Extra, Extra! Read All About the Extras!

August 16, 2019

Between bouts of scripting side quests on Sleuthhounds: Cruise, lately I’ve been putting together some work in progress designs for background extras. Cruise takes place, appropriately enough, on a cruise ship. It’s a setting that should be well populated. Aside from Jane Ampson and Pureluck Homes there are 16 other main characters to interact with in the course of the adventure. Even so, not every character can be everywhere at once. As currently implemented, the cruise ship is a very empty place. Enter the extras to fix that.

[The main cast of Sleuthhounds: Cruise.]
The main cast of Sleuthhounds: Cruise.
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Developing extras for Cruise is a bit tricky. The extras have to be drawn in the same style with approximately the same amount of detail as the main cast so that they don’t stick out as being hugely different from the rest of the game’s visuals. At the same time, players need to be able to differentiate main characters that they have to interact with from extras that are just there to fill in the space. The extras need to fade into the background in a way.

[Some of the extras alongside Jane Ampson.]
Some of the extras alongside Jane Ampson.
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The main way I’ve been differentiating most of the extras from the main characters is with their colours. Compare the extras to the main cast above and you should see that the colouring of the extras is far less vibrant than for the main characters. Traditionally in software, controls that are disabled are render in grey. Similarly, I’ve been going for a “greying down” of the extras to try to visually show that they need not be interacted with.

The main characters are very much at the heart of the experience of Cruise. As such, as players get into the game, they should come to recognize who the main characters are when they encounter them in different locations. Even so, something as simple as desaturating the extras should help to visually distinguish the main interactive characters from the background cast. I don’t quite have the colouring differences exactly where I want them yet, but I feel it’s a good start so far.