Finally, I decided to continue this series of posts.
So, by this moment you have done a lot of writing, thinking, visualizing and deciding on the direction of your environment. Once you picked a setting, location and theme the idea is set. Now you have an interesting and memorable location in your mind, which theoretically can offer the player an interesting gameplay.
What's next?
The main goal of the game environment artist is to create a bright, memorable and expressive image. To do this, he does a research and combines all the interesting components he found into a single form of concept art or a thematic selection of photo material. Thus, the second step is to find visual materials to illustrate the idea.
It is important to remember that all the key elements of the location with their variety of architectural forms should help in creating the gameplay you need. For example, if the gameplay is focused on the interaction of the player with the enemy in close combat, then closed spaces (building interiors, caves, narrow streets) are more suitable for this. If the main task is to build a level for snipers, then it is best to pay attention to open spaces (long and wide streets, bridges, rooftops, desert landscapes with little cover, etc.). Besides, every step from here only strengthens the idea and narrows it down to what you are going to create. It becomes more difficult to change the main idea you establish the step before and switch themes without having to start over with the beginning.
What references do I need?
All visual references can be broken down into five category types. Now let's take a look each of them in detail.
Architectural references are specific architectural styles. These include:
- Design and construction of buildings
- Architectural details
- Interior and exterior of architectural style
Environment references are visual images of the environment setting. It is an overall idea for your environment. This includes, but not limited to:
- Location of the streets, squares, cityscapes
- Mountains, vegetations, coasts
- Terrain, landscapes, skies etc.
Lighting is probably the most important element to creating mood and atmosphere in a game environment. With lighting reference you will need to collect images that are similar to the type of lighting scenario your environment takes place in. You may have already collected some lighting images during the architecture and environment reference, but now you are focusing on collecting specific images of how your level will be lit.
These should include both interior and exterior lighting, if your environment has both. Focus on collecting color, shadow and the time of day you environment takes place in. Look and collect images that evoke specific feelings within your environment.
Remember: lighting creates mood and atmosphere.
Props are individual objects within your environment (furniture, set dressing, scene detail). What are the objects that will make up your scene?
- Collect visual reference of all the props to be within your scene
- Collect prop placement ideas; how are props placed in similar locations
Inspirational/Style reference is art direction. This category is quiet similar to Lighting references, but it is much more extensive. The focus here is to inspire and to maintain the general vision of your project. It includes color palette, visual style, and visual quality of your environment, and one of the common inspiration and style reference is concept art.
Working in a studio, there will be a concept artist who creates inspirational and style environment refs. But if you are working on the project by yourself and digital painting is not your strength, then you will have to collect those refs by yourself. Collect art you find online, look through traditional paintings, watch movies and play games with a specific art style.
Remember, you aren’t trying to re-create other artists’ work, but only use it to inspire you and guide your art style direction. As you collect inspirational and style reference, focus on the emotional impact. Some reference images will evoke that response called “This is cool”. Save them too.
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After you collect these five types of reference you’ll be able to piece together a story of your environment through images. During this process a lot of questions start to pop up. What is this architectural style? What types of foliage grows in this environment setting? How many traffic lanes does a major downtown area have? Etc.
Write down all of these questions as they come up. Then, spend some time researching and answering them.The more you know about your environment, more believable the game world will be.
Thanks for reading and hope to see you next time.