During the initial meeting, we all agreed to develop our own independent environments and soundscapes. However, as the project progressed, we realised, that due to our limited time frame, we wouldn’t be able to establish our ambitious ideas. Recognising this we separated the graphics into two parts and began to pay close attention to the sonics within the project.
I borrowed a large amount of inspiration from J. G. Ballard. He states,
“Deserts possess a particular magic, since they have exhausted their own futures, and are thus free of time. Anything erected there, a city, a pyramid, a motel, stands outside time. It’s no coincidence that religious leaders emerge from the desert. Modern shopping malls have much the same function. A future Rimbaud, Van Gogh or Adolf Hitler will emerge from their timeless wastes.”
I envisioned and heard a desert, filled with liminal, uncanny, tedious skyscrapers and malls. Archaistic dunes, spoiled by parking lots and muzak. I really enjoyed working in this environment. Its liminality made way for great space to be creative. Within this world, it was important for me to highlight its dichotomy. Walking around you would be bombarded with overly stimulating noise, ads, music, cars to the backdrop of a timeless, normally undisturbed, antediluvian desert.
Within the game, you would explore this world, in all its monotonous incongruity.
It’s said that Virtual Reality drifts us further from nature and I felt this place complimented these ideas perfectly.