Lighting London in 1897
The reference work behind the game's lighting, from gas lamps to oil lamps and early electric arc lights.
Three light sources, three moods
In 1897, three kinds of light existed side by side in London: street gaslight, indoor oil lamps and the new electric arc light in a handful of places. We use the differences between them as a storytelling tool.
Gaslight is warm and restless; it moves. Oil light is steadier and yellower, making rooms feel small. Arc light is cold and blue, and appears only where power and money are present.
References before technology
Before changing a single setting, we collected photographs and contemporary accounts of how the light was actually perceived. It became a short document with six images and one rule: no light source without a physical lamp in the scene.
What the rule gave us
- Rooms became darker than we initially dared, and clearer.
- Every scene gained a natural place for the player to pause.
- Arc light only needed to appear twice to mean something.
Further entries
- 004Building the riverside districtHow distance, fog and gaslight turned a collection of streets into a place worth investigating.
- 005Writing consequences without scorecardsWhy the game remembers tone, timing and silence instead of reducing an interrogation to a score.
- 006Lighting London in 1897Gas, oil and early electric light each tell a different story about class, power and safety.