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Rethinking video game natural environments through algorithmic descriptions
- Interpretive Gameplay Methodology
- VR Neighborhood Physical Disorder
- Tilemap Painter
- Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Print
- Teaching Sample
Information
In video games, natural environments are frequently positioned as static background imagery that supports human-centered narratives such as conflict or profit agriculture. These sorts of games are prevalent in mainstream media and are frequently replicated, continuing a legacy of colonial relationships with the natural environment through media. Rarely, if ever, are there consequences when players extract or manipulate earth materials.
Communities on various media platforms like YouTube, Twitch, and Discord critique such games and analyze them in depth for their meaning, technical execution, and artistic direction. By experiencing and comparing different game worlds, players discover and educate themselves on why the worlds were put together the way they were and behave the way they do.
I think that if games better represent natural environments through ecosystem interactions, they may be able to influence a player’s relationship with their natural environment in the real world. This is why I propose that natural environments within video games can be designed to contain dynamic and complex systems. My thesis presents a methodology for creating virtual biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) modules. These modules will emulate an ecosystem within a virtual space.
My intended audience is game designers. This project aims to expand the notion of how a game world might be designed, thereby influencing how future worlds may be inhabited and experienced by players.