COP3 Game Research: Limbo

Context of Practice 3 Game Research: Limbo
Along with looking at different lighting techniques I also wanted to look at existing games in the industry to be able to get a good idea of how game lighting is being used already and this is a fantastic example of a beautiful lighting set up that can influence how the game is played. The whole game is set in black and white and looks gorgeous with shadows and silhouettes being the way of seeing the characters and the environment.

Limbo is a very unique puzzle-platformer game developed by Playdead. It is a 2D sidescroller in which the player guides a boy, who's name we do not ever know, while he searches mysterious environments for his sister. It has a very interesting trial and error way of playing and it takes a while to find the solution to the puzzles, making the game very challenging in places along with featuring some very startling deaths of this boy. The game, all in black and white using very lovely lighting effects and has a very eerie atmosphere that follows through the entire game. It is very dark and mysterious and uses a grainy effect in some places to emphasis on the stylized effect of the art work.

The game, although short, is very atmospheric and you do get immersed in the world of this 'edge of hell' as the world Limbo would mean the path between being alive and dead. The story for me was a bit lacking but this was made up for the beautiful environment that although is minimalistic, is still beautiful. This environment is something that I would definitely like to try and re-create to see if its possible to generate in Maya or Unity as the lighting is just beautiful and so surreal, an effect that I would really like to look at in the future of this project.