Environmental Storytelling

Narrative

I believe we have created a narrative from our environments because all of our environments link together well using environmental storytelling. Our lore of the environments are that a corrupted book has infected and corrupted the world, as it has grown and taken over. One environment includes the corrupted book itself, another second library which links to the corrupted book environment, and the final room which is a camper room where a family has found shelter. Below is a concept floor plan our group has created to show how each room will intersect with each other. This floor plan was created early on in the development stage of this project, and this is the vison we had for the rooms to connect to each other. As theoretically, we wanted to make the player believe they could walk through each room and explore each environment.

Lore

The story we are trying to tell within these environments is that the corrupted book has emerged and has taken over these environments. It is set in the present day, with the world becoming infected and corrupted from this book. Roots are growing out of the walls and floor, and a family has taken shelter within these environments, and has found safety from the outside world. The library is part of a mansion, in which someone who was very rich lived at. However, they succumbed to the corrupted book, and their life was taken. Thus, allowing a family to take shelter in the mansion. Although, the corrupted book has started to grow roots throughout the world and humans must fight back to not allow them to be killed by the corrupted book, as it seeks to take over the entire world. There is still electricity within the world. However, it is not at full power. As in my environment there are wall lights which are still working, but not all of them are working. So, an extra detail which was added was that the family must use portable devices such as torches and lamps to be able to light the environment. Another detail, which was added was the particle effects, which shows that the family has been fighting back against the roots of the corrupted book, which are growing through the walls and underneath the floors. Additionally, the door which is barricaded leads to the main room of our environments, where the corrupted book has emerged.

Furthermore, we wanted to show some details about the person who owned the mansion. For example, they have a library in their mansion, which shows that they liked to read. Whilst owning a grand piano, which showed that they liked to play the instrument. Additionally, this person also liked art, as there are busts of Napoleon and Emperor Augustus in the library, and paintings on the first floor of the library.

Environmental Details

In my environment I have used decals, assets and particle effects. I had planned to use all of these, to be able to fully tell what story my environment is conveying. As within, my environment, I have placed leakage decals on the walls, sleeping bag assets to show that a family has used this location for shelter, and fire particle effects to show that the roots of the infected book have been attacked to show that the people there have fought back against the infection. Other decals include dirt, and rubbish which have been placed on the floors and walls. Additionally, I have found a lot more assets which have been placed across the whole environment, to reinforce the narrative of the environment.