Redfall’s Environmental Storytelling Taps Into the Corruption of Safe Havens | IGN First
So far, Arkane Studios’ gameplay grounds have been set in either a fantasy, bizarre future or a degraded steampunk city. I chose to approach a twisted reality. Art of Arkane Austin In an interview with her director, Karen Segars, IGN shared her inspiration for Redfall’s scenic island town setting, her solutions to design challenges and co-op mechanics, and her work through art. Learn more about how to tell the story of Redfall.
According to Segars, the journey to design Redfall began with a trip to New England that began in Bangor, Maine and ended a few days later in Boston, Massachusetts. It was October, so it was the perfect time to collect his close-up of the fall foliage and the overall vibe of Redfall’s Halloween setting. Redfall isn’t based on a specific location in England, but is a close amalgamation of locations like Camden, Bar He Harbor, Old He Orchard Beach and Acadia National Park, Segars said. increase.
Segars said the location of landmarks in the district was an important consideration, not only for aesthetics, but also for Redfall’s gameplay design. Redfall marks his two major development milestones for Arkane. It’s not only the studio’s first major open-world game, it’s also the first optional co-op campaign.
“One of the challenges is making sure players know where they are. [We] We wanted to have different points of interest around the map so that you could orient yourself wherever you are.” Segars. Right? Our tech team actually built the streaming system. We’ve built a time system, these are some of the core features we needed to make this game.As far as the differences from previous games we’ve made, they’re probably what we undertook They were two of the biggest. Prey had time zones, but were much more isolated on the space station [versus] People running through town. ”
The cycle of day and night affects Redfall’s gameplay. During the day, the vampire god, the Black Sun, looms over town and speaks to players who stare at the eclipse for too long. At night, vampires become more active. According to Segars, another typical technique used to keep the player on the ground is using a directional light. They advanced the timing of sunrises and sunsets to raise the sun and moon into the sky faster and preserve vital light.
Other major points to orient the player include the lighthouse (very New England, as Seegers put it) and major district landmarks like District 2’s orchard. Redfall is played on his two different maps. The first is home to a more dense town setting, while the second has farms and other aspects of country life.But one of the elements Seagers likes in the design is his different churches. In his two hands-on sessions for IGN with Redfall, I found it to boast a fair amount of storytelling with its art and environments, a hallmark of Arkane.
“There are celebrities [church] District 2 may have shown you an eerie bell tower in one of its first gameplay trailers. The storytelling that happens in them is a juxtaposition of what is supposed to be a calm and safe space. said Mr. It will work. ”
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Another important stylistic choice for Redfall is its cutscenes. Rather than being fully animated, the player adopts a storybook-like style that emphasizes specific moments in his character’s narration.
“[Creative Director Ricardo Bare] I used good words for them. Those are sideways flashes,” he explained Segars.our big priority is [since] You can change outfits in Redfall, so I wanted these scenes to reflect that. I’ve played many games where I’ve customized my character, but it’s a cutscene and they’re wearing base outfits. You can see it. I chose a still image to capture the essence of it.
“When you think about cinematics, it’s a huge animation job. Doing it with poses allows you to capture the emotion of that particular scene, and you double down on poses and facial expressions to create this kind of mood.” not only have to get too busy with all these characters [being animated]You can play with up to 3 friends, so most of the time you’ll see 4 on your screen. All that movement is just a minor distraction in telling the story. So the poses, facial expressions, and dialogue really sell the mood we were trying to convey. ”
Segars explained that named NPCs will fill the hero character’s spot if no friends are joining, or if the maximum number of friends are not joining. You and your future team are heroes, but civilians are also part of the fight to take back the island.
Redfall releases on PC and Xbox on May 2nd. For more on Arkane’s upcoming vampire hunting FPS, check out his IGN First Hero feature for Layla, Jacob, Devinder, and Remi. If you’re curious about how Redfall will play solo, we have a preview of that as well.
Miranda Sanchez is IGN’s Executive Editor of Guides, podcast unlockedShe is a big fan of stationery and fountain pens.you can find her sometimes twitter.
