Name and Student Number: Charmaine Wong Sum Yin (3035796945)

Course Name and Code: GCIN2012 Introduction to video games studies

Instructor Name: Dr Samuel Wong

Essay Title; The Fictional World and Characters of Sky: Children Of The Light

From established storytelling to player reception, and the notion of narratives

that can only be conveyed through the medium of video games, the topic of narrative

in video games is a multifaceted, fascinating topic within video game studies that

spurs many enlightening discussions. For this essay, I have chosen the most recent

game created by Thatgamecompany- Sky: Children of the Light(hereby abbreviated

as Sky and Sky: CoTL), a mobile MMORPG in which you play as a small child with a

candle and a cape that allows you to fly. I will examine Sky’s components in terms of

video game narrative studies, and illustrate how it creates a compelling, engaging

brand of storytelling through the fictional world, characters, and how players interact

with those elements as well as one another.

Firstly, I would like to do a detailed walkthrough of the game’s fictional world,

which presents most of the game’s narrative in the absence of a text-narrated plot.

The main world of Sky is divided into six expansive main areas, or “realms”, as

shown in the figures below(Sky: Children of the Light wiki, supplied by the player

community, as well as personal screenshots) , each with distinct characteristics and

shows a new aspect of Sky’s fictional world- A kingdom that has fallen into ruin. The

core purpose of exploring this game’s world is to collect “winged light” humanoids

made of pure light-are able to flap your cape more and soar to greater heights. A

temple lies at the end of every realm(save for Eden), and after sitting at the altar
inside the temple and inciting a cutscene, players can progress to the next area. It is

quoted by Egenfeldt-Nielsen that Lisbeth Klastrup argues that “a game world’s

objects and space are all organized around the act of play”(175), and through the

player’s interactions with the elements of the realms within the play experience, the

player can slowly discover the narrative of Sky: CoTL’s fictional world.

The players begin their game experience in the Isle of Dawn(fig.1.1-1.2), a

barren desert with murals in the entrance tunnel, a few buried boats and two

massive platforms which guides the player to a temple in the clouds. These ruins

present the Isle’s past as a resting place for travellers before they properly make

their way into the kingdom through the temple in the sky, which is proven by how the

Nintendo Switch Launch Trailer(fig. 1.3) depicts the Isle of Dawn in its glory days.

These objects and spaces present the beginning of the game’s narrative- a mass

pilgrimage filled with anticipation and excitement for what new opportunities lie in

wait in the kingdom beyond the clouds.

Figure 1.1-1.2 Isle of Dawn

Figure 1.3 Isle of Dawn in the past, as shown in the Nintendo Switch Launch Trailer for Sky: CoTL

The next realm is Daylight Prairie(fig. 2.1-2.4), where a narrative of wonder is

illustrated by an abundance of beautiful creatures made of light(where the Isle of

Dawn only had a few bunches), such as birds, butterflies that will carry the player

into the air, and manta rays that can serve as a ride to places located at higher

altitudes. The previous inhabitants of these lands were so captivated by these

creatures, that they both sought to capture them for observation, as shown with the
jars to capture butterflies, as well as turning that wonder into reverence with the

construction of towers and temple-like structures with bells that can be rung by

lighting the candles on the temple altars to summon the mantas. For the first period

after stepping foot in the kingdom, its inhabitants welcomed a period of discovery

and relative peace, united by adoration of light creatures.

Figure 2.1-2.4 Daylight Prairie's areas. From top to bottom- Butterfly fields,Village, Bird's Nest, Caves
 Hidden Forest is a stark contrast to the past two realms, as the most

prominent feature is the first actual threat to the player- rain that drains the light from

the player’s cape. As shown by the fungi, jellyfishes and lanterns one can use to

recharge depleted light and the numerous pavilions used as shelter, the rain is not a

recent development brought upon by the players’ arrival and is in fact the first

problem faced by the ancestors. The objects in this realm tells a story of the

ancestors’ persistence against difficulty via innovation and cooperation with light

creatures and one another, and in the end, the ancestors were able to emerge

victorious in the struggle against natural threat. Thus, despite the seeming

gloominess of the realm, it still retains its beauty.

Figure 3.1-3.3 Hidden Forest's areas. From top to bottom, Courtyard, Forest's Brook, Boneyard

This narrative of victory is carried over to the Valley of Triumph, where the

area introduces the grandest new elements of all the realms- recreational structures

such as a tall citadel with globe-like decorations, races involving flying through wind

gates and obstacles, as well as sliding down a sloped race track, and finally a

massive colliseum. All of these new features show the introduction of a golden age,

when ancestors are free to build lavishly and enjoy recreational activities without

worrying about any danger.

Figure 4.1-4.4 Valley of Triumph areas. From top to bottom- Ice Rink. The Citadel, Flight Race, Colisseum.

That carefreeness of the Valley of Triumph gives way to Golden Wasteland(fig

5.1-5.2), which is a ravaged battlefield with ruined structures, abandoned weapons,

and threats to the player’s flight capability, such as dark water that can drain your

cape in the same way rain can in the Hidden Forest, as well as menacing, massive

shrimplike Dark Dragons that will search for players and ram into those in their line of
sight, quickly depleting their winged light. The narrative turns abruptly tragic as the

player watches the glorious civilisation from before fall to ruin.

Figure 5.1-5.2 Golden Wasteland areas. Top- Battlefield, Bottom- Crab Fields.

The Vault of Knowledge(fig 6.1-6.2) is a dark, quiet, calm archive-like place

that still retains the sombre narrative, with lanterns one can assume was used to

store knowledge, as well as some floating islands and a brand-new, translucent type

of “spirit” manta. Though beautiful, the Vault is a testament that the kingdom cannot

be recovered, and all the ancestors could do was to preserve as much of the

kingdom as they could before it is completely destroyed. One of the most notable

parts of the realm is its elder altar at the summit, which contains statues of all the

elders instead of just one. This indicates the importance of the vision that will be

received at it, and said cutscene will be examined more in detail in the character

section when I analyse the elders and player avatars.

Figure 6.1-6.2 Vault of Knowledge areas. Top- Second Floor, Bottom- Summit.

Finally, the Eye of Eden is the deadliest realm in all of Sky, with Dark

Dragons prowling the land and dark rocks and red crystals draining your cape faster

than any rain or dark water. It can be inferred that this is the narrative’s darkest hour

depicting a calamity that wiped out the ancestors of the Sky world. However, the

“point of no return”(fig.7.2)- a part of Eden where you are locked in once you enter, is

also where the player’s role in the narrative and the true final goal becomes fully

apparent- you are required to sacrifice the winged light you have gathered to dark,

kneeling humanoid figures as you are dying to the storm, where they will be reborn in

the stars(fig 7.3) Through this interaction, Sky tells the narrative of selflessness and

sacrifice bringing hope to a fallen kingdom.

Figure 7.1-7.2 Eye of Eden areas. Top- Battlefield, Bottom- Point of No Return

Figure 7.3 A cutscene sequence after dying, showing those you saved.

In addition to these main realms, Sky: CoTL is updated frequently during new

“seasons”- themed events that last two or three months- to reveal new areas-

accessible from six out of seven of the main realms- in order to enrich the fictional

world further.

For example, the Sanctuary Islands(fig.8), the new area introduced in the

Season of Sanctuary, is an island retreat with geysers, beaches, a hiking trail, and

flocks of light creatures, showing how its previous inhabitants took part in slow-paced

recreation and relaxation as opposed to the fast races of the Valley of Triumph. The
gameplay loop that its objects and spaces encourage are fundamentally separated

from that of the seven main realms, and thus, these new areas have far more self-

contained narratives. Players must complete a chain of “Seasonal Quests”- “small

missions that players must perform” that structure the play experience and reveal the

story as the quests are completed(Egenfeldt et al. 183). For example, during the

Season of Enchantment, the players find the Forgotten Ark- a broken boat in the

middle of the wasteland. As a result of the players bringing back coloured light orbs

scattered around the seven realms, it is revealed by way of murals that the wreckage

site is the result of a krill knocking into the boat of a travelling merchant band, who

throughout the quests, used the orbs as a way to revitalise the wreckage site by

purifying the air, water and land, as well as setting up a bustling trading post to

purchase spells at. The “causality” of the quests in terms of action and

result(Egenfeldt, 183) is perfectly integrated into the story of the season by the

seasonal area itself being affected by completion of quests, creating a wordless yet

highly compelling narrative.

Figure 8. Sanctuary Islands

Figure 9.1-9.2 Forgotten Ark, before and after Seasonal Quests

What is truly fascinating about Sky: CoTL’s fictional world is that in addition to

creating an immersive play space, the seven main realms are also intended to reach

beyond the game’ to tell a meta, fundamentally human narrative- the cycle of life.

The blank and barren landscape of Isle of Dawn and the platforms and butterflies

that guide the player‘s first flight toward the temple symbolises the blank slate of birth

and the beginnings of consciousness and learning. Daylight Prairie, with its rolling

grass hills, colourful flowers, cute light creatures and tasks just as simple as lighting

3 candles, symbolises a carefree childhood. The first challenges to the player are

present within Hidden Forest, and with its maze-like layout and the cape-draining

rain that can reduce flight power with prolonged exposure illustrate the player’s

difficulties in their tumultuous teenage years. After that, the races and glorious

structures within Valley of Triumph capture the exciting, fast paced, and

competitiveness that players experience at the peak of young adulthood. But

immediately following that peak, the troubles of middle adulthood is shown in Golden

Wasteland, where the dark water that constantly saps your flight energy is a

symbolism for the slow realisation of a life crisis and the deterioration of one’s body

with age, and the Dark Dragons represent individual difficulties, such as rebellious

children leaving the nest, or career failure. In addition, the ruins in the Golden
Wasteland contrasted with the glory of the Valley of Triumph shows the reduced

significance of past achievements and thus the disappointment that comes with

middle age. Beyond the Golden Wasteland is the Vault of Knowledge, where its

archive of lanterns symbolize looking back on your life at the elderly stage, after

which you are sent to Eden, the damage of the dark rocks and red crystals

comparable to the way illness ravages a body already frail with age, and the sacrifice

to the ancestor statues as our character’s light is completely depleted shows the

gratitude humans express toward loved ones as we inevitably die. And finally, after

Eden is over, you ascend into Orbit- a representation of the afterlife. Thus, the

fictional world of Sky is no longer just a “make believe universe”, and to “apply what

we know from our own world” is no longer linked to the commonalities in

setting(Egenfeldt-Nielsen et al. 173), but in the universal human experience. This

allows the fictional world to not only be engaging, but also touch the players’ hearts.

There are three types of characters that populate the world of Sky- Spirits,

Elders, and the player, which I will analyse through Egenfeldt-Nielsen et al.’s

analyses on video game characters. Though these three categories of characters

are constructed and presented differently, all of them are vital components in

enriching the narrative of Sky’s fictional world.

Spirits are the most common character within Sky: CoTL, found scattered

across the six main realms as translucent figures kneeling over or sitting(fig.10.1).

Players interact with these spirits by “reliving their memories”- “lighting” a dark

spherical core in their spectral bodies(fig. 10.2) which will then cause them to either

move through a series of still postures that shows a scenario(fig. 10.2) that the
player must follow by running to where the still postures are, remaining in a light-

marked circle and holding up a spot of light to walk to the still postures, or generate

spots of light around a small area that the player must collect. After the process, a

cutscene will play of the “memory” of the spirit in full(fig. 10.5-10.6), and the player

will obtain a new emote related to the memory cutscene(fig.11.1-11.2). On the

surface, the spirits would be considered both “functional characters”, in that they

have the “general function” of obtaining emotes used for communication and

opening up new areas for exploration, and marginally “cast characters”, which

served “a particular function related to the story” (Egenfeldt-Nielsen et al. , 178) by

fulfilling the player’s core final goal of Sky(fig.15)- By reliving the spirit, it will turn into

an orb of light that travels to the temple of the realm, and after the temple cutscene,

spirits will again transform into a beam of light and shoot into the sky, effectively

“returning to the stars”.

Figure 10.1-10.6 (read horizontally) The process of reliving a spirit's memory.
Figure 11.1-11.2 Obtaining the "butterfly" emote from a spirit.

It would be easy to perceive spirits as nothing but shallow, silent, mostly

functional figures, especially when considering Egenfeldt-Nielsen’s ideas on how a

character can be constructed, with them being “defined by their actions” (Egenfeldt-

Nielsen et al. , 179) in a single memory and emote, and a “meaningful name”

(Egenfeldt-Nielsen et al., 180) that is in fact just a description of their occupation

and/or a single personality trait, such as “Butterfly Charmer”(fig. 11.1-11.2) or “Timid

Bookworm”(fig.10.1-10.5). However, where spirits become compelling characters in

their own right is not in being part of a large-scale player-driven narrative and reliving

memories, but in how they are presented as actually alive within Sky’s fictional world.

The two screenshots from the ending of Season of Flight(fig.12.1-12.2) below show

how spirits from different areas don’t exist in a vacuum within their own memories,

but are in fact actual residents, and in the ending, are able to use the Seasonal Area-

The Flight Paths- as an air travel hub around the realms. Though this

characterisation method is confined only to cutscenes aiming to “provide the player

with information”(Egenfeldt-Nielsen, 177) and spirits cannot be found idly wandering

within the in-game area itself, the cutscenes are enough to breathe life into the

characters of the fictional world.

Figure 12.1- 12.2 Older Spirits from Daylight Prairie entering the Season of Flight area in an ending cutscene.

In addition, the seasonal areas allowed for self-contained stories, and as the players

finish Seasonal Quests, the seasonal story cutscenes will slowly become accessible,

wherein players can watch events in a spirit’s life. Though they still lack prominent

expressions or speech, their expressions are an effective shorthand to depicting their

vibrant personalities, even if it is up to the player’s interpretation to an extent. For

example, in (fig.13), the spirits are reacting in to the adversity of the Flight Paths

being corrupted and almost destroyed by dark rocks, rendering it unusable by

travellers and threatening the light creatures of the island, which leaves the spirits-

who enlists the player’s help as they care deeply about reviving and maintaining this

travelling hub - utterly distraught. As players grow attached to the seasonal area

through quests, the palpable fear shown here resonates with players, motivating

them in doing the final Seasonal Quests and purifying the Flight Paths.

Figure 13 Flight Spirits during the Season of Flight story cutscene.

Lastly, the appearance of spirits, especially those with overtly uniquely shaped and

coloured cosmetics, add to the spirit’s characterisation as well as the fictional world

around them in a symbolic descriptive way, as proposed by Egenfeldt-Nielsen. For

example, Light Whisperer has a bird-shaped cape and a bird in their hair,

symbolising their connection to birds and other creatures of light.

As mentioned in the prior section, the Elders are characters that are

presented primarily through cutscenes that play at the temple at the end of the six

main realms(fig. 13). The presence of their altars inside a temple presents them as

almost godlike leaders.

Figure 14. Daylight Prairie Elder Altar.

The realm temple cutscenes depicts the Elders as embodiments of their

realms through action and naturalistic description (Egenfeld-Nielsen, 179). An

example would be the Daylight Prairie Elder shown in(fig.15.1-15.4), with their

friendly, round body shape and their quirkily curious mannerisms when discovering

the flame as well as watching their own transformation and the butterfly they created,

harking back to the Daylight Prairie symbolising an age of discovery and wonder. It
also serves to “shape the narrative in a certain direction” (Egenfeldt-Nielsen, 176),

particularly the change that the player has brought upon by lighting the flame at the

Elder’s altar, and in the case of the Daylight Prairie Elder, allows their faded

garments to regain their light, and lets them use the flame to birth a new butterfly.

This adds to the broader narrative of the player bringing hope back to the fallen

kingdom, now through the revitalisation of its Elders.

Figure 15.1-15.4 Daylight Prairie Elder Cutscene.

The final and most important character in Sky: CoTL are the player avatars,

often called a “Sky Kid” that the player controls in third person view. The game’s

opening cutscene(fig.16) provides all players with the goal of “returning the spirits to

the stars” through reliving spirit memories and giving light to Eden. The vault elder

cutscene (fig. 17.1-17.2) also presents the elders bowing down at the you,

characterising the player avatar as someone with great expectations placed upon

them and the show of respect from even godly leader figures, implies some greater

divine status.
Figure 16. The final scene of the cutscene in the beginning of the game, telling the player of their purpose.

Figure 17.1-17.2 All the elders kneeling before the player in the Vault Elder cutscene.

However, despite the information given by these cutscenes giving the player a grand

destiny and final goal, the game never once forces the player to participate in the

greater narrative with any kind of restriction. Players are free to explore the vast

world at their leisure and do anything they wish to within the game’s parameters,

such as flying around, playing music, or just sitting down and taking pictures of the

view, and none of these choices are treated as invalid in any way. Aside from the

basic parameters of being a child that has a light core, the player avatar itself is a

blank slate with no discernible personality aside from the emotes given by the game,
allowing the player to easily identify themselves with their Sky Kid, which Egenfeldt

Nielsen emphasises the importance of(180). This allows for a highly imaginative play

experience as the player can weave their own narratives within the vast fictional

world, and directly shape their avatars’ personality based on their own chosen

actions and most used emotes within Sky. Even when the player isn’t playing, they

can partake in the creative process of brainstorming personality and backstory ideas,

especially in relation to their own interpretations of the game’s final goal. In addition,

the cape, mask, hairstyle, outfit, and call (sets of sounds that a Sky Kid makes when

pressing on them in lieu of a voice) of the Sky Kid is entirely customisable with items

bought by currency, both in-game and real life, allowing further personalisation of the

avatar. This also adds a new dimension to the Sky Kid, as the cosmetics can shape

an avatar’s personality just as it has shaped the spirits’, as I mentioned above. For

example, as you can see, I have chosen the bird head accessory that Whisperer

has, which indicates my avatar’s connection to light creatures.

Figure 2. One of the player avatar's customisation options.

Finally, perhaps the most special aspect of Sky’s characterisation of the Sky Kids is

through the friendship emotes between players that can be unlocked by offering

some in-game currency, such as holding hands that allows the player offering the

hand permission to lead the player who accepted the hand(fig. 19.2) or a hug(fig.

19.3). Sky lacks any genuinely violent interaction options between players, and

encourages the building of bonds with these acts of friendship, as well as various

parts of the game that encourage cooperation, such doors that can only be opened

with two or more people present(fig. 20), providing more opportunity for meeting new

friends. This generally characterises Sky Kids as selfless, outgoing and affectionate,

though once again, the player is free to interpret this action as they please.

Conversely, a player can choose to characterise their Sky Kid by playing solo and

avoiding socialising. Ultimately, the player’s narrative is completely up to the player,

which, in my opinion, is one of the greatest parts of Sky.

Figure 19.1-19.3 Friendship interactions with another player

Figure 20. A two-person door.

The above analysis shows how Sky: CoTL uses its individual components-

objects and space as well as characters- to creatively construct something special

even with limited use of text. By playing through Sky, the player feels less like they

are playing a game, and more so living in the fictional world, watching and being a

part of other characters’ narratives as well as weaving their own.

References

Egenfeldt-Nielsen, S, et al. (2008). Narrative. In Understanding Video Games: The

Essential Introduction (pp. 169–204). Routledge.

https://moodle.hku.hk/course/view.php?id=86866

Sky: Children of the Light Wiki | Fandom (Whole website). (n.d.). Sky: Children of the

Light Wiki | Fandom. Retrieved November 26, 2021, from https://sky-children-of-the-

light.fandom.com/wiki/Sky:_Children_of_the_Light_Wiki

“Sky: Children of the Light - Launch Trailer - Nintendo Switch.” YouTube, uploaded

by thatgamecompany, 30 June 2021,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBQRCHusYyU&t=43s.

Appendix:
(Personal In-game avatar to indicate screenshots being from my own gameplay)