In a world where a scarf doubles as a weapon and an omnipresent instrument serenades your every move, how does one match these fantastical elements with visual style?
This challenge was no easy feat. The direction of Treble Thieves’ visual style was heavily guided by the game’s needs. For one, due to the fast-paced movement of the players, shape language and contrast was an important consideration. Players needed to be able to quickly identify objects even as they whizzed past or crashed through them. Additionally, the style had to match the extravagant and larger than life tone of the game. Realism could only take us so far in portraying the spirit of this spectacular world.
Drawing back to early inspirations, the visual style of the game was heavily influenced by Luigi’s Mansion. The game’s exaggerated, quirky elements made for the perfect inspiration for Brasso’s Estate. Rather than aiming for a realistic mansion, the goal was to capture the essence of a grand mansion, one that feels larger than life and full of character.
So, how did we utilize this inspiration to shape the visual style of Treble Thieves? It all boiled down to balancing wonkiness, character, and scale. A close look at Luigi’s Mansion revealed that, despite its off-kilter design, many of its rooms blended exaggerated elements with realistic ones. Some would be more stereotypical in appearance, with straight lines with right angles, while others were intentionally oversized or had curvier, more whimsical forms.
With this in mind, we developed a style guide that emphasized three core principles: wonkiness, character, and size.
Wonkiness: Curved and non-parallel lines were used strategically to amplify the character of certain objects (EX. Making them appear more fragile, grand, soft, etc.).
Character: Some objects were designed with more personality to create a more lived in, imperfect world. This not only gave depth to the environment but subtly hinted at human presence, even when people weren’t physically seen.
Size: The size of objects wasn’t just a stylistic choice, it was also practical. Smaller objects were intentionally enlarged to make them more visually prominent to quick moving players. Similarly, scale was also utilized to make grand or significant items appear even more important to the players.
Keeping in mind a balance between exaggerated and more relaxed objects, these guiding principles brought harmony to a world full of wonder and familiarity.
-Isabel Smith
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