Dynamic Lighting for Tension in Games

http://gamestudies.org/07010701/articles/elnasr_niedenthal_knez_almeida_zupko

This article, was something that I found on GameStudies.org and a article that was reccomended to me by a fellow student also studying level design.

The article talks about "Game Aesthetics" and how studies have revealed that the term 'Game Aesthetics' is applied to two 'significant clusters of meaning':
1) A Sensory experience that the player goes through. (visual, auditory etc)
2) Expressed as pleasure or emotion.
The article also links it to 'flow' that is outlined in an earlier article I read.

The article goes on to talk about how illumination within the game world impacts the emotions and tension that the player feels when they play through a level. Since I am researching level design and wish to make the players feel certain ways within a level it is important that I read and understand what effects the player and how it effects the player so that I may replicate and use the techniques within my own project.

Once again the article uses Unreal Tournament as a reference point for using Dynamic Lighting. However to its credit the GECK editor in Fallout doew not have a form of Dynamic Lighting. While this may make the artcile null and void this is not true. Since the lighting principles of using lighting for tension still apply whether your using dynamic lighting or static lighting in a scene. Regardless of the type...lighting still effects the player which is the main point of the game. Thus the techniques I learn from this article shall be adapted for my use.