Looking Up
by ted2112, HSM team writer
Big white clouds like chariots that swing down low…Only place left to go.
-Bob Dylan
A few years back I was lucky enough to go on vacation in Hawaii. As I lay on the beach, I was captivated by the clouds coming in from the ocean, their massive towering pillars forming and re-forming. The sky was creating shapes and providing a kind of moving roof to the amazing scenery.
Some of my favorite spaces in Home are the ones with the amazing clouds.
Have a seat on the Tropical Escape space for a while a while and watch the clouds, there are two layers the bottom of which is moving at its own speed. The different levels form moving complex patters and create a texture that is constantly in motion giving a grand sense of space.
Look at the way the light shines on the Lakeside Log cabin. The clouds don’t move but someone went through a lot of trouble to capture a sunset at that precise moment of glory. The same is true for the Eden Primarch’s Vigilarium space. The massive cumulus clouds in the distance are breathtaking and it’s even cooler knowing that the space and its amazing view is the very same one used in the videogame Final Fantasy XIII itself.
The new Desert Haven Clubhouse space has raised the bar even further by having three layers of moving clouds in conjunction with a sunset. Anyone that has spent any time in Arizona will recognize the way the reddish orange light reflects off the bottom of the clouds. Simply amazing – I love it that the people who design this stuff care about this stuff as much as I do! I don’t know how they do it, but it’s obvious by watching the evolution of the sky and its relationship to their game space that they have come to understand that by focusing on the sky we give width and breadth to the earth at our feet.
If you look at a space with a static sky – for example the Tycoon Penthouse or Hollywood Hills space with its bright but empty sky – the space flows out but not up, instead it draws the eye down to their cityscapes below. Or by contrast the Aurora and the Nebula Airship spaces have a static sky, but it’s the space itself skims across an ocean of a wispy white texture.
I love the sky in the Waterfall Terrace. This space has hands down the most clouds. The slow moving stratus has a calming effect and is a great example of a large sky space changing into twilight. My favorite however has got to be Loco Roco. Sony put three levels of clouds in motion over the island – three! If you lounge a while in the beach chair, you will notice the way in which they move, seamlessly starting just where it ends in a perfect arc. I would have loved to have been at that production meeting, when they were planning that one!
When making a space there must be so much to balance – technical specifics of course, but the artistic expression as well. To me, clouds represent a kind of dreamy perfection. You could simply have a blank sky, maybe have a few painted white puffs in the far background, but to have moving clouds, now that’s perfection. The evolution of graphics has become more and more complex and for a long time the sky has been an afterthought. Not anymore! There is an effort to make game spaces more and more realistic. The outdoor spaces are leading the pack. I wish I knew who the designers were and tell them – personally – that they get it.
Starry Night by Van Gogh might be the ultimate example of the power of clouds. The iconic painting with its swirling luminescence has made it the most reproduced painting in fine art. I feel the image is as fresh today as it was in 1887. There were no video games back then, but what if there were? Would Van Gogh be painting with pixels? Would Starry Night be a moving tapestry over gamers heads? Are we in a new renaissance, where the artists of today are creating worlds that move and we can live inside that art? I feel the answer might be yes. The dreams of generations of artists will constantly push the boundary continually outward.
Poets and artist have been using clouds as metaphors for ages. I think because they represent a kind of place of dreams – solid seeming, yet an ethereal plane beyond our mortal reach. Technology has finally caught up to giving clouds their due and the artists and designers have made sure the roofs of our spaces can provide us with a place to dream.
Sit a while, look up, relax and let your mind wander.
January 19th, 2012 by ted2112 | 10 comments
ted2112 is a writer and a Bass player that has been both inspired and takes to heart Kurt Vonnegut words...."we are here on planet Earth to fart around, and don't let anyone tell you different."
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I know I’ve missed some of your work, but of the pieces that I’ve read, this is far and away the best yet. You’re developing a very distinctive style of your own.
Btw, an experience which you might enjoy, is to visit the upper deck of the Capcom skyship in the Japan Home. I’m referring to the outer deck which you can access through the stairs on the first floor, not the third floor deck which is inside a transparent dome.
Once you’re on the upper/ outer deck, you can walk past the railing and out onto the very end of the bowsprit (it’s a glitch that has always existed, so I’m sure the Capcom devs did it deliberately). From there you can watch the clouds move past you on either side. It’s just one of those details that adds to the sense of immersion and makes you appreciate the vast amount of work that went into the creation of the skyship.
Magnificent article Ted. I am with you Ted that the graphical worlds created for games and for PS Home are truly works and we are fortunate to be able to move around in these interactive works of art.
I have always loved sky watching since I was a child,I used to lay on my back in a field or my yard and gaze at it, like many of you I am sure. I agree Ted that Home has many beautiful vistas available to us. The Waterfall Terrace was the first personal space I bought in Home because of that view, and the Log Cabin was my second because I see one as dawn and the other as dusk.
I love that the developers take such care in the details of the spaces they build, both public and private. There were even insects buzzing around the flowers in Central Plaza if you took the time to look carefully enough, and they weren’t just dots either, if you looked at them they were tiny bees.
It amazes me that someone put such time and effort into something that many wouldn’t even notice. I believe this shows how much they truly care about their work. Great article.
I love this article too! In the sky, is where we ponder life. In Home they have truley do the skys justice. Night and Day! Immersion in the sky is a nessesary ingredient for us to be inspired creatively to interact with a virtual environment. The developers of these spaces have it licked too! You clearly appreciate classical art. They convey this on many levels in many of Homes spaces. I’m a sky buyer too. Lol! You know people actually buy the rights to the sky to build buildings higher? Great article!
This is a great article.
You know what skyscape really makes a space? The LOOT Space Apartment. Admit it: the first time you see the dome ceiling open up and retract, it’s just one of the coolest animations in all of Home. And I love that orbital view.
Midnight Glade is another estate which just has a brilliant sky. Even without fireworks going off, it’s just magical.
Norse, to be honest with you, perhaps the reason I was less than overwhelmed with the LOOT Space Apt’s orbital view is that I had previously toured the LOOT Space Station on a *cough* unofficial *cough* visit.
It’s not for everyone; when I saw it in LOOT’s offices back in September, I was blown away by it. But that was an official visit.
For some reason I’m getting a picture of Aet hiding in Norse’s pocket during his visit to Loot.
Great Article Ted!! I have always loved to lie on the beach and watch the clouds. Clouds fascinate me and I like the big fluffy ones. I like when they move and I like looking for shapes in them. I have always wanted to hang out on a cloud!!! The clouds on Home are awesome too. Each space has a different look, and I am not sure where my favorite clouds are. But as the phrase, “take time to smell the roses” comes to mind, everyone should “take time to watch the clouds on Home”. It’s a relaxing experience!!! In fact all the details on home are amazing. I sometimes use that zoom in camera and there is so much in the distance to see!! So again, great article as always!! This one really hit home for me!!
Wonderful topic ted! Ever since Quake (if you played it back in the day youll know what I mean) I have always loved the skys that videogames are capable of. Skys are probably the ONE place in games that have achieved 100% photorealism.
I just wish Home’s skys were more “Active”. It would be amazing to catch a meteor shower or a solar eclipse by chance. I know a couple of spaces have this but I would like there to be a unifying sky across Home… it would help make home feel like a connected world.