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<\/a><\/p>\nScience 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Core Themes and Motifs<\/strong><\/h2>\nSci-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<\/a>. Gaming, the most \u2018high tech\u2019 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.<\/p>\nBut 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.<\/p>\n
Technology<\/strong> \u2013 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 \u2013 from electricity, to space flight, to AI or the internet.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/images.unsplash.com\/photo-1594766508832-b111829239cd?ixlib=rb-4.0.3&ixid=MnwxMj)
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Aesthetics<\/strong> \u2013 There are several distinct flavors of sci-fi. There\u2019s a 50\u2019s Americana current, borne out of the futuristic aspirations of the time and the popularity of UFO sightings in the wake of the Roswell incident.<\/p>\nThere\u2019s 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\u2019s also cyberpunk, a reaction to this former aesthetic that seeks to imagine a more realistic view of what sci-fi could look like \u2013<\/p>\n
this is characterized by large digital billboard adverts, neon signs, flying cars and smog (think<\/a> Bladerunner<\/a>).<\/p>\nYou\u2019ll find games that explore all these spaces, from Destroy All Humans, which revels in 50s Americana, to Shadowrun\u2019s high tech, low life cyberpunk vibes.<\/p>\n
High and Low Tech: Sci-Fi\u2019s Broad Appeal<\/strong><\/h2>\nOne 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\u2019s 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<\/a>, navigating the complexities and moral ambiguities of a world grappling with disruptive technology from cyborg implants, to artificial intelligence \u2013 all while bathed in neon aesthetics.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Technology<\/strong> \u2013 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 \u2013 from electricity, to space flight, to AI or the internet.<\/p>\n Aesthetics<\/strong> \u2013 There are several distinct flavors of sci-fi. There\u2019s a 50\u2019s Americana current, borne out of the futuristic aspirations of the time and the popularity of UFO sightings in the wake of the Roswell incident.<\/p>\n There\u2019s 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\u2019s also cyberpunk, a reaction to this former aesthetic that seeks to imagine a more realistic view of what sci-fi could look like \u2013<\/p>\n this is characterized by large digital billboard adverts, neon signs, flying cars and smog (think<\/a> Bladerunner<\/a>).<\/p>\n You\u2019ll find games that explore all these spaces, from Destroy All Humans, which revels in 50s Americana, to Shadowrun\u2019s high tech, low life cyberpunk vibes.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s 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<\/a>, navigating the complexities and moral ambiguities of a world grappling with disruptive technology from cyborg implants, to artificial intelligence \u2013 all while bathed in neon aesthetics.<\/p>\nHigh and Low Tech: Sci-Fi\u2019s Broad Appeal<\/strong><\/h2>\n