The Semiotics of Architecture in Video Games

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Description

Video games are among the most popular media on the planet, and billions of people inhabit these virtual worlds on a daily basis. This book investigates the architecture of video games, the buildings, roads and cities in which gamers play out their roles. Examining both the aesthetic aspects and symbolic roles of video game architecture as they relate to gameplay, Gabriele Aroni tackles a number of questions, including: - How digital architecture relates to real architecture - Where the inspiration for digital gaming architecture comes from, and how it moves into new directions - How the design of virtual architecture influences gameplay and storytelling. Looking at how architecture in video games communicates and interacts with players, this book combines semiotics and architecture theory to display how architecture is used in a variety of situations, with different aims and results. Using case studies from NaissanceE, Assassins Creed II and Final Fantasy XV, The Semiotics of Architecture in Video Games discusses the techniques used to create successful virtual spaces and proposes a framework to analyse video game architecture, ultimately explaining how to employ architectural solutions in video games in a systematic and effective way.

Reviews

This work by Gabriele Aroni is highly significant, having implications for the ways in which virtual architectures are evolving structurally, symbolically, and aesthetically, and how video game architecture provides a framework for understanding digital ways of creating texts. Aroni looks penetratingly at the points of contact between digital and real-world architecture and art, utilizing both semiotic concepts and the theory of anticipatory play. Aroni shows that the virtual world is both a representation of the real world and an interpretation of its possibilities, extending it considerably through virtual architecture. -- Marcel Danesi, University of Toronto, Canada
Aronis writing is equally informed on architecture and video games and frequently connects the two in revealing ways. The book shows how virtual architecture is not just a setting for gameplay, but that its influence on level design communicates stories and engages the player. -- Grant Tavinor, Lincoln University, New Zealand

Author Bio

Gabriele Aroni is Senior Lecturer in Game Arts at the School of Digital Arts of Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.