User:CollegeStudent86/Sky (video game)

Realms

Throughout the in-game world, the setting consists of seven unique realms, each with a variety of areas to explore. There is also Home, a small island which serves as the world hub and the starting place when the game is opened.

Home

Home is where any newcomers will begin the game, becoming a common area for the rest of the gaming experience. One of the key features of this place is using these doorways known as portals to select a stage to arrive in. At first, these portals start out dormant, each one activating in a linear fashion. After enough progress is made, the levels becomes more open-ended, allowing access to the different realms regardless of the initial order. The only exception to this rule is the Eye of Eden, which, alongside the requirement of the other six realms being played through, can't be entered until twenty winged lights get collected. When players walks into a portal, it automatically transports them to the beginning of that area, regardless of previous progress. However, there is a small circle dubbed the Return Shrine that will send the player in roughly the same zone of the realm that person was playing in before.

The other purpose of this commonplace is the constellation table. Any spirits that are saved in the other realms are displayed in their realm's constellation. When a spirit is selected on this feature, the game's currency, coming in the form of candles and hearts, can be spent to unlock new items that add on to the gaming experience. Such attributes include spells, leveled-up expressions, and customization options. Another feature of the Constellation Table is the Friend Constellations, for viewing other players that were added to the friend list, allowing them to give and receive gifts with each other, and making a waypoint to join servers to play together.

Of course, there are miscellaneous activities available at Home to be informed upon. Left of the portals, closet spaces are available to change your pants/outfits, capes, masks, hair, and instruments. A clock/bell is added to keep track of the day's time according to the device being played on, even changing the light for relative accuracy. When new events roll around, traveling spirits are made present to buy more content. Finally, a boat called the Sleepy Traveling Merchant's Boat shows up every so often in this world's waters, handing out free spells and selling exclusive items for the current event.

Social Spaces

Further Information: Daylight Prairie, Hidden Forest, Valley of Triumph, Golden Wasteland, and Vault of Knowledge

A subcategory of the Home area can be found in each realms' beginning portion as social spaces. These become mini hubs that have most of the same qualities as Home itself, such as the constellation table, return shrines (sending the player back home), and closet spaces. Such sectors are smaller than their inspiration, not to mention less individualistic. The main purpose of these zones is to give new players some down time, and returning players a place to drop in. Despite the lowered significance, they provide transitions between realms, ensuring that the game runs as smoothly as it possibly can.

Isle of Dawn

The Isle of Dawn serves as the tutorial, teaching the control system and other starting features. The course is composed of a desert biome with little to no transitions. Initially, new players will find a linear format of going from points A to B. As they traverse, these rookies will learn how to light candles, jump, and get a cape to glide and fly. When they reach the end of the stage, it won't take long for beginners to realize the next area is locked. This leads to the concept of saving spirits, which can unlock more zones to enter and give expressions to communicate with other players. In fact, when this space is revisited, they will find all sorts of secrets that they most likely didn't notice in their first playthrough, from the smallest caves, to the greatest trials. These are usually only accessible by saving more spirits, or getting help from another player.

Daylight Prairie

Compared to the previous stage, Daylight Prairie has a more open-ended feel for new players, with two main spaces to play in: Butterfly Fields and Villages, as well as two secondary ones. True to its name, Butterfly Fields has butterflies to interact with, and luscious fields to explore in, making the bonus zones more apparent than the Isle of Dawn. If it wasn't already made clear, these side paths will make the player understand how crucial saving spirits are to exploration purposes. When they most likely haven't saved enough spirits to deviate, new players will have no choice but to progress in a more linear fashion. Unlike the realm before it, Daylight Prairie depends on transitions from one area of the level to the next, similar to the portals at Home. Such movements are made as one goes from Butterfly Fields to Villages. In the Villages, there are multiple islands separated by clouds. On each of these pieces of land, there is a bell tower to activate, introducing the player to Light Creatures for the first time. Speaking of new mechanics, new players will find red candles and dark plants displayed in plain sight throughout this terrain, filling up the currency meter present in the system. Like the Isle of Dawn, Daylight Prairie is brimming with secrets for returning players, aside from the ones noted on.

Hidden Forest

The Hidden Forest takes place in a murky forest, pours light-draining rain, and is riddled with transitions commonly used in multiple phases of this realm. The most notable parts to go through would be the Forest Clearing, Forest's Brook, Tree Tunnels, and Boneyard. The Forest Clearing, along with having a clearing initially, is framed by these temple-like buildings to walk through, with no way to walk around them. Things open up slightly at the Forest's Brook, with what little extra content this stage has accessible to those who filled the proper requirements. Key features of Forest's Brook is the self-explanatory brook, trees, and various cliffs with light fungus. The Tree Tunnels are just tunnels of trees with not much else to note upon, while the Boneyard has the obvious bones, a bridge, trees, new light creatures, and a few alternative routes.