Once the team had settled on making a VR game, and I had seen some early screenshots of the level design, I worked off my previous sketches to create possible looks for the levels if we were able to implement a certain style and colour palette.
As I have before, I once again took inspiration from Beat Saber in my first level designs. In each level, there is usually some kind of simple futuristic room around the player as well as the features the player interacts with. While the designs make the levels aesthetically pleasing, I think it also helps create a sense of depth within the space and so can help players judge how far or near an object is based on the stationary surroundings. However, it's also usually very plain and simple designs so it doesn't distract from the gameplay.
Since this game is about diabetes, which affects sugar levels in the blood, the first designs for the level that I did were intending to make the level look like a bloodstream with deep reds in the background and circular shapes around the player to make it feel like they were moving through a tube-like blood vessel. In a more polished concept, or within the actual game, perhaps these shapes would be animated to move around the player's path or towards the player to create the illusion of fast motion forward.
In these concepts, on the first layer which is just the base colour, having the colours closer to the player be much darker and have it gradually fade to a lighter spot in the centre gives the illusion of depth not only with how far away the player may be from the end of wherever they are but it also helps other features stand out more. The much brighter path and decorative graphics beyond it stand out more and so seem like they're much closer than the darkness beyond it.
While I was applying commonly used techniques within composition and artistic theory, I realised that these dark colours are probably not very well fitting for a game that's meant for your people. This type of theming may come across as creepy to adolescents, so I changed my palette.
Since the theme of the games is generally a medical one, I considered using colour palette's that are frequently used in hospitals and other medical settings. Often colours in these environments are meant to be welcoming and calm, which would be the opposite of what my previous concepts might have been conveying, so I tried it out.
Generally, softer shades of red and blues are often used in these settings, so using the same techniques as before only with brighter colours I made newer versions of my first concepts.
As well as experimenting with colours here, I also created some sketches based on the team's ideas as one of the first ideas we had was to have the game based in everyday familiar settings, as diabetes affects the everyday life of those that have it. The last few sketches I created were based on a shopping street and a train carriage.
It was at this point I realised that I should likely look into colour theory and different palettes more since I was just using my own personal colour palette for these last few sketches instead of one for the project. So I paused my work on level concepts and shifted my focus to colour research to decide which colours would probably be best for the game's overall aesthetic.
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