created a leaf mask, made a tree in TreeIt and then using a Billboard shader modifier, was able to create hand-painted trees with ease.

*Figure 3.2C: Implementation of the Photoshop leaf mask with the Billboard-shader node in TreeIt.*

Following this development, she moved onto creating grass and texturing the main structure. Zavhorodnia textured her building in Substance 3D Painter through the utilisation of fill layers with different smart masks and for an additional painted effect, a slope blur filter was used.

One important thing I noted was Zavhorodnia preferrence to work in Unreal Engine 4 for rendering her lighting as 'Lumen doesn't work well with stylized environments, giving very dark shadows that are hard to fight'(Zavhorodnia. V, 2022). This was interesting to note as Lumen was something I had previously taken note of when working with realistic modelling kits, but not for stylised ones. To simulate a good lighting element for her scene, she applied a stylised fluffy tree shader and used a leaf shape mask to help apply soft lighting to her scene.

The core points from her article were to work in a modular fashion, "Keep it Simple" and not to use Lumen when creating stylised environments, instead try generating lighting using softer, more traditional techniques rather than Lumen.

#### 3.2.3 Core Characteristics of Stylised Games Art

There is a heavy focus on the freedom of expression with stylised art, allowing for artists to take a unique approach on characters and environments. After looking at the workflow of stylised games artist Victoria Zavhorordnia, I have gained a better understanding of how to create an engaging stylised environment. Below are some of the core characteristics of stylised games art that I was able to understand from analysing the composition of stylised games art:

- **Shape language** in environments are often considered open for interpretation for the artist as the aim of stylised art styles is to create something unique. By modifying shape language, it is easier to convey information and emotions to the players through exaggerated forms.

- **Simplified or exaggerated forms** develop a sense of character and uniqueness. These forms may not look realistic but convey its own concept or mood.

- **Exaggerated Proportions** help to enhance their visual impact or emphasise the importance in relation to the environment. For example, a giant, decorative tree might serve as a landmark or place of importance without necessarily giving too many context clues to a player.

- **Colour palettes** for stylised environments may use saturated, vibrant colours for environments that are calming and jolly, or dull and gloomy colour tones to emphasise a more hostile and spooky environment. Through exaggerated use of colour palettes we can conjure specific emotions or atmospheres more easily than with realistic colour palettes.

- **Stylised texturing** is often hand-painted, focusing on expressive artistic style over photorealistic details. Eliminating photorealsitic detailing allows for textures can be created with a more story-driven approach without conveying information to the player.

### 3.3 Creating my methodology

After thorough analysis of both the GDC Vault talk given by Guillaume Goudreault and the stylised workflow analysis of Victoria Zavhorodnia, the importance of developing a workflow with a strong emphasis on structure and planning was evident.

Watching the *Dead Space* GDC Talk (2023) and learning of stylised workflows from Victoria Zavhorodnia, prompted me to set myself a structured plan, based off the workflow of Guillaume Goudreault to help maintain control over my project.

Accounting for my future developments, the core "Art Pillars" for my project are constituted of the following three pillars being constructed:

- **What you are trying to accomplish:** Create an environment diorama of a fighter game stage, set in a crypt.
- **The visual style:** An informed, stylised approach to gothic architecture.
- **The audience and its thematic:** Gothic. An immersive, gritty fighter game paired with a classical gothic aesthetic, reminiscent of vampiric culture. Having an asset rich, detailed set for a fighter game stage would create a more immersive experience to engage with.

# 4. Results

## 4.1 Research

To begin the development process, it was necessary to gather reference materials and compile them into a mood board. This approach not only encourages me to source materials that align with the project's set theme but also ensures there is consistency with the design principles of fighter games.

### 4.1.1 Moodboard and Visual Research

The key forms of media that developed the project's aesthetical vision were *Castlevania* (Animated series, 2017), vampire survival game *V Rising* (2024), hit fighting game *Mortal Kombat 11* (2019) and the well-received RPG game *Baldurs Gate 3* (2023). These compilations of mood board references can be accessed in the appendix section.

#### Historical Research

To focus on creating informed responses to Gothic Architecture, it was necessary to research a variety of real-life historical landmarks and sites and compile moodboards detailing specific points of interest that could be useful during my modelling process.

Below is a list of the most notable places, along with a moodboard of locations I took interest in when investigating gothic architecture.

##### Locations
- Pont del Bisbe - Barcelona [5]
- Catacombs of Paris - France [6]
- Hotel Chappaz, Bezier - France [7]
- The Angel of Death Victorious (Lakeview Cemetery) - Cleveland,Ohio [8]
- Georgentor (The George Gate), Dresden Castle - Germany [9]
- Salem Monastery & Castle (Kloster and Schloss) - Germany [10]

### 4.3 Environment Concept - Crypt diorama

For the environment development I chose to apply Goudreault's workflow as explained in the GDC talk of *Dead Space* (2023) and created these core "Art Pillars":

- **What you are trying to accomplish:** A 3D stage of a crypt adorned with gothic elements. Key focus on statues representing an evil nature.
- **The visual style:** Stylised but gritty aesthetic for texture process and shader development. Key focus on creating fantasy based elements such as carved spires, gilded decor, skull candles, bookshelves, chandeliers, sarcophagus' and embroidered elements that are significant of stylised 18th century inspired media.
- **The audience and its thematic:** Building on the gothic inspiration, creating assets with strong narrative elements to create an atmospheric experience. The key focus is on the development of architectural elements and supporting assets that could build upon the evil fantasy theme.

*Figure 4.3A: After iterating with concepts and getting feedback, I developed my concept art further.*

### 4.4 3D Modelling

Following Goudreault's workflow as explained in the GDC talk of *Dead Space* (2023), I set three core "Art Pillars" for my 3D art direction:

- **What you are trying to accomplish:** A variety of 3D assets composed of a combination of architectural elements and organic forms, adding a sense of relativity and grandeur to the scene. Key focus on capturing the accuracy of gothic architecture.
- **The visual style:** Keeping models bevelled and low detail so that they can be iterated upon further when adding details in ZBrush.
- **The audience and its thematic:** With a key focus on the development of architectural elements and supporting assets for an evil fantasy theme, the necessary developments would require 3D modelling of engraved pillars, statues etc. to apply the gothic thematic successfully.

Following the core "Art Pillars", the following scene was produced in Autodesk Maya. Focusing on a simplistic, stylised approach, the scene was easily composed of repeatable parts and smooth finished models that could be iterated further with mid-frequency sculpting of details in ZBrush. Below are render of the concepted gothic inspired scene using Arnold Render in Autodesk Maya.

*Figure 4.4A: Light render of the 3D modelled concept for the Crypt stage for a gothic stylised fighter game.*

*Figure 4.4B: Atmospheric render of the 3D modelled concept for the Crypt stage for a gothic stylised fighter game.*

# 5. Future work

Seeing as the development of this project reached 3D asset production, it would be interesting to see how this project could be developed further, following the stylised workflow practices of artists like Victoria Zavhorodnia. With more opportunity, it would be interesting to adapt the workflows of more artists to create a fully stylised scene render and pair the fighter stage with playable characters that are rigged and possibly even have motion capture data recorded of them interacting with environment elements.

Building on the project aims, the workflow was able to successfully produce a body of work that fit the thematic and apply a focus on storytelling. With more time to develop the project further, the opportunity to focus on storytelling devices would become exceptionally easier through the use of trim sheets, high quality texture sets, further planning of colour coding, application of colour palettes to draw out certain emotional responses and a focus on lighting for emphasis on the scene.

# 6. Conclusion

This project highlighted the importance of understanding cultural and technological evolutions within the fighter game genre, expanded upon the workflows of stylised artistry within the games art field and gave insight into professional practices for large scale projects where it is necessary for structure to shape the development of the project. The results of this workflow were small, but the adaptation to a new workflow that is heavily informed by a research based practice was a necessary step for understanding professional practices for environment artists, especially on large scale projects. To develop an entire scene as a single environment artist can be a challenging feat, especially when there are an exceptional amount of environment assets to focus on within fighter game scenes.

Understanding the key composition of the fighter genre was exceptionally important for gaining insight into why items like interactibles exist or why a lively background supports the action taking place. These elements bring life to the scene and expand positively on the player's experience and engagement.

Overall, from this project there have been significant developments in the working practices, with opportunities to experiment with different approaches to modelling, texturing and organising project workflows. The workflow of a stylised game that is also well informed by thematic research can prove challenging, but with the right structure, it can set the foundation for a strong opportunity to develop the project further.

# 7. Bibliography

#### Abstract

[1] Madigan, J. (2015) The psychology of immersion in Video Games, The Psychology of Games. Available at: https://www.psychologyofgames.com/2010/07/the-psychology-of-immersion-in-video-games/ (Accessed: 14 November 2024).

#### Literature Review

[2] Core-A-Gaming (2024) Every Fighting Game Type Explained. YouTube. Available at: https://youtu.be/b4Kc1p6Iat8 (Accessed: 19 December 2024).

[3] Gorlatov, E. (June 2024) Guilty Gear - Potemkin Rig, Evgeny Gorlatov, Guilty Gear - Potemkin RIG. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/VJAoG5 (Accessed: 04 January 2025).

#### Methodology

[4] Goudreault, G. (2023) ‘Dead Space’: Harnessing the Power of Light and Darkness, GDC Vault. Available at: https://gdcvault.com/play/1029020/-Dead-Space-Harnessing-the (Accessed: 08 October 2024).

##### Figure 3.2A, Figure 3.2B, Figure 3.2C
- Zavhorodnia, V. (2022) Creating stylized Violet House in substance 3D Painter & Unreal Engine, Creating Stylized Violet House in Substance 3D Painter & Unreal Engine. Available at: https://80.lv/articles/creating-a-stylized-violet-house-in-substance-3d-painter-unreal-engine/ (Accessed: 02 December 2024).

- Felipe, A. (2021) The environment artist’s survival kit, Stylized Station Community. Available at: https://courses.stylizedstation.com/p/survival-kit (Accessed: 02 December 2024).

#### Results

##### Historical Research

[5] Zavhorodnia, V. (2022) Creating stylized Violet House in substance 3D Painter & Unreal Engine, Creating Stylized Violet House in Substance 3D Painter & Unreal Engine. Available at: https://80.lv/articles/creating-a-stylized-violet-house-in-substance-3d-painter-unreal-engine/ (Accessed: 02 November 2024).

[6] The Paris Catacombs (no date) The Paris Catacombs | Official website. Available at: https://www.catacombes.paris.fr/en (Accessed: December 2024).

[7] Hughie, D. (2016) Hotel Chappaz, Bezier, France, March 2016, Derelict Places - Urban Exploring Forum. Available at: https://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/threads/hotel-chappaz-bezier-france-march-2016.32837/ (Accessed: December 2024).

[8] Ugc (2014) The Haserot angel, Atlas Obscura. Available at: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-haserot-angel-cleveland-ohio (Accessed: December 2024).

[9] Sculpture on the Georgenbau Gates, ‘georgentor’ of Dresden Castle (no date) Adobe Stock. Available at: https://stock.adobe.com/uk/images/sculpture-on-the-georgenbau-gates-also-called-qgeorgentorq-of-dresden-castle-qresidenzschlossq-in-germany/200795081?as_campaign=ftmigration2&as_channel=dpcft&as_campclass=brand&as_source=ft_web&as_camptype=acquisition&as_audience=users&as_content=closure_asset-detail-page (Accessed: December 2024).

[10] Kloster und Schloss Salem: Salem Monastery & Castle, Germany (2023) Architecture Photography by Kristian. Available at: https://architecturephotography.nu/building/kloster-schloss-salem-monastery-castle-germany/ (Accessed: November 2024).

# 8. Appendix

#### Results

#### Thematic Moodboard
*Figure 8A: Mood board of various gothic inspired TV shows and video games with a focus on gothic architecture and underground crypt environments.* [Screenshot].

*Figure 8B: Mood board of thematic research for architectural elements within Gothic architectural styles and stylistic interpretations of gothic glass windows and murals.* [Screenshot].

*Figure 8C: Mood board of statue references, depicting concept art, real statues, poses and evil creature concepts.* [Screenshot].

#### Stylistic Moodboard

*Figure 8D: Moodboard of various stylised fighter games as well as other non fighter games that have interesting stylised shaders.* [Screenshot].

*Figure 8E: Moodboard of Historical sites, all with gothic influences or interesting statue designs that fit the thematic.* [Screenshot].

*Figure 8F: Initial concept art developed for the project, to gain a thematic layout for the project.* [Screenshot].

#### Maya viewport of models

*Figure 8G: Front view of the modelled scene in Autodesk Maya.* [Screenshot].

*Figure 8H: Close up view the modelled scene in Autodesk Maya.* [Screenshot].

*Figure 8I: Side profile screenshot of the modelled scene in Autodesk Maya.* [Screenshot].

*Figure 8J: Top down view showing the modelled scene in Autodesk Maya.* [Screenshot].

#### Additional Renders

*Figure 8K: Rendered view of the Crypt stage with dark lighting, rendered using Arnold in Autodesk Maya.* [Screenshot].

*Figure 8L: Rendered view of the Crypt stage with day lighting, rendered using Arnold in Autodesk Maya.* [Screenshot].

*Figure 8M: Rendered front view of the Crypt stage with dark lighting, rendered using Arnold in Autodesk Maya.* [Screenshot].