Lighting for Tension in Video Games

This thesis aims to analyze the “tension” in video games by using an experiment-based practical approach. It examines different lighting conditions and how people perceive them in virtual environments. “Flow Theory” and “Circumplex Model” are used as theoretical frameworks to define the term tension and serve as the basis of the experiment. For the experiment, a scene is created primarily inspired by the video game Resident Evil: Village. Different lighting conditions are applied to the scene in order to understand how lighting qualities can invoke various emotions in the context of tension. A survey is conducted on people with diverse backgrounds to observe their reactions and understand their perception of their surroundings.