Shadowplay: Simulated Illumination in Game Worlds

Abstract

Despite the fact that there are currently a number of enjoyable digital games in which light plays a key role, we lack a vocabulary with which to discuss simulated illumination in game worlds. An understanding of lighting practices in other media, such as 3d computer-generated animation and film, must be supplemented with an awareness of real-space disciplines such as architectural lighting if we are to grasp the complexity of the game lighting design task. But game design is more than a repository for existing lighting practices; the interactive nature of games allows for self-reflexive sensitivity to light to emerge, most clearly manifested in games described as “first person sneakers” and “survival-horror” games.