Environmental Storytelling in 3D Spaces: Designing Cozy Post-Apocalyptic Game Worlds

Abstract

The present thesis explores the potential of environmental storytelling as a pivotal narrative technique in hybrid game genres. Despite its popularity, there is a lack of research examining how its visual tools can reconcile the stark mood of post-apocalyptic settings with the soothing aesthetics of cozy games. This master’s thesis investigates the intersection of these two seemingly opposed genres, with the aim of identifying design strategies that enable players to experience comfort and hope within devastated worlds. In order to extract the ways in which visual-narrative tools in contrasting genres overlap, the thesis conducts a comparative visual analysis of six representative titles, two from each genre, extracting characteristics divided into three primary storytelling tools: form, spatial composition, and lighting and color. The analysis demonstrates that successful hybrids juxtapose harsh, decayed environments with localised warm lighting, familiar objects, and intimate spatial arrangements, thereby generating narrative tension that resolves into moments of safety. It is from the observations presented that a set of design principles has been formulated, the purpose of which is to outline a means of balancing contrast in order to guide player emotion. The pointers are prototyped in the experimental game SONDER, a prototype video game that merges the two contrasting genres in its environmental storytelling. The findings demonstrate that deliberate visual contrast has the capacity to bridge the emotional divide between desolation and coziness. The findings of this thesis provide a reusable toolkit for designers seeking to craft nuanced, hopeful post-apocalyptic experiences.

Date of Award	2025
Original language	English
Supervisor	Michael Lankes (Supervisor)