Regency Locations
Because we wanted to make Regency Solitaire as historically accurate as possible, we spent a lot of time researching every element – from character costumes to interior decor. I thought it might be fun to share a few examples.
For instance, here we are on Brighton beach, a popular location during the English Regency. The town started out as a sleepy fishing village, but by the 1780s it had become a fashionable resort town. The Prince Regent (future George IV) was a frequent visitor, and he constructed the Royal Pavillion there, which can still be visited today.
Take a look at the pier. Our image shows the Royal Suspension Chain Pier on the horizon. This was originally meant as a landing area for boats traveling from France, but it also had a few attractions for visitors, such as a camera obscura. This is one landmark that you can’t visit in Brighton today – heavily damaged by storms, it was dismantled in 1896. We based our image on a number of contemporary paintings of the pier.
Here’s another location, Netley Abbey, not far from Southampton. Jane Austen lived in Southampton from 1807-1809. As well as taking long walks in the surrounding countryside, we know that she visited the gothic ruins of Netley Abbey. Our game is set just three years later, and when I was looking for locations that our heroine Bella could visit as she made her way across the South coast of England, I imagined that she and her sister Charlotte might also enjoy a visit to the romantic ruins at Netley.
I hope you find these details interesting. I’ll be adding more in future posts about other Regency details, including costumes and room decor!
Helen
Regency Solitaire is a product of the GamesLab South West programme, funded by the European Regional Development Fund, supported by the Government’s Regional Growth Fund and led by Creative England.
January 5th, 2015 at 9:27 pm
The artists did an amazing job on this game!
January 5th, 2015 at 10:45 pm
Yes they certainly did, we are very pleased with the results. I believe it’s also important for developers to have a clear vision of what they want the game to look like and do some decent research (Helen did lots for this game) and then provide many examples and clear directions to the artists. Then provide feedback on the various iterations until it’s just right. This process takes quite a while but should give better results than if you don’t give any art direction to the artists and just plug whatever arrives into the game.
January 15th, 2015 at 7:09 am
Yeah, the art looks really good and brings out the feel of the time the game is set in…You do share lot of stats in your blog so would it be possible for you to comment on the art budget/spend for this game? …Good luck with the game sales!
January 15th, 2015 at 4:54 pm
Hi harsh, sorry I don’t want to share that information this time as it’s not fair on the artists. Suffice to say it was 5 figures for sure (in $).
January 15th, 2015 at 6:44 pm
Sure..I understand perfectly..The quality of the artwork speaks for itself…Would love to read a detail post about the game performance later this year…