Friday 12/3/21 - Atmosphere in games

When looking back over my influences I realised that games also have made an impact. Whilst they aren't traditional sources for inspiration I felt that certain games that told a story had a very similar effect to films however, unlike films they are a lot more immersive and interative because you are making the decisions. The story feels a lot more personal if the game successfully creates a connection between yourself and the characters you play as. It provides a different kind of insight than a film that I feel can be just as great of a storytelling medium. Two games in particular have been very inspiring, Halo ODST and Alien Isolation, most notably for the atmosphere these games create and the immersion into the story you play through. I wanted to explore how the creators of the games did this and to get better depth to the games outside of my own experience, so I turned to looking at video essays to gain a better insight.

Halo ODST

With Halo ODST it was how different the game felt from traditional action games, a good portion of the game was spent wandering the streets of a war torn city a good few hours after the fighting. The city is much like what you'd expect to see in a futuristic depiction of Earth, neon signs everywhere alongside very sleek skyscrapers and buildings. However, it's all lifeless and covered in debris from the battles that took place earlier. Visually it is very beautiful and easily shows the type of visual style and aesthetic I like. Having the player walk through the streets after the battle works well with the slow pace, it allows you to take in everything around you without the distractions of fighting or focusing on the action. It also helps by placing the player alone, the lack of companions whilst searching the streets really push the isolated atmosphere and calm after the storm.

Alongside this is a beautiful score with some elements of jazz that add to the atmosphere the game is trying to portray. I found that when listening to the soundtrack I could imagine different narratives or ideas with a similar atmosphere. One piece in particular that I like would be Deference for Darkness

The narrative uses all of these aspects to successfully create the atmosphere it wants to. By being mostly after the conflict, the player can piece together the events that happened and it traces back to the idea of building suspence by leaving behind clues without giving away all the information or leaving zero information whatsoever.

I watched these two videos on ODST to help my understanding so I could better explain my thoughts on the game and its atmosphere.

For the second video I looked specifcally at the segment from 6:13 to 15:49

Alien Isolation

Alien Isolation takes a very similar approach to Alien (1979) with how it looks at not giving away all the information and leaving subtle clues at the start. However, at this point in time most people would know about the Alien and would have seen one of the films. The game can't fully rely on the mystery of what the Alien is, whilst it still takes a similar approach for suspense near the beginning it utilises other methods throughout.

The atmosphere and suspense comes from the idea of a haunted house, the station the player wanders trying to escape is empty and isolated. The station often uses a white colour scheme which makes it feel very sterile like hospitals or traditional space stations, but it also looks lived in with the scattered picutres from residents or different objects you'd find in your home. It feels like all signs of life just vanished in an instant without any time to clean up. It feels like the station has descended into chaos but at the same time there is an eerie calm and silence prevalent, like the calm before the storm.

The game heavily uses the feeling the claustrophobia throughout, the player often has to crawl through small vents or hide in lockers in order to stay alive or get to the next location. When they find larger open spaces it feels like an escape and a chance to breathe, but it also makes the player feel vulnerable. They now can be attacked from nearly any angle, even in these open spaces the vulnerability makes the player want to hide in the corners or the smaller spaces.

Lighting is another key feature, even in rooms that are well illuminated you now feel paranoid that you will be seen by one of the many threats aboard this station. Equally in the very dark areas you are afraid of what could be hiding there, it's this neverending cycle of fear and paranoia. Then there are some moments where the game uses flashing lights from alarms, this helps to induce stress, urgency and tension. You can't see too well and the sound of the blaring alarms doesn't help as that draws in attention.

Sound is very important, the player wants silence as any sound will draw the Alien to them. This is where the game once again utilises the idea of information that is key in suspense. Many times throughout the game it'll instill fear because you can hear things such as the Alien running around the vents or androids patrolling the corridors, but you can't see them. It makes the slightest sounds give you anxiety that it's the Alien behind you. It makes you use your imagination to make everything feel worse. It plays into fear of the unknown, a very common practice in the horror genre. Thankfully, the sound design is of a high quality. Players can learn what the sounds are if they pay enough attention, they can figure out which sounds belong to which threat and which aren't actually a threat at all. It rewards them in a way but at the same time makes them fear these specific sounds even more. The game also uses sounds with the save system, the beeps of the stations bring a sigh of relief as these save points feel like a brief spot to rest. However, even then they aren't truly safe.

Then there is another important aspect, the idea of hope and escape. From the very beginning of the game you want to escape this place. The goal is always trying to quickly get out and survive but the game throws many hurdles throughout to slow the player down. There are many moments of false hope but the player is trying desperately to hold on to them because they want an escape from the nightmare.

I used this video as a reference for the information:

Overall I hope to implement these ideas into my short film, it's given me a greater insight as to how I can create suspense and what elements are key for this. I found the idea of both games interesting as they both take place after the main conflict and events. They also give similar yet also very different atmospheres with the feeling of isolation, the main difference is the aspect of horror. Halo ODST focuses more on the mystery whereas Alien Isolation is much more focused on the feeling of fear and anxiety. However both perfectly create the kind of atmosphere they want alongside the idea of suspense and the calm before a storm. I really want to focus on the metaphorical sense of a calm before the storm.