The Wind

The Wind was an incredibly difficult character to craft because of two design challenges: 

1. The Wind is meant to be an expression of the player. We want the player to feel like Wind, so how do we determine how it behaves or what it looks like? 

2. When do we even see the Wind? Are they a persistent, on-screen character? (like the Wisp?) Or only triggered when the player blows? 

At the very beginning of the project, the Wind was purely a visual effect in the world. We assumed that if the Wind appears as a result of player blowing input to the microphone, players would feel like it was coming from them. We also attempted to build character for the Wind by having it point towards the direction the player needs to go next. This was intended to give the impression that the Wind knows the way, and build a sense of character. Playtesting, however, showed us that neither of these points was true!

We then began experimenting with ways we could have the Wind feel like it's having a more direct impact on the Wisp by having the petals surround the Wisp, like a hug, or appear under the Wisp, like they are lifting it up. Feedback revealed that petals surrounding the Wisp felt a little too aggressive (like swarming) and the Wind appearing under the Wisp made it look like it was coming from the Wisp. Both of these changes were ultimately scrapped, but this also unearthed a lot of conversations about the Wind's role in the game narratively. The Wind had clear gameplay implications, but what about narrative and theme implications? 

The Wind As a Character?

We experimented with the Wind as a distinct character. We looked at characters like Navi in Ocarina of Time or the Ocean from Moana (characters are not always present, but we know they are a sentient being) but also Cappy from Super Mario Odyssey (who is always present and will ocassionally move when near something interesting for the player). 

One concept artist did several passes on Wind and Wisp interactions, such as the Wind tugging the Wisp somewhere, or giving them a head pat. The concepts were great, but raised a lot of technical questions: 

1. How would we implement the Wind behavior? How would we get it to interact with the Wisp?

2. Is it a VFX and animation we make in Unity? Or a baked 3D animation? 

3. Do we need a 3D model for the Wind? 

Many of these challenges we didn't have good solutions to, and therefore weren't able to pursue some of these interactions procedurally. They wouldn't be able to happen anywhere in the world. Additionally, creating a visual direction for the Wind as a persistent, on-screen character was difficult and giving it too many behavioral characteristics made it feel less and less like an expression of the player. This was directly in conflict with the design goals of the project, and we moved back towards having the Wind be an expression of the player, not a distinct character of its own. 

Adding Expression without Characterizing

We started concepting specific trigger areas for the Wind to manifest as a character. Areas that prompt the player to blow and will trigger a unique wind VFX and animation. These areas mirror player experience and how they are feeling at a specific moment in gameplay. In the swing interaction, the Wisp will have just come back from the forget-me-not level and a new area will have been unlocked. The player is already curious about finding the next area ahead, we mirror this curiosity and use it to trigger a scripted Wind sequence of the Wind coming to pat the Wisp on the head and lead them to another area. 

One of the project's advisors recommended doing a theming pass for the Wind, and focusing on the behavior and material makeup of the Wind. What should it feel like? We did several playtests of player experience with input to the game. What if feels like to blow into the microphone, and have the game react to that somehow. We slowly added various camera effects and visuals based on it. For example, blowing feels like an outward motion, so we added a vignette and pushed the camera out a little.

We started designing the Wind's visuals and interaction to feel like an expression of blowing that comes from the players, and feels like blowing is the player's window into the world with the Wisp. Instead of blowing to trigger events of the Wind as an entity interacting with the Wind, blowing will directly interact with the Wisp. For example, pushing the Wisp on a swing, or blowing a pinwheel that causes the Wisp to giggle. 

Impacting the World

To give the Wind more physical presence and make the world feel more alive, we looked for ways to have the Wind interact with the world apart from just playing with the Wisp. All of the flowers react to the Wind whenever the player blows! 

VFX Iteration