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Before and after

A PRACTICE IN VARYING ENVIRONMENTAL STORYTELLING IN THE SAME SPACE

LEVEL SUMMARY

This project was a practice in environmental storytelling: I built out an interior space and created two variants of the same space by altering the orientation/placement of the assets and the lighting in the environment to depict the aftermath of different events.

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I used Skyrim Creation Kit to build a small farmhouse (original), a burned down version of that farmhouse (variant 1), and a trashed/robbed version of the farmhouse (variant 2).

Loft of Default House

Loft of Variant: Robbed

Loft of Variant: Burnt

Design Goals & Video Walkthroughs

Overall Design Goal

Build believable spaces that could fit into the Skyrim world that tell different stories based on their environments.

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Environmental Design

Use in-engine assets to build and decorate spaces that show the same space depicting different events and moods through asset placement/rearrangement (based on the original), lighting, and small effects.

VARIANT:

ROBBERY GONE WRONG

DEFAULT HOUSE

VARIANT:

BURNT

DEVELOPMENT

GAME: Skyrim

ENGINE: Creation Kit

DEVELOPMENT TIME:​ 6 weeks​

RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Concept and Planning

  • Environmental Design

  • Storytelling

  • Lighting (Visibility)

  • Lighting (Atmosphere)

DOWNLOADS

Before & After

Overall, the design and implementation process for this project was based on planning and iteration. Prior to planning out a schedule, I had brainstormed some ideas for the default and variants for the project and decided on a quaint but furnished farmhouse as the default and two aftermath variants: one version depicting a robbery and another depicting a devastating house fire. 

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I planned out a schedule for myself to finish the project in 6 weeks' time with whitebox, aesthetics, and lighting milestones for each space. Apart from the beginning stages of the default house, each space went through the same basic development process of placing or altering orientation of story-relevant objects in the scene and tweaking lighting for atmosphere. Each stage took about a week for each part of the project (default, robbed variant, burnt variant) with time for feedback and iterations to better promote the environmental storytelling.

BUILDING STORY

Because this first space would lay the groundwork for the variants, I had to make sure that the space looked like it could fit contextually into the Skyrim world and be filled out enough to look lived-in. This "default" house was the where aspects of the farmer character were established so that the changes to the space would translate properly to the variants later.

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The default space is a small interior space. Using warm lighting and specific asset placement, I made the space homey and warm for a farmer to live modestly but comfortably. The house went through a couple iterations in between building to set up the storytelling of the variants better.

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The gallery above shows a general progression of how a player might explore the space, starting with the entryway and ending in the bedroom.

Default House gallery showing general progression through the space.

DEFAULT HOUSE

VARIANT: ROBBERY GONE WRONG

Variant: Robbery Gone Wrong gallery showing general progression through the space.

The story premise for designing this variant was a robbery gone wrong. The resident of the house had a bed-warming companion over.

 

Following the gallery above, the story progression goes like this:

  1. The two had dinner together by the hearth (the food previously on plates by the fireplace is gone);

  2. Moved upstairs to the loft where they engaged in some music, wine, and snacks (lute is moved, some food is gone, some empty alcohol bottles);

  3. Her companion slipped her some poison, causing her to fall asleep deeply (poison hidden behind lute);

  4. The companion slipped away and started rummaging through her stuff to find valuables (certain items missing from pantry, items in bedroom thrown aside in search of items, jewelry stolen from shelf, money stolen from table, etc.);

  5. The resident eventually woke up and clambered down the ladder and encountered her thieving companion;

  6. The companion stabbed her and in realized panic, dropped the weapon and fled (signs of tussle in the bedroom, bloody dagger on the ground, blood prints leading from the body to the door);

Before and after slider comparing the bedroom in the default house vs. the robbery variant.

To depict the aftermath of a robbery-turned-murder, I approached the design of this variant by making changes according to each important part of this new story I wanted to tell:

  • Showing Presence of Another Person: I removed the two meals in front of the fireplace and some food from the loft area (like items were shared and consumed), replaced alcohol in the loft area with empty versions (like they were also shared and consumed), and shifted items to represent use of those items (loft tankards, lute, plates, etc.).

  • Showing Signs of Robbery: Areas with likelihood of containing valuables corresponded with how disturbed those sections were (higher likelihood = more mess) - pantry slightly disturbed, the shelf had nearly everything pulled off, and tabletops had items missing or shifted.

  • Showing Signs and Implications of Murder: Signs of the murder are contained to the bedroom entrance and entryway door - the dropped murder weapon (represents the murderer's surprise because if it were planned murder, they would have taken time to hide the weapon), dead body and blood spatter (the place where the house resident was killed), and blood trail to door (sudden flight, as if the murderer panicked and ran away after the murder).

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The mood of this variant was a feeling of intrusion with an ominous and mysterious air to the space. To push that mood, I used cool tones of purple and grey for the ominous feel and strips of white light to emulate a full moon's light, as if to represent illumination of the secrets of the space.

VARIANT: BURNT

Variant: Burnt gallery showing general progression through the space.

The story premise for designing this variant was that a house fire got out of control, effectively burning down a large portion of the structure. The fire spread due to a grate by the fireplace breaking, which tumbled logs into the fireplace and catching the flags by the fireplace on fire.

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Following with the gallery above, here are areas and items affecting or affected by the fire flare:

  1. Items formerly in front of the fireplace were blasted back towards the door, the wood flooring burnt;

  2. The pantry and loft area caved in with pieces of structural support fallen over, overhead shot of the entryway caught in the blast radius of the fire, a beam fallen over on the burnt body of the house resident by the bedroom door;

  3. Closer shot of the caved in pantry, the smoldering embers of the fire, a remnant of one of the yellow flags that had caught fire;

  4. The caved in pantry from a front view;

  5. Items in the bedroom fallen over due to the adjoining wall collapsing, some items on the shelf knocked over domino-style from the items impacted directly by the collapsed wall;

  6. The unaffected bedroom entrance area that was not caught in the blast radius;

Before and after slider comparing the entryway in the default house vs. the burnt variant.

To depict the aftermath of a burnt down house, I approached the design of this variant by focusing on specific areas affected by the fire and how the fire impacted those areas:

  • Fireplace/Entryway: The fireplace and areas closest to the fireplace are the most charred (due to prolonged and more direct contact with the fire), the planks closest to the fireplace show signs of burning (like the planks in front of the door), some support beams and planks from above have broken and fallen into the pit (one of them over the burnt corpse of the house resident, representing that she got stuck under that beam and ended up burning to death), there are remnants of the yellow flag that caught fire (to also give some color and context to those reading the space), smoldering embers and smoke still in the air as if the fire had recently died down;

  • Pantry/Loft: The wall between the fireplace and the pantry caved in as if it collapsed from the fire blast and from weakened support beams from above, the entrance to the pantry also fallen forward somewhat in response to the adjacent wall caving in, everything in the pantry buried under wooden wreckage;

  • Bedroom: The wall between the fireplace and the bedroom collapsed outwards from the fireplace and knocked into the lamp and small table (shelf items knocked out or fallen over from the impact of the lamp, the small table and its contents fallen over), the rest of the bedroom otherwise undisturbed due to its farther proximity to the fireplace;

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The mood of this variant was of that of a "calm morning after the storm" - the feeling of seeing the wreckage of destruction in the calm morning after but with an air of anxiety for the future. To push that mood, I used tones reminiscent of an overcast morning/early afternoon. Dust and smoke still hang in the air around the fireplace, adding a hazy feel to the space.

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