Howard Lotor's Studio from Backbone.
Backbone's first expression of a well designed atmosphere.
Backbone is a noir detective game with a pretty unique aesthetic and world. Pixelated art often rubs me the wrong way since it typically feels repetitive and lacks detail that makes experiences feel full. Backbone doesn’t deserve either of these criticisms. It is a detailed world full of buildings and people each unique from the last.
Backbone stars Howard Lotor, a typical hardboiled detective… well maybe not completely typical, since he’s a racoon. Typical in that he’s a slummy down on his luck detective that wears an over coat and lives in a messy run-down apartment. Quite an interesting apartment it is, since it is both a small one bedroom studio and an office. Howard has some interesting cross-programming that makes for a unique dysfunctional space. Normally if I called a space dysfunctional, I would mean it derogatorily, but Howard is supposed to BE dysfunctional and it his apartment is the first thing the game introduces you to. The apartment is its own character and the first one to provide an insight into Howard.
In the opening scene we see a window sill full of alcohol while Howard sits in his bathtub reading a book and smoking. The only architectural partition between the bathroom and the kitchen is a simple mildew-covered shower curtain. Photographs and film hang in the bathroom above the sink. The tile wainscot hits me right in my architectural nostalgia. It feels dated, it feels run down, and it feels perfect.
There is so much to pick out in each of these scenes. The way the light falls lazily through the window, the lofted bed (reminds me of my set up in college), the 18” counterspace next to a tiny oven and refrigerator. Even the light fixtures feel miserable; suspended and sad.
The toilet room is my favorite bit of cross-programming. It’s a toilet AND it’s a dark room, this explains the film and photographs above the sink. Since it’s the only fully enclosed room in the house, it makes sense.
The front office also has a red light, but I expect that it is a for show for clients rather than a useful space for exposing film. Sure the chemicals are in this room, but the window is far too large and I don’t think the blinds would do nearly enough to fully darken the room. It feels like theater for clients. Clearly most of Howard’s money was spent making his front room look professional.
A problem I often have with 2D side scrolling spaces is that they often feel flat and uninspired. That is not the case with Howard’s apartment, though. I was trying to figure out why it felt so much more three dimensional. I think part of it was the light strewn across the floor. The other part that feels real is the shown wall feels like part of a room instead of an entire room on a single wall.
This thread by the official Backbone twitter account explains why these rooms feel so well developed. It’s because they developed the designs in 3D views based on real architectural conditions. They did not simply rely on style to make their game feel cool or interesting. They designed every aspect of this apartment, and it shows.
I haven’t finished Backbone yet, honestly I’ve only played maybe an hour of it, but the architecture made such an impression on me that I couldn’t wait until I finished it to comment on it. Also, shout out to the Metropolis poster at the movie theater.
