Shadow Puppetry(Shadow Play)

 Shadow Puppetry(Shadow Play)

    Shadow puppetry is one of Chinese folk arts, it uses cut-out shapes and the shadow of the shapes to perform the play. Also, there is a saying that shadow puppetry is the ancestor of the modern film and opera. 

    The craftsman is commonly use animal skins to create these beautiful figures and color the figures with special pigments that have good effects under the projection of light. 

    If people who familiar with 2D skeleton animation, they will find out shadow puppetry is very similar to that technology. They both separate a big figure into small parts and control each part of the figure individually. 

Also I found two games that use these special art style. The first game is Projection: First Light. Projection: First Light is a indie 2D platformer and puzzle game, it creates a special visual experience through the art style of shadow puppetry. The core mechanic of the game is the manipulation of light.  The player will use light to create shadows to help the character to overcome the obstacles of the game. In addition, the story of Projection: First Light is product of multicultural. The story draw the materials from four famous stories form four different cultures. Ramayana, India; Journey to the West, China; Karagoz and Havcivat, Turkey; Alexander the Great; Greek. There is no text dialog in the game, there is only simple patterns and images in the conversation between the characters. The player have to use their mind to interpret the story. 

The second game is a Chinese game, the name is 影中戏：锦城迷案. I did not find the translation of the game, but the name of the game is close to The Play in Shadow: The Mystery of Silk City. I think it was a game in 2014 PlayStation Developer Competition, and I think the developer did not continue the development of the game.   

The game is puzzle game too, the goal of the game is to solve the mystery of murder. The art style of the game is kind unique, there colors of the game scene are kind dark, and it give a sense to the player that there is something happening. Also,  the contrast between light and shadow is really good, it enhances the feeling of mystery.