Process

This school asignment was different for each one of us, we all got a different emotion to communicate through a waterfall and the environment surrounding it. I got Sadness, so decided to build upon a weeping statue in a cold, rainy night.

My first step was setting up some compositions the player would see when walking towards the waterfall, in the image below, I marked five compositions with red POV cones, I also drew a height map to help me envision the scene.

Starting from the highest point and slowly descend towards the crying statue is deliberate, as you are descending a spiral of sadness.

After that, I made some rough sketches (I am no concept artist) of each composition. The first one was meant to introduce you to the statue from very far away, to catch your eye and also to give you a rough idea of the shape of the scene, so you can build a mental map. I used some very basic composition laws to lead the eye towards the statue.

Final version.

The second composition was meant to let you know what is your next short term objective, the bridge. It also indicates the player should enter a blueish fog with moon light shining through.

Final verion.

I made this section a bridge so I could garantee the player perspective and build a composition for that. In the initial idea the player would see the statue between the mountains and a light rain would start.

Throughout development I added a lot more story telling beats, in this case the scene was modified so it would portray an accident, with some flowers placed there remembering the death of a close relationship. The wood beams also lead the eye towards the statue. I used red lighting in every storytelling beat for contrast and meaning.

After crossing the bridge, the trees turn drier and the rain picks up, in between the trees the player can see the next short term objective, which seems to be a ruin.

Final version.

Originally this structure was just meant as a chokepoint so I could guarantee a specific pespective for the final composition, but I added another storytelling beat afterwards. When the player reaches the structure, they encounter another little scene, with a broken lamp, and sideways table and some more flowers, with moon light leading the eye to it.

When the player exits the building, they encounter the final composition, the weeping statue facing a cemetery, simbolizing the lost person, in a dead environment with heavy rain.

And the final version. I played with the clouds in order to always have the exact same moon beam (or lack of). I made one cross significantly bigger so it would have more meaning, as if she is crying for one specific person.

Originally, the scene ended there, but I made one more close-up due to the request of my teacher, in which you walk over some stones placed in the water to reach the end composition.