Essay process（Wednesday）
Game environment
development research
The construction of game environment should cover
reality, imagination, material, concept and many aspects.
WORD COUNT:
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Literature & Contextual Review
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DE4401 Research Methodologies Tutor: Sarah Kennedy | |
John Michael Padden MA Game Design Tutor: Josh Taylor
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Table of Contents
Introduction 4 Part 1: Personal Research Studies 5
Saija Wintersun | Lead environment artist 5
Lara Frank | 2D Artist Generalist / Illustrator / Character Designer at Freelance 7
Oliver John Farrell | Enviroment artist 10
Part 2: Practitioner Lecture Series 13
Research Reflection xx Bibliography xx Practitioner Profiles xx Environment Artists xx
Lecture Series xx Networking Evidence xx
Introduction
My master's research focuses on the design development and shaping of environments in games. As an important part of the game, the game environment design has an important impact on the player's game experience. A good game environment can not only create an immersive game atmosphere, but also promote the development of the story and enhance the appeal of the game. What I want to create is a game world based on the natural environment of China, which makes me want to study how to better integrate the design and reality, and how to cultivate the ability to control the environmental atmosphere.
This paper focuses on game environment design, and asks Lead environment artist Saija Wintersun to deeply discuss the importance and methods of drawing inspiration from the real world in game environment design and balancing reality with design scenes. Talk to 2D Artist Generalist Lara Frank to learn how to deal with creative bottlenecks and more. The study found that the real world can play a supporting role in the design of game environment, and designers need to find a balance between artistic expression and technical limitations according to the needs of the game. Through the communication with professional designers in the industry, this study has gained valuable practical experience and design concepts.
keywords
Game environment design; Realistic inspiration; Creative balance; Technical limitation
Part 1: Personal Research Studies
Saija Wintersun | Lead environment artist
Fig. 1 Bitanti Village location designed by Saija Wintersun in the game “Sniper Elite 4”. (Left)
Fig. 2 Inside the Bitanti Village building designed by Saija Wintersun in the game Sniper Elite 4. (Right)
The conversation with Saija Wintersun was born out of seeing her realistic and immersive scenes in the environment design of the Sniper Elite series of games. The realistic game environment shown in the game Sniper Elite 4 made me think about how she grasped the degree of game and reality. She believes that to design a game environment, you need to deeply study the background of the game story and the characteristics of the era. While building the level of an Italian fishing village in Sniper Elite 4, she used tools like Google maps to gather real-world details of the scene. By looking at the actual location, Saija was able to discover the small details that make the scene unique, so that it could be cleverly integrated into the game. At every level of detail, from large architectural structures and terrain, to mid-sized decorations for players to interact with, to small visual narrative elements, they are carefully crafted to create an environment that best fits the atmosphere of the game. At the same time, she always designs from the perspective of the player, ensuring that the player has an immersive experience during the game.
Knowing Saija's reasoning for designing the environment, I asked her how to balance the real world and the game environment, because Sniper Elite 4 is set on the beautiful Mediterranean coast of Italy, which is often romantic, but the game is set during World War II, so is the overall style more apocalyptic or medieval? More retro or more innovative How to tell? Saija believes that because Sniper Elite 4 is designed to be historically accurate, there is no need to balance the two. Because of the Italian architectural style of World War II, the game Settings are designed with respect to historical facts, so it is not an exaggerated doomsday or medieval style. "Even during World War II, any location in Italy can still look romantic because the architecture hasn't really changed," Saija proposes.
I learned a lot from my conversation with Sajia Wintersun. First of all, I think Google maps can be an important tool to get details of the scene when building the environment in the future. This way of getting inspiration directly from the real world can give the game scene a high sense of realism. For example, the layout, color and integration with the surrounding natural environment of the fishing village buildings in reality can provide a direct reference for the construction of the game scene. Of course, the details are also very important, large structures and landscapes determine the overall framework and atmosphere of the game scene, medium-sized player interaction devices enhance the sense of participation of the player, and small decals and visual narrative elements add rich story and fun to the scene. In the Italian fishing village level, large architectural structures and landforms show the ancient style of the fishing village, interactive fishing boats, fishing gear and other decorations can let the player better integrate into the game, and visual narrative elements such as posters on the wall and footprints on the ground further enrich the story background of the scene.
In addition, Saija's proposal to design the game environment from the player's point of view is also very important to me. In the design of the level in the Italian fishing village, Saija considers the common viewing angles of the player in different scenarios, such as the perspective of the player sniping on the roof, the perspective of the player walking on the street, etc., to ensure that when viewing the game environment from these perspectives, It can present the best visual effects, enhance the immersion of the scene, and improve the game experience of the player.
Lara Frank | 2D Artist Generalist / Illustrator / Character Designer at Freelance
Fig. 3 Lara Frank in A mobile game novel based on the original Netflix Series: 2D background drawing with art director Ahmad Beyrouthi in "Shadow and Bone".
When I saw Lara Frank's paintings on the Internet, I really felt very interested. Lara Frank is good at landscape concept painting, and I like her impact painting style very much. First, I asked her the same question about how she balances inspiration with reality when drawing concept art for the game environment. In designing the environment for Shadow and Bone - Enter the Fold, Lara Frank stressed the importance of drawing inspiration from the real world. She mentioned that designers should capture the details and atmosphere of a scene by observing light and shadow, weather and time changes in the real world. For example, when researching architectural styles, she references architectural features from specific historical periods to ensure the historical accuracy of the scene. At the same time,
the design of natural elements allows for more creative play, such as exaggerated light and shadow effects and composition to enhance the emotional expression of the scene.
In addition, Lara Frank also mentioned that designers should be good at capturing details from the real world, such as fog-shrouded mountains or the peeling effect of old buildings. These details not only inject realism into the scene, but also provide creative inspiration for the designer. By combining reality and imagination, designers can create game scenarios that are both logical and artistically expressive.
Fig. 4 Early Illustrations and Concept Art drawn by Lara Frank in the game "Project Tanna-Corrupted Light". (Left)
Fig. 5 Lara Frank's Concept Art for Meredi Above's 2020 Music Video, Matte Painting. ( Right)
I think she's very good at setting the mood, and she said, Her Project Tanna - Corrupted Light and Meredi Above were both projects where she aimed to create a strong emotional atmosphere through lighting, scale, and composition. In designing Shadow and Bone - Enter the Fold, Lara Frank adopted a holistic to partial design process. First, she works closely with story writers to set the emotional tone of the environment. For example, a scene needs to represent a fierce battle or emotional dialogue, then she will reflect the corresponding atmosphere and mood in the environment design. Next, the team made the initial layout of the environment through simple 3D models, determining the lighting, colors, and overall structure. At this stage, designers can have greater creative freedom to design details according to the needs of the environment. Lara Frank mentioned that designers should focus on the performance of the environment from the player's point of view and avoid using a top-down Angle to ensure that the environment feels immersive. In my opinion, this design process from the whole to the part can not only improve the design efficiency, but also maintain the overall coordination of the environment while gradually improving the details of the environment.
Of course, creative bottlenecks are a constant challenge for me in environmental design. So I asked Lara Frank how she finds inspiration for herself when she's stuck in a creative rut. Lara Frank says she tries to draw inspiration from different art forms, such as photography, film or music. In addition, she will try to use different media to create, such as using ink, drawing, etc., instead of digital painting, in order to reset her creative perspective. Lara Frank emphasizes that creativity is not about forcing yourself to have ideas, but maintaining curiosity and openness to the world. By observing the details and changes in the real world, you can constantly get new inspiration.
Oliver John Farrell | Enviroment artist
Fig. 6 Some of the texture tables created for Harbor by Oliver John Farrell in the Indie game 'Ether' at work. (Left)
Fig. 7 Texture of axe and shield created by Oliver John Farrell in January 2012. (Right)
When I saw Oliver Farrell on blogger showing how he worked on the game Ether, I thought I had to talk to him. The game Ether was created during Oliver's master's degree, and I can watch him improve it step by step as he released it, and what he learned in the process will be of great help to me now. He is a great texture designer, and I was fascinated by the unique artistic texture of his work, and curious about how he balances realistic reference with artistic expression in his texture production. Oliver says that even for artistic styles that seek a painterly feel, real-world image references remain an indispensable foundation. He cites the natural progression of metal rust and wood grain as
examples of how these realistic details lend credibility to texture. "We always use it as an image reference," explains Oliver, "but when we draw the color palette, we deliberately enhance the color representation, so that the game ends up with a richer visual effect." This method of creation reflects a kind of thinking in game art design: it is anchored by reality, but it is not bound by the limitations of reality. At this point, he specifically mentions the sometimes overlaying of low-transparency rust or noise maps over hand-drawn textures, a technique that retains the artistry of hand-drawn drawings while adding the random variation of natural textures.
In response to my question "How does he usually work with the art, modeling, and programming teams to ensure that the texture of the material is consistent with the overall style?" On this issue, Oliver shares valuable practical experience. Creating large art style guides in their workflow is key to ensuring consistency. This guide not only contains specifications for modeling, texturing, and lighting methods, but also ensures that the roughness and metal mapping values are consistent for different material types. This standardized use of the tool can significantly improve the consistency of the team's output. In my opinion, a game, whether it is a small or large project, needs to maintain the same overall artistic style, so this approach is very worthwhile. I also noticed that the team's work on unifying art styles was mostly done within the art and technical art teams, working closely with the programming team only when it came to specific post-processing or rendering styles. To me, this collaborative model shows how technical support can be achieved while maintaining artistic integrity.
Oliver told me about his work experience during his master's degree, which I really admire. During the development of Ether, he was part of a team with only two main artists, which would have been a huge challenge, but this limitation led them to find an efficient and unique art style - using hand-drawn materials to create low polygons assets.
"Working within these constraints and finding unique ways to express yourself is one of the most rewarding experiences as an artist." Oliver's words greatly inspired me, who was also in the learning stage, that in the creative process, technical limitations should not only be regarded as obstacles, but can be transformed into catalysts to stimulate creativity and produce unexpected artistic effects. With limited resources, designers need to be more creative and find solutions that meet both technical requirements and artistic vision.
The rapid development of AI in recent years has had a huge impact on many industries, and I would like to ask him about this phenomenon. From Oliver's answer, I can also see his forward-looking understanding of AI. Oliver is open but cautious about AI. He believes that AI should be used as a tool to enhance creativity, not as a substitute for the creative output of designers, which I think is very relevant in the current social context of the rapid development of AI technology. Oliver uses an example of his team's new project to illustrate their approach: "During the texture process, we used smart materials in Substance Painter to generate color ranges and occlusion levels, which allowed us to quickly and quickly complete 60% of the base work of the texture, leaving the remaining 40% to be painted by hand, speeding up the process while maintaining the hand-painted texture." Sure, they used electronic tools, but it wasn't artificial intelligence, it was just a tool to help them make the final texture faster. "We all use the same smart materials and processes, which helps unify the artistic style." I think this hybrid workflow might be a reasonable way to apply AI - using technology to increase efficiency while preserving the artistry of human creation.
Oliver Farrell's insights directly inspired my design practice, and I learned that reality references are an integral part of game art design, but they need to be augmented and exaggerated according to the art style; To think differently when encountering technical limitations, perhaps it can be transformed into an opportunity for creative breakthroughs; When it comes to AI tools, I would also take a cautious approach that AIDS rather than replaces them. You know, good game art design is to find the best balance between reality and imagination, technology and art in all kinds of difficulties
Part 2: Practitioner Lecture Series
The blank here will be filled in after I listen to the lecture.
Research Reflection
As a student majoring in game environment design, I gained a lot of valuable insights and inspirations through my conversations with several environment designers. I learned how to take inspiration from the real world and translate it into the game environment when designing a game environment. By using tools such as Google Maps, details of real locations can be captured to enhance the realism and uniqueness of the game scene. In addition, exaggerating scale, adding layers of detail, and considering the importance of the player's perspective in the design of the environment are all key factors in enhancing the immersion of the game environment. When designing a game environment, by studying the architectural style and natural environment of a specific historical period, it is possible to create a game environment that is both historical and visually appealing while maintaining authenticity. During the design process, it is important to learn to think holistic to partial, ensuring that the game is closely integrated with the story line to ensure that the game's environment design reflects the emotion and atmosphere of the story. In addition, when you encounter a design bottleneck, you can change your thinking and find new creative directions by observing light and shadow, weather and time changes in the real world, and contacting different arts, rather than using AI for direct creation.
This valuable experience and advice provided clear and valuable direction for my learning and practice of game environment design, and helped me create more immersive and engaging game scenes. In the future game environment design, I will flexibly respond to various creative challenges and constantly explore innovation.
List of Figures
Figure 1. Bitanti Village location designed by Saija Wintersun in the game “Sniper Elite 4”.
Figure 2. Inside the Bitanti Village building designed by Saija Wintersun in the game Sniper Elite 4.
Figure 3. Lara Frank in A mobile game novel based on the original Netflix Series: 2D background drawing with art director Ahmad Beyrouthi in "Shadow and Bone".
Figure 4. Early Illustrations and Concept Art drawn by Lara Frank in the game "Project Tanna-Corrupted Light".
Figure 5. Lara Frank's Concept Art for Meredi Above's 2020 Music Video, Matte Painting.
Figure 6. Some of the texture tables created for Harbor by Oliver John Farrell in the Indie game 'Ether' at work.
Figure 7. Texture of axe and shield created by Oliver John Farrell in January 2012.
SAIJA WINTERSUN | LEAD ENVIRONMENT ARTIST REBELLION
Saija, originally from Finland, graduated from the course in July 2013. She secured immediate employment with one of Europe’s leading game developers, REBELLION, Oxford as a JUNIOR ENVIRONMENT ARTIST working on SNIPER ELITE 3 (2014). Since 2017 she has risen to the ranks of LEAD ENVIRONMENT ARTIST creating immersive and engaging worlds for players on SNIPER ELITE 4 (2017) and many more titles.
LARA FRANK | 2D ARTIST GENERALIST / ILLUSTRATOR / CHARACTER DESIGNER AT FREELANCE
Lara Frank, a game artist with a passion for storytelling through visuals. Originally from St. Gallen, Switzerland, she studied Animation Production at the Arts University Bournemouth UK, where she graduated with First Class Honours. With years of experience in game art and concept design, She has worked on 2D illustration, key art, storyboards, and high-end digital paintings. She love crafting artwork that is colorful, music-driven, and rich in mood and emotion. Currently, She are an Art Lead at Thera Bytes in Munich, creating vibrant worlds and expressive characters for games.
OLIVER JOHN FARRELL | ENVIROMENT ARTIST
Oliver John has a Master's degree in Game Design from Uclan. An environmental artist at White Paper Games, he developed the game Ether while still in school. He is passionate about environmental art. He said he was born for it.
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