ENVIRONMENTAL STORYTELLING & IMMERSION: HOW TO CREATE OTHERWORLDLY ENVIRONMENTS
By Gary Andrade
OTHERWORLDLY ENVIRONMENTS - A FRAMEWORK
2019 dissertation on creating a framework for 'alien' environments
My dissertation focused on recognising and defining key elements in environmental storytelling and immersion, from which I used as a basis for constructing a framework designers could use as a foundation for their creation of an "otherworldly" environment.
WHY ENVIRONMENTS?
Throughout my years of university, I found myself indulging more and more into the narrative and development of games, but it never occurred to me just how much thought and planning went into creating the story-rich environments we take for granted in games.
Games such as: the Fallout series, Overwatch, Dark Souls, Oddworld: Abe's Odyssey - just to name a few.
I saw a lack of material that covered specific environments that would be considered "otherworldly" and wanted to create a framework that would help guide designers to creating a believable, story-fueled, alien, unique environment.
CONCEPTUALISATION
When it came to conceptualising the inhabitants of my environment, a lot of thought and pre-planning had to go to: where they lived, how that affected them, and their lifestyles (beliefs, culture, traditions, ect.)
There was a lot of going back and forth between the environment and the inhabitants. If I came up with a unique and believable form of vegetation, I had to consider how that affected the other wildlife and especially the relationship between it and the inhabitants.
 |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |
Re-introduction to the Unreal Engine
The powerhouse that is the Unreal engine was certainly intimidating the first time I used it for my 2nd year project.
However, once I got started, I saw the massive potential of the engine and how much I could achieve in such a short amount of time, thanks in partly to the GameSDK Sample 5.4 package; which included most of the assets I needed to present my dissertation.
FEEDBACK AND RESPONSE
Experience with Substance Painter allowed me to easily create these short hieroglyphs that hint a little of the inhabitants history and beliefs.
What I most found interesting was people's responses to my questionnaire, where I asked for their interpretation of my hieroglyphs.
 Tale 1"The sun is important for food cultivation - worship. " - a student's interpretation |  Tale 2"The aliens are harvesting the vegetation around them." - a student's interpretation |  Tale 3"The god attacked people as a grotesque beast and now rules as a tyrant over his kingdom." - a student's interpretation |
|---|---|---|
 Tale 4"Killing and sacrificing wild animals." - a student's interpretation |  Tale 5"Aliens came down to invade the world, but they reached an agreement of peace. The aliens taught the humans everything they know, and the humans eventually turned on the aliens. This angered the sky gods." - a student's interpretation |
FINAL THOUGHTS
This project helped deepen my understanding of environmental storytelling as well as giving me experience with the Unreal engine.
I would hope my guidebook will help some new designers with starting to build their otherworldly environments, however I am aware of my limitations, and that my guidebook might not be as in-depth as I would have liked it to be, had I more time for this project.