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Azeroth Wayfind in a virtual world
Angeliki Glynou MA Environmental Graphics
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Contents 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Introduction Themes and Areas Visual identity Signage The Visitors Maps Navigation Screenshots
Introduction The paths cover three areas inside the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Gam: World of Warcraft 速. Each of these areas has its distinct landmarks and points of interest. The signage guides the visitors to the points of interest and the stories behind them unravel alongside the paths. The current wayfind consists of 'traditional' wooden direction signs along the paths. The quests that players have to complete also serve as a wayfinding system, as they progressively guide players from one settlement or area to the other. The landmarks that were chosen to be highlighted throughout the routes are either significant for the "lore" inside the game or are well fitted for the theme of each route.
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Themes and Areas The Elements Tour (ELM) The theme of this tour is nature and the "elements", the forces which create it, according to the game’s lore. The area of the game chosen for this route is called Nagrand and the most obvious characteristic of this zone is the dominance of nature. It consists of bright colours; the background music is calm and the overall feelings while experiencing this area is the presence magic and a relaxed and playful tone. Alongside the route there are small camps and settlements, wildlife, creatures that represent the elements and some lore-significant landmarks.
Themes and Areas The Nightmare Tour (NM) The theme of this tour is dealing with the 'unknown', the 'mysterious' and the 'scary'. The areas chosen are called 'Tirisfal Glades' and 'Western Plaguelands'. These areas are 'dark magic/zombie' themed, they have dark colours and dim light, medieval styled buildings and the overall feeling when roaming around is eerie and unsettling. Alongside the path there are two gloomy cities, misty forests with permanent night and an eerie glow, scary creatures roaming, military camps, small villages, ruins graveyards, and memorials.
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Themes and Areas The Time Travel Tour (TT) The theme of this tour is travelling through time in order to experience the stories that surround four major landmarks and it is more lore-related than the other two and has a nostalgic feeling. The landmarks are diverse, mostly big cities, and are presented in different states, as they changed through time.
Visual Identity Logo
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Elements Tour Signs
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Visual Identity Nightmare Tour Signs #68524F
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Time Travel Tour Signs
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Visual Identity Paths
ELM
NM
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Fonts The typeface chosen for the textual treatment throughout the project (leaflets, booklets and maps) is Museo, a semi-slab serif, curvy and playful but not too much because of the serifs which give it a more 'solemn' tone. It feels familiar and special at the same time. Usually fonts related to games are very stylised and hard to read. This font will appeal not only to gamers but to a greater audience. Perpetua, is a more traditional typeface and was chosen for the in-game signage, and matches the concept of book-like storytelling; "following the story".
Museo by Exljbris regular, bold ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ a b c d e fg h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 01 2 3 4 5 6789
Perpetua by Monotype regular
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789
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Signage
1.70m Eye Level
Hands’ Level
Ground Level
The Visitors Gamers of World of Warcraft They are familiar with the game and the environment and they have a level of knowledge about the lore. These people will have the opportunity to change their perspective towards the places and the stories and perhaps discover something knew.
Gamers unfamiliar with World of Warcraft These people play games and are familiar with virtual worlds but not with the environment of World of Warcraft. The concept of virtual worlds is well known to them and like the people familiar with the game, they will add a different perspective to what they already know.
Non – Gamers This group of people will be introduced to a completely unfamiliar territory and perhaps the concept of virtual realms. The maps that will be provided and the signage will help them make connections to what they already know navigating the physical space.
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Maps
ELM
TT
NM
Elements Tour
Time Travel Tour
Nightmare Tour
Azeroth
Maps
ELM 8
ELM
ELM 6 ELM 7 ELM 5 ELM 1 ELM 4a
ELM 2a
ELM 2b ELM 3
ELM 4b
TT
TT2 TT1 TT3
TT4
NM NM 4 NM 3 NM 5 NM 1
NM 2
NM 6 NM 7
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Navigation Entering the virtual world The visitors are introduced to the digital world entering (physically) the respective portal. The world is open; there is no restriction to the paths, like it would be if it was placed within a physical space.
Elements Tour The visitors are navigating following the orange coloured rocks scattered through the path. The signs for the elements are floating – matching the theme of the environments with the floating rocks and the magical feel– in the beginning of each section of the paths. They signify with which element the next landmark is related. Their position in the right or the left side of the road indicates the direction of the landmark (this applies for choosing the direction on crossroads, or hinting in which side of the path next landmark is located). The position, in which they waft, is slightly above sight level, encouraging the visitors to look to the direction of the sky, in which a big part of the scenery is located.
Navigation
Nightmare Tour The visitors, like in the Elements Tour, are navigating following the red coloured rocks scattered through the path. The signs are stones, each one carved with a different rune, which is glowing. The red glowing runes add to the eerie ambience of the area. The runic symbols indicate whether the next landmark is a village or city, public building or ruin. The route has no crossroads, so the marks are not indicators of left/right direction. They are positioned on the ground, demanding of the visitors to look down on the path, suggesting that they need to pay attention to the path, to stay alert.
Elements and Nightmare Tour On approach to each landmark, its story starts revealing, written on the side of the road, so the visitors are discovering it slowly, before they reach the landmark. In a way they are guided by the story, like the plot progresses and guides the reader while reading a book.
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Navigation
Time Travel Tour There is no 'physical' path in this tour, but instead the visitors are teleported linearly from one location to the other. The signs (an hourglass with a ring of runic symbols around it) are floating on hand level. In order to navigate through space and time, the visitors are required to touch the signs; touching the hourglass changes the time from present to the past and vice versa and turning the runic ring around teleports the visitor to the next location. In this sense, this is the most interactive tour, despite of its linearity. Some text aiding the story that visitors experience around them, is located in various positions, scattered throughout each site, encouraging visitors to wander around, in order to live and read the story to its full.
Exiting the virtual world In the end of each route there is a portal similar to the one on the entrance that works as an exit. The paths are made to be followed only one way and this has to do with the progression of the stories revealed gradually as visitors follow them.
Screenshots
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Screenshots
Screenshots
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Screenshots and Names Copyritght
Blizzard Entertainment速
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