Keeping it Real!

A vintage oscilloscope discovered at a huge white elephant sale. The controls remind me of a 1950's scifi spaceship.

A few years ago, there was a shift in digital design away from 3D real-world textures to a more flat look. I think this simple aesthetic works for most user interfaces, as it doesn't distract from the content. But for HAUNTIBLES, I wanted to embrace what's known as Skeuomorphism. 

Skeuomorphism
skjuːə(ʊ)ˈmɔːfɪz(ə)m 

A design concept that attempts to imitate the look of real-world objects (like this instagram logo.)

Instead of a clean flat design, I aimed for a more gritty, cracked, faded and worn-out look. This aesthetic meshed a lot better with the old photographs that are at the heart of HAUNTIBLES. So, much like a sound designer who ventures into the field to collect sound effects, I needed to hunt for textures. 

You never know what you'll see at an antique fair. This box of prosthetic peepers "caught my eye".

The search for these visuals takes me to some fascinating places. From rare book festivals to antique barns, you never know where you'll find what you need. Sometimes it's a rusted screw on a manual typewriter, a tiny dial on a vintage oscilloscope, or simply a button from a creepy doll. I combine all these elements in Photoshop to create the assets for HAUNTIBLES. But visuals aren't enough...sound effects are equally important, a topic that'll be covered in a future blog post!

My grandfather's old Kodak Brownie camera provided many of the vintage mechanical textures for HAUNTIBLES. He loved gadgets, so it's fitting that his camera be immortalized in the game's ghost hunting devices.