Safe Spaces in Games

My approach to creating a safe space is making it in contrast to what’s already around. So even if you’re in a nice visually appealing place, there needs to be something significant that will totally indicate to the players that once you step into this area you’re now safe.

In GTA, it’s a bit easier because it’s just a home or in Spiderman, it’s like a laboratory. In Hollow Knight, it’s a bench. It’s something that’s very subtle, it has a white light next to it whereas in most other areas in the game, the lights are orange or blue.

In my project, I went with a circular layout in the middle because circles are generally considered to be safe objects. In contrast to this, I had jagged lines and zigzags like broken rubble around because they’re all things that we would associate with non-safety. So it’s taking relevance and taking a layout and making sure it’s in contrast with the rest of the environment.