Texturing
I wanted to created an old and damaged looking underground dungeon, so the textures I used for the Dungeon of Despair feature grey bricks, skulls, skeletons, lava, various colors of metal for contrast, arches, and stained glass. Textures were specifically chosen for their dark and gloomy coloring, how well they would fit the theme and to help players understand the environment they are within. Textures were also chosen to be relative and cohesive to one another to make the map aesthetically pleasing as well as to better interpret the theme.
In this room, which is the cell block room, I used textures to highlight the cages and the windows as old aging yellow metals. The rest of the room contains textures that are various shades of grey, but they are different enough to help the player differentiate between the floor, the ceiling, and the walls. Some walls contain textures of relative art such as chains on the wall to insinuate that prisoners have been chained here. Or how there is a hooded skeletal figure on the some walls to add to the emotion of fear and despair, as death can be looming nearby.
The same reasonings apply here in this spiked pathway room. The surrounding textures have grey tones with cracked and broken walls and floors, but are varied enough to allow players to contrast them. On either side of the pathway is a pit of lava that also has its own dark tones to be similar to the rest of the level's color palette. In the middle are spike obstacles with rusted green and brown metal to add to the aging aesthetic of the level. WIth these elements combined, the picture of a broken up and old dungeon comes up in the player's understanding of what they see before themselves.
Various textures were used to help guide the player throughout the map as well as to help players understand when they transition to a different area of the map. Textures were also chosen to fit a room's theme and represent its own functionalities both aesthetic and narrative wise.
Here in the Pendulum torture room, there are various contrasting textures to highlight the different pieces that are a part of the area. Spikes, the pendulums, and the pendulum tables all contain metallic textures. The arches in the second level also has a metallic texture, but is a different color than the rest to signify that they are different types of cover that the player can use. In this case, textures and colors are used to show players what options are possible in terms of cover.
In addition to this, the second level has a different texture than the ground level to visually tell the player that there are different levels of verticality available, and it helps direct players into the different options they have to move about. The texture change also provides a good transition from one level to the next, allowing players to perceive better that they are at a different point of placement now. This is relative to one of John Romero's rules of game design, which is to change floor height with floor textures.
Doorways, or arches have the brightest color contrast against the rest of the darker textures. This is intentionally used to grab the player's attention and highlight the various pathways and options they can take in order to navigate through the map.