The Importance of an atmosphere.

ABSTRACT

Games have plenty of factors that determine if the game is good or bad and many opinions on the matter but here we are going to search for the truth.

My conclusion is that the atmosphere is a vital and necessary part of the game and the developers need to spend much more time on it because it can either make or break a game.

The reason for my conclusion is that mostly everyone that played the game rated the atmosphere differently but when they assessed the game it was adjacent to how they evaluated the atmosphere.

This project set out to achieve an understanding of what makes a game great so it needed to begin to answer the question. If the atmosphere is an important aspect of a game and how important is that aspect?

Project began with a blender that was used to create the floating islands. After that it was time for creation of the game's enemies. These enemies were scrapped later down the line because they were too easy to see through. The project then stood on hold till suitable riddles had appeared. The main menu, gameover screen and scene changes needed to be made before the game could be sent to the next screen. It was built on webgl for that very purpose so you could play the game on the browser instead.

The result was positive, the project managed to achieve its original goal and not get too distracted on the way so it was surprisingly successful.

Background and introduction

Games have a lot of different aspects that can be enchanting to the player and that can change our opinion of both the game and the studio that created the game. So what are the factors that create our opinion of the game? This is something that currently is up to debate and it would be fruitless to join in on that debate as Charles Joseph de Ligne once said (Wikipedia. 2022) “The congress does not march, it dances”. With this quote he meant that it is pointless to debate with a group that has already made up their mind so it is more fruitful if the opinion is rooted in facts.

There are a lot of factors determining how others perceive the experience of a game and many opinions on what is most important when making a game. Some may say that it is the gameplay that is the most important while others might say that it is the graphics or maybe the atmosphere is the most important part of a game. But maybe it is the culmination of all of the aspects that makes others perceive the game as good or bad. Is there something a developer would be able to skip so that the game would be created under a shorter time frame. As an alternative perhaps the developer has to spend more time on certain parts for example atmosphere or gameplay to create a good game.

But that isn't it there are many other things that are up for question like what type of atmosphere, graphics and gameplay that they fancy the most. There are plenty of different atmospheres that try to emulate different emotions so that you experience the game how the developers intended you to. They often do this by looking at what emotion you would have in that circumstance. To therefore try to emulate it through the atmosphere to immerse you in the experience. For example if a friend dies you would feel sad so they try to make it temporarily look sad so that it feels like the character in the game is sorrowful.

Purpose and questions

This project set out to achieve an understanding of what makes a game great and what is most important with a game. This project focused only on one aspect of games and that was the atmosphere that can emulate different emotions. The goal was to see if it mattered what emotion the atmosphere tried to emulate and if one type of atmosphere is preferable to another. Does it really matter what emotion the atmosphere tries to emulate?

This project will give attention to mostly the musical aspect of the atmosphere but it will also bring up colors and how that may have affected the atmosphere and how that may have influenced the players decision.

This project won't go in depth on graphics because if we were to discuss every part of the atmosphere in depth then we would be here forever. We will not talk about other aspects of games like gameplay or how valuable the story can be to create a good atmosphere. Since this is a simple game that only really focuses on a specific emotional atmosphere.

The question that this will answer is if the atmosphere is an important aspect of a game and how important that aspect is?

Material

Unity: That is the program that was used to create the game that we needed to proceed with the experiment

Logic Pro: that is the program that was used to create and edit sounds so that it would be great for the atmosphere that was created.

Google forms: This was used to create the questions for the game that would determine the results.

Blender: This was used to create the world for the game as well as other features that ended up being cut from the game.

Itch.io: This was used so that you could upload the game to get people to play your game and then be able to answer the questions on your form.

Source validation

(Kendra Cherry 11-5-2022, The Color Psychology of Yellow) this is a reliable source because it is constantly being monitored by experts on psychology and because the author, Kendra Cherry is a consultant trying to give students an understanding of psychology.

Wikipedia (21-11-2022. Charles-Joseph, 7th Prince of Ligne) this source is not that reliable because it is on wikipedia and every one can edit that. But it doesn't have to be reliable since it was only used to validate a quote that was believed to be necessary for the Background and introduction.

Implementation

The project began with blender that was used to create the floating islands that became the world and after that it was time for creation of the game's enemies but they ended up being scrapped later down the line. Another thing that had to be scrapped was the player character, these objects were scrapped because they became unnecessary. For you see the project changed direction in the middle from an fps to a game about riddles. That is because it was simple to notice that the script that had been created for the enemy wouldn't work and because it was possible to see right through the enemies. When that was complete the project started to use unity to create scripts. The first script that was created for the project was a movement script because the project needed to have something that could be tested immediately. For the reason that the gamemaster wouldn't lose moral because he couldn't see any meaningful change. When a few scripts were created for the project to continue there had to exist a few riddles so the project stood on hold till suitable riddles appeared. When they did, the project finished up with the scripts.

When that was done then the project focused on making two extra copies of the original and started to create tiny differences between the scenes. One of the scenes changed by adding a darker screen by using a canvas with an image and having it be somewhat transparent. The other scenes were created in a similar manner. In two scenes the project added particle systems to create rain in one scene and thunder in another scene.

After this the project started on the main menu, gameover screen and winning screen. The project made a script for controlling the scene changes and buttons to invoke them. Then it was also necessary to be able to fail so another script was created that focused on sending the player to the game over screen if you shoot the wrong answer. After that the project still needed a way to win so two different ways were made because the last question would be almost impossible to get correctly if you didn't know anything about Greek mythology.

The first method to win was to get the last question correctly and the secondary way to win was to give up and jump off the platform. That was done by adding a box collider that when the player collided with it he would be sent to the winning screen. After this for the project to continue an account on itch.io needed to be created and that was done so that it would be possible to send the game through a link because it was too big to send the game directly. This was done so that people could answer the form and play the game without needing to download the game. It was built on webgl for that very purpose so that you could play the game on the browser instead.

Results

As we can see the respondents of these tests decided to mostly choose one scene. There were four respondents that chose the scene HA and their reasons behind that action was a mix of difficulty, the buttons general location and how the button looked. Furthermore there were two respondents that chose the scene HO and their reasons for that decision was how it looked and its placement on the screen. Lastly there was no one that chose scene SA.

There was one respondent of the test that chose the scene HO reported that they experienced fear during the test while the other person reported that they had a lack of emotions during this test. One of the respondents that chose scene HA reported experiencing fear during this test while another of the respondents reported that they felt happy. Another respondent that chose the scene HA reported feeling normal nothing odd about that and then we have the last respondent they revealed that they felt especially mischievous during this test.

Then the respondents had to rate how the game's atmosphere affected them to get immersed in the game from one to nine. One of the respondents that had previously chosen HO were inclined to pick five and the other respondent chose foure. One of the people that had in previous accounts chosen HA made the decision to choose one while another of the respondents decided to choose five and the last two respondents chose seven.

Then they also had to answer how good/bad they believed the atmosphere was in the game on a metric of one to nine. The respondent that had previously chosen HO had this time made the decision to go with eight while the other respondent chose six. Two of the respondents that previously went with HA this time chose six while another respondent made the decision to go with three and the last respondent went with seven.

Furthermore the respondents had to answer How good/bad the game was on a metric of one to nine. One of the respondents that had chosen HO gave the game a seven while the other respondent gave the game a three. Two respondents that had on previous accounts chosen HA gave the game a three while another of the respondents gave the game a five and the last respondent gave the game a seven.

Lastly the respondents had to answer how good/bad the atmosphere fitted the game on a metric of one to nine. two of the subjects that had on previous accounts picked HA chose four while another person chose five and the last person chose eight. Then one of the respondents that previously went with HO this time chose three while another chose seven.

After this the respondents got questioned about what they believed was that affected their answers. The respondents answered that they had a lack of knowledge about the subject that was in the game while another believed that it was a close resemblance to a game that they already had experience with. Someone else believed that the thing that affected his answer was a bug in the game and the last participant attributed that to the environment of the game.

Discussion and conclusions

Why did they choose the scene?

- Most of the players decided to choose HA and their reason for this was that it looked most intriguing. This could have been because the button is yellow and yellow is attention grabbing according to (Kendra Cherry 11-5-2022, The Color Psychology of Yellow). Another reason the respondent could have found it interesting is because like Cherry mentions that it can be used to create some form of excitement and that it is capable of evoking a feeling of being cheerful.

- Another reason the respondents chose that scene was that it was first and that decision could be because it was the one that was closest to the mouse so it went much faster to press on the one that was first.

- The final reason why they chose that scene was because they believed it was going to be the most difficult and this could be because of the letters used to identify the scene since it was eerily similar to hard. The button only didn't have two of the remaining letters to complete the word and that had to be the reason for that respondent's decision.

- The ones that chose HO, their reasons for this was that it was in the middle of the screen. This could be because it is right in front of you since you almost always look towards the middle of the screen because that way you see everything on the screen. but then the thing that is in the middle is the one you would see first and therefore you would probably gravitate towards that scene. This would be accurate if it actually was in the middle of the screen which it is not.

- The last reason why they chose that scene was that it was the darkest and this could be because it was the most mysterious one of the three options because it is much darker. When something is dark it can create something akin to tension and some people are drawn towards that.

Why did they experience these emotions during the test?

- While another said that they felt frightened and this could be for the reason that the scene was much darker and more mysterious. The same could be said towards the sound and colors in that scene as well as thunder. Those aspects affected his emotions so that he would feel frightened.

- Then we have the players that played on the scene HA their responses were also quite dispersed. Someone mentioned feeling mischievous this could be because he cheated and skipped a big part of the game using a glitch. He even admits to it when a different question was asked and that question was what they believed affected their decision on that question. He also mentioned feeling powerful because of the thunder. This makes me believe that he didn't actually play on the scene HA because there is no thunder on that scene so he must have played on the scene HO.

- Furthermore we have another person that reported feeling happy and the reasons for this could be that the mood is completely different from the other scenes. It has a more pleasant atmosphere with the sound and that could make you feel more happy.

- Then we have two participants that listed in their report that they felt neutral but these two chose different scenes. This could most likely be because the respondents was already tired when he started to play the game and from experience you tend to feel less emotions while you are tired.

- Lastly we have the last person that also reported feeling frightened. This could be because that scene had a yellow tint to it. That could have made the player feel frustrated as charry has stated and experience dictates that it can transform into feeling frightened.

How good/bad did the atmosphere affect you to get immersed in the game with a metric of one to nine?

- The ones that played the scene HO were around the middle of the scoreboard with a score of four and five. This could be because the sound of the thunder and the thunder as a particle effect isn't happening simultaneously. This could break the immersion of the game.

- The ones that played the scene HA went a bit higher on the scale for two, that scaled it on a seven. While one other person scaled it similar to the one that played on the scene of HO so he put it on five on the scale while the last one where the one that scaled it lowest with a one on the scale. These answers could be because it is much easier to see the questions then the previous one that can explain some of it. But it is believed that the reason it got lower scores from the rest is because of a combination of the color yellow that must have invoked a feeling of frustration for the participant as Charry had previously mentioned.

How good/bad was the atmosphere in the game on a metric of one to nine?

- The players that played the scene HO where relatively close to one another one of them chose to score it with an eight while the other chose six. This could be because it had incorporated lightning that could have made the participant feel powerful and that is why their score is higher then for the other scene since that scene did not have thunder.

- The players that decided to go with the scene HA were somewhat aligned with one another, one of them decided to score it with a seven and two scored it with a six while the last one scored it with a three. Those answers could be because some of the participants might have felt some nostalgia since, it might have appeared somewhat similar to an existing game that they previously had played.

How good/bad was the game on a metric of one to nine?

- The players that played the scene HO, there answers were scattered with one scoring the game with a seven and another scoring it with a three this was probably for the same reason that the other scene was relatively scattered.

- The players that played the scene HA while there answers were relatively scattered around the scoreboard with two putting a score on three and another scored the game with a five while the last person scored the game with a seven. Those answers could be because of the reason that some didn't enjoy the game. Mostly because of their lack of knowledge concerning Greek mythology and because of that some respondents might have felt it more enjoyable for the reason that they where somewhat lucky since, luck is when preparation meets opportunity so when they succeeded it felt great for the participants.

How good/bad did the atmosphere fit the game on a metric of one to nine?

- The player that played the scene HO, their answers were very scattered, one scored it with a three and another with a seven. This could be because it was darker as one of the participants stated and because of the darkness it could have made it so that it was much more difficult to see the text.

- The player that played the scene HA, their answers were somewhat contained with one jumping ahead. one scored it with an eight while Two scored it with a four and the last scored it with a five. This could be because the world's color is kind of plane and because some of them didn't actually play the game with sound on so they didn't partake in a big part of the game.

Something interesting that was noticed was that some people answered wrong as was previously mentioned with someone picking one scene and then explaining what happens in a different scene. This might be because of my own mistake to not put the button to each scene in the same places on both the google forms and the game.

Another thing that I found quite interesting was the fact that no one chose the SA scene and I couldn't really tell you why sins I haven't gathered information regarding this. But there is a theory that could explain this and that is the fact that i might not have gotten enough testers for the game or that it didn't look as intriguing as the others where visually but this is only theories backed by no evidence. The hardest part about this entire thing was probably to get responses.

The last thing that could be described as interesting is that many managed to play the game without sound but this is most likely my fault because I left absolutely nothing that would indicate that the game had sound in it. I should have added something that mentioned that there were sounds and it should have been on the mein menu.

If we were to answer the question this game was made to answer then this project's conclusion would be that the atmosphere is a large part of the game and that it is one of the most important parts of a game. This conclusion is derived from the answers in the form where there was a tendency to rate the game better when the atmosphere was perceived to be good. That was intern rated higher while those that rated the game poorly, the rating for the different atmosphere questions reflected that for most of them. but of course there were a few stragglers that didn't follow this but it was the answers for the majority of participants. So this confirms the accuracy of the questioning because we got the answer we were looking for.

Source list

Web page

Wikipedia (21-11-2022. Charles-Joseph, 7th Prince of Ligne) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-Joseph,_7th_Prince_of_Ligne

Kendra Cherry (11-5-2022, The Color Psychology of Yellow) https://www.verywellmind.com/the-color-psychology-of-yellow-2795823

Appendix A - Work plan

The project was supposed to create 4 characters in blender 3 enemies and 1 player and they were also to be animated. The three enemies were supposed to be identical the only difference was that the mask that they were going to have on their heads was going to represent the feel of the world. So one mask where supposed to look sad another mask where supposed to look happy and the last mask where supposed to look scary. Then the world was to be created and it was supposed to be three floating islands. One of the islands was going to be green gräsländs, the second were supposed to look like a warm desert and the third was supposed to be green with a lake in the middle of it. Then it was supposed to start on unity to create the scripts for the enemies and for the player as well as the script to control the scenes.

The project also needed to create audio for the player, enemies and the world. It was necessary to add the world to unity and then to modify the different scenes. One was supposed to look sad so the scene needed to have a dark image that was somewhat transparent and to have raing. Another of the scenes was supposed to represent horror so it needs to have an even darker image that again is somewhat transparent but this scene also needs to have lightning. The last scene was supposed to represent happiness so it needed an image that was yellow and to make it somewhat transparent.

Lastly the project needed menu scenes so it needs a main menu scene. This should be created with a green image and four buttons one for each scene and one quit button the quit button is going to have colors close to red. The other buttons are going to have the colors that are believed to most closely represent their respective scene and then there will also be instructions on how to play the game like what the keys on the keyboard does in the game. The GameOver scene was going to have a red image because red is mostly associated with bad and then it is supposed to have two buttons one to quit and another for the main menu. Then there is to be text and that is about a famous killer with the moniker jack the ripper. The winning scene is going to have a blue image because blue often represents something good. It is also going to have two buttons one for quit and another for the main menu. It is also going to have a text where the player is congratulated and he is also going to be given some kind of advice.

Appendix B - Timetable

The project had an intentional plan so that it would be finished in time and the project would begin with the first three weeks where it mostly focused on blender activities. The first week was supposed to focus on the world and the player character and the sounds for the caracter. The second week focused on creating three enemy characters. The third week focused on the enemies animations to different actions. The rest of the weeks where mostly spent in unity on the fourth week focused on creating the scripts for the player as well as adding the animations to unity.

The fifth week was focused on the enemies' scripts and adding their animations. The sixth week was focused on improving and adding the world to unity as well as trying to create the sound for the world that was supposed to represent happiness. The seventh week focused on adding the world and lightning as well as creating the sound for the world that was supposed to represent horror. The eight week was the week that the final world was supposed to be done and that world was added to unite and reign was added and a sound for the world that was supposed to represent sadness. The last week that had been planned for was the week focused only on the different scenes like the winning scene, the main menu scene and lastly the start scene. After this the plan was to only polish the existing content for about four more weeks.

Appendix C - Log book

Week 1 - Project started in Blender to create the world.

Week 2 - Animated player and enemies.

Week 3 - Started to create the sound.

Week 4 - Began to create the different menus.

Week 5 - Started to create scripts for the enemy.

Week 6 - Created riddles and wrote them on blocks and created a script for it.

Week 7 - Made a script that caused you to fail if the wrong answer was submitted.

Week 8 - There it copied the scenes and made small changes to them.

Week 9 - Created different sounds for the different worlds.

Week 10 - Everything that was created was also added to unity.

For the first week the project began with blender so that the world could be created and it was created with three Islands that were linked with a bridge and each island had its own small theme. At the end of the islands the project added a drop to a flat surface. The project needed characters so it began with creating the player but that wasn't really important because the intention was for the player to see in first person. Then it was time to create the enemy. It started with creating three identical bodies and then creating three different masks. Each mask was supposed to represent a different emotion and a mask was put on each enemy.

During the second week it was time to animate the enemies and the player. After this the project needed to start in unity so the project started to create different scripts for the player and it started with movement and looking around it even created a script for the health and it ended with the script that shot. After this the third week began and it started with creating the sounds for when the player jumps and walks but the sound for walk didn't work when it was added to unity. Then it added the world that was created in blender. Then it got in to week foure where the menu scenes where created the main menu scene, the Game over scene, the winning scene and together with this a script were created to manage the different scenes.

During week 5 it started with the enemies script it began with the script for health and lastly an Ai script. But that took a bunch of time so it was realized that it wouldn't be able to work the way that was needed so the project had to change its approach and that was on the beginning of week 6 when it added cubs and wrote riddles on them. It was also blocking the exit to each island then it added more cubs and wrote answers, four answerers per riddle. After this the project started to create scripts that would destroy the cub that stud in the way if you shot the right answer and on week 7 it created another script that caused you to go to the game over scene if you shot any of the wrong answers. After this the project created a specific script for a single riddle so that the player has to shoot the correct answers in a specific order.

On week 8 the project copied this scene three times to then make small differences. In week 9 it started to create the different world sounds. One to emulate the emotion of sadness another to represent horror and the last to emulate happiness. The sound typing to emulate happiness to one of the scenes and also added a yellow image that was somewhat transparent to make it look more happy. Then the project added the sound trying to represent horror to another scene. To that scene the project also created a dark image and made it somewhat transparent and also created thunder. On week 10 the project added the sound that emulated sadness to the last scene and made a gray image that was somewhat transparent then it also created reign for that scene.