Yes, this project is primarily about the discipline of concept art specialising on creature design, and the focus must remain on that when it comes to utilising this format of art as a tool to foster empathy in players. However, if the project is to emulate the richness of a full pro-social gamethen with the creatures must come their environments, the cultures or individuals they interact with, and the development of the world around them. As Elias travels around this world documenting the encounters he has with the creatures, I have already discussed how he would communicate about them with others to build his own knowledge and understandings, would he not too document these characters, or the environments to show how they have impacted his growth, both in skill as an observational artist and scholar but also as a maturing empathetic individual. The two work in tandem in this sense as character building for the narrative whilst also growing the richness of the development of the world this project resides within allowing readers to become more immersed and thus enabling a more successful attempt for change in behaviour that I am hoping to achieve with the project. Some of this will be treading on earlier established ideas but also expanding upon them to develop this area of the projects development.
So how does this develop, and how can I break it down into a manageable production task without impeding the primary objective of the project. Firstly lets see what I envision the worldbuilding to exist as in the book.
1. Locations and materials
The most important part of the world building are the locations or more specifically the environments, where the creatures exist and in contrast what parts of civilisation occur outside of the creatures habitats - that can show how Elias travels from a place of origin in terms beginning to learn about the creature to witnessing first-hand the individual cognitive disorders, since the environment can play a part in the representation of the symptoms when developing the designs of the creature (but not a necessity in all creature designs just where it is an additive to the process).
For example when we look at the Insomnia creature I imagined it living in deep canyons that echoed every sound, with the rocky terrain made up of minerals that held qualities that enabled sound to reverberate constantly to create a place that seemed almost impossible to rest within. Understanding the habitat of the creature to this level plays an impact on how the design is further developed as I have to answer questions of how the creature survives in this place through its anatomy as any real creature has adapted to their own in our world. It aslo affects how i craft the individuals who share this location as a home and can provide Elias with more detailed information of higher accuracy about the creature than those who have never seen it. So the Hollow Order are formed with idea that they choose not to rest (as they cannot within the echo caverns) but allow this characterisation to develop as a part of their own culture with a 24 hour passage of time in complete silence being a holy rite of passage in their cult as a means of passing into maturity within their own ranks. This can be contrasted by nearby cities, choosing to have their residences built with materials that insulate sound or reduce it to much lower levels, since functionally they would not quarry materials where the creature lives due to the risks involved but also aesthetically the juxtaposition of a place of comfort where one such as Elias can rest providing inaccurate information on the creature can represent the choice for an individual to journey into discovery about the cognitive disorders often been one that can incur discomfort or moving from a place of relative ease to one with less.
Limestone canyons are a great real world example of naturally occuring hard, smooth surfaces that reverberate sound effectively.
Where as buildings within 'safe' nearby towns or villages would make use of sound absorbing materials such as wood, moss or hemp, bamboo, cork, seaweed, and stone bricks such as basalt quarried from nearby volcanic regions.
Now these environmental choices in the design do not need to be overt to the player as I don't want to bash them over the head with everything being representative of symptoms and cognitive disorders, I envision materials being available for collection for manufacturing weapons, tools, and apparel and all substances would have a small description in the inventory menu similar to how Dark Souls approaches their item descriptions that the player could theorise and speculate why they exist in particular contexts, adding to the richness of the world to a player willing to go the extra mile in terms of discovery further adding to the theme of information being a reward for taking the time to research deeper and find more authentic details especially when it comes to building empathy for those who suffer from cognitive disorders.
2. Naming conventions
To further enhance the richness of the world with purposeful decision making in worldbuilding I want to ensure that places in the world are named with the same level of detail whilst still paying homage to the Greek themes and aesthetics in the iconography, UI, and UX that would be present in the game in keeping with the history of psychology and philosophy originating from Ancient Greece. Utilising pages such as fantasy name generators with conventional prefixes and suffixes that offer some hidden details about the places, again offering easter egg style details that keen eyed players that travel down the path of discovery and take the time to analyse the game would pick up on.
Again if we treat the area (consisting of environment and local towns/cities/villages) where the Insomnia creature resides as an example of using this method I can look at the prefixes and suffixes that relate to the concept of sound. These are "audio-", "phon", and "son-". "Audio-" is used as a prefix, while "phon-" and "son-" can be found as both prefixes and roots within words related to sound.
"audio-"
This prefix, derived from the Latin word "audire" (to hear), indicates something related to sound or hearing. Examples include "audiovisual" and "auditory"
"phon-"
This prefix or root, derived from the Greek word "phōnē" (sound or voice), is commonly used in words related to sound and speech. Examples include "telephone", "microphone", and "phonics".
"son-"
This root, derived from the Latin word "sonus" (sound), is another way to refer to sound. Words like "sonic", "sonar", and "sonata" utilize this root.
Resulting place names could include;
Sonarthenes Somniopolis - Somni relates to sleep
Sonynthus Soneiros - Son relates to sound and oneiros relates to dreams
Audiphyrian Kyrysomn
Phonuriun Demetoneiros
Audiopolis
Audinion
Phonopolis
At the start of the concept art book will be the same world map that the protagonist Elias, takes with him that will show the reader the established place names and give them a sense of the place that he is travelling through, and giving them an introductory sense of immersion as they begin to observe the pages of the book. There is a chance that this will alienate the message from the reader as they will view the place as separate from our own world so in an attempt to discourage this I am referencing old naval maps of Greece as the established outlines for my own map.
3. Cultures and people
A final area that I've been attempting to draw upon when establishing a richer narrative through worldbuilding is the diversity in individuals that Elias meets along his journey, some that cohabit environments with the creatures can be utilised as tools to further escalate symptoms and their effects, to show opposing ideologies between those with stigmatic perceptions and those attempting to understand, or be in complete contrast to the symptoms to showcase the difference between the reader and those who suffer from symptoms.
One example of this was looking into the cultural trend of scarification affiliated within african tribal groups to be juxtaposed against the Dermatillomania creature where sufferers constantly pick their skin in an attempt to make it smoother. The african tribal culture can then be a starting point for the designs of tools, weaponry, and apparel produced from materials gathered in the area or from the creature when successfully hunted adding a diverse and expansive range of these features so each player would develop their own character in a unique way increasing their own immersion as well as representing how global an issue cognitive disorders and societal stigma towards them is through use of a range of global cultures and peoples.
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