Todd Sumamno
Science fiction encompasses a wide array of aesthetics and ideas about the future, technology, and other worlds. As such, it should come as no surprise that it has always been a popular choice for use in forward thinking design across all sectors.
While, as a genre, sci-fi appears at first glance to share much common ground with works of fantasy, the range and variety of its applications far exceed its more provincial relative. Let’s take a look at some of the surprising and innovative ways sci-fi design ideas have been employed in the world of gaming to give the player a taste of the future.
Core Themes and Motifs
Sci-fi has always been a popular option for use in video games, right back to the roots of the medium with the classic title Space Invaders. Gaming, the most ‘high tech’ of our existing popular media, finds much sympathy with sci-fi themes, and many of the most successful and memorable games over the past four decades have employed its symbols and motifs to great effect.
But what exactly are the symbols and themes we associate with the sci-fi genre? While it can be hard to pin down, there are some core motifs we can point to as unique identifiers of its presence.
Technology – One of the most obvious themes we associate with sci-fi is technology; after all, sci-fi is short for science fiction. Sci-fi came about in the Victorian period, a time when the world was modernizing rapidly and many questions were being asked about the emergent technologies and their potential material and moral impact on society. Sci-fi has always sought to ask questions about what technologies mean for the ordinary person – from electricity, to space flight, to AI or the internet.
Aesthetics – There are several distinct flavors of sci-fi. There’s a 50’s Americana current, borne out of the futuristic aspirations of the time and the popularity of UFO sightings in the wake of the Roswell incident.
There’s also a high tech vision of the future in which the world is full of clean, crisp forms and lots of white space (this is a favorite aesthetic of Apple). There’s also cyberpunk, a reaction to this former aesthetic that seeks to imagine a more realistic view of what sci-fi could look like –
this is characterized by large digital billboard adverts, neon signs, flying cars and smog (think Bladerunner).
You’ll find games that explore all these spaces, from Destroy All Humans, which revels in 50s Americana, to Shadowrun’s high tech, low life cyberpunk vibes.
High and Low Tech: Sci-Fi’s Broad Appeal
One of the unique benefits of sci-fi is its flexibility, taking in high conceptual and philosophical works of art, right through to fun space-themed adventures. In the former camp, one need only look to Projekt Red’s recent masterpiece Cyberpunk 2077, which places users within a near future city-scape. Here, they can meet and interact with characters from all walks of life, navigating the complexities and moral ambiguities of a world grappling with disruptive technology from cyborg implants, to artificial intelligence – all while bathed in neon aesthetics.
It’s not just triple-A titles that are getting in on the action either – one need only look to modern slots classic Dr Toonz to witness the best that the sci-fi aesthetic can offer in wacky yet compelling gaming fun. This five reel, four payline slot is packed to the brim with sci-fi influences from the alien Reactoonz themselves to experimenter mad scientist Dr Toonz and his laboratory.
In fact, despite its modern credentials, in many ways Dr Toonz calls back to the very earliest examples of sci-fi, with the central character of the doctor echoing mad scientists of the past such as Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist of Mary Shelley’s legendary 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
The Future of Sci-Fi Gaming
The future looks bright for sci-fi gaming with Star Citizen boldly pushing the sector forward through its procedurally generated universe and persistent user objects. To date, this is the most expensive game ever produced, with a development bill in excess of $500 million so far. Elsewhere, Bethesda, the studio behind Skyrim, is also working on an intergalactic open-world adventure, Starfield, set to see the light of day in Q4 2023.
Brittany
