Deck Nine Games has detailed the design and effects of Alex’s power of empathy, and how emotions are represented visually within Life Is Strange: True Colors.
Jonathan Zimmerman, narrative director at Deck Nine Games, has spoken on PlayStation.blog about the powers players will get to use when they step into Alex’s shoes. This power of empathy is core to Life Is Strange: True Colors and allows players to see a coloured aura around people when they feel strong emotions.
“As a dev team, we wrestled with the question of how to capture something as abstract as emotions. We found ourselves pushing the conventions of traditional Life is Strange storytelling, employing the tangible audio-visual representation of emotive sensations to drive the same response in the player that Alex herself feels each time” he said.
“We also wanted to challenge the boundary between Alex and other characters, using elements like internal monologue and world exploration to blend perspectives and introduce questions about the strength of Alex’s own thoughts. Although we approached each nova as a bespoke experience, we eventually landed on four general categories of emotions that shared similar elements: sadness, anger, fear, and joy.”
The article then demonstrates each of the four colour-coded emotions.
“Sadness is expressed with a blue aura that is fluid and consuming. Inside a sadness nova, the world takes on a gray-blue pallor.”
“Fear is expressed with a purple aura that jumps and spikes, like an EKG monitor. Inside a fear nova, the world is all jagged lines and dark shadows.”
“Anger is expressed with a violent red that flickers like a flame. Inside an anger nova, the world is intense and hot. Lights and sounds are amped up, movements are sharp and staggered.”
“Joy is expressed with a golden aura that radiates like the sun’s corona. Inside a joy aura, the world seems to bubble and vibrate with love and laughter.”
Life Is Strange: True Colors will release for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC on September 10 2021.
Elsewhere, Sony’s PlayStation 5 has become the fastest-selling Sony console ever. Despite component shortages, the system has sold over 10 million units.
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