#45 Coordination and Polishing: Ocularis

Posted bygsoennPosted inOne Quest Design A WeekTags:, , , ,

A second quest prototype with the “Ocularis-Engine”!

Coordination and Polishing

If you understand quests as chains/trees/graphs of events and goals and the quest designer as the one responsible for such an entire experience, then seeing a coordinating aspect to that role is not far fetched. After all, it is not the quest designer who provides character models, locations, cutscenes or visual effects to name but a few, but the other, adjacent departments. That is why I find one point in CD Projekt RED’s description of the job particularly sensible:

Integrating delivered assets (like gameplay elements, locations, characters, dialogue etc.) into a seamless, engaging and unique experience.

CD Projekt RED, “Intern Quest Designer – Job Description” Link

Besides ordering and managing all kinds of assets, the integration of those assets is key. And most often, integration is not plug-and-play, but a lot of tiny adjustments and feedback rounds/iterations need to be done. This is why I consider polishing the second aspect to this whole matter.

But now on to the practical stuff!

Ocularis Prototype Stories: The Cursed Lute

I’ve made another quest prototype, this time focusing on some more supplemental “assets”, like a soundtrack from freesound.org, postprocessing boxes placed in the world, overal color tint and visual effects.

The quest starts again with a classic quest-giver situation, which is already done in my scenario – the player is already through the usually course of “I’m getting this quest from you”. You can already see the turquoise color tint.
When the player enters the castle area, some heavy postprocessing effects kick in, among them most prominently some chromatic aberration. This atmosphere is reinforced by a lower pitched version of the already dark soundtrack.
The lute is cursed, which is why all its materials are now a dark cell shader. The fairies have been modified and are now colored blue-violet-like, adding to the “cursed feeling”.

As you can see, I’ve employed some audiovisual techniques to create this unique atmosphere. In the following playthrough you’ll notice how the dialogue adds an extra layer to that – I’ll admit I’d really like to hear our Ocularis-Voice Actors speak that 😀 With some more design elements and a lot of polish this might well turn into a cool mysterious quest. I think.

Feedback Suggestions

  • What game development role is dependent on Quest Designers? Who waits for a quest design to be done to be able to continue himself?
  • What visual effect would you remove/modify/add?

Conclusion

I have no regrets turning that chromatic aberration so high. Love it. Hope you do too and will now be using it much more often!

Until then, have a good time!

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