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10 Pieces From The Scarlet Gallery Explained

So with The Scarlet Gallery having been released almost a month now I've decided to take a talk a bit of time about the art from the game itself which is a murder mystery surrounding a sinister art exhibition. Part of the concept for illustrating the game was that every scene was to be an individual portrait so almost forty different pieces were created to help tell the story written by Ghoul Shadows. I've tried my best to make this all spoiler free but I wander a little bit dangerously to that if only help explain where these pictures are in the game and what choices went into producing them.
Without a further ado, let the tour begin.


















#1 The Hall
It was a good thing I had abandoned a similar project just before I started this one. An espionage thriller about tracking down mind control chemicals? It was never going to work out.
The Hall scene involved pursuing a suspect and the player having to decide which way to go. The
lighting and coloration was chosen for a much more threatening look after leaving
the main gallery which despite being tinted red is a bit more easier to see clearly.



















2# The Case Files.
While the game text mentioned the Librarian Nancy had set aside some space for you
to sit down and do your research I had little much else to imagine what it would look like.
Not that this was Ghoul's fault but rather an opportunity to take a small liberty with the visuals.
Having the picture of sitting at the desk from the player's point of view allowed a slight nudge towards immersion. The magnifying glass though slightly cliche in a detective story has a much practical use in the library as some old records or newspapers use faded or older font styles. No adjustments to the coloration of the scene but the tan or papyrus colors in view are meant to keep a comfortable or warm atmosphere. If only for a moment.

















3# Nancy

There is more than one way to begin talking to Nancy the Librarian but the definitive scene where
you speak to her face to face has this image as the background. The rest of the library carries a clinical almost sterilized tone to it but in this scene it's been given warmer colors and it's been bowled slightly at the edges making the it rounded. I wanted to give Nancy a "bouncy" focus to her rapid fire dialogue (she has the most lines of any of the characters in game) and keep the scene in a cheerful mood. It was actually one of my favorite scenes to put together especially with the background music. You can listen to it here, Suspicious by Myuu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5aaWqyxOFg

















4# The Alleyway

This area is a much more tense part of the story and without too many spoilers leads to some grim consequences.
In a way it mirrors the hall scene which occurs much later in the game but is in no means some sort
of ruse to make you let your guard down. The furthest point is so misshapen and altered that it plays tricks on the viewer, especially with the humanoid shape in the furthest corner. Pitch blackness in contrast with the brightest points in this scene clash and makes it hard to concentrate on what you can see by looking ahead.

















5# Downtown in Crossroads

From what I understand Crossroads in Louisiana (according to the writer) is a small town with a very big percentage of missing persons cases so for one of the only daytime images of crossroads and the main strip of town I didn't want to show too much activity. One of the only other pictures doesn't even show other people and is just an empty park bench. Crossroads is mainly a city for Night Birds anyway. You can already tell the sun is starting to set here so speaking of which...



6# Darkness In Crossroads

This one is kind of a blooper because you can see at the traffic light this is a bike crossing but I suppose those sets of lights is where the main character is actually. There are plenty of ways you can meet your ending before getting to this point but it's just after the sun sets that the ending sequences become more and more grizzly. There isn't much more to say about this picture except how I enjoyed it captured the evening well into the game.


7# The Poster
This was actually one of the first images created for the game itself and was considered to be the actual title screen but as I experimented more and more with the rest of the pixilated assets I eventually went back and put the current menu screen. It was meant to be a recreation of the poster the scarlet gallery uses to advertise iteself but eventually made it into the game as the actual poster your character uses to research what is going on with the gallery.


8# The Crime Scene
The picture itself isn't entirely clear visually but from the extensive text and descriptions in the actual game itself it brings to mind in great detail what is happening here and it fills in the blanks perfectly. By itself it isn't anything remarkable but by adding the music and the text it's impact is so much more deeper.


9# The Exhibition Floor
This one follows the same idea as the last one with the game text and music having more of front seat while the image is more of a background part of the experience. It's heavily inspired by the film Event Horizon which has this beautiful and elegant Gothic architecture in the production design for the ship but it also has a "meat grinder" kind of edge to it as well. If it feels a little bit weird to look at you may have realized this scene is upside down.


10# The Jaws
This is backstage at the gallery and features some of the most consequential choices you can make in the game. There is a lot of activity going on but to explain, the player is very close to confronting someone who might be orchestrating the brutal murders. The background scaffolding is in a fascinating shape looking  like it is about to swallow you and is a metaphor for the anticipation the villain and the main hero have for hunting each other down.

And that is that everybody! Thank you for stopping by and having a look. There are no plans for a sequel or any other collaborations with Ghoul Shadows for the time being, but I certainly do forward to working with him again soon in the near future. In other Scarlet Gallery specific news I am pleased to announce it is going to be released on Steam within the next couple of months and a small patch/maintenance update is coming within that time as well.

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