Smooth, Artistic Transitions between Highly Contrasting Environments
By: Timothy Locke
Supervisor: Chad Walker
Masters of Interactive Technology degree conferred March 24th, 2007
Thesis / Project completed: March 21st, 2007 

This thesis project examines two methods used in video games to transition between drastically different outdoor environments.  This project presents two variations of a dense jungle environment that transition into an arid desert canyon environment utilizing the technique of transitional asset placement and terrain textural blending.  The purpose is to determine which of these techniques better facilitates a smooth transition between environments that would normally not be so adjacent.  The administering of a qualitative survey to fifteen Guildhall students evenly spread across the three disciplines of art creation, level design and software development as well as five additional participants unaffiliated with the Guildhall suggests which technique is more successful.  The results of this endeavor show that the majority of the twenty persons surveyed believe the asset-focused transition to be the most appealing.  While the lack of a proper textural transition jarred many of the survey participants, the majority felt that the transitional assets eased them through the drastic environmental change more smoothly.

While it is obvious that the simultaneous implementation of both techniques would result in a seamless transition, it is my intention that data derived from this project provide an indication of which technique to focus on given the time constraints that developers work under in games industry.

Further research that can be done in this area include an examination of other methods of transition, the addition of increasingly difficult gameplay to a transitional area, or taking the methods examined in this project to an extreme.

Download entire thesis (.pdf)