The Crookwood Yard: Starting the Build
An old ghost-train circuit, a graveyard packed with stories, and a night staged as a show.
Journal entry ↓Art and creative direction; production record collated from the development briefsCrookwood Yard — Draft 1. Development review with music.
Starting with the track
The Crookwood Yard is based on track designs from ghost trains of old and laid out as a 50 × 50 metre yard inside a larger studio lighting envelope. Bringing that to life involved establishing the track, the premise for exploring the yard on foot — the Crookwood Express has broken down — and writing a lighting brief called Staging A Crookwood Night.
We established the starting point: coming out of the tunnel into the setting sun. We established the size of everything based on the headstones on the Bulge.
— Brett Clements — development brief
A complete journey
The opening was established early: come out of a tunnel into the setting sun and travel towards the Hex WitchForce Base. The tunnel mouth belongs on the cyclorama wall. The ride then needs to make a complete circuit, go underground and come back up. The old Scream Machine plan and the Crookwood track drawing provided references for the turns and hairpins.
It is a graveyard
The track comes first. The graveboxes fit around it, facing the track, with enough room to walk between them. Scale was established from the headstones on the Bulge. The Hex WitchForce Base sits to the west; Shrift’s Cottage to the east. The Hump, the Morgue and the other pieces of art give the route its landmarks. The intention is a dense graveyard that can be explored, with a smooth ride through it.
Lay the track down; then lay the graveboxes in so there’s just enough space for somebody to walk between them. Go underground and come back up.
You are not going to impress me with some wild ride through the art until we have the track and the graveboxes right. It is a graveyard.
— Brett Clements — development brief
Staging a Crookwood night
The lighting brief, Staging A Crookwood Night, treats the yard as an interactive show. The larger studio envelope is 70 × 70 metres, with space for the cyclorama and lighting around the playable yard. Sunset gives way to darkness; rain, lightning, searchlights, moonlight and stars change the setting as the journey unfolds. The full lighting brief describes a longer night performance. This short film compresses the transition for review.
Putting on the show
A 14 mm view brings the tall scenery and ceiling into the composition. The sun sinks during the run; the moon and stars arrive as the ride returns from the basement. Searchlights turn towards the viewer for the final lighting cue and the Carny Island logo. Shrift’s billboards establish places from which he will be able to interrupt and torment the player.
Where the build stands
The current review shows a 312 metre circuit and 82 grave plots inside the 70 × 70 metre envelope. It is a first visual baseline for the yard, before more art, characters, gameplay and camera refinement. The 50 × 50 metre playable-yard brief and the larger containment envelope remain distinct. Getting the route and the graveboxes right gives the next stage something solid to build on.
This looks great; a great base, considering we have so much art to add.
Once we get the run down, we will start tweaking the art and camera moves.
— Brett Clements — development brief