Once the footage was shot little effects could be added in post production which rounded out the scenes, making them seem more lived-in. The leaves and plants, for example – they're in Lume too." There are also some which become a bit of a signature of the game. through making sure the lighting was similar across different scenes and the grading on the film after we shot it. The models are all different and we wanted people to feel like they're seeing something new and fresh every time they got to a different scene. "That's one of the big things we've been aware of and we've been trying to keep control of," agrees Bidwell. "It's definitely been a labour of love," is how Bidwell puts it.īut with all those different influences and different sections of the city, it would be easy to lose a sense of visual unity. A papercraft artist friend created the intricate bunting and washing. Whittaker's dad is a jewellery maker and so he made the diner for them. There are other family and friend connections too – Bidwell's father is a farmer so little sacks of potatoes have his name emblazoned on them. His grandfather was an architect who worked designing interiors for London Underground stations like Osterly and Arnos Grove in the 1930s. It's reference points are obvious, but what's not obvious is the family connection to the source material.īidwell's co-director is Luke Whittaker. There's a tiny run-down ticket office with a little ticket booth, timetables and posters for Lumino City's version of the Circle Line. Looking round the exhibition you see lots of different reference points – London Underground design and typography, Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, governmental research buildings from the '40s and '50s. It's not a fantasy world but it's not a world we 100% know." Sure, there's a house which is also a camera but we wanted to dip into reality. "Lumino City isn't complete magical make-believe. "We weren't focusing so much on game design, it was more about creating spaces that were interesting and different and would give the user a different way to explore an environment. A personal favourite was Thomas Hillier's The Migration of Mel and Judith which was part of the RA Summer Exhibition in 2010. That might sound odd given architecture tends to be associated with functional bricks and mortar creations – why not an interior designer? But there's a lot of experimental and narrative architecture out there, especially in the realms of final year architecture projects. It's not giving enough credit but it was kind of a proof of concept for this bigger city we always wanted to make," says Bidwell.Įarly on, the team brought in architect Catrina Stewart to collaborate on the designs of the city. "We launched Lume to make sure we were able to sell this game and it was something people wanted – that we could even physically do it. It's the sequel to State of Play's previous game, Lume – a similar but smaller scale endeavour. Lumino City is a point and click puzzle adventure which tells the story of Lumi, a little girl seeking her kidnapped grandad. "So it was a natural thing to try and make games in a different way." "We're not natural 3D programmers," she says. The game isn't out until later in November but Bidwell is guiding me round the exhibition, explaining more about the models on display and the challenges involved in their creation. "With Lume we took that in a suitcase to Tokyo Game Show and people thought it was a marketing prop – nope, it's our game!" "We've had people say 'what engine did you use to get that lighting effect?' and it's like, well, we had a lamp…" laughs Bidwell. Lumino City was created as a sprawling fantastical architectural model in real life before being painstakingly converted into a digital gamespace.
If you're not familiar with Lumino City you could be forgiven for thinking all of this card and wiring is entirely a marketing concept, bringing a digital creation into our physical world.
Katherine Bidwell, co-director of studio State of Play, is taking me round the GameCity exhibition of their Lumino City game models. "All our games so far have had some element of handmade-ness to them but Lumino City has gone to the nth degree." These are all photos I took at the exhibition - if you want to see the larger version just click on them.
0 kommentar(er)
