The Art of Simpler Times
Is it the objects and how realistic they look? Their small imperfections telling a story? Or is it the lighting and the animations? The shadows playing on the room’s floor, and the subtle movement of the curtain in the breeze? Let’s explore these questions and discuss what we think makes a virtual space feel alive.
It’s time to delve into one of our favorite topics: Simpler Times’ graphics. Whether we’re talking about the endearing Sir Inks-a-Lot, with whom players can interact and fling around, or the subtle logo sitting on a cassette player that can be inspected up close, they both share the same visual goal – they must belong to the same era visually and contribute to the story.
The art in Simpler Times is inspired by the bold colors and shapes of graphic design and the timeless style of mid-century aesthetics. Objects are simplified, and textures have just enough detail to communicate the materials under the right amount of light. To create a cohesive and lively space, we paid attention to every detail of the graphics from the objects and their graphic design, to the environment and the mood they create.
When it comes to discussing the objects, we have to mention Andra Perju, the 3D artist behind nearly every object in the room. She had a long list of items to create that we would later populate the room with. We gave them ratings based on how fun and interesting they could be to the player, and how well they would fit in the game’s universe. We will briefly look over objects that we think are fun, objects that encourage physical interactions, and objects that help tell Taina’s story.
[h3]Fun[/h3]
I’m not sure if it’s because we grew up playing games where interactions were very limited, but it’s still satisfying for us to open drawers and turn lights on and off in a virtual environment. One of our goals was to support the player’s behavior and reward them for trying something different. Open all the drawers, shake the piggy bank, or toss the toys out the window! Have fun!
When we talk about fun, we can’t miss mentioning our team’s beloved plushie, Sir Inks-a-Lot. We gave it life by painstakingly adding all the bones to those tentacles to ensure they wiggled as satisfyingly as possible!
[h3]Physical[/h3]
Another aspect of the game where we put a lot of attention is the physical interactions with the objects. We miss pushing buttons that make a click, and we tried to integrate that feeling into the game. That’s why our tutorial has sticky notes and our options menu is integrated into the turntable settings.
A good example of a physical interaction is with the cassette player. So many moving parts and buttons to push! This being said, we tried to lean on the physicality of these objects but also make them enjoyable to interact with, with a mouse or a controller. A little fine-tuning was needed to find the right balance of interactivity.
[h3]Story Driven[/h3]
Because every object in the game can be brought right up close to the camera, the details should hold up. Not only that, on some of them you’ll see tiny scratches and fingerprints meticulously rendered on their surface. On other objects, you may notice how they age together with Taina. For us, this was a way of telling the story of passing time subtly.
Story-driven objects can be simple: postcards, photos, a rock. One day, Andra was sharing her gratifying experience of creating a rock for the game. A rock with Taina’s name engraved on it. To make it as authentic as possible, she didn’t opt for the fancy tablet but instead scribbled Taina’s name on it using just her mouse. Does that make a rock feel more alive? Maybe. One thing is for sure, small details like this bring inanimate objects to life.
Beyond the objects that are fun, physical, or drive the game’s story, there’s a treasure trove of “hidden” graphics quietly lurking in the background. These provide context and add depth to the universe we set out to create. A universe where you’ll find books with hand-illustrated covers and small props featuring unique logos.
[h3]Books[/h3]
For Laara Bonn, making lettering pieces and illustrations for the specific purpose of becoming book covers, was her favorite aspect of crafting the game. With a little help from our writer Andrei Alexandru, they invented book titles, author names, and even brief storylines for these fictional books. She then brought them to life by designing their covers. The result is a complete library of books we seriously wouldn’t mind owning.
After playing our demo where we featured a handful of these books, a question kept rising from the players - “Are these real books?”. What makes them real? I think it’s the love that the team put into creating them. There are over 30 books in the game, each with a short description.
[h3]Logos[/h3]
The passion for graphic design doesn’t stop there. We soon discovered that something was missing from all these objects. Who made them?! Our goal was to fill the room with items that a person would typically own, and in the real world, these items usually come from different brands. We designed numerous brand logos and applied them to the objects in the room.
You might think “Who would even notice a minuscule logo on the back of a pencil?”, perhaps not many, but for us it was important to create an experience that feels authentic and is a true-to-life reflection of the world we inhabit.
[h3]Title Cards[/h3]
Speaking of branding, after designing the game’s logo, the very next thing we worked on was the design for the transition between the game’s chapters. These would serve as loading screens, and were inspired by the ornate title cards from old movies (also known as intertitles).
With each title card we made sure to capture the unique essence of that season by carefully choosing the lettering style and how it’s animated. For the animations, we collaborated with the very talented Vera Drmanovski!
We touched on the objects and their graphic design, but what about the space they all live in? The actual room and the way these individual items sit in the environment. When Dragos Matkovski crafted the room’s first iteration, it consisted solely of a window, a curtain, and a table. All lit with a warm light that made the environment feel alive, like there is a story to be told within those walls. It created a mood. As the story evolved and the game’s purpose took shape, the room underwent significant changes. We did multiple layout variations until we arrived at the one we have today, but we tried to keep the mood there throughout the development.
[h3]Room[/h3]
We first started with a much smaller room where everything was within reach from the center, but slowly adapted and expanded the space to fit the story. Taina’s room is now square, with a large window looking south to let the light in, and a cozy nook for all her creative activities.
From the position of the window and furniture, down to the tiniest trinket, each item in the room has been carefully placed. Is Taina left or right-handed? Where would the sun be when she sits at the desk? The turntable console, the desk, and the window nook, are areas of interest for the players, so we made sure to position them in a way that makes them easily accessible.
[h3]Nature[/h3]
The window and the view of the natural environment outside, anchor the room in a physical space and make it slightly more authentic. The window also serves as a connection between the indoor and outdoor worlds, allowing the player to observe the changes of seasons and weather, and how they affect the mood and activities of Taina.
Next to the house, a distinctive tree embraces the windows with its branches. It is an apple tree that not only decorates the view but also reflects Taina’s personal growth. The tree symbolizes the passage of time and the cycle of life, as it changes its appearance in each season. The tree is a witness to Taina’s maturity and a reminder of her connection to nature and her family.
[h3]Mood[/h3]
So what makes a virtual space feel lived in? The quality or quantity of the graphics alone is not enough to create a sense of life. Many times it’s not something realistic that sparks joy in us, but instead it is something highly stylized, an interpretation of our reality pushed to an extreme by capturing the feeling of something real, instead of something that is real. Mood is focusing on rendering the feeling of a place and not the place itself.
Lighting plays an important role in achieving that. The sunlight peeking through the leaves and shining on the back of the curtains, creating a playful shadow and light pattern across all the items in the room; that is what ties everything together to make the space feel lived in.
We think that the graphics in Simpler Times, from the smallest scribble on a wall to the whole collection of objects carefully arranged in the room and washed over by the lighting, will enhance Taina’s story and create a memorable atmosphere for whoever chooses to enter her room.
It’s time to delve into one of our favorite topics: Simpler Times’ graphics. Whether we’re talking about the endearing Sir Inks-a-Lot, with whom players can interact and fling around, or the subtle logo sitting on a cassette player that can be inspected up close, they both share the same visual goal – they must belong to the same era visually and contribute to the story.
The art in Simpler Times is inspired by the bold colors and shapes of graphic design and the timeless style of mid-century aesthetics. Objects are simplified, and textures have just enough detail to communicate the materials under the right amount of light. To create a cohesive and lively space, we paid attention to every detail of the graphics from the objects and their graphic design, to the environment and the mood they create.
The Objects
When it comes to discussing the objects, we have to mention Andra Perju, the 3D artist behind nearly every object in the room. She had a long list of items to create that we would later populate the room with. We gave them ratings based on how fun and interesting they could be to the player, and how well they would fit in the game’s universe. We will briefly look over objects that we think are fun, objects that encourage physical interactions, and objects that help tell Taina’s story.
[h3]Fun[/h3]
I’m not sure if it’s because we grew up playing games where interactions were very limited, but it’s still satisfying for us to open drawers and turn lights on and off in a virtual environment. One of our goals was to support the player’s behavior and reward them for trying something different. Open all the drawers, shake the piggy bank, or toss the toys out the window! Have fun!
When we talk about fun, we can’t miss mentioning our team’s beloved plushie, Sir Inks-a-Lot. We gave it life by painstakingly adding all the bones to those tentacles to ensure they wiggled as satisfyingly as possible!
[h3]Physical[/h3]
Another aspect of the game where we put a lot of attention is the physical interactions with the objects. We miss pushing buttons that make a click, and we tried to integrate that feeling into the game. That’s why our tutorial has sticky notes and our options menu is integrated into the turntable settings.
A good example of a physical interaction is with the cassette player. So many moving parts and buttons to push! This being said, we tried to lean on the physicality of these objects but also make them enjoyable to interact with, with a mouse or a controller. A little fine-tuning was needed to find the right balance of interactivity.
[h3]Story Driven[/h3]
Because every object in the game can be brought right up close to the camera, the details should hold up. Not only that, on some of them you’ll see tiny scratches and fingerprints meticulously rendered on their surface. On other objects, you may notice how they age together with Taina. For us, this was a way of telling the story of passing time subtly.
Story-driven objects can be simple: postcards, photos, a rock. One day, Andra was sharing her gratifying experience of creating a rock for the game. A rock with Taina’s name engraved on it. To make it as authentic as possible, she didn’t opt for the fancy tablet but instead scribbled Taina’s name on it using just her mouse. Does that make a rock feel more alive? Maybe. One thing is for sure, small details like this bring inanimate objects to life.
The Graphic Design
Beyond the objects that are fun, physical, or drive the game’s story, there’s a treasure trove of “hidden” graphics quietly lurking in the background. These provide context and add depth to the universe we set out to create. A universe where you’ll find books with hand-illustrated covers and small props featuring unique logos.
[h3]Books[/h3]
For Laara Bonn, making lettering pieces and illustrations for the specific purpose of becoming book covers, was her favorite aspect of crafting the game. With a little help from our writer Andrei Alexandru, they invented book titles, author names, and even brief storylines for these fictional books. She then brought them to life by designing their covers. The result is a complete library of books we seriously wouldn’t mind owning.
After playing our demo where we featured a handful of these books, a question kept rising from the players - “Are these real books?”. What makes them real? I think it’s the love that the team put into creating them. There are over 30 books in the game, each with a short description.
[h3]Logos[/h3]
The passion for graphic design doesn’t stop there. We soon discovered that something was missing from all these objects. Who made them?! Our goal was to fill the room with items that a person would typically own, and in the real world, these items usually come from different brands. We designed numerous brand logos and applied them to the objects in the room.
You might think “Who would even notice a minuscule logo on the back of a pencil?”, perhaps not many, but for us it was important to create an experience that feels authentic and is a true-to-life reflection of the world we inhabit.
[h3]Title Cards[/h3]
Speaking of branding, after designing the game’s logo, the very next thing we worked on was the design for the transition between the game’s chapters. These would serve as loading screens, and were inspired by the ornate title cards from old movies (also known as intertitles).
With each title card we made sure to capture the unique essence of that season by carefully choosing the lettering style and how it’s animated. For the animations, we collaborated with the very talented Vera Drmanovski!
The Environment
We touched on the objects and their graphic design, but what about the space they all live in? The actual room and the way these individual items sit in the environment. When Dragos Matkovski crafted the room’s first iteration, it consisted solely of a window, a curtain, and a table. All lit with a warm light that made the environment feel alive, like there is a story to be told within those walls. It created a mood. As the story evolved and the game’s purpose took shape, the room underwent significant changes. We did multiple layout variations until we arrived at the one we have today, but we tried to keep the mood there throughout the development.
[h3]Room[/h3]
We first started with a much smaller room where everything was within reach from the center, but slowly adapted and expanded the space to fit the story. Taina’s room is now square, with a large window looking south to let the light in, and a cozy nook for all her creative activities.
From the position of the window and furniture, down to the tiniest trinket, each item in the room has been carefully placed. Is Taina left or right-handed? Where would the sun be when she sits at the desk? The turntable console, the desk, and the window nook, are areas of interest for the players, so we made sure to position them in a way that makes them easily accessible.
[h3]Nature[/h3]
The window and the view of the natural environment outside, anchor the room in a physical space and make it slightly more authentic. The window also serves as a connection between the indoor and outdoor worlds, allowing the player to observe the changes of seasons and weather, and how they affect the mood and activities of Taina.
Next to the house, a distinctive tree embraces the windows with its branches. It is an apple tree that not only decorates the view but also reflects Taina’s personal growth. The tree symbolizes the passage of time and the cycle of life, as it changes its appearance in each season. The tree is a witness to Taina’s maturity and a reminder of her connection to nature and her family.
[h3]Mood[/h3]
So what makes a virtual space feel lived in? The quality or quantity of the graphics alone is not enough to create a sense of life. Many times it’s not something realistic that sparks joy in us, but instead it is something highly stylized, an interpretation of our reality pushed to an extreme by capturing the feeling of something real, instead of something that is real. Mood is focusing on rendering the feeling of a place and not the place itself.
Lighting plays an important role in achieving that. The sunlight peeking through the leaves and shining on the back of the curtains, creating a playful shadow and light pattern across all the items in the room; that is what ties everything together to make the space feel lived in.
We think that the graphics in Simpler Times, from the smallest scribble on a wall to the whole collection of objects carefully arranged in the room and washed over by the lighting, will enhance Taina’s story and create a memorable atmosphere for whoever chooses to enter her room.