LEFT: Birds in Dota 2
will perch on the
team’s pennants as
well as the
architecture.GREAT OUTDOORS The best insects in The Sims 4: Outdoor Retreat
LOCUST
The detail on their faces is
great, and that they’re in
flight is a cool touch.MANTIS
If you put it the mantis in a
vivarium you can watch its
eyes swivel to look around.STINKBUG
In Sims 4 stinkbugs
(shieldbugs in the UK)
have lovely detailed tums!Y
ou know how when
you find yourself
vaguely near nature
suddenly all you can
hear is crickets and
birdsong? You know how you look
around and try to triangulate its
source by turning your head and
hearing it get louder or quieter?
You know how you then remember
this is a videogame and birdsong
casually pours from trees and the
chirping of crickets leaks out of
shaggy green textures on the floor?
All of this only increases my love of
games where the devs spent time,
energy and cash creating detailed
digital nature for me to enjoy.
As one of those people who will hear
a bird singing nearby and peer into a
hedge for however long it takes to see
the creature making the racket,
hearing birdsong in games without
an accompanying bird is profoundly
weird. You’re essentially hearing
voice lines from an invisible NPC.
I understand why this stuff
happens. Videogame development is
resource intensive so you figure out
how to create the idea of a space
without breaking your budget. You
can approximate woods using
skyboxes, plenty of trees and some
birdsong. There are a wealth of tools
and audio resources for all of the
above, and if you implement them in
keeping with the spirit and look of
your game players aren’t likely to say
“yes but an invisible flock of
long-tailed tits has ruined this
experience for me”.
Generally I’ll squint around when
I first hear birdsong or insect noises
in a new game and, if there are no
accompanying creatures, I’ll add the
game to the relevant appendix of the
Book of Grudges and get on with
playing. I wondered whether I
should stop checking at all, but over
time I started to encounter more and
more games which rewarded those
moments of close inspection.
One which sticks in my mind is
the Dota 2 map. I used to download a
match replay and open the console
commands so I could switch into
I’VEBEENTOOBUSYFINDING
HUMMINGBIRDSAND
SWAPPINGTOPHOTOMODEKATYDID
We call these bush crickets
in the UK. They have such
a wonderful silhouette!freecam mode. It lets you roam the
space and watch the wildlife which
scurries and flaps on basic loops.
While not sophisticated in their
behaviour, the insects, bats, frogs,
birds and other forest denizens are
beautifully rendered. Some are even
based on specific species. The fact
someone took the time to create and
add them makes the game feel richer.
A similar thing happened when I
started looking at Firewatch’s insects.
I was hoping to find beetles given the
setting – no luck on that front – but
the butterflies sport enough detail
that I could think of them as specific
species - kinds of swallowtail and
monarch instead of just triangles
flitting across the screen and bringing
movement to a vista.AT ONE WITH NATURE
One project which is built around
noticing nature is Walden, A Game. It
takes you through the seasons at
Walden Pond as Henry David
Thoreau. Regardless of how irritating
you think Thoreau would be to
spend actual time with (I, for
example, think he would be the
Absolute Worst), the game does a
lovely job of highlighting the
pleasures of drinking in the details of
your surroundings. Blue jays come in
to land, hares lope away, a bullfrog
croaks by the edge of the lake.
The more you revel in nature
(various activities like strolling and
listening and contemplating increase
your “inspiration”) the more vibrant
the game looks. You can also hold
your right mouse button down
while you look at something to
get Thoreau’s notes on whatever it is.I really like that there isn’t a
hierarchy of interest there – he’s as
apt to consider a rock or a patch of
dirt worthy of comment as he is a
bird or a tree or the Milky Way.
Most recently there’s Far Cry New
Dawn. Don’t ask me what the plot of
Far Cry New Dawn is because I
couldn’t tell you. I’ve been too busy
finding hummingbirds and swapping
to photo mode so I can line up and
take shots of them in all their glory.
Hummingbirds aren’t the only
creatures in the game – in fact
they’re one of the most artificial as
they hover around collectible plants
like yucca and bougainvillea – but
they’re absolutely stunning. Plumagein various colour combinations and
their calls catch your attention and
reward a closer look.
The only downside is that these
extra details slow me down
immediately and disproportionately
because I want to examine every
little thing. I can’t tell you what’s
happening in New Dawn because I
haven’t moved far enough in three
hours to actually reach a checkpoint
in the first story mission. I wondered
whether I might just be making very
slow progress, but no. I just looked
up and I haven’t actually gone far
enough to lose sight of my home
base. Perhaps this is why devs
aren’t so keen on adding detail.EXTRA LIFE
NOW PLAYING I MOD SPOTLIGHT I HOW TO I DIARY I REINSTALL I WHY I LOVE (^) I M U S T P L A Y