I had a chat with Floris Barnhoorn, a 3rd year theatre designer, friend, and very handy, I thought, to have a beer with and juggle ideas about.
The questions I had were how I could design Vloedelingen visually.
I had a few criteria: it has to be productionally low-budget and low-effort with maximum effect (time and money aren’t things I have plenty of!), it has to be functionally intertwined with the core game mechanics, it has to be simple as not to draw attention away from the essence of the interaction, it has to sketch the setting in one glance.
With Floris’s help I arrived at some very useful conclusions and solutions.
-Use 50mm masking tape to outline the borders of the important locations on the island on the ground. The Café and Winkel are two 2×2 metre squares on the ground, with a place for the door.
-Using orange reflection vests (if lifejackets aren’t a viable option), to show a clear difference between Vastelander and Eilander.
-Using materials such as clear plastic sheeting for the sea, plastic bottles/jerrycans/olive oil cans to contain the Diesel.
-Simple ways to construct a boat for the Vastelanders. Why not only build the prow of the boat with wood, or cardboard. Use half car tires in a row.
-Chalk and chalkboards as a uniform design style. I quite liked this idea. It fits well with the black box, Dogville sort of style anyway. Lots of black and white!
-A small amount of kitsch furniture, pictures, delft tiles, nets, scrap wood, that sort of thing.
-Using cookies, sweets, liquorice as the symbol for food.
Dogville:
