Tetsuo3

Hi,

Really excited now, I've just ordered a book I'm going to be using for reference called, Scandalous Metropolitan: Tokyo Street Scenes. It should be here in 3-5 working days, all pristine and clean and nice - I can't wait.

I've chosen to buy this book (aswell as taking images) because of it's obvious aim to capture some of Tokyo's extremes (the title gives it away). I'm in no way a professional photographer either so these images will really help me capture the mood I want and I can plan my level design around the images in it, I can choose elements of the story that it is placed in and I can start looking at new environmental aspects to inlude.

The great thing about Tokyo is all the nooks and crannies, all the bridges, the back streets, the railroads (Japan loves railroads), the busy roads and hidden wonders you can find when walking around into the 'underground' that is hidden from the normal scenery.

Here are some images I could find of the book on the net. They have a website too Scandalousmetropolitan.com. In a level design point of view I'm constantly looking at these images and seeing a player move down them in the game, what wonders do these paths lead to? Who may they encounter? What kind of mood will be present in the game while walking down these dark and empty chasms?

I still don't really know what to expect from the book but hopefully I can use it to its full potential. That's the importance of using reference images or books when designing, so many new ideas come to light. Even if the photographs are of the same scene; a different time of day or atmosphere can really bring out the best of an image and you may see things that were not there before. You can say, hey, that part looks really cool, I'm going to integrate that into the game.