# Workshop: Art Direction & Mood Board

**Date:** 2026-02-12
**Facilitator:** Team Leader (Jeroen)
**Participants:** Araminta (lead), Ozzie, Miri, Gore, Qatux (documenter)
**Status:** Round 1

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## Purpose

Explore visual references, art direction, and mood for The Settled Reach. Build a mood board of reference images, games, films, and art styles that capture what this game should LOOK and FEEL like.

This is exploratory — not about v0.1 placeholder art (that's defined), but about the long-term visual identity. What does The Settled Reach look like when it grows up? What's the target aesthetic?

## Context

- **Q-003** (Art direction) is open. v0.1 visual grammar is defined (D-033, Araminta's workshop output) but long-term art direction is unresolved.
- **D-019:** Top-down confirmed as primary camera. 3D cutscenes for key moments.
- **D-005:** Single character, first-person experience through top-down view. Asymmetric information is the master mechanic.
- **D-011:** Fog of perception — shadowcasting, vision cone, information decay.
- **D-015:** Camera locked to character. Forward = detail, peripheral = reduced, behind = blind.
- **Setting:** Space opera, advanced civilization, wormhole network. Sova Transit District — a working-class station hub. Not gleaming spaceport, not grimy dystopia. Lived-in, functional, 40 years old.

## Key Questions for Round 1

### Q1: Visual References — What games/films/art look like what we're making?
Find and describe specific visual references. For each reference, explain:
- What it gets RIGHT for our game
- What it gets WRONG or what we'd change
- Which specific visual element we're referencing (lighting? color? camera angle? UI? atmosphere?)

Think broadly: games, films, concept art, photography, graphic novels, architectural photography, UI design.

### Q2: Mood and Atmosphere — What emotional register?
The Settled Reach is a space station where people live ordinary lives while conspiracies run underneath. What's the visual mood?
- How does "quiet life is good" look vs "something is wrong here"?
- What's the lighting language? (harsh fluorescent? warm ambient? mixed?)
- What's the color temperature of normal life vs investigation mode?
- How does the visual mood shift between the smuggler's perspective and the detective's?

### Q3: Top-Down Art Style Direction
Given D-019 (top-down), what art style should we target long-term?
- Pixel art? Vector? Painted? Stylized 3D rendered to 2D? Something else?
- What level of detail per entity? (Rimworld-level? Hotline Miami? Teleglitch? Something unique?)
- How do we balance readability (information design) with atmosphere?
- What about animation — smooth sprite animation? State-based frames? Procedural?

### Q4: The Station as Character
Sova Transit District is 40 years old. It's been repaired, modified, lived in. How does that read visually?
- What does "lived-in space infrastructure" look like in top-down?
- How do we visually differentiate the three zones (Logistics Hub, Bar, Corridors)?
- What visual language says "this place has layers" without being grimy-dystopia?

### Q5: Information Visualization
The game is about what you know and don't know. Beyond the color system (D-033), how should information itself look?
- What does the neural insert overlay look like aesthetically?
- How do perception mode overlays feel different from each other?
- What's the visual language for "I'm learning something new" vs "this confirms what I suspected"?

## Format

Each participant writes their Round 1 response as `round1-{agent}.md` in this directory. Search the web for real visual references — name specific games, artists, films, screenshots. Be concrete, not abstract.

Qatux: Track all references mentioned, noting which aspects are endorsed and which are cautioned against. Maintain a running reference list.