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Visual Design

Silent Risk's unique design mirrors the complex world of the game. To achieve this it is important to keep the style of all visual elements coherent. This is essential to convey the feeling of being in a realistic, pre-apocalyptic world.

One of our key design goals is to establish a visual individuality of the different factions. This includes faction-specific equipment, clothes, architecture and level environments. It also emphasizes the capabilities, alignment and history of each faction, helping players to distinguish friend and foe easily.

Developing interesting contrasts is another important method. This idea comes from the story background and the game design. Each faction has different motives and goals. They oppose each other, creating conflicts throughout the story.

This principle shows in the design of characters and levels: vivid chaos against sterile order, dark antennas rising in front of a soft evening sky, soft snow surrounding a rugged solid concrete structure.

The contrasting style even manifests in faction-equipment. Still, gear is not only based on the faction's background. To make it appear more believable and real Silent Risk's equipment design is based on current day items. All of these aspects are vital for a great gaming experience, that allows players to totally immerse in Silent Risk's futuristic world.

The visual design work is a collaborative effort. To make things easier a common starting point for all artists has been created, the Visual Design Guide.

Style Guide

The Visual Design Guide is an extensive document explaining the visual look of the game. It is similar to the Game Design Document and it consists of chapters about faction colors, environment style, special effects, textures, weapon and character design.

Moreover there are descriptions of atmospheric effects, the different unique visual elements for each faction, examples of logo and font use as well as GUI information. Everything is combined with lots of images, that can also be used as starting point for level designers and concept artists to develop content.

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