{"id":134,"date":"2024-02-15T02:33:20","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T02:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mycours.es\/interactivity\/?page_id=134"},"modified":"2025-11-06T14:24:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T14:24:17","slug":"exercise-mood-board","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mycours.es\/interactivity\/exercise-mood-board\/","title":{"rendered":"Assignment: Mood Board"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Where do these colors and ideas come from? Once again NON-GAME INSPIRATIONS<\/a><\/p>\n

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If you want to be a game artist, a graphic designer or an illustrator\u00a0learn some color theory<\/a>\u00a0especially applied to the digital sphere.<\/p>\n

For more complex\/realistic illustrations like concept and background art it may make sense to\u00a0paint in grayscale and colorize later.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Mood board<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Themes and scenarios come with more obvious tropes attached. If you create a mood board by just googling keyword you’ll get only visual cliches.<\/p>\n

You can try to subvert some of the expectations, create your own twist and interpretations to a particular setting.
\nCheck these slides from Ninja Theory’s Devil May Cry and Enslaved<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/p>\n

Two common scenarios and the reinterpretations by ninja theory.<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/p>\n

Slides from this GDC talk<\/a>\u00a0(not that great, although their work is good)<\/p>\n

Exercise:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Create a quick mood board on your miro focusing on the color palette (but also including visual motifs).<\/strong>
\nAll the references must be outside of the realm of games.<\/p>\n

If you don’t have any concrete starting points don’t jus image search “sad colors”. Try this site: same.energy<\/a><\/p>\n

Add real world references to your mood board even if they don’t match the visual style and palette
\n<\/strong>Here you can look up things more literally things like “gothic church”, “salmon”, “CIA black site”.
\nThis will inevitably force you to ask yourself questions like: where and when is this game taking place?<\/p>\n

Challenge the tropes that emerge from the research<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Readability<\/h2>\n
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For arcade and action games, visual style is mostly functional to the communication of the game state.<\/p>\n

In early arcade games characters are defined by what they can do, the visual capabilities and the actions they perform are limited.<\/p>\n

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What are some visual design decisions in Asteroids?<\/p>\n

Gris – animation-first arty game. Special “mood abilities” expressed through shapes instead of UI.<\/p>\n