For developer Gloomywood Studios, appropriate art styles and cinematic music are important elements in the creation of an immersive and impressive gaming experience. In their second Developer Diary, the minds behind these integral aspects discuss how they brought 2Dark to life.

In 2Dark, players must save children from the clutches of “psychopathic killers” that seem all-too-common in the small town of Gloomywood. The developer calls the game “an eerie descent into hell where survival counts on your intelligence, caution and your .38 revolver.”

When talking about the game’s voxel, almost cute style, Art Director Yaël Barroz says that the team came upon a style that helps to lighten some of 2Dark’s harsher tones.

2Dark is Fred’s vision, a tough subject and for me an opportunity to support this vision by creating graphics that can be considered cute to make this difficult subject pallatable, which brought us to a style called ‘Gore Cute.’

“I’ve always seen my work a bit like I’m creating dollhouses, and for my inspiration, I took a bit from my childhood.”

As far as the music is concerned, Sound Designer Samuel Safa says that after learning about what lies at the heart of 2Dark’s central themes, he felt the power of a live orchestra was absolutely necessary to give the game proper emotional weight.

“The first step of creating 2Dark’s music was musical research, that is to say making music to figure out the sound pallate, to figure out the DNA, to figure its audio identity. All of this of course comes from the principal theme, which is very important. For me, this theme was a no-brainer. In my head, I heard ‘Insane Lullaby.’

“We made the call on an orchestra because it would give emotion, which would give it life, which would then give it purpose. There are many spots which can’t be interpreted by a machine. We really needed something organic and the orchestra allows the player when, they hear the music, not only to feel but to feel really gut-wrenching emotions.”

2Dark releases on March 17 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. A Limited Edition of the game will also be available for all platforms and will include the game’s original soundtrack. PS4 and PC Limited Editions will include an Artbook.

Check out the full video of the second Dev Diary for 2Dark below.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/YPBhFgTsTMA

In case you missed it, the first Developer Diary for 2Dark discussed how the game’s creator developed what he feels is a true horror experience.