Idrelle Games

Process: Location Sketches

Added 2022-10-14 17:00:08 +0000 UTC

Setting is important. It’s often crucial for worldbuilding, establishing where the characters are and giving the audience an understanding of the culture and location. It can also be used to indicate tone and atmosphere of the scene overall.

I’m a very visual writer; I know exactly what each space looks like, and I do my best to communicate that through descriptive writing where necessary. But setting isn’t only about descriptions—it’s also about a sense of space. This is especially important for scenes like action sequences, which have a lot of movement and engagement with the environment.

For any given scene, I have a full visualization of what it looks like and where each character goes. This is a carry over from my playwriting background. In theatre writing, a playwright often needs to know how their characters may move around the stage during a scene. Even if the stage directions are kept to a minimum (or later ignored by the director), they still need to have an understanding of how their text works within a physical space. With every play I have written, I have always a basic set design sketched out in my head that helped inform where characters were for certain lines and where they may need to go.

While I don’t sketch out settings while writing Wayfarer, I always have a good approximation of one in my head when I write. I thought it would be fun to put some of those down on paper. I’m not an artist by any means, so these sketches are very rough.

1. RONA TOWN SQUARE

Sitting at the juncture of several major thoroughfares, Rona’s town square is a floating platform that stretches between several islands. Surrounded on four sides by rickety buildings that tilt inwards on each other, the square is currently home to a plethora of wooden stalls erected for market day.

In the centre of the platform is an enclosed hole where the boards have been sawed away. Rising from the water below is the upper half of a bronze statue, a remnant of Rona’s Imperial heritage. Depicting the emperor who ruled at the time of Rona’s settlement—poised, triumphant, glorified in his royal armour—the statue supposedly cracked the platform beneath and fell through into the lagoon below. What remains is a heavily graffitied and defaced sculpture claimed by several nesting wetland birds.

With the rain little more than a light drizzle the townspeople are hardly deterred from going about their daily business. Though the sizable market day crowd has yet to form, a couple dozen townspeople are already out and about. The cacophony of voices rises as fishmongers, bakers, and merchants peddle their wares.

Wayfarer, Episode 1, Opening

2. COUNT’S VILLA

You round a final bend in the road and come to a halt. Ahead of you lies a walled complex perched on an artificial cliff. The white walls are smooth and shimmer with the tell-tale glow of dozens of security enchantments. They meet in the centre around a circular gate that leads into the centre of the complex. You can hear rushing water in the distance, like a waterfall tumbling down into the sea below. […]

Small lights lining the path burst to life as Rhodarth escorts you through the courtyard. The landscaping is elegant and well-tended. Tiers of gardens slope delicately towards the gate, the dark soil bursting with leafy plants and colourful flowers. A curved white stone bridge arcs over a broad pool that cuts through the centre of the complex. Its water flows towards the western wall, gushing through a gap and cascading into the sea.

A mansion sits at the back of the complex, shining like a beacon against the black sky. Its stone façade is embedded with hundreds of conjured lights. Large arcing windows and doors open onto balconies that run the perimeter of the upper levels. Their frames are hung with soft, translucent curtains that ripple in the wind. Where there should be a door is a circular threshold that leads further into the manor.

You reach the bridge. Rushes, water lilies, and ornamental aquatic plants cluster along the edge of the pool. The water is oddly still, the dark surface broken by a single stream of bubbles rising from the depths.

Wayfarer, Episode 1 Route B, Return to the Count

3. COUNT’S VILLA, INTERIOR COURTYARD

The hallway reaches the centre of the mansion and opens into a wide, sunken courtyard. Grand archways hung with red and gold drapes line the perimeter of the ground level. Elegant, white columns support a second-floor balcony. Between them, a line of shallow steps lead down to the level below. Ornamental flowers and leafy greenery rest in the corners, strung with floating lanterns that cast an even light throughout the space. The floor is tiled with colourful mosaics, creating a pattern of geometric lines that lead toward a large, oval pool that is the courtyard’s focal point.

A circular island of white marble sits in the centre of the pool, supporting a small garden of vibrant plants. Steps on the opposite side descend into the deep turquoise waters and disappear from view. It’s impossible to tell how deep the pool goes.

The Count lounges on a white divan near the pool. He watches you approach with an enigmatic smirk on his lips and he absently twines his fingers together.

Wayfarer, Episode 1 Route B, Alt Fight Branch

4. PARIATH BAY HARBOUR

If you thought the Docks in Rona were lively, the Velantian harbour is overwhelming. The port is at least five times the size and rings around the entire bay. Every inch of shoreline is threaded with a network of docks stretching out into deep waters.

The waters are thick with traffic as ships of all sizes come and go, their captains navigating the lively bay with expertise. A wide river-mouth splits the harbour evenly down the centre. Judging from the colourful flags streaming in the wind, one half is for foreign vessels and the other for Velantian ships.

Beyond the dockyards rises the city’s port district. Wide streets lined with warehouses, inns and small shops wind their way up the bluffs. Street vendors peddle their wares beneath bright blue and red marquees, and a jostling fish market spreads out from a central square near the river.

Wayfarer, Episode 2, Opening

5. MC & AERAN’S APARTMENT IN MAHANIN PALACE

Rasmira did not exaggerate. The suite is elegant, with furnishings and fineries fit for royalty. An antechamber decorated with idyllic frescos leads into a central sitting room. A thick, rich rug covers the majority of the floor, embroidered with the geometric patterns so common in Arathian art. A trio of divans are clustered in the centre of the room, arranged to face a low, circular table laden with food. Arched windows line the outer wall, their carved frames illuminated by the warm afternoon sun. Two bedchambers—one of which must have been a converted study—connect to the central room, one at either end. The tall double doors are constructed and engraved from the same rich wood used so generously throughout the palace.