Dark Souls has a lot of 'realistic' architecture. Believable structures that don't seem too fantastical but have that added style which you don't often see. Interestingly, it's quite common knowledge that Hidetaka Miyazaki (From Software), the lead designer of Dark Souls, took a lot of inspiration from real world architecture. One of the most notable areas in-game that was real world inspired is Anor Londo. Anor Londo, mainly its interior with its marble spiral staircase, is based on the Milan Cathedral. This has reminded me I need to look at real world architecture too as I could find some great ideas from other places besides digital artifacts.
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| My 'Dark Souls' Inspiration Board |
I recognize that taking on the responsibility of creating an entire game myself is a lot work, therefore I want to limit the scale of the level and plan out accordingly how the space will be used. I found the starting place of Dark Souls one to be the perfect example of what I want as a final piece.
The Northern Asylum, a disguised tutorial island, in Dark Souls is a small area that includes an underground prison and a chapel built on the side of a cliff-face. The small space is used very efficiently as not only does the player travel horizontally, but the level snakes around on itself vertically to flesh out the area more - it makes the environment more real, believable and understood by the player. Luckily I've managed to find a floor plan of the level with a legend that makes it very understandable from a design perspective. Also, I came across a map of Lordran which is the larger mainland of the game, I want to include this in my research as this also shows efficient use of space in level design.
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| Asylum Floor Plan |
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| Lordran Map |
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