Resource: The Art of Worldbuilding in Video Games by Career Gamers
The process and “art” of worldbuilding was a lot bigger than I first imagined. But then again I should have guessed that seeing as the word world is in the name, though I didn’t think there was to much to it. At first I thought it was just about finding the setting and theme for the world and adding a little history while the rest would be added later or dealt with differently.
I have learned from this article that world building takes into consideration every little detail that could tell someone (the player most of the time) more about the world they are in if even only a little. Like how in Skyrim they have all these books that I have always just glossed over for the most part but they all help create the mythos for the game and the history of the world. Even the little bardic jigs are stories that help tell players about the world.
But there is also more to it than that, for it to really by “world building” it needs to feel like it’s real or at least could be real, it needs to feel immersive. As a player I tend to like worlds were it feels different from reality because I play games as a way to escape but there are others who like the realness of a game to where they feel connected to the game through the world building, where they can relate to it. There are so many things to consider depending on if you are creating something for yourself or if you are creating something for others.
And when it comes to the art design of it, it’s always nice to have reference material to go off of because most people need inspiration to get things done. But they also need a good application or software to allow them to put those ideas done or they could do it the old fashioned way and grab a pencil and paper. Along those notes I found an art application that I am messing with called Autodesk SketchBook that seems to work really well and is highly rated.