Spring: Visual Style

Utilising a steampunk setting, this game has a gritty visual style that is constantly showing machinery, cogs, wheels and clockwork devices. The game takes place in a 3D environment, overlooking a workbench that is up against a wall. The camera is fixed most of the time and is looking down, at an angle, as if the player was a person standing next to the workbench. Levels take the form of clocks on the bench that the player can select; as they complete levels, more clocks and watches appear on the table to be selected.

When the player selects a clock, it moves to the centre of the table. The clock will then open up an interior section, which the camera zooms into, and the sub-level in this section begins. The section that has been opened will contain lots of background moving parts; these will be specific to the type of clock, such as cogs, springs or pendulums. It does not need to be accurate, but instead give each clock a distinct visual identity on the inside. Once the sub-level is completed the camera zooms out, the section closes and the clock rotates to reveal a new section, which is then opened.

In the centre of each interior section is a large circular balance that rotates clockwise and anti-clockwise; in some levels this may be a cog instead, to fit in better with the interior of that specific clock. This is the circle that play takes place in. The platforms inside are arcs and have a similar visual style to that of the balance outer edge. The balance is grimy, old and metallic; it will have rust building up on the edges and in corners of areas where lots of platforms are present. The platforms, and outer edge of the balance, jut out towards the player and are visible 3D objects that make the balance look like a 3D maze viewed from above. Use metallic colours like bronze, light silver and grey to colour the balance, whilst adding dirt and rust.

The player plays as a metal dark silver ball, which must always stand out against the colours of the balance, that enters the circle by being dropped out of a glass pipe connected to the balance. The ball has a shine to it that reflects the light, from a yellow bulb directly above, in different directions as it spins towards the centre. I have previously described the player as being in freefall, whenever they are not touching a platform, however, visually this is not the case. The ball is always in contact with the base of the balance, as it rolls across it, but it is still being pulled towards the centre at all times. In the centre of the balance, where the player must get to, is a hole that the ball can drop into; the hole goes to a pipe that will take the ball to the next sub-level, although the pipe starts under the balance so the player can only see it in the background of the interior of the clock.

The workshop itself is dirty and overused, showing the personality of the owner through environmental storytelling with chips in the wooden bench and scribbled diagrams hung up on the wall. The bench is lit by a single bulb, above and not visible to the player, so the environment is dimly lit as well as everything having a slightly yellow hue. Occasionally items will appear on the table between levels, though the player cannot interact with them, to provide evidence of the game world outside of the workshop as the game progresses. These range from coins inscribed with capitalist propaganda, to stimulant drugs that are needed in the world to work efficiently.

On the back wall is a tool rack with lots of overused and damaged tools; there is evidence that each has been repaired at least once. Machinery and pipes run all across this wall and pieces are constantly moving in the background, such as pistons or steam flowing through tubes and being released into the air.